christina's journal

That’s me, just made my first grand on istock. Very, very happy.

I’m only ten dollars off my first $1000 on istock. Given the exchange rate I’m already over $1000 Aussie dollars. Far from breaking even yet, but it’s still a significant amount of money.

Too much to do. The only way I’m going to survive is to give up photography, at least for the time being. I’ll probably need valium to cope with that. No doubt my weight will go back up to as I’ll be sitting on my arse 24/7 in front of this computer.

I’ve been quite anxious for the past couple of months, which has been interfering with my work (and just about everything else), and I think I’ve pinned down the reason. This year I’m expanding my teaching in two subjects I have trouble with – XML and JavaScript. And AJAX. I’ve been teaching these languages at a basic level for some time, but this year I need to be a lot more on top of them. Not knowing my stuff well enough always makes me anxious.

Both languages are fairly easy, but he devil is in the details. XML is unbeleivably verbose, and defining a datatype using an XML Schema is just so much more difficult than defining a class in an OO language due to the sheer mass of verbosity. Drowning in text. JavaScript – well, I just don’t use it enough to be familiar with best practices, common solutions, etc. Using the window.onload to run an init function that assigns event handlers to everything on the page is just a very non-straightforward way to code IMHO, but it seems to be the common practice these days.

Anyway, I’ve finally found a text on JavaScript that isn’t too long, too dry or too simplistic. Spending some time getting comfortable with the contemporary idiom is doing a lot to calm my anxieties. Still got lots of work to do, but at least it seems more doable now.

Later…

Most of the day spent working through JavaScript exercises. I’m getting the hang of the current style. A bit more sophisticated than what I’ve been doing, but not too difficult. How to cast it into a form that’s accessible to my students is another matter. I’m going to have to write notes for this stuff pretty soon.

It’s the simple common images that sell best on istock. In food photography the basic sandwich is one of the most popular images. So, I did a classic sandwich today – turkey and cheese with lettuce and onion. Somehow I forgot to put the tomato in, although I did buy some fine truss tomatoes just for the shoot. To give my image a little distinction I used a whole light rye sourdough loaf, bought from Bakers Delight and cut by myself. Even Kelly Cline, the owner of the most popular sandwich image, seems to have used sliced bread, although it is wholemeal. I’m hoping my linen tablecloth will lend a touch of class as well. Isolated on white is so passé.

Thank God the weather is a bit cooler today. I just can’t concentrate on work when it’s too hot, and I’ve got so much that needs doing. I managed to get a good start on some course writing that needs to be finished by Tuesday, after doing none for the past two days. I feel so much more energised in cooler weather.

I’ve deactivated about 160 files on istock, mostly from my first year there. Mostly images with no sales in three years, but also a few that have had a sale, for around 25 cents, three years ago or some newer images with a lot of views but no sales. I’d like any visitors to my portfolio to find good quality work rather than have to hunt for wheat amongst the chaff. Perhaps I’ll even become reasonably well known. My food photos haven’t proven too popular yet, but I’m still hoping.

I’m about a month away from my first US$1000 on istock. Won’t go far in paying for my equipment, let alone my time, but a significant milestone nonetheless. I wonder how long it will take to actually break even on this business venture. A couple of years more, probably. Not counting my time.

Just finished marking the prac test my Java students did on Thursday. I didn’t even have to push myself to do it. It’s great being able to just get on with it instead of spending huge amounts of time not being able to engage with whatever I need to do. I guess it’s a sign that my depression is finally resolving. Of course, tomorrow… who knows?

My weight has got down to 98.x without too much effort on my part. I’ve been drinking a lot less this year, so perhaps that’s helping. I still spend a lot of time on my bum, but perhaps I’m a bit more active than I used to be.