Finally – it’s a go!?? I am officially IN BUSINESS.
A year ago I had NO interest in pursuing my own business but something changed that.?? My daughter.???? One day when she was a few months old I was assaulted with thoughts of my future.?? How would I feel when all my babies were grown and I didn’t have little ones to shoot anymore??? I was surprised by my??feeling of panic.?? I was suddenly very committed to wanting another baby.?? :)?? The plan is still to wait until Tori is three if you were wondering.
Last summer the above issue was really haunting me and I realized that the only way to ensure the satisfaction of my addiction was to start a business.?????? The reality though is…starting a business with 3 young children, hoping for more, and homeschooling…well that’s quite a bit on my plate already.?? This means I will have to keep my scope small for now and limit monthly sessions.?? Hopefully though, the next few years will give me a chance to strengthen my skills so that when the kids are older I can venture further out with this and maybe have a little helper or two to boot.?? I had to giggle this week when I noticed Graham and Braxtyn using my tripod for their “mock” studio.?? The whole photography thing is in the Zimmermann genes so that shouldn’t have been surprising.
Now onto the fun stuff…
Because this is my “grand opening”, I am going to run a little blog contest.?? The winner will receive a free 11×14 virtual oil print.?? Due to cost, I will be printing on lustre photographic paper instead of canvas for this give away but you will notice on my web site that I only intend to sell these paintings on canvas because IMHO, that’s what they are destined for.?? 🙂
Here is how this will work.?? You have until Wednesday at 8:00 PM MST to submit your photo to me.?? It must meet the following criteria.
1.?? You must own the rights to the photo.?? I can’t paint and print a photo taken by a pro photographer without their copyright release.???? Please affirm in your email to me that you own the rights to the photo you are submitting.
2.?? For the sake of this contest, please submit human subjects only.
3.?? Submit??ONE digital image to me by emailing it to doni@jimanddoni.com sized 600 pixels wide for landscape or 400 pixels wide for portrait images.???? Please do not scan photos.?? Original digital images only. (If you are the winner, I will ask you to email the original full size photo).
4.?? Yes family can enter the contest.?? I am not choosing the winner – my blog readers are so if you get the most votes – you win.?? 😉
I assume most voters will be biased on which submission they are voting for but if you happen to be a non biased voter, I would ask that you vote for the photo that you would most like to see painted.
On Thursday I will post on my blog all the images submitted and voting can begin.???? Voting criteria is:
1.?? You can only vote??ONCE and??for only ONE picture??and yes you can vote for your own submission.
2.?? Yes you can harass other people in to voting for you.
3.?? Vote by commenting on the blog with all the submissions.?? They will be numbered for easy reference.
Voting will close on Sunday at 8:00 PM MST.?? I will close the comments at that time.
Monday morning the winner will be announced.?? It may take 2 to 3 weeks for me to complete the digital painting but I will post it when I am finished and then mail the 11×14 to the winner.
To keep the suspense going, I am not going to approve new commenter votes right away.?? The security on this blog is such that I always have to approve first time commenter’s.?? Once approved, they can comment freely after that.?? I do this to keep from being spammed.???? In thinking about the logistics of this it occurred to me that some of you might illicit the help of friends and family to comment.?? :)?? I would then predict that you will keep checking back to see what the vote looks like so you can strategize just how many PLEASE VOTE FOR ME EMAILS you need to send.?? This would mean that next Thursday at 7:59 PM this site could look like a wicked cool Ebay auction with everyone waiting until the last possible second to submit their bid.?? :)?? It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark you know – yours truly is a long range thinker.?? :)?? (And pride comes before a fall so if I have failed to predict an unfortunate outcome based on my voting idea, please email and enlighten me).?? 🙂
To avoid the last minute out vote scenario, I will keep you guessing by holding back all the votes of new commenter’s until I close the comments.?? In this way, you will not be able to keep checking on the comments and know where you stand.????You’ll just have to be surprised that Aunt??Sally in Kentucky REALLY did vote and I didn’t let you see it until the end.?? :)???? And yes, I could do totally anonymous voting but I admit to a strategic plan in this.?? Sending hits to a blog entry that has my business url in it will help raise my business google standing.
Here is a picture of Seth (Heidi’s son) that I painted back in December from a picture that she had taken and emailed to me.
Okay….now you have two homework assignments.?? First – go visit my new business site and tell me what you think.?? If anything jumps out at you as an “oops” – please email me.?? Hopefully the galleries will load fine for you but I am not going to give you any pointers because I want to see how it works without any instructions.?? Second – email me your submission.?? You only have until Wednesday night.?? Several friends have asked about this so here is your opportunity at getting a painting for FREE. 🙂
Ready…set….GO!
18 responses to “Live Loved Photography”
I would submit my photo, which would win, but since I AM YOUR FATHER I am reasonably certain I can bribe you to paint whatever I want so I will abstain from entering. My vote however is up for sale but my price is steep. To get it you have to be the mother (present or future) of one or more of my grandchildren. One suggestion. Let the winner pay to upgrade the printing to canvas if they should so desire. It would be a pity not to give the winning photo its best look.
This is very exciting! How will I ever decide which image to send in?
lovin your idea! 🙂
i’m abstaining from submitting a picture for the same reasons as papa z. 😉 (presumptuous aren’t i? maybe not – the image of seth proves what you are willing to do for a sister! ha ha! 🙂 the picture did turn out to be SOOO beautiful though didn’t it??? YES!!!! I LOVE IT! THANKS SIS!!!”
that said, i too can be bought out if you want my vote. 😉 steep price for me too… be creative in your attempts to bribe me. HA!
and i agree – paying to upgrade to canvas is a perfect option for the winner… if you intend to win, plan on doing that – make the investment – SO worth it!
Doni I love the site! the gallery is amazing! I would suggest figuring out a way that people don’t have to download the progam to view the gallery. Is that program (can’t remembe the name even though I downloaded it 5 min ago… sheesh) common on newer computers? Min is running XP and is 4 or 5 years old now which I know makes it a dinasaur. I just think that people may be hesitant to download a program and would keep them from seeing your beautiful work. For example if I were shopping for a photographer and it came to viewing two different sites and one required me to download a program and the other didn’t I’d move on and view the one that didn’t require a download. Just a thought.
Now to pick my favorite picture…
Heidi remember I’ve known you the longest 🙂
also i can’t spell dinosaur
Doni, I checked out your whole site AND I think it is amazing!!!! I was giddy at the thought of getting one of your virtual oil prints!!!! Oohhhh, I better start looking through my photos….I am so glad that I have been going through all my photos and deleting bad ones. At least I have an idea of what was in each folder now…I better get looking!!!!
Hi Donielle,
I just wanted to give you a heads up that I emailed you about your new business site. I knew you probably wouldn’t recognize my email address.
Brenda – good thought and one I have considered. Eventually I want to move to a flash site but I chose this for now because it was a free open source that Jim could manipulate and I liked the way it worked. As for the download issues – this is relatively new BUT my money is on the fact that everyone will be needing it soon because it is MICROSOFTS version of Flash. And yes, most people won’t know that and may very well make the choice not to download it but I also think most people that visit my business site for now will do so with purpose (they were referred to it by someone) and are not just randomly finding it off a search engine (I am doing word of mouth advertising only). Therefore, if random viewers decide not to install Silverlight I am okay with that because I am trying to keep my focus small now anyhow. In the future though, I do intend to change it for exactly the reason you stated.
Papa – you do realize of course that more than one of your daughters could post grandchild photos and then your name could be mud. I wouldn’t want to be YOU – or Heidi either LOL.
Oh I am so excited. I am looking at your site right now. So far I am lovin it!
Jere’
Congratulations! Your site looks fantastic. Very you! I am excited for you as you start on your new adventure.
LOVE the website. Gallery is amazing. The ‘About Me’ portion made me laugh- loved the reference to zookeeping as it pertains to parenting! 🙂
Great job.
Hooray! I so excited that it’s official! I have many appointments I need to schedule with you! I LOVE your website! It’s amazing! I’ve never had real, quality professional pictures done of anything–except for my wedding and I had this amazing lady do Micah’s 2 year pictures–hee hee! I cannot wait to capture memories and moments of my children, pregnancy, family, etc. I know your business will be successfull and I’m so excited and happy for you!!!!
The website is just perfect and I just love looking at your galleries- your pictures are beautiful.
Papa Z and Heidi- my pockets are deep (not telling with what 😉 ) but they are deep 😀 !!!
(plus I didn’t even hesitate with which pic to submit so I know you won’t hesitate with your vote 🙂 )
I am soooo excited! I LOVE it! I keep looking at everything over and over again! I am so proud of you. xoxo
I noticed it right away and checked out the site before I even read the post! It looks fantastic! I’d hire you for sure! 🙂 Now what picture am I going to send????
I would love to see if you have a nother contest in the future, also in the near future I want you to shoot photos of my boys. I have some picutre of them on my blog. Blessings!
I vote for # 24