FRIDAY FEATURE - Jennifer Squires Productions

Give us a summary of your shop, and how you got started?
I've been photographing professionally since 1996 and I opened my Etsy shop in February 2008. My work covers a broad range of categories, from shopping carts to gerbera daisies, but I always find that I focus on the details of life.

How did you select your name?
I use my name for my shop name and business name, so I guess it comes from good ole Mom and Dad.

What makes your shop unique?
My photographs are fresh, contemporary, and very professional, complimenting a wide range of decor styles.

Do you sell anywhere outside of etsy? If so, where?
The prints exhibited on Etsy are only available through my Etsy shop, however I can be commissioned for private pieces through my website: www.jennifersquires.ca

How long have you been making your craft?
I've been taking pictures my whole life, but I began to study photography in high school and continued through college.

Is it your full-time job?
I am very happy to say that photography is my full-time job, and has been since 2001.



How do you balance work, and/or your shop, and home?
I restrict blocks of time throughout my days and weeks that are specifically for work and specifically for play.

What is your favorite material?
My favourite materials are found objects and paper.

What inspires you?
I am constantly inspired by the world around me and I use photography to search for simplicity and meaning in the beauty of the everyday.

Click HERE to visit Jennifer Squires Shop.

FRIDAY FEATURE - Lemon St. Photography

Give us a summary of your shop, and how you got started?
Lemon St. Photography is Dean and Erica, partners in life and in art. Erica started her Etsy shop, Sierra Pelona Crochet, in February 2008 and things are going rather well. She suggested we try this. And since Dean wanted to find a good on-line venue for his photographs, we decided to give Etsy a try.

How did you select your name?
It was chosen mostly at random. It sounds like it means something, but it doesn't really. "Lemon St. Photography" could mean anything, which gives us some flexibility in terms of the kind of imagery we choose to display.


What makes your shop unique?
Dean's 21 years as a commercial photographer lends his images a polish that many people find very appealing.

We are also experimenting with a different product offering beyond simple photographic prints. We offer ACEO's, and we just recently started producing a line of refrigerator magnets that are a lot of fun and guaranteed to peg out your cute-o-meter.



Do you sell anywhere outside of etsy? If so, where?
Dean sells some of his images through a stock photo agency, in addition to his commissioned commercial work.


How long have you been making your craft?
Dean has been a photographer for 21 years. His first job as a photographer was taking baby pictures in K-Mart department stores. He was surprised to have gotten the job because he had never picked up a camera before until then. Erica has been a hobbyist photographer since her father showed her the basics during her childhood.


Is it your full-time job?
Dean has been self-employed as a professional photographer since March 1992.


How do you balance work, and/or your shop, and home?
It's a real balancing act! Developing flexibility and going with the flow are important skills to keep it all on an even keel. Communication is key to agreeing on what the priority is at any given moment, and working together on that particular goal.


What is your favorite material?
Dean says, "Dawn light." Dean's favorite time to shoot is at dawn. The world is fresh and new and things are so quiet. You can hear yourself think and appreciate the wonders of the emerging day. Erica prefers the rich light of evening before night engulfs it.


What inspires you?
Dean says: Architecture. Line. Form. Plane. Flow of energy. Erica says: Flowers. Nature. Color. Texture.

Click HERE to visit Lemon St. Photography.

Friday Feature - Alison DuBois

Give us a summary of your shop, and how you got started?
Alison Du Bois Original Fine Art Photography is a labor of love. I joined Etsy on January 2, 2008 as a New Year’s Resolution to begin to market my art work. It has been an incredibly fun experience. Within a few hours of posting my first 8”x12” photo I had an interested customer! She wrote to me to see if I could enlarge that photo and she then spent the next few days at a photography show in Los Angeles and came home and bought my Sedona Reflection in a 16”x20”! From that moment on I was hooked on Etsy. I have met some interesting people and made some new friends in this great community.

What motivated you to open your shop?
I was motivated to open a shop because my family and friends kept telling me that my photography was saleable and that I should find a way to let other people know about it so they could enjoy it. I am more motivated to share my art with the world than to make money, but by selling my photos I can afford to buy the equipment that I desire, and to travel to new places to discover a unique perspective of our planet.

How did you select your name?
Well, it is probably pretty boring, but I thought it was important to use my real name as my Etsy name so that eventually when I become better known if people are searching for my work they will find my Etsy shop easily. (As an aside, I often get asked if I am the famous Medium, Allison Du Bois – alas, I am not!)

What makes your shop unique?
I believe that my shop is unique because I am passionate about the world around me and I think that it shows in my work. I have a pretty wide variety of landscape photos, macro photos, and some interesting black and white work. I am branching out and selling a coffee table book that includes 81 of my photographs and am happy to report that I just sold my first one! Additionally, I am adding some of my original art work in the form of ACEOs. I will be adding cards in the next few weeks.

Do you sell anywhere outside of etsy? If so, where?
To date, I have mostly sold by word of mouth. Last fall I was invited to join a group of artists in the Palm Springs, California area called “Rare Artisans” and my photography, jewelry, and artwork are on their website at www.rareartisans.com. (They also have a shop on Etsy)

How long have you been making your craft?
I started taking photographs about three years ago and I was thrilled to find that my unique way of seeing was able to be translated to film. I usually start with just enjoying what is around me and really absorbing the energy of the scene before I begin to photograph it. I think my composition is very good, and I am learning more each day about the technical aspects of how to capture what I see. I find that digital photography allows me the opportunity to start big and work my way in to a scene to draw the viewer in further – sometimes the best photos are the first one I take, sometimes it is the 10th. It excites me on a daily basis. Most of my photos are as they come out of my camera, I do very little adjusting in Photoshop.

Is it your full-time job?
At this time, full-time photography is still a dream. I just love to dream, don’t you?

How do you balance work, and/or your shop, and home?
I am currently pursuing an education in gemology at the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, California. I use a formal “balance wheel” – a physical reminder of the things I wish to accomplish each day that helps me find time to stay fit and healthy, stay fiscally responsible, and work on my artistic side. (If you want more info on how to set one up, please email me at alison.rareartisans.com)

What is your favorite material.
I love crafting and I have been doing it all of my life. My Mom was an artist and she inspired me to be creative from an early age. I love to experiment with all kinds of materials and I love to learn how to do new things. I guess I still haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up – a photographer, a seamstress, a jewelry designer, an artist…a ?


What inspires you?
My boyfriend, my children, the beauty around me, and other artists inspire me. I am a proud member of the POE (Photographers of Etsy) team and am inspired by and learning from the other members. I am always finding beautiful things on Etsy (usually looking for an item for a Treasury) that starts my mind working in an unexpected direction.

Click HERE to visit Alison DuBois Shop

Friday Feature - House of Six Cats

"I use photography as my artistic outlet, and I really enjoy showing everyone how I see the world around us. Through my art I try to find unseen beauty and elegance in the ordinary and pedestrian. I have been told that I see the world with an eye of hope, I think that was the best compliment I have ever recieved."


What motivated you to open your shop?
The constant nagging by my friends to do something with my photography. I have been taking photos since I was a teenager, many moons ago, but never tried to sell it. I feel that Etsy a great place to start selling it.

How did you select your name?
I wanted something unique and memorable, at the time we had six cats, so I thought it was a clever name.

What makes your shop unique?
Well, I like to think that my images have a style that is distinctive to me. And I also offer creations made from my images that I don't see in other photography shops.

Do you sell anywhere outside of etsy? If so, where?
I also have images on www.redbubble.com, and I hope to have stuff in some local brick and mortar shops this summer.

How long have you been making your craft?
For about 25 years.

Is it your full-time job?
No, I still have a day job.

How do you balance work, and/or your shop, and home?
I have the ability to pimp on the forums from work, and I try to work on my photography in the evenings. But it is very hard, there is never enough hours in the day.
What is your favorite material.
Well, I guess it would be the shrink material I use to make my night lights from.
What inspires you?
Everything, I walk around and try to find unique ways to see the world.

Click here to check out House of Six Cats