Thursday 26 February 2015

Progress -

You may recall, me mentioning that I had been in conversation with an established professional wedding photographer, well, talks are continuing and it's all going very well! 

I'll share more details when it has been finalised.

Today, I have been busy promoting and improving my shop and products. I've edited each and every item description to rectify a grammatical error, I've updated a few product titles and descriptions to increase their likelihood of appearing in Mother's day related user searches and I've also created a Mother's day item treasury, which can be viewed here: www.etsy.com/uk/treasury/Mzc1MDMxNzJ8MjcyNzI5ODY5Ng/this-is-for-you-mum-mothers-day-gifts-to 


Updated Mother's day listing: www.etsy.com/uk/listing/188034998/this-is-for-you-mum-beautiful-high

Thank you for reading!

Wednesday 25 February 2015

All set and packed -


All my packaging goods have arrived! I now have everything I need to ship my products, to you. So, what are you waiting for? Take your pick from the selection: www.etsy.com/shop/whiteglare

In other news, I've been hard at work on something secret, any guesses on what it could be?



Tuesday 17 February 2015

Another day, another record -


As you are aware if you read yesterday's blog post, I broke a long standing total visitor count for a one week period. Today I am very pleased to say, I have broken that record, once again. This is great progress and something I find hugely motivating.

The large majority of today's activities was once again spent researching suppliers for my packaging needs. I am pretty pleased with the suppliers and prices I was able to locate earlier today and will likely be placing orders by the end of the week.

I have also received a positive reply from one of the photographers I contacted regarding assisting as a photographer and hope to bring you more information within the coming days. It's all very scary, considering their caliber, but exciting too!

As always, thank you for your support.

A broken record -

This past few days have been very good for my shop and business. 

Firstly, one of my favourite canvasses, 'Forget your worries' (www.etsy.com/uk/listing/177433093/forget-your-worries-beautiful-high) has been sold! This particular print will still be available for purchase, however, via the 'Made to order' option. So, if you was interested in picking one up, don't worry.

Secondly, my shop and its listings have been visited more times in the last week than in any other week since its opening. This is a huge achievement and one that, with your support, will continue to broken. Let this be start of a trend.

Finally, I have been searching for the best suppliers available to me to purchase packaging for my products from. I do, however, have enough packaging for my current stock at this time. If you have any recommendations, let me know.

As always, thank you for your support!




Friday 13 February 2015

Huge improvements - 

Yesterday was a day full of big updates and improvements. Three and a half hours of my time yesterday was spent on taking and editing products images of all 20 canvasses in stock, after of which, the images were uploaded to each of their respective listings. The shop looks vastly better, IMO, and I much prefer the new product images over the original few I had been previously using.

Please show your support, share my shop with friends and family alike, it'd be very much appreciated.

I also spent a large amount of time removing cushion options and their traces within the titles and descriptions of each and every listing that has a product shot. The cushions are only temporarily gone and will return in the future, once I have stock, in their own separate listings.

Stock levels are now all up-to-date and correct, with the only stock currently being 30 x 20 cm canvas prints. If you wish to order a larger size canvas, that isn't in stock, request so using the 'Custom order' button located on the left side of my shop, within the 'Shop owner' section. I can make your item to order.

Other updates and improvements include the addition of 'sections', all products are now organised within clearly and appropriately listed sections for ease of navigation.

All in all, I have put many hours and a lot of work into improving my shop, if you'd like to show your support, please do so by spreading the word about my shop. Here's the link to use: www.etsy.com/shop/whiteglare

Lastly, I have taken delivery of my custom stickers of which I designed and ordered last week. An image of these can be found at the bottom of this post.










Thank you for reading!

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Home sweet home -

Below are some new product shots I took today. These shots were taken in, as usual, poor lighting but this time, I used a photography trick/technique to create a soft, natural light using harsh, artificial light. As well as softer lighting, I wanted these shots to be more homely, so the customer gets a feel for how they'd look in their home. I am pleased with how they turned out and will be looking to take many more tomorrow.






Take a look at the updated listing, here: www.etsy.com/uk/listing/177548536/solitude-beautiful-high-quality-canvas

Monday 9 February 2015

Muddy marsh - 


The large majority of today was spent walking Sally, with Vikki. We'd planned to on Sunday, but never got around to it, for the best, the weather today was even better.

I was able to practice portraiture a little, which was very nice as I haven't had many opportunities as of posting.

Following are a few of my favourite captures from the day.









Saturday 7 February 2015

Productivity -


Yesterday was my most productive day yet. I was working all day long, without a break and got lots of work done. It definitely feels great to be productive.

I spent a couple of hours designing and creating new graphics for my shop and products, including a new shop banner and sticker designs for use within my product packaging, to name a couple. I have placed an order for a book of 90 stickers, all of which will feature the same design and be used to hold packaging wrapping together. The design is as follows:


I also spent a large chunk of time updating and improving my shop in multiple areas, these areas include but are not limited to: My story, about me and shop images.

The last area in which a majority of my time was spent, was once again, contacting local photographers in regards to assisting them on shoot.

Other activities included separating products into their own, individual listings to allow each product its fair share of exposure and better catergorisation. Here's the first of such listings:



I also revisited and expanded existing Etsy treasuries of my making: www.etsy.com/uk/treasury/Mzc1MDMxNzJ8MjcyNzIwNDg2Ng/cushioned-beautiful-cushions-for-your

Today will be a day of rest.

Friday 6 February 2015

Your support means everything


It does. The large majority of my motivation and inspiration derives from my supporters, whether that'd be friend, family or stranger. Starting in this industry is not easy, starting in this industry without support, is even harder. So, if you support what I do, I sincerely thank you.

It's through the motivation and inspiration that you all play a big part in, that I have plucked up the courage in the past few days to email local photographer's in their masses, looking for someone who is willing to help me gain experience. This is something that I consider to be outside of my comfort zone and I likely wouldn't have done it without support.

I have mentioned that I have been actively seeking out and contacting photographers for this reason in previous posts, today was just a continuation of the search. I did however find and contact more today than I have done on previous days.

Wednesday 4 February 2015

Assistance


I have spent a large portion of today locating and contacting photographers who are local to me, inquiring about assisting them on shoots, as I did yesterday. I have yet to receive any offers, but it's early days and I'm hopeful about the future. Please, as I said yesterday, if you know of anyone or anywhere that could aid me in finding this sort of work experience, let me know here or over on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Whiteglarephotography

Tuesday 3 February 2015

Product shots and networking

This past monday, I was finally able to take some product shots. The sun shone bright and long enough for me to take quite a few shots of around half of the canvasses. Following are a couple of examples:





What do you think of them? Check the rest out by visiting the shop!


I have also been busy contacting other photographers local to myself in regards to assisting one of them on a shoot. This is something I am very eager to do as it's vital for my continued progression in the industry, I need to get some experience under my belt. Can you help? If you know anyone or know of anywhere to ask, please let me know in the comment section here or over on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Whiteglarephotography

Lastly, I've contacted the Cliffe farmer's market inquiring about having a stall in the future.. Despite the manager having read my message days ago, I still haven't received a reply.. Shoddy management skills I fear, I think I now know why the farmer's market seems so bare so often!

Sunday 1 February 2015

Sunless Sunday

Once again, the sun has failed to shine.. Today was a slow day, with little to note. I contacted the local farmer's market manager to inquire about a stall, but I have yet to receive a reply. The day is not over though so I'll likely scour the internet for other ways in which to promote my shop, I may also enter a couple of competitions whilst I'm at it with what's left.