I was just checking one of my stock sites and I realized I just got my first enhanced license for one of my photos! It pays $28.00 for one download, (enhanced license subscriptions allow buyers additional rights to downloaded images for merchandising and high-viewership commercial uses) I'm just thrilled. This also brings me over my goal for my first payout of $100.00. What a great way to start the holidays.[link]

Happy Holidays and a Happy and Creative New Year to all my friends/watchers, you guys are the best.
Someone just showed this to me and I had to pass it on

One particular Christmas season, a long, long time ago, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip. But there were problems everywhere. Four of the elves were sick, and the trainee elves did not produce toys nearly as quickly as the regular elves, so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of falling behind schedule.

Next, Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mother was coming to visit. This stressed Santa out even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer for the big flight, he found that three of them were about to give birth, and two had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

More STRESS.

Then, Santa began to load the sleigh, but one of the boards cracked! The toy bag fell through to the ground, scattering toys everywhere.

So, frustrated, Santa went into the house to have a cup of coffee and a shot of whiskey. When he got to the cupboard, Santa realized that the elves had hidden all of the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, Santa accidentally dropped the coffee pot and sent it shattering to the floor. It broke into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Santa went to the closet to get the broom, but discovered that mice had eaten all of the straw, leaving only the handle.

Just at that very moment, the doorbell rang. Santa cussed all the way to the door. He opened the door, and standing there in front of him was a little angel with a big Christmas tree.

Very Cheerfully, the angel said, "Merry Christmas Santa! Isn't it just a wonderful day? I have a beautiful Christmas tree here, just for you. Don't you think it's just a lovely tree? Where would you like me to stick it?"

And, thus began our tradition of the little angel atop the Christmas tree.

Right now we are in the beginning stage of a huge snow squall and the weather man says we are supposed to get 80, yes 80 centimeters by tomorrow, that's over 30 inches folks! Hope everyone (else) has a good weekend!

For the friends and watchers of our *natureguy
George has sent me a note saying that he won't be around DA for awhile. As you know, he lost his mother last February and now his father is in bad shape, he's in the intensive care unit with internal bleeding but they can't operate right now because his heart is not strong. George asked me to pass this message along for lack of time, and I ask that if you know him (he's a wonderful guy isn't he?) maybe you could go give him a few words of support on his page. Thanks!

I wanted to try out my new journal so I'll tell you what I've been up to lately.
At the end of March, I decided to join Shutterstock, it's a micro stock site where photographers, upon acceptance, submit pictures which are downloaded by subscribers for use on web sites, in magazines, brochures, on billboards and so on. They pay different amounts and the photographer in turn gets a small percentage of money for each download. I submitted my first batch of pictures and had 7 of 10 approved. Since then I've managed to get my portfolio up to 112 images and I'll tell you, is it ever challenging and fun. They are extremely picky; the full resolution must be dead on with the proper focus, lighting, composition, NO NOISE (they hate noise), and it must be commercially valuable, otherwise it's rejected. I've really learned a lot and it's so fun to wait for approval/rejection and to watch the statistics. I'm looking forward to finding one of my images in use in a magazine someday.
If any of you want a challenge, or want to become better at your craft and make a little extra money, I recommend you check it out. There is also a referral program whereby you get a small percentage if someone you referred to the site sells any pics. I'm not trying to spam you guys but if anyone wants to join and use my referral code, I wouldn't be mad.