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Thursday, March 03, 2005
Kool And The Gang
While Eli is having fun with his new D70, I got the phonecam out for a primitive shot:
Taking a break to celebrate my first photo sales.
I have sold 6 prints (none taken with the phone) since my photo gallery went live! Thanks to my new customers (heh, I have customers) and to all who have given me support, feedback and continued readership. It means a lot to me.
I don't have time at the moment, but I do plan to expand the product set very soon to include matting, framing, greeting cards and the like. Right now life is a bit too harried as I get ready to head out to NYC on Saturday (Course development? Not done.), but keep those cards and letters coming!
ntodd
[Update: Here's what my president and mentor had to say:
The first sale is the biggest. It says you can do it and then slaps you with the reality of how many times you have to do it.
Let's see...one meeelyon dollars divided by 25 bucks a pop ('til I raise my "friend sale" prices)...carry the one...oh shit. 40,000 prints. Um, if everybody would buy two, that would really help.]
['nother update: one of the errands I ran today was picking up a pair of contact lenses from my eye doctor--I apparently used my last pair back in January, but hadn't noticed because I've been exclusively wearing my glasses since I had the flu. Doc gave me a free pair to hold me over until my order arrives next week. Anyhoo, it's not as much of a non sequitur as you think:
Don't tell anyone, but I'm practically blind without corrective lenses.
Actually, the glasses are a disguise to protect my secret identity when I'm walking around Metropolis...]
March 3, 2005 | Permalink
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Comments
*coff coff*
Okay, perfesser. When do I get to lecture you on the evils of smoking? ...although the occasional cigar can't compare with having been born and living in Los Angeles County in respect to damaged lungs...
Posted by: ellroon | Mar 3, 2005 5:17:10 PM
And should we order the photos we would like as cards now or when you got that worked out?
You said also that other photos not showing up in the Gallery could be bought if we just asked. Should we order them (with your titles) from the Gallery site?
Posted by: ellroon | Mar 3, 2005 5:24:35 PM
When do I get to lecture you on the evils of smoking?
Yeah, yeah, goo...er, Mom already has. But I can't play poker without one, and I felt like being decadent. Once a month can't kill me, right? RIGHT?!
As for ordering stuff that's not in the Gallery, go ahead and e-mail me the names of the shots you'd like as cards or prints, and I'll work things out with you. I've set up some test stuff for greeting cards, so I probably can deliver pretty soon.
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 3, 2005 5:28:33 PM
Once a month can't kill me, right? RIGHT?!
Apart from your mortality... will Stef come within 10 feet of you when you've been smoking one of those things?
Congrats on the sales, NTodd. Well-begun is half done. (Or so they say. In my youth, I was always hearing the phrase "half done" in a less positive context!)
Posted by: Steve Bates | Mar 3, 2005 6:20:19 PM
Are you kidding? On Poker Night I'm not allowed to come to bed until I shower, even if it's 5AM. Stef can't stand stale cigar smell. Actually, neither can I...
And for the record, *I'm* the one who came up with the household rule that smoking must be done outside--that was back when I first bought the house in '95, and my housemate and I would host parties. Smoking is vile, evil, and messy.
Apropos of nothing, my dad used to smoke a pipe. My favorite present to give him was a pouch of tobacco. I loved going to the tobaccanist. But when I was 6, I learned that smoking was bad for you so for Father's Day I gave him the best gift ever: I demanded he quit smoking. He did.
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 3, 2005 6:44:00 PM
So for your birthday, and to assure future birthdays, I now officially give you the same one you gave your dad: Quit smoking! There's enough crap in your genes (pun intended) for you to deal with...
Posted by: gootch | Mar 3, 2005 7:51:12 PM
I think it only works when really cute 6-year olds do it. Besides, artists are supposed to self-destruct, aren't they? Be happy I'm not cutting my ear off... :-)
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 3, 2005 7:55:29 PM
Woohoo! Congrats, dude! The free market is a byootiful thing.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find my straight razor.
Posted by: Eli | Mar 3, 2005 8:21:36 PM
Not to mention that stogie looks like something Cairo left in the yard...
Posted by: Mustang Bobby | Mar 3, 2005 8:48:11 PM
As a dope smoking, and occasionally a cigar kind of guy who also drives a cadillac named Boudreaux, sometimes we just have to do things for the flavor and style of it. It makes us look good. Ask your mother about high heels. Touche.
Congratulations. I'd light one up and celebrate with you, but it's raining here and cigars do not smell good the next morning with the house all shut up.
Posted by: Houston | Mar 3, 2005 9:25:42 PM
6 sales online? I'm 33% of your sales? I'll skip the cigar, it's already smoking hot down here working the desk at the mouth of hell. Good job, enjoy NYNY.
Posted by: The Heretik | Mar 3, 2005 10:12:44 PM
Dude. Cigars are just eeeeeeeee-veeeeel!
My dad used to have a huge pipe collection (no, not that kind). That sweet smell of pipe tobacco . . . .come to think of it, that made me pretty ill, too.
Oh, and in case anyone is keeping count: left eye -4.5, right eye -4.5. Bet I'm blinder than you.
Posted by: watertiger | Mar 3, 2005 10:57:32 PM
"...I do plan to expand the product set very soon..."
Well, the one I'd like to see is Sam's butt sticking out from under the furniture. Seriously. That pic contains Essence of Cat.
Posted by: Ivytree | Mar 3, 2005 11:52:27 PM
One nice thing about being a woman is that you just don't ever have to spend any time debating with yourself about whether or not to light up a cigar. That is such a relief. :-)
Can you please post the link to your gallery so we don't have to go to the original post, NTodd? If you already have, can you direct me to it?
I got a cool birthday card from my best friend, today. She took a photo of some low-lying clouds backlit by the sun against a blue sky and put that on the front flap of a personalized card talking about silver linings. It was very creative and very sweet...Happy Birthday to me...
Posted by: Alex | Mar 4, 2005 12:48:34 AM
...my own spectacles: 20/400
blind as the proverbial bat
Posted by: Darryl Pearce | Mar 4, 2005 2:14:23 AM
I'm off to find my straight razor.
I understand that Van Gogh also rubbed lemon juice into his wound. I hate it when that happens.
that stogie looks like something Cairo left in the yard...
You haven't seen her piles. They look nothing like that. Not sure about the smell...
I'd light one up and celebrate with you, but it's raining here and cigars do not smell good the next morning with the house all shut up.
I'll count you as sharing a virtual stogie with me. As it is, I wasted have the damn thing because it was so fucking cold and windy outside.
I'm 33% of your sales?
You are, indeed, though it looks like my sales stats will be changing soon. And you are not my biggest customer!
Oh, and in case anyone is keeping count: left eye -4.5, right eye -4.5. Bet I'm blinder than you.
-6.0, both eyes. But I squint real good.
Can you please post the link to your gallery so we don't have to go to the original post, NTodd? If you already have, can you direct me to it?
Yup! Here's a link, plus I've put it up in my Support Dohiyi Mir section in the right navbar, just below the Perranoski Prize graphic.
And Happy Birthday!
blind as the proverbial bat
Do you use echolocation to compensate?
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 4, 2005 6:23:10 AM
Hee. Very gonzo. And congratulations on the photo sales.
Posted by: TheaLogie | Mar 4, 2005 8:56:32 AM
Speaking of vision, I wear rigid gas-permeable contacts and use reading glasses; the curse of being far-sighted in one eye, near-sighted in the other, astigmatic in both, and having strabismus (aka cross-eyed). But I can wear my Rayban Wayfarers when I drive...
Posted by: Mustang Bobby | Mar 4, 2005 9:41:32 AM
Thea - I hope "NTodd photography" becomes as well known as "gonzo journalism".
MB - Why is the Don Henley song "Boys of Summer" running through my mind now?
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 4, 2005 12:54:31 PM
Oddly enough, smoking that cee-gar, you look a lot like Chris Hoard. Who's he? Well, he co-wrote Reaching For The Uncommon Chord with Allan Holdsworth, a part bio, part tablature book on Holdsworth's life and music. I was a guest of Chris' on a trip out to SoCal a few years back, where we attended Holdsworth's 51st birthday party. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know about your doppelganger. :)
.
Posted by: Jeffraham Prestonian | Mar 4, 2005 12:58:29 PM
great, so that means you made sixty bucks, WTF.
i'm telling you digital photography is evil.
more money dude, you can't even get a memory card for sixty bucks.
hey, how much for that dog pic. i like? maybe 5 bucks, 'cause i like it so much.
compasionate liberals, go figure.
congrats.
Posted by: charley | Mar 4, 2005 1:47:41 PM
BTW, nice self portraits.
Posted by: charley | Mar 4, 2005 1:49:54 PM
NTodd - because you're seeing me cruising down Biscayne Boulevard in the Mustang with the top down and the CD player blasting away, that's why.
Posted by: Mustang Bobby | Mar 4, 2005 1:50:13 PM
JP - I look 51? Oh my, I haven't aged well.
charley - Some of the pics were TWWWWWENTYYYY DOLLARRRRRRS! 'sides, these are just friend rates. I'll be raising prices soonish--about the same time I start actually marketing. That would require I finish the offical website, and maybe the business plan, though. Anyhoo, thanks for the congrats and the comment on the self portraits.
MB - did you see a Dead Head sticker on any Cadillacs?
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 4, 2005 2:07:39 PM
Okay. Have a list of photos I want for cards, and a few for prints. Where is the snow star one..the shot of the pine with snow on it shaped like a star? And I couldn't remember all your gallery names and couldn't pull up a shot of rocks under running water of a stream. And is the shot of Sam as a kitten in the library out of focus? Didn't find that one either.
Was thinking that some of these photos are delightful enough to ask for a box (20?) of cards alone, others (such as catblogging etc) would work well as a mix of four (again, maybe 5 each = 20 cards). You know you gotta somehow sign these photos to protect your work, a signature within the photo layout? Or stamping the backside of the photo? You will list your Gallery site on the back at least cuz we gotta get your name out there!
Posted by: ellroon | Mar 4, 2005 2:16:58 PM
NTodd -- No, Chris Hoard wasn't 51 -- Holdsworth was. Chris was in his thirties at the time (I'm thinking this was like August of 1997). I guess Chris is about the same age I am, 41.
.
Posted by: Jeffraham Prestonian | Mar 4, 2005 2:49:31 PM
ellroon -
Have a list of photos I want for cards, and a few for prints.
You can find the snow star here in the official gallery. The other two I haven't posted for sale, but can certainly do custom stuff. Did you mean this water/rock shot, and one of these Sam pics?
To be honest, I'm not sure how a lot of my older stuff will print. Early Sam pics were taken with my Elura, so are very low res, and the first few months with the D70 I was still trying to get a handle on how it worked. Eh, I could print 'em and just call 'em loss leaders or something.
Was thinking that some of these photos are delightful enough to ask for a box (20?) of cards alone
I'm playing around with a quick and dirty version of the shot of Saff in the frying pan via Cafe Press, per a reader request. They only come in boxes of 6, and Cafe Press takes a huuuge cut, so I'll be looking around for other options (including doing handmade stuff) when I get back from NYC.
You know you gotta somehow sign these photos to protect your work, a signature within the photo layout? Or stamping the backside of the photo? You will list your Gallery site on the back at least cuz we gotta get your name out there!
I haven't figured out the best way to do all of that yet, but I do plan on signing and putting the URL on the prints and cards somehow (also want to electronically watermark the online files). Right now these can be thought of as limited unsigned editions at bargain basement prices. I'm keeping track of who bought what so maybe you'll also get signed copies later on--two for the price of one! I really just posted everything to light a fire under my own ass: I figured if I had something really at risk, I'd get moving faster on everything.
JP - Oh thank goodness.
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 4, 2005 3:45:01 PM
I haven't seen a Deadhead on a Cadillac recently, but I did see one on a Bentley. On Miami Beach.
Posted by: Mustang Bobby | Mar 4, 2005 8:07:52 PM
Nice work NTodd! Keep it up. Cigars are fun every now and then, but yech the stench. My sister and I were walking around lower Manhattan and she bought me a nice Cohiba at the Mulberry St. Cigar Shop. It was a pretty good smoke.
Posted by: MarkS | Mar 4, 2005 9:18:01 PM
I loooove the glasses picture! While I'm not quite as blind as some of you, that picture represents what morning is like for me - a blur with one clear spot (usually the coffee maker, because the mind can make clear the object of desire and necessity). If I could get a copy of that sort of small-ish, I would finally have found the right picture for my too small, black and white bathroom.
Posted by: Reba | Mar 5, 2005 11:24:35 AM
Reba - your wish is my command. Will do when I get back home.
Posted by: NTodd | Mar 6, 2005 2:41:15 PM
Buy me stuff off my 
