One Branch -- Overview

I was very excited mid-week when my first batch of product for One Branch arrived from my vendor. I can't wait to share this overview photo with you today. I proudly introduce my new project, One Branch!

Is it all making sense now? Just as I received loving, handwritten postcards every week from Amy while I was going through chemotherapy, now I'm offering a way for you to do the same thing for someone else in a cancer battle. I have selected some of my most calming, comforting, beautiful, soothing images for a postcard subscription service. It will include five postcards per month with a collection of my favorite inspirational and encouraging quotes AND beautiful stamps. All you have to do is choose one quote per week from my list (or your own), write it on the back and pop the postcard in the mail.

I have a lot of product photography to shoot for this project ahead of me, plus setting up the shop for this new addition. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to bring this idea to life. I cannot wait to ship these precious packages into the world every month. In fact, I have often felt helpless watching my own loved ones fight The Beast, so I know it will feel good to do something tangible on a regular basis, especially when you are too far away to provide hugs, meals or babysitting for your family members or friends.

I feel especially compelled to focus on creating beauty, love and art after the tragic events this week in the U.S. (not to mention around the world every day). The bad news can be overwhelming, which is why it is vitally important to focus on the good.

Stay tuned next week for more special details about One Branch.

One Branch Project -- The History

There is a special history behind my One Branch project and it has everything to do with creating, supporting and being part of an encouraging community.

When I went through chemo the very first time, 13 years ago, my dear friend Amy sent me a postcard every single week for the entire six months. It always had an inspiring quote handwritten on the back, which carried a lot of meaning to me because in high school, she and I used to trade quotes every morning on little slips of paper.

I've never forgotten those postcards all these years and the One Branch project is going to be my way of taking Amy's concept and extending it out in a big way. (Don't worry, I asked Amy if it was okay with her before I even began).

Stay tuned for the next reveal of the One Branch project on Friday.

The One Branch Project -- Coming Soon

Good morning! I am far away from Tax Day celebrating my husband's 40th birthday with our extended family, but I wanted to share something special with you while I'm gone. It's a special new project I have been working on and it's coming soon to my shop. For today I am sharing the inspiration behind the name "One Branch."

One Branch will have many more photographs, in a new form, and many more quotes. There is also a special history behind it and a very special mission ahead. I can't wait to share more!

I'm Not a Fool, I Protect my IP!

Good morning! Today may be April Fool's Day but I'm not fooling around when it comes to protecting my Intellectual Property to the fullest extent of the law in the United States. My full instructions for today's event actually went up yesterday as my second contributor post on Oh My Handmade Goodness.

Many thanks to Abigail Page for creating two versions of the beautiful badge!

You can click the badge to read about how to register your copyright, why I encourage you to make a template for a cease & desist letter before you have a need for one and three levels of action for a copyright notice on your websites and shops: good, better and best. Since this is my first Don't Be a Fool! Day and I planned it on such short notice, I was not able to research and include instructions for other countries. I certainly want to expand on the information I have shared so far, if you would like to collaborate for the next version on July 1st, please reach out to me via email or in the comments.

As for me, the hostess of this event, you may be wondering which actions steps I'm taking to protect my IP today. I'm excited to share that I'm going to be doing a bulk registration of my work today vs. individual works! I do plan to make a template today also, but since I have recently rebranded my business, I need to make new letterhead first. Finally, I'm planning to strengthen my copyright notice over there in my right sidebar and I'll be going for the "best" option as described in my full post. I am so inspired by Kim Niles' comprehensive legal section on her website.

In a very serendipitous way, I learned about two things late last week related to my action day:

1. PhotoShelter and the American Society of Media Photographers have teamed up to offer a new Photographer's Guide to Copyright. If you do nothing else today but register your copyright(s), you are already ahead of 99% of professional photographers in the U.S., according to the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), see page 3.  They are clearly trying to improve those numbers!

2. There is a new website called imgembed that was created to improve the way images are shared online. I have only watched their demo video myself, so I can't vouch for it but it's certainly worth a look!

Let's be honest, navigating these laws is difficult and confusing. Please don't let ovewhelm, intimidation or fear get in the way of starting somewhere. I've shared many links to help you get started, just pick one and see where you end up, okay? I believe in you and I care about your IP, so please go read my full post!

Don't Be a Fool! Protect your IP

I have a challenge for you this weekend, are you ready? I want you to set aside some time to prepare  for a day of action on Monday, April 1st. It's called "Don't Be a Fool!" day and together, we will take solid action steps to protect our intellectual property (IP).

Beautiful badge created by the talented Abigail Page for Sweet Eventide

I want you to join me on this creative copyright awareness and action campaign on April Fool's Day. Here are the action steps in detail:

• registering at least one copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office
• prepare a template for a cease & desist letter (should you ever need to use one, you'll be ready)
• create/update the copyright policies on your websites/blogs

If you can't commit to doing all three items in the challenge, then I vote for a commitment to register one copyright. Take some time this weekend to get organized and determine which piece of work (or works) you want to register. This way the actual registration process will go smoothly and easily for you on Monday.

If you want to know more about why copyright registration is so vitally important* to fully protecting your IP, it's because if you found yourself needing litigation to resolve a copyright infringement, you will be eligible for both attorneys' fees and statutory damages. Without the registration, you are only eligible for infringing profits or a direct loss of income as they relate to the infringement. Registration means the difference of potentially thousands upon thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees alone.

* Read page 7 to learn more about the advantages of registering your copyright(s).

On Monday, I will have all the links you will need to complete your copyright registration in a new blog post. If you just can't wait, then the links are contained in my post on Oh My Handmade Goodness from Tuesday. If you need ideas to prepare for the template, please review Lela Barker's post, also on Oh My Handmade Goodness.

This beautiful badge is meant to be shared. You may download it, write a blog post with it, put it in your sidebar, etc. We want as many creatives as possible to take action on Monday, April 1st because we are NOT fools and we WILL protect our IP together!

Are you in?

Let me know in the comments if you'll be keeping me company. Please do the creative community a favor, and share this post using the buttons below this post!

Weekend Report

It was a beautiful weekend here in Portland. I had a mid-day date with my sweety while our son was out playing at the park with a friend. We headed over to Foster & Dobbs for some beverages (wine for me, beer for him), curry lentil soup and salad. The light in the cherry tree across the street from where we sat was dazzling.

It has been so long since we had a date, and we cherished the quiet time together to sit and chat. Later that evening, I visited my friend Kim at her shop Maven Collective. We ended up for dinner at The Observatory, where the most lovely flowers and candles welcomed you from the cold evening air.

Sunday morning, my boys headed up to Mt. Hood for their first day on the slopes since we moved to Oregon. Not only that, but the Noodle tried snowboarding for the first time as well. While they were having an awesome Daddy/Son day, I joined Kim again for a happy visit to Plucky Maidens. I bought this club moss for Jeff's office, isn't the vintage white planter divine?

I ended my day with some long overdue Jess Time. I went back to Foster & Dobbs for soup (I got red wine this time, chardonnay on my date) before heading into Root Whole Body for a long overdue massage.

Did you notice a theme here of long overdue self care? Even on weekends, I tend to work, whether it is for my business or for my house. I haven't been giving myself this kind of free time. I'm actually working on that issue, but dates and massages haven't been tended to for awhile. Trust me, I notice the irony that when I am the most stressed is the very time that I am the most apt to toss self-care out the window. Why?

Does that happen to you too or do you have your self-care dialed down to a routine?

Hopping with Joy

I have been feeling a wee bit hyper since my site launched two days ago. The feedback in comments, tweets, instagram and email has been encouraging and affirming. I feel quite like Sir Hopsalot!

In some personal news, almost five weeks ago I made five gallons of homemade liquid laundry detergent. I felt so clever and satisfied until yesterday when my doctor confirmed the rash that has been plaguing me for nearly two weeks is due to said detergent. (I believe the suspect ingredient was Fels Naptha.) Now I will be spending my weekend rewashing everything in my household as earlier this week, I had a massive laundry day including sheets and duvets (figures, right?). Hopefully you will have a more fun weekend than I am planning, but I think I'll just put on some good music and dance my way through it. Do you have an upbeat favorite song I can add to my Laundry Playlist?

P.S.

In case you didn't see my tweets yesterday, you can enter to win a Loads of Ranunculus print and iPhone case over at Kelly Rae's blog until 3 p.m. Pacific time today! Good luck!

Valentine Love

Late greetings, friends, on this day of love, for which I am normally a cynic even though I love my husband more every day after almost 10 years of marriage. But this year, after his longest business trip of our lives, instead of feeling cynical about the "Hallmark" holiday, I simply feel grateful to have him home on a day set aside each year to celebrate love. I love our sweet little family that we have built on that foundation too.

Photos taken at the stunningly styled Maven Collective here in Portland

I found myself in a sappy mood all day, watching wedding proposal videos on YouTube, recalling the romantic soundtrack from one of my favorite movies, Il Postino, which then led me to re-reading the love sonnets of Pablo Neruda.

Love Sonnet XVII

Pablo Neruda

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,   

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:   

I love you as one loves certain obscure things,   

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries   

the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,   

and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose   

from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,   

I love you directly without problems or pride:

I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,

except in this form in which I am not nor are you,   

so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,   

so close that your eyes close with my dreams.

So, even though the day is nearly spent, I wanted to take a moment and send you some pretty flowers and a little love.

Lately

Lately, I have been:

* organizing, importing, keywording my photo library

* making pretty seasonal treasuries on Etsy

* applying the GTD (getting things done) methodology to my email in-box (thanks Erin for the tips on how to organize my online life

* tracking a lot of my online time, including Facebook, with Freckle (my favorite part is the little chime every 15 minutes)

* pinning, and this Manifesto is one of my favorite recent pins

* obsessed with the Portland Bowl and the Orange One smoothie at Canteen in SE Portland

* very cold, but today?

Today is downright balmy here at 49 degrees with a glorious blue sky!

Be Ready

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?

How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?

What scent of old wood hovers, what softened

sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world

than the breathing respect that you carry

wherever you go right now? Are you waiting

for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this

new glimpse that you found; carry into evening

all that you want from this day. This interval you spent

reading or hearing this, keep it for life --

What can anyone give you greater than now,

starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

-- William Stafford

I have gone for three beautiful, brisk winter walks in the past two weeks with my family. This particular photo was taken in my NE Portland neighborhood on a rare snowy day. The poem was from yesterday's walk, seen in a beautiful garden of basalt columns at Foothills Park in Lake Oswego, where the Stafford Stones are inscribed with the poetry of William Stafford.

The poem stopped me in my tracks.

Be ready my friends.

Winter So Far

Winter so far, clockwise from upper left:

a bare tree in Red Bluff, CA; Nana's windowsill, Nana's birthday present, the Bay Area from the Richmond Bridge, new goodies for shipping, and finally, a glorious peony gifted to me by my son in the dead of winter

I've been in no rush to return to the daily rhythms of life after the holidays. I want to be slow and deliberate with my days. Work calls, school obligations, dinner needs to be thought up and prepared, dishes need to be done, laundry too...I have been avoiding this space because I feel so pressured to have made a decision about The Infringers and/or have my whole life figured out because I took two weeks off. Umm, hello self, it doesn't work that way. Two weeks was not spent in solitude and deep thought at the coast where I imagine grand clarity would come to me. No, I spent it happily with my loved ones in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and a road trip to California and then the re-entry into the Noodle's school routine. 

I guess I will ease back into writing here also, I'm the one imposing expectations and deadlines upon myself anyway. So this is my winter so far: lots of cold, grey days with pops of bright colors. It is a metaphor for my emotions too. Life is not all one way or other, I keep learning this lesson in bits and pieces.

We Need a New Path

I received new evidence against Lancôme and Chris Benz recently, and I was going to share it last week but then...

....my husband's cousin died unexpectedly in a horrible kayaking accident.

...Friday happened, FRIDAY HAPPENED.

....and now Instagram/Facebook has released an exploitive new terms of service.

I know Instagram's new TOS is not at ALL related to horrible loss of life but my relationship to corporations very much relates to my daily life and brings up big-picture (pardon the pun) issues for me. Over the past few days, I have asked myself WHY like millions of other people. I keep coming back to the idea of disconnection.

I feel our society is largely disconnected from each other and it shows in how we consume our food, our earth, the internet and all manner of material things. I see a lot of corruption at the corporate level, yet we keep on consuming what they are selling. This is why the Instagram news bothers me, it is just ONE MORE example of all of these issues. We click and rush through our days. It makes me sad. I do not want to live this way.

For a long time, I have thought sharing my view of the world through my camera was one way to make my world better. But I am not so sure anymore.

I find myself wanting to retreat into my home, surrounded by the people I love. I am incredibly fortunate to have my immediate family intact! I want to snuggle up with my dog on the couch and think about how to make the world better.

So, I am about to close my shops for the rest of the year. I need space to think about what I'm doing and what is next for me, my little old camera and my time and energy. I will be back on January 7th, hopefully with a little more clarity than I have today.

Thank you to all of my supporters on the infringement fight and to everyone who has supported me from day one. I wish you and your families a peaceful holiday.

To all those who are suffering this holiday season, I send you all the loving kindness my heart can muster.

We need a new path. This is all I know for sure right now.

FAQ: My Infringement Case with Chris Benz, Lancôme and Saks

In the approximately two weeks since I went public with my copyright infringement case against Chris Benz, Lancôme and Saks, I have received many questions about my situation. I thought I would take the time to create a FAQ for everyone.

I don’t see any infringement. Where do you see your photograph in the fabric?

Perhaps this animated gif fron Kiki The Wonder Mule will be helpful.

How can you copyright a bunch of flowers? You don’t own the flowers. 
How can you copyright colors like pink, orange and white?

I own the copyright to all of my photography the moment I take a photograph. I only claim to own the copyright to my Loads of Ranunculus photograph in this case. It is not about the flowers themselves or their colors. I encourage everyone to educate themselves about U.S. Copyright law by reading their FAQ.

Aren’t you flattered that Chris Benz was inspired by your photograph?

No, I am not flattered that I have to fight an infringement of my work this hard in order to get paid for it.

Do you upload high-res images online?

I only upload low-res images of my work online, but there is powerful software now that can up-size images impeccably. Artists beware! 

How could Chris Benz print fabric from your photograph?

I would suggest asking him directly: info@chris-benz.com.

Did Chris Benz get your photograph on Flickr?

Again, I would suggest asking him directly: info@chris-benz.com.

Do you watermark your images to prevent theft?

There are two camps in the photography and blogging community about watermarking: one believes in watermarking and one says watermarking is terrible and ruins the image. Also, keep in mind that watermarks can be removed in Photoshop. There is no surefire way to prevent image theft online. I have alternated between both camps, and I am currently watermarking my images.

Why are you complaining about theft if you share your work online?

I share my work online because I primarily, but not exclusively, sell my work online. Also, sharing my work brings me joy, creates community and inspires people. I do not share my work online so that corporations can make a profit using my work and then refuse to share those profits with me. Sadly, there is a blame-the-victim mentality out there about image theft.

How can I help you?

You can share my story with your networks by blogging about it, by using the hashtag #justice4jess on Twitter and by tagging Sweet Eventide on Facebook. You can support my Etsy shop with a purchase or you can simply donate to my legal fund via the PayPal button on the top of my blog's right sidebar. I also listed more ways to help in my last post.

Why haven’t you filed a lawsuit yet?

There are many factors that go into the decision to file a lawsuit.
It is a decision I take very seriously and I haven't decided yet.*

I’ve said it before and I will say it again:

I know the fashion world has moved on to a new season, I would love to move forward also. This is my business, not a hobby. I deserve to be paid for my work. Independent artists deserve respect from corporations for their intellectual property in the form of getting permission and providing compensation.


*  
There was an article published in the New York Times this week about Chris Benz and reporter Tim Murphy reached out to me for a comment prior to publication. I answered his question about the state of the case as follows: "We have not filed a lawsuit yet." Unfortunately, Mr. Murphy left out the last word of my sentence and some people have mistakenly assumed it meant that I am not ever planning to file suit.

As Usual, No Response from Chris Benz, et al.

Since I went public with my story of corporate copyright infringement by Chris Benz, Lancôme and Saks Fifth Avenue last week, I have gotten absolutely no response from any of them.

Do you think they should get away with ignoring me like this?

You can let them know what you think on Facebook:

Chris Benz,  9,100+ likes

Lancôme US, 3.3M+ likes

Saks Fifth Avenue, 383,000+ likes

Please note that Mr. Benz has turned off the "posts by others" functionality on his page since my story came out. Many people have left comments on the November 12th post that appears on his wall. Please add to the conversation.  Please tag Sweet Eventide so I can share.

You can also let them know what you think on Twitter: 

Chris Benz,  113,000+ followers

Lancôme, 137,000+ followers

Saks, 133,000+ followers

Please use the hashtag #justice4jess so the tweets can be retweeted. 

I know the fashion world has moved on to a new season, I would love to move forward also. This is my business, not a hobby. I deserve to be paid for my work. Independent artists deserve respect from corporations for their intellectual property. 

If you would like to cover my story, I am available via email at sweet.eventide at yahoo.

Heard Around Home: Nicki Bluhm, Van Sessions

I am in love with these videos. That is all.







There are so many more, I definitely encourage you to pour a cup of tea and listen to more.

In the Forest...

...I feel perspective
...I feel big
...I feel small
...I feel calm
...I feel connected
...I feel clear
...I feel pure.

I feel love, and

I feel loved.

Describing My Photography

Recently, I asked people in an unscientific, but highly wonderful, survey on my personal Facebook profile, to share the first words that came to their minds when they thought of my photographs. I wanted some outside perspective on my work in order to improve how and where I market it. I decided that a Wordle was just the right way to remember all the descriptions of my work.

I couldn't have been more humbled or proud (to be honest) of the feedback that I received. I think "dreamy" and "inspiring" are fine adjectives and I have used them for a long time to describe my images. I love that I now have the ability to go farther in my descriptions, I love golden and calming and natural and love.

I asked my son the same question, let me just say, if I was swooning over my friends' descriptions, well I am out of adjectives to describe the Noodle's answer.

I find myself very often focused on what I do not yet know about being a photographer or a creative entrepreneur and all that running my own business requires of me. I struggle with the elusive balance and I find myself working too many hours and yet it is never enough, or so it seems. This is why it is so good for me to stop and check in like this. It's kind of an unintended, unofficial, internal/external performance review, except not from a boss, but from the heart. 

And to be true, I would give myself a raise right about now, if I could, based on all the evidence. ;)

Heard Around Home: First Aid Kit

Last week, my sweet friend Kim took me to a concert as her birthday gift to me. Well my friends, I had never heard of First Aid Kit before the show and I'm nothing but a big fan now. Emmylou is the song that I fell in love with during the show and I have had it on repeat all week long.



I was already falling for them by the end of the first song, so when they told the story of how they sang America to Paul Simon, it was almost too much to bear! I grew up with Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel and I inherited all of their albums from my father. Listen to them sing it right here -- I can't think of a better way to start your weekend. :)

Scene Around Home: Light

This month, I have been tackling the long-overdue task of keywording my photo library in Lightroom. One of the unexpected side benefits of this process is seeing my work again. Too often, I import my images and do not enjoy them myself very often.

These images are straight out of my camera. I am grateful for the beautiful light streaming in our home this one afternoon earlier this year. I'm even more gratful that I took the time to grab my camera to capture my son reading a book on the couch and my dog chomping on his bone.

This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say, "It is the magic of the ordinary that catches my eye." Hold on to the everyday moments my friends, they hold the beauty and joy of our lives.

Five Months Ago

Five months ago, I quit my day job. One month ago, I opened my iPhone case shop. So I decided to run a couple of reports and discovered some wonderful news. I earned more in the past month than I did in one month at my day job! This is incredible news for me and very validating.

this is a new offerng in my Etsy shop

Working on Sweet Eventide full-time has been a bit of a roller coaster, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I learned a lot about licensing and copyright law over the summer. I have begun outsourcing some of the behind-the-scenes work that was overwhelming me. I am preparing to wholesale my cases. I am working on my 2013 calendar and outsourcing the printing part this year. I have so many dreams and plans for Sweet Eventide, including building a beautiful new website with my husband's help. 

I know that I used to devour the "quit your day job" stories that abound on Etsy and the blogosphere. So many of you dear readers have been with me from the beginning and through my hard times as recently as 10 months ago when I wanted to quit altogether. This is why I'm sharing this update, in case you are wondering what happens after the big announcement. It takes deep courage and passion to quit your job and follow your dreams. There have been days I thought of looking for a j-o-b again and that is when you lean on your support systems to keep going.

Every single day is an adventure. I find myself craving routines after five months of jumping into each day. When you have the freedom to design your day, sometimes it's easy to let the day design you instead. This feels great after being tied to a job where you were not designing anything about your day. It's time to transition to a different balance now though, and it coincides beautifully with the change in seasons. 

Thank you for joining me for the past 3.5 years at Sweet Eventide!