Old Picture-New Post!

Folks-
Time for a new post--of an old picture! I took this picture about 23 years ago, when I was only 16 years old. This was back in my $100-per-week-film-developing-bill days. My sister had been nice enough to take me for a drive through Santa Cruz, and we stopped at Twin Lakes Beach in Live Oak. It was a sunny day in late winter or early spring, you can tell from the posts visible in the picture. Those are all that is left of the posts holding up an old bridge that crossed Twin Lakes Beach for an old streetcar line in Santa Cruz, and they are only visible above the sand that time of year after the storms have taken the sand out to sea. I snapped off this picture without realizing how the backlight would affect the image, and it couldn't have worked out better. I love how the people in the image have grouped together in caring family groups. It helps give the picture a warmer feel, contrasting with the cooler colors.

About a year after I took the photo Kodak lost the negative when I sent it in for reprints, so I was forced to scan this image from an old 5x7 that I have, and then I Photoshopped the resulting scan to get rid of fading and damage. I got another wonderful picture that day that I hope to have on this site relatively soon.

If you like this picture, I have it emblazoned on quite a few products over at another new CafePress store that I started. I discovered that I can't carry multiple versions of the same kind of item at a free CafePress store, so I took the option of opening a new store for this picture. I expect to start rotating pictures through these two stores, as well as a few others that I'll start later for different products or pictures (especially since I finally sold something at the first store!)

If you are an artist I would recommend that you check out CafePress to see if you can make some money using them. Their system is fairly simple, and combined with something like Blogger, you can start a revenue stream from your work without investing a lot of money. They have free stores that you can build, and they have stores you pay for. The more expensive stores give you many more options, such as customization of your storefront and the ability to sell more than one design on the same product from one store, but using Blogger as my front-end, I don't really think I need to pay them for a site yet. Maybe later.

-Edly