#230 Three Stories and Lots of Photos

#230 Three stories and Lots of Photos

In recognition of National Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month (September) let me begin with some of the current facts about PD:

1. Parkinson’s is an incurable progressive neurological disorder that affects movement and other bodily functions,
2. It is characterized by more than 40 motor and non-motor symptoms, including tremors, stiffness, and falling or balance issues.
3.  It is the fastest growing brain disorder in the world.
4.  Currently more than 1.2 million American suffer from Parkinson’s, a number which grew by 400% since 1990.
5. Now each day in America 250 new cases are diagnosed and 100 Americans die of PD.
6.  New research is showing that more than 80% of PD could possibly be prevented.

Thank you for the commercial interruption, now to this Blog to[pc.

Craigallachie Bridge, Highlands Scotland

Stairs to Royal Mile, Edinburgh. Sells as a back and white print, but not in color.

Path in the Birks of Aberfeldy, Scotland. Won Best Black and White in a show and sold there as well.

Cartridge Packhorse Bridge, Highlands. Always a good seller.

After we had several books about golf, travel stories, and a photo book of Scotland selling on Amazon we decided to take our goods to local highland games and festivals in the form of a vendor’s  booth. We had for sale copies of our books, mounted 8x10 and 11x14 prints, and some framed photos of various sizes. We set up our booth, a 10’ x 10’ tent frame with walls if we were outside, and displayed our wares, visited with people, and generally had an exhausting but glorious time. There were a few standout incidents that come to mind—these are the three stories for this blog. The photos in this post are our Best Sellers from our vending days.

Everybody loves a Hie'lan Coo.

If one highland cow is good, two might even sell better.

Crail Harbour, Kingdom of Fife, is quintessential Scotland.

People often don't believe Crovie Village is real. It is a real Clearance Village where displaced crofters and their families were moved to make more room for sheep--more profitable than crofts for the Lairds. Uniqueness sells.

Story 1 Damaged Goods

At a Fall Celtic Festival in Salem one year the vendors were fit tightly into an interior space for the show. There was no room for the usual tent or frame to wall off our goods. Our spots were marked off with masking tape on the floor. We are friendly folk and glad to not have to set up in the rain, so we made the best of it. It was a hassle for us to keep one of our art stands within our boundaries and out of traffics way. We had to put signs up to indicate that certain areas were not public space. The particular thing one patron wanted to see was in our private area and we told him the area was closed. He stood around until I got busy with a customer and then made a quick dash for the back of our booth. On the way he stumbled over a tripod leg and knock over our big display print—a printed on metal landscape of clouds and beach in Scotland. The print hit the floor with a clang and a corner of the print broke. I kept my cool but pointed out that it was a $120 print he had ruined. His only reply was that it shouldn’t have been in his way of where he wanted to go in the middle of our booth. Before I could say more he walked out to an exit of the building without even a “Sorry.” In more than ten years of vending this was our only loss and one of our few rude customers.

We still put the damaged photo up for display at our house, not for public consumption.

Drummond Castle Formal Gardens in Crieff, central Scotland.

Drive way into Drummond Castle from the highway, I've taken many different photos of the 2 mile long beech tree lined road, but this is the one that sells.

One of many varied views of Dunnattor Castle near Aberdeen on Scotland's east coast.

I like the moody look of the black and white image of Eileen Donan Castle in the Scottish highlands.

Story 2 Shortbread Cookies

At our first big show, the Portland Highland Games, we were set up in a space on one side of the Mt Hood Community College gym and we noticed across the room was a shortbread seller and the booth was called Granny Fi’s Shortbread. During quiet times Anne or I would wander over and sample some fine shortbread cookies. We made a purchase at the end of the two day games and became hooked, especially with the vendor discount. As luck would have it, from that show on we would see Fiona, Granny Fi, next to or near our area at almost every show. We always kept our larder filled with shortbreads. 

Soon after we quit attending shows because of my advancing Parkinson’s Fiona opened Granny Fi’s Shortbread, 21336 Pacific Hwy E, Aurora, OR [www.grannyfis.com  971825-4500]. We don’t see her at the shows anymore (she still goes), but even better is the full shortbread store and tea shop just seven miles from our door. I’ve even set up a mini-booth at some of her events at the shop, where I will sell photos and donate the proceeds to a first responder relief fund.

The printed on metal version of this image of Balnakeil Beach by Durness in the northwest corner of Scotland is the one that got broken (first story). I took dozens of photos of this particular storm, with and without rainbow, but this is always my pick to print for sale. 

The after a rain fall colors in Glen Lyon, the longest glen in Scotland at about 25 miles, is a good seller.

This is a good image of the Glen of Weeping, Glencoe, in the highlands.

This photo of a peacock at Blair Castle at the edge of the highlands is the image I've sold more than any other.  

Story 3 Surprises from Customers

Every once in a while we get customers who are, in polite words, having a bad day. More often we got very positive comments from our customers whether they bought or not. Sometimes we really got good surprises from the people we met at shows. Two examples come to mind and both happened at the McMinnville Celtic Festival. One year a fellow and his lady came up and he said, “I know you. Your my fraternity brother, Bob!” Sure enough, Ron and I had been in the same fraternity at Linfield College, where the festival was being held. We had a nice chat catching up with each other and fellow Omega Delta Phi brothers. 

Surprise two was quite different. A lady came up to me at our booth and said, “You probably don’t remember me, do you?” She might have looked familiar, but I really had to say I didn’t remember her. [At least I knew she wasn’t in my fraternity.] She told me she had bought one of my photos the previous year and wanted to show me the photo on her wall. It was a real treat to see how she had framed and hung the photo.  A surprise treat I seldom get.

Kilchurn Castle

This is the most dramatic rainbow I've ever photographed--near Nairn on the northeast coast of Scotland.

This view of Stirling Castle rivals Eilean Donan Castle in sales.

The 8x10 version of The Red Phone Box is my second best seller. It's from Penzance, Cornwall, England.

The dramatic view of the Wallace (Braveheart) Monument with the Ochil Hills in the background was taken from Stirling Castle and is a top five in sales.

NEXT: The photos that didn’t sell as much as I thought they deserved.