Katy's superb amateur photography gift shop on zazzle.com

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 21 people | Log in to rate

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Experimenting Squidoo

Well here I am, my first squidoo lens ever. I am a stay at home mom with 2 children ages 4 and 2. I always imagined going back to work after the birth of my first child but low and behold I didn't return. I just couldn't. Sounds familiar to anyone? So wracking my head at home I am always trying to come up with some idea of what I am "talented" or "passionate" about and try to speak or write about it. With numerous attempts of coming up with nothing it started to make me feel as if I truly am talentless :) It was not until I stumbled upon a website called zazzle in 2008 where I thought I could try my hand at creating products. Zazzle pretty much supplies the "equipment" and all you have to do is design the product with images/artwork. I small lightbulb came on and I thought, "Hey, I love photography". I take TONS of photos almost everyday and can say that I have well over 12,000 pictures in my hard drive. (My husband wants to kill me) but before I knew it I was creating some products on zazzle. By the way, the picture you see here is me of course on my trip to Los Cabos, Mexico sailing on a boat to go see the lovely arc that Cabo is famous for. Absolutely beautiful but I will save that for another lens on day.

Here's what I want to talk about on this page 

My products are designed with photos I have taken throughout the later part of my life. I have been to many destinations in my life (even my own backyard) and captured some beautiful images. I wanted to show the entire world my photos somehow but I am completely shy to go and display them at art fairs or exhibits and feel overwhelmed by people who I believe have so much more talent than I do and more experience. So I decided to open up my shop at zazzle and see if my work speaks for itself. To my surprise I have been successful in some sales. This alone brings such high to try to achieve better. Although I will not be rich doing this but it definitely opens doors for other ideas to come into play such as entering contests, microstock photography and again I have been successful. I can only imagine it will get better.

My images are based on my travel destinations and some from my own personal life. My main travels have been to Mexico, The Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Peru. For those of you who have never been there, my products will give you a taste of what you can expect. As for my personal collection of photos, I will leave that up to you to go and take a look for yourself. I really hope you like them. http://www.zazzle.com/katymanrique
Please leave comments good or bad because I always like to find out what you are thinking. If there is anything you don't see and would like to know if I can make a certain product please let me know as well. I look forward to hearing from you all.

make custom gifts at Zazzle

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Here's what I hope you'll learn here 

Business takes a lot of patience

Having any kind of business takes patience. I for one feel like I don't want to miss out on anything and like to learn through other people who are more knowledgeable than I am. Sometimes I tend to skip the important little steps which is the bread and butter of owning/operating a business and I might get sloppy....does this sound like anyone out there? Hopefully being patient and working hard is what I hope to accomplish, even if my kids are tugging at my hair screaming "Mommy he hit me!"

Contests 

I have won contests! 2 to be exact.

Have you ever entered any photo contests and actually won something? Well I have and I want to share with you my winning photo. I have entered 2 photo contests on http://parentguidenews.com/ one photo was to submit a father's day themed photo. (my husband is featured in the photo) I titled it "Stay Out This Is My Area" won tickets to a water park in Long Island NY. I swear I was so happy you would have thought I won the lottery. I have a second photo and I will post as soon as I as I figure out squidoo a little bit more. :)

My second entry 

The Christmas/Holiday Photo

Well I finally figured out how to add another module. It was so easy I couldn't understand why it took me so long. :) Anyway, this second photo was entered on the same website mentioned above and we were to submit a "typical holiday photo" or something to that nature. Well I put this one because as all of us mom's know we plea bargain with our children, we promise them the world, we have them sign in blood for just that one smile with Santa and what happens the minute they come closer to that man with the white beard? Yup, that typical holiday photo of your child screaming his eyes out with Santa. However, that photo won me tickets to Medieval Times in NJ. It is a great place for the family. A little on the expensive side and if your child isn't into eating chicken legs/thighs, boiled potatoes then I suggest feeding them before coming. But they loved the show.

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What I have sold 

My best selling images so far.

Living in NY you must visit The Empire State Building

Living in NY you must visit The Empire State Building

Living in NY you must visit The Empire State Building
I went to a photo exhibit my sister-in-law was hosting and she was given this beautiful bouquet of flowers. I thought it was beautiful so I snapped a pic so it's beauty can live on in a photo.
Vacationed in Los Cabos, Mexico and this was what we woke up to every morning. View from La Fiesta Americana.
I captured this photo at a wedding of a close friend of ours. The cake was captivating I had to turn it into a wedding postcard.
Vacationed in Acapulco, Mexico. This was our beautiful breathtaking view from our balcony.
Visited family in Toronto and the CN building is a must see.

My images on Bigstockphoto and Fotolia 

It is not much but it is a beginning :)

This photo is my latest one accepted onto bigstockphoto.

Great Stuff on Amazon 

Photography

These items featured below is what I am currently using to help me get my small photography business on track.
Sony Alpha A200W 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization with 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 and 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Lenses

Sony Alpha A200W 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization with 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 and 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Lenses

Amazon Price: $849.00 (as of 12/05/2009) Buy Now

Popular Photography & Imaging

Popular Photography & Imaging

Amazon Price: $14.00 (as of 12/05/2009) Buy Now

2009 Photographer's Market

2009 Photographer's Market

by: Editors of Writers Digest Books

Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 12/05/2009) Buy Now

by katymanrique

Hello world. This is my bio. For those of you who do not know me my name is Katy. I am a stay at home mom of 2 children. My oldest is 4 and youngest... (more)

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