Goodbye, and Many Thanks

Solitude - yvetteinufio

Dearest Readers,

I'm writing to tell you that I am stepping down as your POE blog editor. Over the past year I have truly enjoyed spending time here in computerland with you all, but find my available time to do it has dwindled, and so the decision was made.

I would say without hesitation that this blog has become a great success for our team. I've had the pleasure of viewing hundreds and hundreds of photographs and meeting some wonderful people while helping to grow the project. A thousand thank yous to all of you inspired writers who have contributed posts along the way, and also to the dedicated team leaders who work behind the scenes, who take little if any credit for their efforts. Of course, much gratitude goes out to you, our beloved readers, who are the most important and influential people of all!

I have had a lot of fun here being your editor, and I hope you have had some fun taking a peek at all the glittering array of talent that is POE. Next week our new leader will be taking over and I am sure you will enjoy her talents. I'll still be kicking around here too, reading and contributing the occasional article, and I hope you continue to do your part too, of looking and contemplating and commenting and following along. Let's all keep it up and support the strong foundation we have built together.

Gigi

New Works!

Here are my favorite images for this week, I hope you like them as much as I do. I found them by searching for the POE Team tag at Etsy.

This will be my last blog post for a while, InventingLiz will be taking over the New Works feature starting next week. I know she will do a wonderful job. Thank you to everyone for all your comments each Friday.

shannonpix - angel of dreams

Kristybee - Morning Coffee


zuppaartista - memories of california

MinaLucia - Silver, Green Warm Organic Abstract

honeytree - Morning at the beach

yvetteinufio - The Power of Passion

---

New Works is compiled by Pam Hardy. Pam lives in beautiful Alberta, Canada. She has always been fascinated with cameras and has been taking pictures most of her life. Her favorite things to photograph are flowers and animals, and she enjoys experimenting with new subjects and techniques. See Pam's blog here and her shop right here.

Focus On: Launching Creativity

True Places by yvetteinufio

For many years of my life, I operated on some sort of auto-pilot, some kind of corporate existence which kept certain parts of my brain from functioning. Perhaps this was due to necessity. Now that I've allowed myself to live a life that incorporates and embraces creativity, it's been liberating and fun and joyous. But maintaining a fun and joyful existence takes work! How do we keep our creative juices flowing? How do we live in the real world -- work, family, kids, traffic, garbage nights, soccer coaching, Twitter, Facebook, etc. -- and manage to add to our photographic portfolios?

I was asked this recently, and I claim to be no expert on the topic: How do you develop and maintain some artistic capabilities and an artistic eye? Admittedly, it's a struggle for me, just as are the technicalities of photography. But I did manage to come up with a very short list of ideas on how to create, maintain and sustain creativity when it comes to photography. I keep it taped to my coffeemaker. Here it is, and it could certainly use your tips and inspirations:

through train windows (iii) by mailelani

a) Just get out and take lots of photographs. Pretend you are using film (if you aren't already), and force yourself to shoot an entire "roll of film" by taking 24 or 36 photographs in the same place. Pick a small place, like a garden or a street corner, or your own backyard, or the most mundane place you come upon. Get close and shoot macro. Get far away and shoot wide angle.

death of a sales pitch by randolph

b) Make some time to spend with yourself just looking at things in a different way -- get some books of great photographers' works. Spend time in a library or booksore. Go to an art museum or a gallery and look at the photographs, the drawings and the sculptures. Try to designate some time every week to do this. Consider this time as important as a dentist appointment, going to the gym or doing our laundry. It is!

c) Use the edges of your viewfinder.

Secret Society No. 4 by eleanors

d) Get a "toy" camera, like a Holga or a Diana. They are cheaply constructed, simple film cameras that have light leaks and other little personality quirks, and they will delight you and drive you crazy. They use 120 film, and they are lots of fun.

Dreamy Landscape by lilacpopphotography

e) Take a course in photographic composition or the art of seeing at your local university. For the moment, forget all the technical stuff. Forget being a gearhead. Not only do you get to take a class from a knowledgeable instructor, from an artist, but you also have the opportunity to meet and spend time with other photographers.

grunge gothic crow by gothicrow

f) Use your dreams to visualize what you want to shoot with your camera.

Dirty Pretty Things by lightleaks

g) Remember this quote from Diane Arbus: "I have never taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse." Make it your mantra.

coming down to cut you open by Appledale

---

A world traveler and self-taught photographer, look for Ann wandering around city streets and tromping through woods and hiking trails with her camera. After owning an international transportation business for many years, Ann has found her creative spirit again through the lens. See more at Ann's shop and her website, and say hello to her on her blog too.

Mosaic Monday – Le Bicyclette

This week-end completed Le Tour de France 2009. Saturday it was amazing to watch them ride up to the top of Mont Ventoux, otherwise known as "Mount Baldy." Could I do it? Not in this lifetime. Much like the bikes below that have been captured by the Photographers of Etsy, I'm well past my prime.

1. Black Bike – honeytree
2. Vintage bicycle – levansphotography
3. Parked – PhotoGirlPix
4. Vintage Schwinn Bicycle – WilliamDohman
5. Vintage Bike – BethPeardonProds
6. Pink Bike – buckscountyframes
7. Blue Bicycle – eyeshoot
8. Old Town – AliciaBock
9. La Bicyclette Rouge – MarcolaGrenouille
10. Bicycle – zegami
11. Ready to Roll – photoamato
12. bicycle, Malaysia – elephantdreams

On another note, this is the last Mosaic Monday I will be doing. It has been a pleasure going through all of the wonderful photographs on Etsy. But as with many things like this, it is time to past the baton. Again, thank you for this opportunity.

---

Mosaic Mondays are compiled by Patti Meyer. Patti is an award winning graphic artist who resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See her photography collection at her shop right here.

New Works!

Here are just a few of my favorite's for this week. I found them by searching for the POE Team tag at Etsy. There were so many amazing images and so it was hard to pick just a few. I hope you will enjoy these as much as I do.

AmeliaKayPhotography - In The Fading Light

rebeccakier - one image from her Deer Series

levansphotography - Living on the river


And now for some beach themed images, I hope everyone is enjoying the HOT weather or if you are having winter now, here are some images to warm you up.

zuppaartista - kisses from the sun

ANJacobsen - Starfish

TwoDogGardens - Coastline

littlegraypixel - California Sun No. 9

---

New Works is compiled by Pam Hardy. Pam lives in beautiful Alberta, Canada. She has always been fascinated with cameras and has been taking pictures most of her life. Her favorite things to photograph are flowers and animals, and she enjoys experimenting with new subjects and techniques. See Pam's website here and her shop right here.

Wanderings: Summer Road Trip Week 5

Double Yellow-flashframe

My dear POE, we still have a long way to go on our cross-country adventure. I hope you are enjoying our summer trip as we continue to work our way up the east coast.

This week's travels takes us to D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and New York.

Washington Monument-LDphotography

White House-HeatherDPhotography

Lincoln Monument-intrinsicvalue

The Tomb-ModernClassicsPaper

National Cathedral-DeepCreekStudios

Burnside Bridge-JLynnPro

Chinzy Chesapeake-JudiFitzPatrick

Watching the Waves-dsbrennan

Beach Solitude-SquirrelsTale

G.W.B.-WhimiscalStar

New York City-buckscountyframes

New York Blackout-randolph

Williamsburg Bridge-holgagirl

New York Water Towers 15-garyhellerphotography

Empire State Building-futurowoman

Coney Island-evesimone

Dumbo Coney Island-eddyizm

---

Michelle Campbell-Zurek is an artist/photographer from the east coast who is wide-eyed and smitten with the crazy town called LA. When not on a quest to capture light and stop time, she can be found painting and ingesting gobs of sweets & tea. All are welcome to stop by the Urban Junkies Artist Lounge, as well as Michelle's photography shop, art shopand website.

Mosaic Monday: France

In our house for the first three weeks of July the most important thing on television is the Le Tour de France. With that, this week's mosaic shows the beauty of France that the Photographers of Etsy have captured.

1. Rampe du Chateau – photohale
2. Eiffel III – KMalanowski
3. Crop Circle – Dongedyframe
4. Arch Triomphe Photographic – BrooklynBridge
5. un petit jardin – CiaoChessa
6. The Bicyclette – newamsterdam
7. Pansies – Annecy, France – photohale
8. Le Tour de Eiffel – barbraziemerphoto
9. French Spices – WilliamDohman
10. Crop Circle – tandyphotography
11. Lavender Field – mesmanimages
12. Tick Tock – mariterecr

For those that follow the Tour – may your favorite rider win.

---

Mosaic Mondays are compiled by Patti Meyer. Patti is an award winning graphic artist who resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See her photography collection at her shop right here.

New Works!

OK just a few pictures this week, this first one I just love the coloring in it especially, and the title is perfect too. The swings and slide brings back childhood memories, and the dragonfly, I have always loved them. They are all B - E - A - U - T - I - F - U - L pictures.

To see more inspiring photography, search POE Team at Etsy.

lilacpopphotography - Waterfall Road

HolgaJen - Playground Series

6timemomma - Dragonfly

---

New Works is compiled by Pam Hardy. Pam lives in beautiful Alberta, Canada. She has always been fascinated with cameras and has been taking pictures most of her life. Her favorite things to photograph are flowers and animals, and she enjoys experimenting with new subjects and techniques. See Pam's website here and her shop right here.

New POE Team Yahoo Group...

This group is for POE Team members who want to stay up to date with the happenings of our team through our email mailing list and / or contribute to the team blog. This will be replacing our current mailing list.

This is not a discussion group, only emails sent by management will be sent to the group, this includes but is not limited to: Member Events, slide shows, treasury updates, important messages, offers and more.

Please give your Etsy ID or shop address when signing up so we may confirm you are a member, this will make our job a bit easier as we now have over 1100 members.

Photographers of Etsy Yahoo Group

Please allow up to a week to be approved, as it will take time to approve you. If you are not yet listed on the Team page found here, please wait until you are to apply.

Thank you,

POE Team Management

Wanderings: Summer Road Trip Week 4

Entering Memphis-blueeyedbadger

This week's great POE summer adventure takes us to my beloved East Coast. 4 years ago my hubby and I made a similar cross-country trip from VA to CA. With our hopes and dreams for an exciting new life, we crammed ourselves into an RV filled with our most prized possessions, including 4 crazy critters and a huge ficus tree named Bob. So it has been fun these past few weeks reliving our journey in reverse with all of the wonderful POE imagery!

I hope you will enjoy these beautiful images of Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, and finally my home state, Virginia.

HDR Pepsi-Cola on Beale Street-charismaphoto

Heart Land Church-PamLefcourt

Haint Blue Ceilings-pneuma

Gentle Marsh-TheEccentricLady

Egret Landing-InletImages

Charletson Steps-curiosh

Old City Jail-ScooyouPhotography

Magnolia Bridge-JanPan

Patriotic Flags-orangecatart

Sea Oats at Dawn-DeepCreekStudios

Twilight (Wrightsville Beach)-JoannBristol

Old Virginian Shed-CreationsAnew

Cavern Jaw-jrzygirlphotography

Awesome Vintage Sign-gallogirlphotos

---

Michelle Campbell-Zurek is an artist/photographer from the east coast who is wide-eyed and smitten with the crazy town called LA. When not on a quest to capture light and stop time, she can be found painting and ingesting gobs of sweets & tea. All are welcome to stop by the Urban Junkies Artist Lounge, as well as Michelle's photography shop, art shop and website.