Peacock for the Win

It only took me nine months, but I have officially sold one of my photos (via Etsy).

Slow clap.

A 16x20 Mr. Creep E. Cock (the creepy peacock) will now hang on someone's wall for all eternity.

And with that, I delightfully cross challenge no. 18 off. the. list.

What $20.14 Gets You

Last week I posted about buying advertising on Etsy in an effort to make my first photograph sale (challenge no. 18). I bought a week's worth of ads, which stop after seven days or $25, whichever comes first. After the seven days, I ended up spending $20.14. And here's what that money got me:

No sale yet, but some page views that came out of 17,236 impressions (this was how many times my ad popped up in someone's search results).

And the winner of the week with the most "favorites" is a tie between Blue Door and Italy by Train:

Advertising Experiment

Yesterday evening I dabbled in some Etsy advertising for my photography shop (challenge no. 18). It's relatively easy, and I appreciate the spending cap they utilize. It's also fun to see how many impressions you're expected to receive. Seems like money well spent, right?

After going live at 8:00 a.m. this morning, my ads have generated a whopping ONE page view (!) and 146 impressions.

So far it has cost me $0.14.

This is a results-oriented side of advertising that I rarely get to see, but I find it interesting to follow along on the website and see what my money is actually getting me:

If anyone else has taken advantage of Etsy advertising, I welcome any advice you may have.

More Aperturious

I've added a few photography prints to my Etsy shop, Aperturious. View them here. And feel free to spread the word.

Camera Adventures

Since three of my challenges involve photography, I've been toying with the idea of upgrading my camera. I've had my Nikon D90 for a few years now, and while it has been the best camera I've ever owned, I'm ready for the next level.

The next level for me is a Canon 5D Mark II. Yes, I'm making the switch from Nikon to Canon. And I don't feel bad about it. I gave a good ten years and thousands of dollars to Nikon.

Knowing I wanted to purchase the new camera before our Italy trip, I took Nikon out for one last adventure over the weekend. Austin, Dagmar, Nikon and I went down to Washington Square Park, found a bench in the sun, and listened to some beautiful live piano music. After a while we ventured out for some falafel, followed by a trip to the art store so I could gather up some watercolor supplies for challenge no. 25.

Many hours later, Austin, Dagmar and I headed home.

Me. Austin. Dagmar.

I left Nikon listening to piano music on a bench in Washington Square Park. For three hours. On a warm, beautiful day. In New York City. Honestly, I almost didn't go back. I was sure it was gone and didn't want to waste a cab ride downtown when I would just end up making an embarrassingly tearful scene in public. But I did go back.

Nikon was still there. Unbelievable, I know. And an embarrassingly tearful scene in public ended up happening anyway. However, it was a short-lived reunion as just this morning I put Nikon up for sale on eBay.

I look forward to my new relationship with Canon and all of the beautiful images we will create together.

Aperturious

I was going to wait until I completed Challenge #12 (create a photo series) until I tackled Challenge #18 (get a photo or photos in a gallery and/or sell one of your photos). But I've been wanting to set up an Etsy shop for a while now, and I thought that it might be a good avenue to sell a photo or two.

Once I create a photo series, I'm still going to try to have them shown somewhere, but until then, the "or" part of Challenge #18 is the route I'm taking. My shop went live today on Etsy.com. It's called APERTURIOUS: A PHOTOGRAPHY SHOP. I still have to create a header, and more photographs might be added later, but at least we're up and running.

This isn't a cheap plug to get you to head on over to my Etsy shop. Most of you have probably seen these photos anyway. I'm hoping for a total stranger to come across something they like enough to frame and hang on their wall. Then I will consider the challenge officially met.

If anyone has an Etsy shop of their own and/or any advice to share, feel free to leave a comment or email me here.