To License or Not

A few days ago, a photographer by the name of Trey Ratcliff (of HDR, and stuckincustoms.com fame) posted his reasons for making his work available via the Creative Commons license. If you missed that post, it’s worth a read. You can find it here on Google+.

I have to agree with a lot of what he says. By sharing, you avoid a lot of headache, and you get your work seen more than if you have it squirrelled away under pay walls. Sort of like news these days, people will just go elsewhere for their fix.

Pretty much everything I’ve learned about computing, photography and technology has been via the commons. Sure, I’ve bought books and paid for seminars and workshops, but the day to day information has come from people sharing and me soaking that up. The way I look at it, sharing my photos for personal use is one way I can give back.

I share for personal use, but if you want to use it commercially, I hope you’d contact me about payment of one form or another. That’s much like me reading someone’s blog and then purchasing his ebook or donating to the site when I can. People can also access my photography by hiring me to do some specific work, so yes, payment is part of the model.

I guess it’s like a sales funnel. People can share to start, pay when they want to do more with the work I offer, and when they want something special, they hire me to get it done.

At some point, I may even create a storefront for what I consider the very best of my work. I’m not there yet, but I can’t rule it out.

There are lots of new business models floating around now. Different strokes work for different folks, so what works for me today, may not work for others. That’s what makes it so exciting these days – there is lots of room to experiment and try new things. Having been a scientist in another life, I like that.

The Best Kind of Bootstrapping

Starting a business takes money; there’s no way around that. You need money for licenses, a website, marketing materials, office supplies and just plain living expenses, as you build up your clientele. That’s why most coaches suggest that while you are working, you should build up a reserve of 6 months to a year of cash to live on. When you leave your job, you can then use those funds to get things up and running.

That’s good advice.

Sometimes though, you get a little boost from an unexpected source. Over the last couple of days, I spent some time catching up with the pocket change I toss in a jar at the end of the day. I usually wrap it up once a year and take it to the bank, and it often adds up to a couple of hundred bucks. That comes in handy around Xmas.

This time though, I found quite a stash. I guess I’ve been remiss for the last couple of years or so. I actually found a couple of extra jars that I totally forgot I had. Seems at some point, I’d moved a jar or two off the top of the dresser and into a chest beside the dresser. Guess I wanted to make them less conspicuous for some reason or other and forgot they were there.

Anyway, after wrapping coins for a couple of hours a day over a couple of days, I ended up with a lot of rolls of change. So much in fact, that they were too heavy for me to get them all to the bank at once.

After two trips, turns out there was over $1200 total, and that’s now deposited in the bank earning (minuscule) interest.

What’s not to like about that? I can use most of it to bootstrap my business.

There should be a little bit for my Xmas present too. Don’t ya think?

Oh My

The SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) could be passed soon down in the states, and, according to reports, end the internet as we know it. It’s scary that the folks in charge of passing it freely admit knowing nothing about the internet. Some seem rather proud of that fact. Sick, don’t you think?

Dear Leader has died in Korea and his son, a total unknown, is now in power, getting guidance from who knows who in the army. Oh well, what’s to worry. It’s just another rogue nation (with a nuclear bomb) trying to find itself in the world.

And last but not least, the angry birds are losing out to the pigs in this house lately, causing no end of angst. Those three star levels are getting harder and harder, and two stars just doesn’t seem to cut it anymore.

Hopefully we can change things around to where saner folks are heard and the pig resistance isn’t quite so strong.

In the meantime, I really need to get out and take some pictures soon. #listeningtotoomuchnews

Taxing Dilemma

This is a photo of the Pattullo Bridge that connects Surrey to New Westminster BC. It was build in the 1930’s and has served the connection well. It’s narrow by today’s standards, but at least it has 4 lanes, unlike the Lions Gate from Vancouver to North Vancouver which has 3.

Wikipedia has a nice page on the Pattullo Bridge here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattullo_Bridge.

There is a plan in progress to replace this bridge in the not too distant future. It handles an incredible amount of traffic in and out of Surrey, so it will be interesting to see how they handle that during the construction/destruction when it happens.

There are rumours that they’ll decide to toll the new bridge. That’s not sitting well with folks that live south of the Fraser River in Surrey, White Rock, Delta, Langley, Aldergrove, etc. As it is we’ll have tolls on the Golden Ears and Port Mann bridges by the end of next year and if those crossings are used, it will cost close to $1200-$1500 a year more for a daily commute into Vancouver, New Westminster, Burnaby, Coquitlam, etc. That’s a lot for a struggling family that has to commute to survive.

Not sure that’s really fair either, given that we’ve all contributed to the lovely rapid transit and bridges north of the Fraser. Now the only ones getting dinged extra to get around are the folks south of the Fraser, and they don’t have adequate transit either.

Matter of fact, they managed to re-built the entire highway up to Whistler and didn’t toll that. So…from my perspective, where there is a will there is a way. I’m just glad it’s not me making the decisions 😉

Angry Birds Challenge

I’ve been playing Angry Birds for some time now. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention to how many stars I got on each level. I was just happy to complete the levels successfully.

I’ve gone back to the beginning of Angry Birds HD on my iPad to see if I can complete the whole thing with 3 stars on each level. So far I’ve managed to do it for Poached Eggs.

#sillythingspeopledo

A Forgotten Resource

A few years ago I discovered Pam Slim and her site Escape From Cubicle Nation. I followed her devotedly for a while, and then for some reason, I gradually faded off to other things.

I rediscovered her again today and ran across a couple of her newer blog posts on planning. What was great was that she supported the posts with a video. Actually, I ran across her video on youtube first and then found the posts 😉

The first post I ran across was on using agile development techniques to do your planning. Selecting 2-3 months at a time, decide what you want to focus on most: cash flow, visibility or opportunity.

Once you’ve decided what you want to accomplish in, say the first quarter, set up your projects with milestones and give them a ‘ship’ date.

Her blog is worth a look if you’re starting a planning process for 2012. The site is also good for those leaving the cubicle for a more entrepreneurial type of work. She’s definitely back on my RSS feed for now.

Planning Time

Being that the new year is just about here, it’s about time to assess what went right and what went wrong last year. With a little luck, I can use that info to develop a plan into 2012.

A couple of things I know I want to address are:
– An answer to ‘why’ for this blog. Aside from pretty pictures, why would you come back?
– A plan on where to take Donsca

A year-end review is pretty common. Do you take part in the ritual, or do you handle your planning in some other way? Inquiring minds want to know.

Scene from White Rock (actually, south Surrey ;-)

(If you live around Surrey, you’ll get the title, heh)

A couple of weeks ago I was out on a windy day and headed down to White Rock BC. I walked the pier there, and on the way back, snapped this shot. It’s one of the few I have that actually shows the ‘white rock’ on the beach.

That was one cold, windy day, but it was sure fun getting out. It was a day where I had to force myself off the couch and into the car.

Sure glad I did.

Working River

The Fraser River is a working river. Tugs, logs, freighters, containers and even fishermen are on the river pretty much all year round. I think I’ve only seen the lower Fraser Valley portion freeze over twice in my lifetime, and even then it didn’t freeze hard enough to stop traffic. It’s pretty much an open port all year.

I tried to catch a bit of that here, with the train going over the bridge and the tug churning along with it’s log boom, just on the other side. It would have been nice to catch some containers on the train, but you deal with what you have, right?

Further west on the river there are container ships and car freighters that dock at Fraser Port and Annasis Island respectively. Pretty much every car that comes to Canada from Asia, comes through the port on Annaisis Island. Fraser Port distributes containers across Canada and into the United States. It’s a busy port on a busy river.

A Couple of Links for a Tuesday

Not sure if I’ll make this a regular feature, but for now….

Among the many websites I visit every day or so, there is an ever evolving core that I don’t want to miss. I was reminded about this today when I visited these two links. I hope you find them as useful as I do.

Photoextract.com

Daily collections of some of the best photos showing up at Google Plus, provided via Jarek Kilmek, Editor of PhotoExtract Magazine. If you don’t have the time to visit and see the photography on G+ directly, this is a great alternative to get a feel for some of the talent there.

It is truly amazing how photography has taken off on Google’s social network. People are posting photos, talking about issues and meeting each other in ‘hangouts’ almost daily.

chasejarvis.com

Create, share, sustain. That’s how he drives his business. Chase Jarvis attracts clients by putting great, edgy, personal stuff out there almost daily. The ‘cjlive‘ portion of his site offers meaty interviews with talented photographers, designers, business folks and more.

Thanks for the inspiration guys.