I’M GOING TO HOUSEWIFE HELL.

It was Sunday at 11:17 a.m. Matt wanted to go grocery shopping.  I pulled up the local grocers’ website, saw a coupon for free home delivery and started clicking away.

Matt protested, “I like walking up and down the aisles,” “this takes just as long as real shopping,” “what if they don’t have what we need,” “now we won’t pass the Starbucks and get frappuccinos on our way to the store,” etc…

I just kept clicking and had my groceries delivered the next day.

It was divine.  I’m going to housewife hell for it.  (…oh well.)

See, I have this silly notion that good wives enjoy grocery shopping.  Um.  I enjoy food.  I enjoy wearing an apron and making dinner.  I do not enjoy toodling up and down endless aisles of food THAT I CANNOT EAT RIGHT THIS SECOND.  The online/delivery solution is quick and it gave me an hour and a half to sit on the couch soaking up a Sunday afternoon.  End of story, silly notions be damned.

What’s TOTALLY worth the cost of convenience in your life?

Maybe it’s a diaper service, a weekly housekeeper, a babysitter for date night, or a personal trainer to kick start your diet.  Maybe it’s just buying a book at the store, where the smell of coffee and books mingles delightfully, instead of getting it cheaper from Amazon a few days from now.

I dare you to pay for the convenience — it could turn your most dreaded task into a joyous moment.

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Kaysha - July 31, 2010 - 12:58 pm

I JUST got a house cleaner and I think it’s the best thing I’ve done all year! I don’t stress out about the deep cleaning and I feel so much more relaxed!

erika - July 29, 2010 - 4:25 pm

oooh, i’m with Jamie! of course, i also would feel terrible for the environment. Maybe a happy medium somehow…

Kristen, if Matt likes grocery shopping so much, why didn’t you just send him out? =)

Karyn - July 28, 2010 - 8:10 am

I have a dread relationship with grocery shopping. I envy your option to have them delivered. I would SO do that. It’s like working out. I’m ok once I’m there and shopping, it’s getting out of the house and into the store where I lose all motivation. It feels like SUCH a time suck – even though clothes shopping, which takes longer and usually yields less – gives me no such feelings of dread. Hmmmm. =)

Michelle - July 27, 2010 - 10:56 am

I’m switching to an e-reader. There I said it. Not an iPad, mind you, an actual ebook reader. I want the simplicity of having my library in one spot –books, magazines, newspapers– that can be with me all the time. The freedom of not having to dust, catalog and buy MORE bookcases to house the damn things. I also don’t want to lug around a 2lb, overpriced, mini computer just cause that’s what all the cool kids are doing. Yep. E-reader, here I come.

Jamie M Swanson - July 27, 2010 - 7:47 am

Paper cups & plates. I hate dishes. :-)

THE PART WHERE I GO TO EUROPE.

Image courtesy virtualchocolate.com I’m off on the longest vacation I’ve taken since meeting my husband, and since opening the studio, and I plan to ignore the interwebs as much as humanly possible except to post annoying pictures of me eating pain au chocolat in every Parisian cafe known to man on Facebook.  You can follow the Facebook adventures here — and yes, that’s a lot of pain au chocolat.) Here are some things to do while I’m gone.

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erika - July 23, 2010 - 9:44 am

Have an awesome trip!

Gail - July 23, 2010 - 7:19 am

Have fun! I just got back from that EXACT vacation (Parisian cafes and all) so I know what’s in store for you. A BLAST!!!

Laura - July 22, 2010 - 4:11 pm

Bon voyage!

ajira - July 22, 2010 - 12:42 pm

You’re funny. Enjoy the pain au chocolat!

IS PROJECTION RIGHT FOR ME?

Projection and in-person sales sessions for portraits simply aren’t for everyone.  Which begs the question…

Who will projection benefit?

Those who have a studio space will see immediate benefits from investing in projection equipment. As you already have the overhead of rent, you want to maximize the sales of existing and future clients!

Those who are ready to take their portrait sales to another level will benefit from projection. If you’ve been averaging sales of a few hundred dollars because you’re selling 5×7′s and nothing else, prepare to be wowed. Part of in-person ordering covers the needs of individual clients, allowing you to make individualized recommendations the client didn’t know he or she wanted. (Clients don’t just buy groupings of canvases. They need your expertise to help them know which images to choose, where to place the gallery, whether it should come in black and white, etc…)

Those who wish to provide their clients with a high-end portrait experience will benefit from personal consultations in clients’ homes, complete with wine and even dinner. In-home projection is a spectacular form of customer service.

Who will NOT reap the benefits of projection?

If you deal in volume photography services, projection may not be for you. It is a time-consuming process. Clients find themselves running late. They want to chit-chat. They have trouble deciding on their order. They want to see seven versions of the same wall mockup you made, then decide on the first one they saw.

If you do photography on a very part-time basis, projection probably isn’t for you. It’s a heavy investment that requires commitment to hard deadlines and to your clients. If the ordering appointment is at 7 p.m on Tuesday in the client’s home, you can’t wait until Wednesday to edit the photos.

If you can barely keep up with orders placed via online proofing, projection may not be for you – though you might consider hiring an assistant to complete ordering sessions for you!

Where can I find out more about projection and in-person sales?

The Projection and Sales Merit Badge, love.  It’s full of sales-y goodness in the most compact format possible.  Click here to buy.

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brandcampblog - July 20, 2010 - 4:23 pm

Projection sales right from the start are great, Yolanda, IF your work can bear being projected and sold at larger sizes. Selling 16×20″ + larger images when you haven’t mastered the fine art of nailed focus/exposure/etc…will only highlight any imperfections in an image. But if you’re out of that stage, rock it!

Yolanda - July 20, 2010 - 12:34 pm

Understanding that there is a financial and time investment involved, would projection sales only be recommended as a “next step” for an established business? Would you recommend for or against doing projection sales from the start?

GIVE ‘EM A SAMPLE

There are a few things that happened on the day this picture was taken.

1.) I went to Borders and ran into my friend Gwyn.  (Pictured left.)

2.) I ordered black coffee because I had no interest in a froufrou drink.

3.) I was offered a sample of Cookies & Creme frappa-dappa-shake-y-thing and a brownie.

4.) I had a sample, and so did everyone around me.

When people are given samples, they take them.

This is human nature. There are only two questions, then:

What can you afford to give away at free or greatly reduced rates?  How can you provide a reasonable sample size of your work?

Giving away wedding coverage might create a buzz, but it’s not a sample size.  Samples are tasty, delicious, and lead to bigger purchases.

Let’s say your goal is to get more weddings on the books for the next six to twelve months, so you want to get facetime with brides.  Giving a free bridal portrait session to anyone spending more than $4,000 at your town’s fab bridal salon is an option.  Perhaps that’s too much sample, and giving 1/2 off a bridal portrait session is more like it.  Perhaps giving an 8×10″ print from the finished, paid-in-full bridal session is right for your business.

There’s no right sample size.  There’s no wrong sample size.  There’s only choosing the sample that will create demand for your product and then meeting the demand with gusto.  And whipped cream, if you can swing it.

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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brand Camp, Amy. Amy said: I've been thinking a lot lately about what I can give away as a sample. – GIVE ‘EM A SAMPLE » Brand Camp Blog http://bit.ly/bRTVD0 [...]

THE PART WHERE I HANG MY HEART OUT TO DRY.

I made reference to a personal project on the blog a few weeks ago and had no intentions of sharing it.   Then my friend Miki encouraged/dared me to share it in the name of being authentic, creating meaning, and being fearless.

The attitude and harsh words, the tough love, the no-nonsense…that’s much easier to create than a blog post that reveals so much of who I am and where I come from and what hurts in my life right this second.  But I did it.

Grandma lives in a nursing home.  When I found out her possessions were being divided, sorted, and otherwise rummaged through before selling her dormant house, I traveled back to photograph the objects that hold meaning for me.  To observe and remember.

I found many things were just the same: the divine light in the kitchen, the bird clock, the jar of spoons on the table (yes, spoons – I never asked why), the grapevines in the backyard.  The fixtures, the furniture.

But the tricycles my cousins and I raced around the back porch were gone.  The tire swing, the toy yellow telephone I used to place calls to China, the album full of newspaper clippings about my family.  The bright red whistle I filled with water to chirp like a bird at all hours of the day and night.  The toys we loved that had to stay at Grandma’s house so others could enjoy them, too.

All gone.  The beehives buzzing in the backyard, the smell of dinner, the come-in-anytime policy that happens when you grow up a few hundred yards from Grandma’s house.

And Grandma?

I walked in and her eyes lit up.  She knew she knew me.  She knew she loved me but didn’t know why.

“Oh, it CAN’T be….um…uh…”

“Kristen, Grandma.  It’s Kristen.  Hi.”

“Yes, Krista.  Hi.”

Grandma’s gone, too.  She’s lost the present, but I hope she’s gotten to keep her memories of life twenty-something years ago, when her grandkids chased each other around the back porch and caught lightning bugs way past their bedtime.  And I pray she knows she is loved by that kind lady who gave her a lingering hug, even if my name never does turn up.

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Carrie Hasson - July 22, 2010 - 2:54 am

Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. Thanks for sharing a piece of you Kristen.

Carrie Hasson - July 22, 2010 - 2:52 am

Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. Thanks for sharing a piece of you Kristen.

brandcampblog - July 17, 2010 - 8:37 am

Karyn — Grandma’s house is across the strawberry field and blackberry patch. So glad to hear you’re doing the same thing…::hugs::

Rachel Perry - July 16, 2010 - 9:11 pm

This was beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

Karyn - July 16, 2010 - 2:22 pm

girl – we are more alike than i thought. i am going home next month and doing photo sessions with my family, ESPECIALLY Grandma – who lives across the corn field from my parents house. For this exact reason. To document, to show things exactly as they always will be in my heart – no matter what. Way to go for sharing. It’s tough sometimes, but so worth it to know you are not alone. =)

AmandaD - July 16, 2010 - 2:06 pm

What a wonderful idea. Thank you for being brave enough to share. There are so many memories trapped in “places” that we grew up and remember, but don’t think are often important enough to photograph.

brandcampblog - July 15, 2010 - 10:08 pm

Your kind words are so appreciated. Forgive me for not responding individually, but the comments have made me into a mushball. Just know that I’m reading, and I want to hug each of you right now.

Brandy Frank - July 15, 2010 - 7:00 pm

So sweet. If only I had the chance to do this when my Grandma moved… twice. The first time after my Grandpa passed. She left behind the home we loved with the deep freeze covered in magnets that I played with for hours, the screen door that slammed shut when I ran in and out. The gardens and the flowers. She moved to the city to be near her kids so they could take care of her better. I was a child then and I miss that house. Then the day she moved out of her home again to move into a little room at my parents, and then the nursing home. I wasn’t a photographer then. But I wish I was and I wish I had those pictures. She had a wonderful garden again and trees and flowers. The people who bought the place let them all die. It was so sad. What a touching post and a wonderful idea. – Brandy

Alethea Fitzpatrick - July 15, 2010 - 4:47 pm

Oh wow, so beautiful. And so sad and hard. Big hugs.

erika - July 14, 2010 - 6:54 pm

You made me stop and think about my own childhood memories with my grandmother. But sadly, I couldn’t really come up with any. We weren’t invited to her home much, due to a family feud that I didn’t understand until recent years. After my uncle passed, 3 years ago this week, she’s been trying to make up for it but I don’t think it could ever be the same. Sad, but I guess such is life…

Lovely post! I wonder if perhaps I should document the house just in case one day, there’s someone who might appreciate it differently.

Griffin - July 14, 2010 - 12:40 pm

Your words transported me right back to those great memories of being in my grandma’s house. It’s very bittersweet watching them grow old but the memories will stay alive in you. Thanks for your vulnerability and honesty

Christi Traster - July 14, 2010 - 10:39 am

Oh, I’m totally crying, Kristen. Awesome, meaningful, heartfelt post. Loved it. Beautiful.

Rachel B. - July 13, 2010 - 11:21 pm

Oh Kristen. Big hugs from me to you. Hang on to those memories of lightening bugs in her backyard.

Melissa Zimmermann - July 13, 2010 - 5:58 pm

Thank you so very much for sharing. I wish I’d had the opportunity to do the same before my grandparents passed away nearly ten years ago.

By the way, my grandmother, too, had spoons on the table — for stirring tea/coffee when visitors came.

Jenny Solar - July 13, 2010 - 3:43 pm

Oh Kristen, I am right there with you. All of my grandparents are gone now, but it was a similar situation and I wish that I had done what you did. Twenty years from now, this will mean even more to you.

Amy Nieto - July 13, 2010 - 3:25 pm

Oh, tears in my eyes. Hugs. Thank you for sharing this.

elena - July 13, 2010 - 2:36 pm

thank you for hanging your feelings out to all us. they are real and really painful and sweet. my mom is approaching her 82nd b-day and I feel what you are going through. thankfully she has her memory. but you are preserving your grandma’s.

heather - July 13, 2010 - 11:42 am

This is beautiful – thank you for sharing!

Chrystal - July 13, 2010 - 10:34 am

Kristen,
I completely identify with your post. I was not present, (love the army)when this happened with my grandmother. By the time I was able to return her home had been cleaned out. Nothing left….She thought it was all waiting for her to come home to, as soon as she was doing better. All the memories are what we have of our elders, and these are the memories we pass to our own children so that they can know the grandparents that have gone on… I am so glad you shared your personal project…

Katie Jane Parker - July 13, 2010 - 9:58 am

Thank you for sharing this. It reminds me so much of the things I love about my grandma and her house. What a beautiful personal project.

Karyn Collins - July 13, 2010 - 9:57 am

Amazing Kristen. Through the time and space that is the internet…a personal connection. Heart-to-heart. Know that your grandmother really does know you. In the place beyond earthly knowing. She knows you and loves you. Now and always.

johnwaire | photo - July 13, 2010 - 9:50 am

wow kristen…i’m swallowing hard on this one. thank YOU for sharing it. it really highlights the impact that we have one another…no matter how insignificant it can seem at the time. cherish the memories…