Social Media tools

As a photographer, you soon realize that social media is a huge part of what we do, as I create
things to use on my pages I will add them here for you to use as well. .

I am frugal, I know I am frugal, I like to save where I can, not dip into the household budget and make my photography business pay for itself, so paying almost $100 for a un-stuffed newborn posing beanbag just doesn't sit right. Last week while in Jo-Anne's fabrics I saw that all already discounted fabrics were a extra 50% off so the vinyl was $9 a yard and with 50% off it then became 4.50 a yard.

The bargain hunter in me couldn't resist. How hard could it be? Now one thing you must know is when I get a idea, I have to do it NOW, can't wait, so I will tell you how I did it and then tell you what to not do. :-) FIRST make sure you have a tape measure, I didn't and just winged the size, so my beanbag could quite easily pose quads. You need 4 yards of fabric, I brought 5½ because I am thinking of making some extra little pillows to prop baby butt's and heads. Here is my official list of what you need:

• 4 yards of Vinyl , the color really doesn't matter although I suppose black could darken light fabric laid over them
• A sewing machine, unless you are nuts and want to try do it by hand
• A tape measure
• string or wool
• 1 pen
• 1 felt tip
• about ½ a yard of velcro

 Lay the vynil out on the floor, measure half a yard (or 22 inches if you want to be precise) on the sting and tie each end to the two pens with half a yard between them. 

 

 

Thinking "compass" felt tip at the edge of the fabric and the pen, pulling the string tight in the middle. Make sure when you move the felt tip round there will be enough space to draw a complete circle, Draw the circle in felt tip.

 

Cut this circle out. Now lay that on top of the rest of the vinyl and draw a circle around that. cut it out, cutting slightly inside the edge..

With the rest of the vinyl measure long strips about as wide, as you want your bean bag to be high. Mine was about a third of a yard.










Take a piece of string and lay it all round the outside of one of the circles. This will tell you more or less how long your strips need to be. You might need to sew, 1 or 2, maybe even three strips together to make a long enough piece.


 

Now for the FUN bit.

Start sewing. fold one of the ends of the long strips and stick Velcro on it. I brought industrial Velcro so the glue is so strong I don't need to sew these down, but you just might have to sew yours. only do one end.

Take the first circle and put the right side (the side you will have outside) to the right side of one of the stips. Sew this together all the way round that circle.
get the other circle and sew that to the other side of the strip using the same method.

cut the strip so that it's just bigger than where it is going to need to close. fold the excess in, and put the other side of the Velcro over this. Sew it down if you need to. TIP: Where the layers are very thick go over it a few times or uses zigzag stitching.

 


Turn the whole thing inside out and Your bean bag is mad

Now the FUN PART! NOT
Stuffing is hard, it make a mess, be aware! One thing I learned is baby powder and baking soda takes away been bag balls static. PLEASE remember that. The beans are going to go everywhere, live with it, try fill the bag in a room that is pretty empty to make clean up easier.

I spent a long time making a elaborate funnel out of diet coke bottles, I didn't use it.
I did use a BIG coffee mug, one of those stupid over the top size ones, but I am sure a small jug would do too.
I used the stuffing from a old bag I had. (I had been using a normal beanbag that i twirled at the bottom and clamped to make stiff.
I quickly realized I would been a lot more stuffing and that is when a amazing idea came to me.Packing peanuts! I drove to out local shipping store (it's much closer than Meijer) and asked if they would sell me a huge bag of peanuts. I brought this bag for $30. ( And yes we have a smart car :-) )
Then I rigged it up o a hook I had in my ceiling, slowly opened the one end and poured the peanuts into my bag.
From start to finish my bag took maybe 3 hours to make, clean up took about a hour! 
I sprinkled baking soda all over the floor before I vacuumed and it really helped.



Would I make this again? YES!!! I had fun, I would measure it next time and make it smaller :-)
But it cost me $48 and I love it!

If you would like to see how I use my beanbag please come like my Facebook page

Pinch me

I'm starting to feel like maybe I really am doing this, I really am making this work, I really am a professional photographer! Not that I'm there yet! But I at least once a week get messages from people asking for meetings, interviews, and can I help them be successful, help them with social media, how have I done it? I suddenly get people asking me to use their props in my shoots? To give gifts to charities. I have people I have never met saying "Hi Tracey" and they know me from social media.I still find it hard to believe. I'm doing classes, teaching people how to do what I do, mentoring people, and people are asking me how to do things, Me, really?
All I can answer, when people as me how I have done it, is say, "I really don't know!" I work hard, that I do know, even when I seem to be not working, I am, I'm planning, thinking, working things out.
I wish I had done this years ago. I wish I had had the freedom to try find out what I loved, what I really wanted to do.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself. I kind of always hated myself, had low self esteem, I was the kid at school with the glasses, braces, flat feet and fat. I adored my late Mom, but she had here own issues, and let me get away with often missing school, never doing homework. Oh I was told often that I was bright, that I could do better, that I should do better.

I was brought up to believe marriage was a necessity and dutifully married my first husband at 27. I think we both knew we were wrong for each other but love would solve everything, right? I believe the patterns we learn in childhood are what we often repeat as adults and my marriage was a unhappy one, don't get me wrong I have 3 amazing kids from it, and this is my story so I will not bring up what others did wrong.
I think I spent most of my life running, trying different things, having kids, moving countries, changing jobs, keep moving and you don't ever stop to think. I got married at 27, had my first son at 28, lost my mother to cancer 2 month later, moved to England 6 month later, another son within a year, who was born ill, my daughter arrived 2 years after that, I almost lost her to bacterial meningitis when she was 4 days old, but I just kept moving forward. Like one a road where you can't look back, can't stop for too long.
By the age of 40 I was remarried and my husband, Ken, gave me the best gift anyone has ever given me.

He said "I want you to take at least a year and find out what you want to do work wise, no pressure no worrying." He also had brought me my first dslr a year or so before. Within a few months I was taking photos for people and charging for what I did. I felt like a fraud, I wasn't a "real" photographer!

And then the real work started and is still going on, I love what I do, but want to be better, want to give people the best I can, I am my harshest critic. I read all I can about things I want to do better, go to college then I can, workshop, network, read, watch videos, ask, and ask again.
I love what I do, really love it, love my clients, most feel more like friends, and yes sometimes I get fed up, but then I think of the lady who cried when she saw how pretty she really is in one of my photos, the Husband who called to thank me for taking photos of his wife and showing her what he sees when he looks at her, and the gorgeous babies my client give me to hold when they are just days old.
All I can say is just keep going, put one foot in front of the other and keep going, try learn something new everyday, no matter how small. Move on from mistakes, try repair the faults you make and keep looking forward.
And always make your family come first!

I need a office

I love my studio but every time I try to do a bit of editing between clients or and paperwork I end up having to do it on my lap, so a office was needed! My friend Rose also has been nudging me about it too. :-)  I really got inspired when I decided to make a old window I had picked up at a reuse center into a bit of functional wall art. I roped my son in to help me with that. :-) Once I had finished that and Rose offered me a old desk she had in her garage I was in the office making mood.

This is the Desk Rose gave me (she wants it back eventually now that she has seen how cool it looks)

 

I taper off the front of the drawers and sprayed them with chalkboard paint

The finished Desk

My Studio