Merry Christmas!!! :)

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas to all! :)
December has been a nice DL month, I broke my old ODD record just half way through the month, and got another EL just before Christmas. In addition, I got my first sale on a new-for-me print-on-demand site - someone liked my image enough to want it on their wall - sweet! :)

Here is the EL pic from Christmas week:


I hope Santa is kind to everyone, and Holiday spirits are high :)

The Christmas month, Christember!

December aka Christember is here! :P An EL found its way to my port on the first day - awesome! Let there be MANY!

Also, I got my BigStock port started with help of SS Bridge to BigStock, and my first sale over there. Hank got the honor to be the first in his Christmas wreath outfit ;) Happy, happy month to one and all :D

******

Let's make it TWO ELs for the first day -- and a big big hip hip hurray on top! :D

Disappointment!

Oh, yeah.
November has been a great disappointment.
Last year the DLs were way up in November, making it the best month I've ever had, download wise - even now, with a port three times as big I'm way down. I was hoping to get to same amount of DLs, and past it, but unless something wild happens in the last days of the month I won't be anywhere near last year's numbers.
Oh well, not much you can do!
I did get one more EL early in the month, it seemed like it went to the same place the previous law enforcement EL went.



After that, the DLs have been declining, very little Christmas DLs overall at the best Christmas selling time of the year......
*sigh*
Sometimes it just "bees" that way ;)
Maybe things will pick up after Thanksgiving and the sales are awesome all the way till Christmas...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

November rain...

Yes, It's actually raining! After a hot summer and a long drought we're getting a little more rain, which is awesome! Just hoping for that slow soaking rain to fill in the reservoirs, ponds and creeks. Also, unexpectedly, the colors outside are magnificent! The couple of frosty nights we had have turned the leaves in the trees to a rainbow of colors, what a beautiful sight! :)

On stock side of things October totaled six ELs again, as posted below. Thank You!
 






November started out with an EL on the first day, and yet another today, on the 7th -- let them come! :)



I also ventured out to a local arts and crafts fair with my pictures, and sold a few. The main achievement for me was just to get out there, see that I can do it, and learn what I need to improve with for the next time out. Mission accomplished! :)

Let it rain, let it rain!

$3K reached - new pay level!

Reaching the next level took a couple more days than I thought it would, due to low ODDs and a sudden waning off of overall DLs. However, my goal I had set to the 10th several months ago was cleared by four days, as I arrived to the $3K earned today, so that's a plus!

Now onto new heights!! :)

Nice Going, September, Welcome October!

September ended up pretty awesome -  total of six ELs made their way in my port, and I also reached 5000 all time images sold.

The next goal is reaching my next pay raise - $3000 earned is only a few days away, and I hope I land that goal sooner than later :)

September was pretty  good with overall downloads, however the third week saw the most of them. The last week was rich in ELs (3), but not as high in DLs as the previous week. September did make it to my 2nd best month ever both in earnings and downloads, so that's all good. Now to reach for the #1 spot for both is a stretch, but one's gotta hope for best! ;)


Here are my EL images of September

September....

September is here, the summer is gone. Yesterday was the last hot summer day with 100+F degrees, today is cloudy, windy and 20 degrees colder. Brrr!! Bring my winter clothes!!

May and June were awesome EL months - four for each month which is quite GRAND for me! :)

Then July dropped down to two, and August only saw one EL - a Christmas image!!

I lost one of my cute blue tabbies to a coyote - so only one of the sisters is left. Poor baby - she was a super sweet, albeit a little shy - little kitty. Her sister's best friend and play buddy :( Rest In Peace, Sweetie.

The kids flew in in June and out again in August. Why, oh why does time fly so fast when you're having fun? And fun we had. (((HUGS))) to both of you.

So, September is here - cold and windy like falls usually are... Hummers will be gone soon, and butterflies - the very few we've had during this excruciatingly dry and hot summer - will wane off for winter.

Let's have the thumbs up for the fall - and lots of visits from the Sweet Little EL Fairy!! ;)

Whoah!!! Or, no, really... keep on!!! :)

As this week started I was expecting a slowish week with the approaching Easter and holidays. Little did I know I was about to get hit with the most amazing week yet on my stock journey.
Monday started out nice with DLs, but every one of them was "just" a regular subscription DL. ODDs, the ones that had been bringing me more $$ earlier in the month were avoiding me like plague.
Then it started on Tuesday... an EL on a kitty pic...
Following that, THREE ELs on Wednesday on two Hummers and a butterfly.
That was already unbelievable!
Thursday, another EL, for Hank wearing a Santa hat. The image had never sold before!
Friday reduced me to tears. Another EL on a butterfly. This was surreal, things like this don't happen to me!! My friends on SS forum called me after an amazing lady photographer, Sandra Cunningham, whose port you can find here:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-usandralise.html

What an honor... but... she's in her own class, miles above :)
Let's not lower her to my low level...LOL


Now, wondering how next week will turn out after a total surprise last week! :O

Here are the wonder makers:




Yeahh!!

And... Thank You!

April, April...

March ended with tears and passing of Tux, The Amazing Stray. What a wonderful, fun little friend he was. We will all miss him, including Hank The Tank. Rest In Peace, Little Man, and Thank You for the time you spent with us.






April started out slow, then BOOM, two ELs in two days! That's the first time I've ever had two in the same week, or on two consecutive days! That made the week by far my best week ever, and now, of course, the next goal is to top that one day. A Girl's Gotta Dream, eh?!!

Here are the smile makers of the week:

A pretty little Hummer, just waiting for summer...



...and taking his well deserved place as the earner #1 after having been the most popular for months....


Now on to chasing more DLs, ODDs and ELs... :)

Yes, It Is Spring!!!

The butterflies are back!! It's officially spring!! :)
The winter was quite mild, with two short bouts of snow, although it did get bitterly cold for a couple of days/nights both times. But, it's late March, grass is greening up, trees are blooming, and butterflies are back to make it all that much more beautiful! :)

First one of my this spring's flutterbys submitted to SS:

Chicks!!

There are CHICKS... loads of fluffy little CUTE chicks.... ready for Easter fun :)
Get yourself a smile from my port :)

It took eight days of March to get my first EL, on another butterfly photo. Now hoping for the chickies to get some... ;)

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly:


And a cute chickie in celebration of SPRING!

March is marching in

As February faded away, on the last day I got another nice EL on one of the butterflies. It was a short month that felt long due to a long wait for ELs ;)

As March arrived I was waiting for my newest Easter pics to get through review, and they got rejected for infringing my rights... yep, MY rights.
MY bad, of course, since I didn't submit a property release for my hand painted fancy eggs. OK, they are NOT so fancy, but they did take a lot of work.
So, I resubmitted with a release and am now waiting waiting waiting... and hoping hoping hoping they get through and that they sell, too. Of course, *I* think they're really cute, but it doesn't help one ounce unless the buyers think so, too, AND find them usable for their purposes... maybe a few ELs... har har har...
A Girl Must Dream, eh?

Enough of talk, let's get to commercials...
Here's the latest EL butterfly:




Let's have some MORE, now... :D

Hank rules!

February's first EL went to Hank aka The Blonde One.
I also reached my first 1000 pics online, now headed for my next full thousand ;)
Sales have been slowish in February, the EL came just in time to pick it up a little. A whole lot of picking up needs yet to happen to catch up...

Here's Hank, the cutie pie :)

February! Snow!

Yes, we finally got some snow. The forecasters called last week's storm the "Colossal Winter Storm". We got winds, snow and cold temps. And lots of beautiful snow pics!!
This week we got it again, only in a smaller scale. Less snow, less wind, but still cold... and I'm planning on getting some more nice snow pics - of the ponies, kitties and birdies!
Today I'm at 999 images and one video online - looks like the next review should get me past the first 1000 pic upload mark.

My favorite pony pic of the last "snow event"...

Almost February....

Time flies when you're having fun, and all that :)

January presented itself with TWO new ELs, one for the EL veteran image "horse butts in snow" and the other to an image of Blackie, our pretty calico kitty in late afternoon sun.

This week has been SLOW, today being the worst day of the week so far... and the weekend is yet to arrive - it will be worse! :O

It's nice and balmy outside for late January - forecast is promising us with a sunny day of 70F. I think I'll just go out and enjoy that!! :)

Here are the two EL images of the month:

JJ & Hank in snow


Blackie

Happy New Year!

2011 is here, and I wish health, happiness and prosperity to all for the New Year!!



Let there be sunshine and joy!!! :D