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!

Sweet Eventide 2.0

Welcome to the first day of spring and my brand new home online!

Are you happy shocked? If you subscribe to my newsletter, you have seen sneak peeks of this beautiful website already. I have wanted to build a website like this for years and then one day in February, I just plum decided to START. I used ProPhoto Blogs and I highly recommend this company. Their customer service, tutorials and themes are beyond my expectations and I researched this for a very long time before I took the plunge.

Please take time to check out my new Portfolio pages! I have them organized by season and a special category I call "Ordinary Magic." As you know, I try hard to photograph the magic of the ordinary. I must admit, in the past six weeks I have been doing a lot of sitting behind my computer screen and not much time behind my camera. I think it's a worthy investment. If you notice anything wonky, please feel free to use that nifty Contact button and let me know. I don't have a QA team on board just yet but I definitely want to fix any weird things if you notice them.

I want to give a very special, heart-felt, THANK YOU to my husband Jeff for providing his expert help behind the scenes of this launch! I love you and I am so grateful for you!

I am going to be back to blogging regularly now as well! Please pop in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a new post. I can't wait to hear what you think of Sweet Eventide 2.0!

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!

Never Look Back

I don't know about you, but I need this reminder sometimes.

The photograph is available as a print (without the quote) here.

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.

Chris Benz's Spring 2012 Line

I have been fighting an infringement of my work since July and it is time to share my story. Fashion designer Chris Benz used my Loads of Ranunculus photograph without my permission and without compensation on his Spring 2012 line. This post is long, but it's full of important information.

Let's begin with this video interview of Chris Benz when he premiered his Spring 2012 line at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in September 2011.

Hmmm. Now let's look at Chris Benz's Spring 2012 Lookbook.

Hmmm. Let's look at some stills from NYFW when he launched the Spring 2012 line.

photograph ©

Nicolette Mason

, used with permission

photograph ©

Nicolette Mason

, used with permission

shoe collaboration with

Alejandro Ingelmo

Hmmm. Let's look at 

a collaboration he did

 with Lancome.

If you spent $75 with 

Lancome USA

, you got a Chris Benz tote bag. 

I bought one on eBay and my lawyers in NYC now have it for evidence.

This is an ad on

Lancome's Facebook page

promoting the tote bag, 

with my photograph as the background. 

This is an ad on

Saks Fifth Avenue's Facebook page

. They also used my photograph.

Saks was the exclusive host of the Lancome tote bag giveaway.

Hmmm. Let's look at a screenshot of my original EXIF data that shows when I took the 

Loads of Ranunculus

 photograph. 

Hmmm. Let's look at my photograph!

Loads of Ranunculus

© Jessica Nichols 

Sweet Eventide Photography

You can view the

Loads of Ranunculus

photograph 

on Flickr

. With more than 10,000 views, it is my most popular photograph. I also shared it

here on my blog

on April 6, 2011 for Poppytalk's Colour Week. Jan from Poppytalk featured my photo as

an inspiration

and later in the year, she included it on her list of

Most Influential

for 2011.

Hmmm. Let's look at Chris Benz on the red carpet.

photograph © BFAnyc.com, seen on

Harper's Bazaar

Since July 2012, I have been working with my lawyers to fight this unauthorized use of my Loads of Ranunculus photograph. Chris Benz has officially stated the following to me via our lawyers:

He “gathered inspiration” for his design from sources on the internet, flower shops and street vendors, and while he “is not prepared to say that he absolutely never saw your client’s photograph,” he denies that he copied or manipulated it.  In addition, he “respectfully denies” that the fabric is “substantially similar” to my photograph and therefore there is no infringement. 

UPDATE, 11/16

: I've uploaded the QuickTime video that shows 

how my photograph was used in the fabric

UPDATE, 11/16

: A commenter named Kiki The Wonder Mule made this gif file and shared it on the

PetaPixel

post yesterday about my story.

UPDATES, 11/19

: My story was featured on

HuffPo

on 11/16/12! It was also posted to

Reddit

and I would appreciate any votes there to move it up.

I believe the photographs speak for themselves about how substantially similar his fabric is to my photograph. My entire photograph is in the fabric!

If you want to read more, here are some links:

A

Google search

showing results for "Chris Benz Spring 2012 line." 

An interview regarding the Chris Benz Spring 2012 line on

Marie Claire

magazine.

An

InStyle

magazine post about the Lancome tote bag collaboration.

Another interview about the Chris Benz Spring 2012 line on

The Bostonista

More photos from Nicolette Mason in her

blog post

about Chris Benz's Spring 2012 line.

Chris Benz

Spring 2012 review

on Style.com.

The sneakers were featured on 

Teen Vogue's Tumblr

.

Here is an extremely ironic post on

Fashionista

about how someone infringed on one of Chris Benz's shoe designs.

Let's hear Chris Benz talk to

Elle.com

about how it feels to be adored by the fashion media:

“When I asked him how he feels about being adored by the fashion media, he just said, "It's good. I always say that when you work so hard at something and put your heart into things, and people's expectations are fulfilled in some way, it's such a nice thing."

 —Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin (for Elle)

Come on 

Chris Benz

, it is way past time to step up and take responsibility for using my photograph without my permission and without compensation! I know it was exciting for you last week when you

tweeted about Sasha Obama

wearing one of your skirts on election night, but please take a Twitter break and get in touch with my lawyers.

If you want to help me fight this case, please share the story and/or support my 

print shop on Etsy

 and my 

iPhone case shop on Big Cartel

. Every single sale helps me. 

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!

Something Blue

Two weeks ago, I dipped my toes into the wedding waters again. I take weddings on a case-by-case basis and for Lauren & Don? I could not refuse their amazing love story in a beautiful garden here in my backyard in SE Portland.

something blue

Lauren emailed me nearly one year ago, on November 15, 2011. She said, "I love your photos and am looking for someone outside the regular wedding photo 'world.' Is this something that you do, or would be interested in trying, or maybe just chatting about?"

So after the crazybusy holiday season, we met for coffee one morning at a totally cute, totally Portland cafe. And we proceeded to spend over two hours together chatting about her and Don and her life and her wedding plans. I walked to my car afterwards and said to myself, "So I guess I'll be doing a wedding somehow!" I simply could not say no to Lauren. 

As I listened to toast after toast at her reception, behind my lenses, I realized that Lauren has this effect on people. She is the most charming, down to earth, sincere, beautiful woman and you just are so lucky if you happen to cross paths with her in this lifetime. I know her new husband Don feels that way!

I promise to share more photos as they are edited. :)

The Color Run

Even though I was still sick, I participated in the 5K Color Run on Saturday with my friend Jamie who flew up from California for the event (and her friend Marnie who also lives up here in Portland). At every kilometer, they threw a different colored powder on you and you could choose how much you wanted depending on where you ran through the station. It was a really fun experience and the massive color explosion at the end of the event was the absolute highlight!

I am so happy Jeff and his dad were there with cameras to capture it for me, as I left all of mine at home. The Noodle cheered me on too and took such sweet care of me for the rest of the day at home (as I was wiped out beyond repair sadly).

You can watch the whole finale unfold here on YouTube.

Giveaway Winners Announced!

Hello friends! I apologize for the massive delay in announcing the winners of my Loads of Ranunculus iPhone 4/4S case. I photographed a beautiful wedding on the day the giveaway ended and then promptly got attacked by a mean virus! I'm up and at 'em today though! With no further ado...

Congratulations to Annie and Beth! I will email you today. :)

Thank you all for entering!