Blog Entry

Print store open for business

So, after an embarrassingly long (6 month) wait, I can finally announce that I have photos available for sale online. My photography has always been a borderline neurotic (ok, just plain neurotic) labor of love, and I'm always hesitant to put things up for show unless they're perfect. There was much humming and hawing, and adjusting of curves and color casts, and checking of proofs to make sure everything was in it's right place. Before I get on to any of the details, I present:

http://photos.matttrent.com

(but, keep reading below, there's a contest)

It is my goal to replace my aging Nikon D70 this year, and I'm hoping to partly fund that with a few print sales. In order to even hope to get a start on this, I need get this a bit more exposure than my limited online presence can provide. So, I'd like to ask for everyone's help in passing the URL along to friends, or anyone else you think might be interested. I know that publicity doesn't come for free, and I'm prepared to offer a reward for people's efforts.

So, I'll offering coupons for a free 8x12 or 8x8 print for the top 10 sources of traffic to the print store. The timeframe will be from today (Monday, Feb 02) to Monday, Feb 09, inclusive. At that time, I'll announce the winners here. Blog it, Twitter it, stick it on Facebook. I appreciate any and all link love (whether online or offline) I get.

While I'm somewhat partial, I don't think folks will be disappointed. The prints are very good quality. There are a number of different options out there, and in the end I decided upon Zenfolio because it had the highest quality of prints of any of the services I evaluated. And, I mean very high quality. For anyone that has seen the 2 prints above my futon, I've tweaked the current offering to look considerably better. They look gooood.

The current selection is just a preview of things to come. I wanted to start with a set that was both representative of my tastes as well as something chosen by my friends, who are my customers, after all. I took all the input I received from the various people who took the time to vote on the photos I have available on Flickr and added a few more to the mix that I either had a soft spot for, or thought would be a good test of the printers' abilities.

It's a start and I hope a good the waters. It took me an incredible number of hours of proofing and retouching to get all the photos to the point that I'd be proud to have the hanging one someone's wall. Over the next few months, I plan to expand the selection. I also have some plans for photo tours of the Lower Mainland and Pacific Northwest in general, expanding my theme of minimalist landscapes. Aside from that, I am beginning to collect the next set of photos to fill in the partial series of photos I have up there already.

The entire thing has been a learning experience, and I'm still sorting through all the bits. If you like something on my Flickr site that you don't see here, drop me a line at site+photo@matttrent.com and let me know. Check back for more excitement.