Blog Business Post

Hi everyone.  Long time no post, eh?

There are a number of issues that I wanted to address:

SPAM

First on the list is the Spam issue, but more importantly the incorrect classification of good comments as spam.  I’ve run out of options with the current configuration.  Our choices at this point are:

1. Leave things as they are and try to train the filter to leave the people we like alone.
2. Increase the number of permitted links in a comment.  This will reduce the mistaken classifications slightly while also slightly increasing the number of spam comments getting through.  Some of our friends will still be sentenced to purgatory by mistake.
3. Require commentors to be registered and then remove the filter.  This will probably be the most effective means to solve the problem, but will likely put a damper on the voices of those who prefer more annonymity.

COST

I’ve received several e-mails asking whether hosting this site is costing me any more than hosting my own sites.  The answer to that is emphatically “No”.  However, my life is drastically different now than it was then.  Sooo…

I would be uncomfortable just taking money from the kitty.  If you want to help, consider buying a photograph or hiring me to shoot an event.  Here’s what I can offer:

For portraits, I can be hired for the cost of gas if you are within 200 miles of Indianapolis, IN or Baltimore, MD or Greenville, SC or Memphis, TN (or enroute from Indianapolis to one of these cities).  If you are further than 200 miles, I need a place to stay.  This cost will be in lieu of a sitting fee.  For weddings, I will pay for gas and lodging from my standard fees without adding travel costs.  Advertising images may or may not require travel or model hire.  If you have something in mind, contact me and we’ll see what we can work out.

If you are interested in buying a print, you can go to http://bjwcreations.lifepics.com/ and use the Event Code PUBLIC (or for prints of the nudes which hang in the Kinsey Institute Gallery use Code FINE ART).  Various print sizes are available, as well as coffee mugs, etc.  Right now the selection is limited.  I just started loading images.  If you have something in mind, whether a particular subject matter, or a different size or product, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.  To order the mugs or mouse pads or framed gallery prints, click on “Gifts” toward the bottom of the screen once you are in the image collection you want.

The point of all this is that while I don’t need to be paid to host the site, my budget is very tight right now and photo sales could keep me in coffee.

PERSONAL STUFF

I’m no longer a reference librarian.  A year ago I made the move to full-time photographer (just in time for the floods and slow economy).  To fill my spare time, I’m training to become a CASA/GAL (Court Appointed Special Advocate or “guardian ad litem”) and I’ve been writing.  Mallory has his own story now (woebetidehim), and Ian and Gabby are doing well also.  The photography business is profitable, but making the personal ends meet can be interesting sometimes, especially around dinner time when some items which were never intended to be served on the same plate wind up supper mates.

I’m running late… so I’m going to close for now and hope to be able to come back for a further update later.

Bye for now.

50 comments November 2nd, 2008