Mayfaire 2011

I suspect, if you've been reading any of my recent posts, you are wondering how Lakeland treated me this year. Very well, thank you very much, although it was not nearly as wonderful as last year. Maybe I should retract that statement because even though my sales were lower, the weather was markedly better. As in, tolerable all weekend long, including the set up time.

We arrived just before the 4PM cut off time to get our registration package which included both the paperwork and goodies. Both kinds of M&M's, bottles of water, trail mix, pretzels and crackers. The reason I mention it is because both Bruce and I had to raid the goodie bag before we were done setting up to ward off famine. Please note in the above photo the blue umbrella behind my booth. Bruce fashioned a shade shelter for me to retreat to during slow times which fortunately were few. Because he was too busy to help at the show, he gave me a little knot tying tutorial hoping I could set it up by myself. I'm not sure if I did it right, but whatever I did worked. As well, please note the lovely green grass, unlike the pure dirt we faced in Ocala. Another great thing was that I faced the morning sun, rather than the blazing afternoon sun which makes an enormous difference, especially during the set up and take down. Here's what I had behind me:

Very nice indeed. The folks were nice, some repeat customers which is always a huge bonus, along with plenty of new ones. I drove back and forth this year, missing the awards party where Laurie Coppedge was announced as the $5,000 best in show winner. Astute readers may recall that she wins every show I enter. I'm never expecting a prize, probably because regular people like my stuff a bit. I'm at a loss as to the market for her kind of photography. Having said that, if you win big money like that at multiple shows, you don't really need a market, now do you?

By the time I got home Saturday night I was plenty bushed. Although it was bearable, it was hot nonetheless. Fortunately we had some leftovers to warm up for supper which we ate while watching the exciting Kentucky Derby. After a nice cool shower, a trip to Mr. Roger's house to pick up some prints I'd neglected to order, and a few minutes reading I fell soundly asleep underneath the fan set to maximum speed. Did I mention it was 9:00? Staying up late aren't I?

Good thing I slept so well because I had to get up around 5 in the morning to prepare the prints, dress for success and make the hour drive to Lakeland. Having driven it for three days in a row I can say it was pretty easy. I wouldn't want to do it every day or anything but it wasn't bad at all. Now, if there'd been an accident I'd be singing a very different tune about now. Oh yeah, it was Mother's Day wasn't it?

Somewhere I've lost some pink flip flops that I was pretty keen on before their disappearance. Bruce, otherwise known as my perfect husband (he denies it, but it's certainly true to me), remembered that and went on a search mission as only he can to find me some new ones for a Mother's Day gift. That darling boy had a pink theme going on, putting the shoe box in a pink gift bag with printed pink tissue, along with a PINK card. He's a doll for sure!

Jonathan gave me three DVD series of Friday Night Lights, a show he swears I'll love. Bill called later in the day, I think Matt phoned on the computer before we returned, and David presented me with a stellar bottle of wine which we picked up from his condo while there to do a photo shoot. He was so hoping I wouldn't be too tired and I wasn't.

What for you ask? David has amassed a one of a kind collection of wrestling cards, of which he's very proud. He wrote to the editor of a sports card magazine regarding same, convincing them of the news worthiness of his collection. To accompany the story they needed photographs and Dave told them his mom would be happy to help. And she was. Anyone who has talked to David for only a few moments on the subject of wrestling cards knows that he is passionate beyond all reason. We didn't send this one to the editor, but I liked it nevertheless. Probably should have moved that candle....

The alarm went off at 4:45 this morning because Bruce had an early flight to the Boston area which woke me as well. Been up since, mostly finishing up all the details involved with a show. As in credit card entries which thankfully all went through! A trip to the bank was also in order. Silly me, the teller counted $180 more than I'd put on the slip. Woohoo! Don't ask me how I did that but wasn't it wonderful it was in my favor?

A final word before I go. Our dear friends Sam and Mary Whited showed up at the show to encourage me AND let me run to the terrific air conditioned outdoor potty. I was never clear if they drove from Orlando just to see me or what, but I'll tell you this much, it was a delight to see familiar faces. Their lovely daughter Amanda accompanied them, wearing the style of the day, a maxi dress. Or a maxi as we called them "back in the day." Plus, Mary brought some scrumptious brownies. The Beatles sang it so very well: All You Need is Love

Thank you for reading dear loved ones. Forgive any errors if you will, by now I'm already getting sleepy. :)

We're Almost Off

The prints are ready:

 And, thanks to Bruce, the panels are all nice and fresh:

Once he gets off a conference call, we will head out to Lakeland. This morning, just after 5, Bruce packed the truck, but not before he vacuumed it!! Can you believe he vacuumed this morning? Neither can I. He wanted me to ride in style. :)

I am booth 61:Mayfaire
Last year, it was the very best show that I'd ever done before. Then I did Winter Park....
I will be oh so happy if I do nearly as good as last year. I know what I want for Mother's Day.
This cat could care less how I do:

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my little reading circle.

P.S. I told you those plants were growing like nobodies business.

The Booth Shot

As promised, a few more highlights from the show:

People were so friendly, lots and lots of Moms and their daughters came on Sunday, which apparently has been going on for the 43 years the show has run. In fact, my last sale of the day was to a Mom buying her older daughter a gift for Mother's Day. Nice.

What we couldn't get over was downtown Lakeland. Lots of very cute and clean shops, bars, and restaurants line the streets named, Lemon, Lime, and Orange. Lakeland, as it turns out, was a citrus town long before it became known as the home to Publix.

I became aware of the show because one of Bruce's co-workers wives mentioned it at the annual Christmas party. She said it was an awesome event, and she was so right. If you can imagine, our booth was one street over from their beautifully restored 1914 home, which we toured after we closed on Saturday. Plus, Bruce forgot a few items, so after helping me open on Saturday, he drove home; upon his return a few hours later, parking was non-existent, however Jay's driveway was wide open. Hurray for friends. As well, yesterday I dropped off a large canvas at the Darden Headquarters that Jay is delivering to the woman who ordered it. How great is that?

I said Debbie made me aware of Mayfaire, but that's not entirely true. My friend, Brandy began doing the show about three years ago, not long after we met at the market. Before applying, I called Brandy and she confirmed that it is the best. Anyway, her girlfriend Marcy moseyed over to our side of the lake to say hello, but I never got over to see them, too many people all the time, which was a great problem to have! Tuesday night she called,  asking if I would mind doing a booth shot for her. Apparently her shot is not the best for applying to high end shows. Of course I said I'd be happy to help out. 

So yesterday afternoon she and Marcy arrived, setting up her booth in our side yard during the golden hour. Baxter and I watched. During the shoot, Marcy and Baxter watched:

Don't you just love the green grass against the black? She has the same panels as I do but they bought these black cloths that velcro over the mesh giving it a Very finished look. A photographer set up next to Brandy at Mayfaire suggested doing your booth shot,  not at a show, rather keep it very simple and set up on good turf. Now that I've seen this, I realize my booth shot needs improvement, mostly because I usually take it at a show when the light is either too harsh, the grass is spotty, and lastly, it looks cluttered. This is just fine when you're selling, not so much when you are trying to appeal to a judge.

Once again I apologize for the formatting of today's post. Yesterday I researched my problems, discovering that a small set of users are having issues. Well, I'm one of that set!

Did I tell you that Roger and Trish are taking a much needed two week vacation? Flying into Frankfurt, they were catching a connection to Rome for a few days stay,  then on to the port to board a cruise ship taking them through the Greek Isles. Nice, huh? Just before they left I told them that everything was conspiring to keep them home and printing, what with the Icelandic volcanic ash, chunks falling off the Coliseum, and of course, rioting in Greece. They went anyway. I did my best to order accordingly before they left, however, I never dreamed my inventory would be so diminished. Apparently, I didn't dream big enough did I?

101

Well, I had a very clever plan for today's post, however, the new layout editor thwarted my plans! I do so hope you'll ignore the crazy layout of the pictures! I've entered some captions on the album photos if you'd care to click to the full size album.

Thursday night, after a short rainfall, Bruce loaded the Element to the rafters, saving space for both of us to ride down together. Per my previous post, I was somewhat nervous before we left, however, once we were on the road, I settled down.

Arriving in Lakeland around 2, we made our way to spot 159, at the corner of Success (!!!) and Lake Morton,  after a very nifty drive-through registration at the Polk Museum of Art, which by the way, looks like it is amazing. I popped in there to use the restroom;  from what I saw, it is a very, very classy place. Note to self--a trip down to thoroughly see what they have is in order.

Did I tell you it was sweltering? I didn't? Well, it was. Fortunately we could park right in front of our space, unload, and set up. From the photo album you'll note there was a bench adjacent to our spot which was quite handy. Setting up in the afternoon when it is 95+ degrees is not anyone's idea of fun, but, set up we did, stopping every now and then to catch our breath. I told Bruce I was SO hot I couldn't think. He, of course, did very little complaining, which is why I did it for the both of us! A little after 5, we hopped into the car, turned the air conditioning to MAX, and headed the few blocks to downtown for much needed refreshments. 

A few years ago we enjoyed a memorable meal at Harry's in Lakeland, thus,  we were anxious to repeat the experience. As we were walking along the sidewalk, we came across the  pictured newspaper box. My jaw dropped when I saw the front page! Did I tell you already that although I entered that image, I've never even had it printed? Because the web site for the show used the alligator image, it never crossed my mind that the reporter would choose anything else. Neither of us had any change, so Bruce walked back to the nearest bar for some quarters. Once inside the restaurant, I found section B--yikes, there it was again! Turning to page B-6, there it was AGAIN in a larger version! Stop already!! Well, what could I do? 

I'd already decided if anyone asked about it, I'd just be honest, and that's exactly what I did. One woman came with the paper in hand looking for it. I've no doubt I'd have had a sale if only I'd prepared properly. Bruce, very nicely, suggested I learn something from this. As this is most likely the only time this will happen to me, I blew my chance!!!

But, not to worry, because as today's title alludes to, I sold 101 pieces, breaking all previous records by a long shot! I know that sounds impossible, but truth be told, that number may be wrong because once I added up all the money I had more than we recorded---so much nicer than having less.

Saturday's weather was an improvement on Friday's. Sunday it turned even a little cooler. The party on Saturday night was in a wonderful location next door to Hollis Gardens, with good food and wine. Naturally I didn't win any awards, but that's okay by me. Well, it better be okay, because it is out of my hands. I consistently lose to this woman: http://www.lauriecoppedge.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=4412&Akey=9B782DLQ. Most of the award winners are repeats from other shows I've entered, but as I've mentioned in the past, they depend on award money, I hope for real people to buy my photographs. Does that make sense? 

So here's some thanks to the real people who used credit to take home something from Out & About Photography: Kathleen, Joseph, Howard, Brian, Kristen, Mark, Paula, Stacy, Laura, Katherine, Erin, Sarah, Anne, Helen, Ray, Thomas, Stephanie, Kristine, Blair, Dawn, and Michelle. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Saving the most important thanks till last ,which goes to--you guessed it---my darling Bruce, whom without none of this would be possible. 

We'll talk more about this tomorrow, but for now, I'm still recovering!!!

Publicity

http://www.theledger.com/article/20100507/NEWS/5075024/1021/LIFE

http://www.theledger.com/article/20100507/NEWS/5075027/1021

For some reason, this has made me very nervous. I know, free publicity is always a good thing, but I'm thinking maybe I would have preferred to stay anonymous.  As such,  I just can't concentrate enough to write today if you'll forgive me.

We're heading over to Lakeland just as soon as Bruce returns from the year end inspections of the Red Lobster and Olive Garden he built in the Villages. Our tent has to be completely set up by 5:30 which means we'll be setting it all up in the heat of the day. Oh well, it will acclimate me for Saturday.

Wish us luck!

Out of Area

Our phone not only displays the caller id, but speaks it as well, which truth be told, is somewhat comical, albeit useful in some circumstances. If I'm in the backyard, I can hear who is calling, and know whether or not to run inside. Most of the time if I see or hear, out of area, I know it's a not a call worth running for. For whatever reason, this time I answered quite cheerfully to the out of area call. The young woman's voice on the other end said she was from the "Lakeland Ledger," presumably the local Lakeland newspaper. Because I'd already had a voice mail from the paper with an offer for a special $75 advertising offer, I immediately stated that I'd never done the "Mayfaire" before, thus no one would recognize my name-- an ad would not be useful. Immediately she said she wasn't calling about that, in fact, she was calling to interview me if that was okay. She began by asking if I minded giving my age, to which, of course, I said I didn't mind at all.

After the age question, she asked what kind of photography I did. Now, that was hard to answer. Looking at my website while we talked, she discovered from the home page (thank you Matt!) little bit of my range. She understood my hesitation. Some people would think that I primarily sell photographs of flowers, but after doing a little check on my first three months sales, that is not at all the case. I have my baskets sorted by rough categories--Beach/Landscape in one, Food/Wine, Flowers/Animals, and Funky stuff, which includes all manner of things. Turns out, if you remove Street Art (How Soon is Now?) from the equation, the sales are pretty evenly distributed.

At the outset I thought that having a wide range was a good thing, and I still do, but it has made ordering harder, and harder. What did you expect? That I'd take the easy way? Well, no, you knew I was a silly girl when you began reading this blog. For this show all the prints are supposed to be numbered, however, after dragging everything inside last week, I realized the task was too daunting for me. Maybe I'll start from here on out, but how in the world does one keep track of hundreds of images? Undoubtedly there are folks who can, but Mrs. Camera Crazy is not one of them.

Let's return to the interview, shall we?

One of her questions was, what image am I proud of? Yikes!!! How to answer that? That would be like asking me which of my new chairs I like best. I like them all for different reasons! I stammered that under the orange gallery, I particularly like "Three Faces," which for those of you who don't know what the heck I'm writing about, is a simple photograph of three orange and white daisies taken on Bruce's desk one morning. I think it was one of the first times I had an idea for a still life that really worked. I'd just told Bruce on Sunday evening how I remember being so thrilled when I took it; I not only printed it on my home printer, I took it to the dry cleaners, showing it off to the ladies! First off, we've been going there for years, secondly, they probably thought I was crazy, but that's how excited I was. That was the beginning of the end of only taking photographs while out and about. Increasingly, some of my best selling photos are ones I've shot around the house. Make that, in the garage, the backyard, the sunroom, the bathroom, the kitchen. You get my drift.

From there we covered how long I'd been doing photography, to which I gave my stock answer: "I've always been a photographer, I just used bigger equipment!" Silly, huh? Lots more questions and answers followed, in total we spent about twenty minutes on the phone. I realized after our conversation, I'd better get busy on making sure my website is in good form, although, for me, it's mostly something everyone has to have these days, however little traffic it generates. I've certainly given out the address thousands of times!

I've really no idea if my profile will run in the "Ledger," but it was pretty cool to be asked.

Here's my competition: Show Artists