We planted these plants – squash or cucumbers – a month ago, they will go into the garden when it gets a bit warmer (I’d put them in today, but Maria won’t let me) and they are zooming up, we have a lot of plants growing indoors for the garden and a lot of them are ready to go. But I love the way the sun comes in during mid-day and lights them up. I think we are going to have a great garden.
So another chapter in the long-running drama over whether and how to sell my photos. All of my photos on the site are free, and you are welcome to use them any way you wish. Often people want to buy them. I have been confused and frustrated about selling them. Digital photography has upended the photography market and generally it is so expensive to print and matt photos that most people don’t want to or can’t buy them.
I’m not selling $400 framed photos, that won’t work for me. Last night I got a call from Gregory Deluca of Pawlet, Vt. who is opening a gallery this summer on the road between Dorset and Pawlet, Vt. He wants to call it W Vanderlit & Co. (more about that later).
He is an ex-New Yorker who worked in the pet industry, among other things, and he is funny and smart and practical and while I began the conversation saying I wasn’t interested in selling photos, it ended with my agreement to sell a few at a low price – about $30 – $40 – and see how it went.
Greg and I clicked and I got a good response to this idea on Facebook. The problem is people often say they want to buy photos, but they often find it too expensive. Greg says the answer is to choose them carefully and print and mat and sell them cheaply and he has ideas about that. I told him I would be happy to sell them at cost from my end, I like the idea of my photos moving around the world. He is a businessman, not a non-profit, so he needs to make some money.
I asked if he would be comfortable discussing this directly with the people who say they are interested in buying some, and he said he was happy to do that. His e-mail is [email protected]. Not that it is my business, but I was a bit horrified at the name of the gallery -WVanderlit. Greg is not snooty in the least but I said the name sounded like a Swiss Funeral Home to me. I asked him what his dog’s name is (he also makes and sells organic dog treats) and he said “Gracie.” Sounded good to me. I wouldn’t personally even dare to walk into a place called WVanderlit & Co., I would expect they would take a look at me, wrinkle their noses and toss me out on the street. Greg is putting his gallery into a barn on Route 30 between West Pawlet and Dorset, Vt. and will be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Anyway, I love interactivity and this is a sane way to use Facebook rather than simply reporting you like something and are going to the bathroom. Feel free to e-mail Greg – [email protected] – and offer your ideas about the photos. Which ones you like, which one you might consider buying and at one price. Maybe we can use the Internet to make this work for everyone. Greg can sell them over the phone or from a website. The challenge, I think, is to choose a handful and sell them cheaply. If this works, we can keep it going. If not, we can just stop. Greg is also interested in having some of Maria’s work in his gallery, especially her quilts and potholders. He said he thought her quilts were “stunning,” he did not say any of my photos were “stunning.” Despite that, I liked him a lot, I think he really knows what he is doing, and he is not as pompous as the name he is thinking about. He’s coming over next Wednesday to meet Maria and I, and we’ll see. Feel free to jump into the process, I told him this is a community. If you like “Gracie” as a name, tell him or come up with another idea. He will listen. I think I shook him up about the name. Help me steer him on a better path.
Like dogs and other animals who have always lived around humans, donkeys need attention. When Maria comes into the barn in the morning, they all line up around her (or me, if I’m not holding the camera) and wait to be touched, brushed and talk to. They sometimes need this more than they need hay. They need attention as much as they need food. It grounds them and I believe this is where they send messages to us, they talk to us, sniff out our emotions, fulfill the ancient and history role of donkeys as the partners of humans in the world.
I am always touched to see the depths of affection the donkey show to me and Maria. While she brushes one, the other will bump into her or to me, a signal to pay attention, put the camera down, show some emotion. Donkeys open us up. They are sending me messages, even if I do not always know what they are.
