Praying Mantis

Have you ever heard the legend of the praying mantis? One of God's amazing creatures appear to take on a stance of prayer when resting. Their long forearms held together is part of what gave them their name.

There is a legend of the praying mantis written about in an 1883 issue of Scientific American.

The devotional attitude of these insects when watching for their prey--their fore legs being elevated and joined in a supplicating manner--has given them in English the popular names of "soothsayer," "prophet," and "praying mantis," in French, "prie-Dieu," in Portuguese, "louva-Deos," etc. According to Sparmann, the Nubians and Hottentots regard mantides as tutelary divinities, and worship them as such. A monkish legend tells us that Saint Francis Xavier, having perceived a mantis holding its legs toward heaven, ordered it to sing the praises of God, when immediately the insect struck up one of the most exemplary of canticles! Pison, in his "Natural History of the East Indies," makes use of the word Vates (divine) to designate these insects, and speaks of that superstition, common to both Christians and heathens, that assigns to them the gifts of prophecy and divination. The habit that the mantis has of first stretching out one fore leg, and then the other, and of preserving such a position for some little time, has also led to the belief among the illiterate that it is in the act, in such cases, of pointing out the road to the passer by.

As legends go this is a cool one. For me I see them as fascinating. So you can imagine my joy when one day while driving out of a driveway I noticed this guy sitting on the hood of my car. It was only the slowness of my exit that allowed him to remain there.

I quickly pulled over and grabbed my trusty camera. This particular shot was a keeper. With his head turned at this angle he looks as if he is about to spout some ancient wisdom. Kind of reminds you of the aliens you see in some science fiction movie.

Either way you look at it, it's a fun little image that I used a pencil sketch effect on. Wouldn't this make a great gift for your favorite nephew? Actually I like this little note I found, "The name mantis (“diviner”) reflects an ancient Greek belief in its supernatural powers."

You can add some of these divine powers to your home decor when you purchase in canvas or photo print from my gallery on imagekind. Greeting cards are also available.

Golden Sunset

The abundance of Mother Nature is clearly visible in this golden sunset. What better way to be reminded than to walk on the ocean floor at low tide. This photograph was taken during low tide on December 10th.







It was my first opportunity to experience low tide. This wasn't the first time the kids had experienced it though and they were having the time of their lives sharing all their great finds. Like walking into a living Biology book, you had to walk lightly knowing that every step you take could be on something that was just swimming under the waves.

A virtual party spread before my eyes and in front of my camera. Tiny crabs scurried to stay hidden under exposed seaweed covered rocks. Coral lay before me drying in the sun. Anemone seemed to find little pools of water to pass the time waiting for the tide to come back in and carry them back to their ocean home.

These creatures of the ocean were the unfortunate ones who didn't get out deep enough when the tide went down. Seagulls were in heaven though as the searched and feasted on delicacies not found every day.

Almost as much fun as watching the kids scurry from rock to rock was watching surfers of every size heading out into the ocean. And as we headed home for the evening I turned to be met by this glorious golden sunset.

I felt like a leprechaun dancing at the end of a rainbow. I'd found my pot of gold to take home with me that day. The swirls of color in the clouds exposing shades of sunlight were like candy to my eyes.

Can you think of a better gift to give a loved one? Or even better why not treat yourself with the richness of nature's gold. Buy your print from Sally's Gallery in your favorite size. You can even have it framed delivered ready to hang in your favorite spot.

A Look at Stock Photography

10 Important Mistakes to Avoid
When Submitting Photos to Stock Photo Sites

A quick and easy way to make money with your photos is by submitting them to stock photo sites online. You can start earning money with the photos that are already in your hard drive; you don't even have to take new photos right away.

If you want a step-by-step guide to monetizing your digital photos through stock photo sites and other ways, check out Turn Your Photos Into Cash.

Meantime, you can get started right now. But do make sure you don't make these 10 mistakes when you submit photos in stock photo sites:

1. Submitting low-quality photos. Don't waste your time and energy. Nobody wants blurred, under-exposed and other types of low-quality photos.


2. Not doing keyword research. The right keyword list can make or break the profitability of your photos.


3. Submitting photos that you don't own. You can get into real big trouble for doing this.


4. Submitting photos of people without a "model waiver." Know when you need a model waiver and always get one when necessary.


5. Submitting photos of objects owned by other people without a "property waiver." This is another legal requirement you should be aware of to avoid future headaches.


6. Submitting photos that don't meet the stock photo site's standards. You may think your photo is perfect but each site has its own standards, including minimum size, etc. Double check before submitting.


7. Submitting photos that have unwanted elements. Some items are simply unacceptable in photos. Find out which ones they are and either edit them out or avoid them altogether.


8. Submitting photos to stock photo sites which require exclusive contracts. Don't submit to these sites.


9. Submitting photos of mundane objects. Why bother when demand is low and they're all over the web already?


10. Submitting over-edited photos. Over-editing can drastically reduce the quality of your photos, causing them to be rejected.

If you want more detailed guidance on submitting to stock photo sites, I recommend Turn Your Photos Into Cash.

Aside from making money on stock photo sites, this fact-filled Ebook teaches a number of other ways for you to turn digital photography from a hobby to a home business - a profitable one at that.

Click here to find out more about Turn Your Photos Into Cash.

Butterfly Mouse Pads

If you are a fan of butterflies you are going to love this idea. How about creating butterfly mouse pads from your artwork? There are many opportunities for selling photography and art online. I have made friends with photo artist friends who have chosen many that I have never even heard of.

Each of these places offer various means of delivering your art to customers. One thing you must remember in going this route is that you are not likely to make a ton of money. You can make money putting your art on these hosting sites. I'm going to tell you a little about some of my favorites in a minute.

Butterfly Mouse Pads

I used two photographs to create this mouse pad. The butterflies are actually the same butterfly placed as clip art into the flower photo. Now creating a mouse pad out of this digital art was easy. I use cafe press to host the product. Cafe Press is one of those places I mentioned where you can host your art. You are free to set your prices as high or as low as you want. You just have to set prices above the base price to make any profit.

If you like this butterfly mouse pad, you can click on the image to be taken to the purchase page. To see more butterfly mouse pad pictures visit here. This brings me to another point about using your photo art to sell products online.

Don't expect to just upload your art and let the hosting company do the rest for you. Although most offer to market your work in their market place, you can do a simple search for any product and notice the competition you are up against.

So what's the solution? Do your own marketing. I've mentioned several times that having a web site of your own is the number one method for getting your name out there. And when a site is done right you will soon be selling photography online far above any competition you may come across.

Places to Sell Your Art as Products

I mentioned CafePress.com first. You can choose between a Pro site or start out with a free basic store front. In free store front you are limited to one of each product available. But you are permitted to open as many stores as you like. So with the help of that website I was telling you about and a little bit of imagination you can have a full fledged store of each of your favorite products and photos.

Next on my list would be ArtWanted.com! In order to sell products through them you must have a Pro account. But I must admit the opportunity to give your visitors a better price and still make almost as good a commission is better. Another good thing about ArtWanted is you can open a free account, upload 3 images and link to another website such as say your gallery on Artist Rising. The best way to take advantage of Artwanted for this respect is to visit other member images and make comments creating a following.

To your success,

Sally

P.S. I almost forgot the most important part of this message. If you are looking for the best place to host your own web site be sure and check out SBI! Like they say, "Why build just another website, when you can build a successful business."

Honoring Your Accomplishments

An old familiar sense of let down came over me as I clicked the publish button. This feeling has been growing each time a create a new page for any of my websites or blogs. And it occurred to me that something is missing,. "You need a way of honoring your accomplishments.", said that wee small voice in my head.

Working from home has so many rewards. You no longer have to deal with office politics. You can make your own schedule. There's no boss breathing down your neck to finish his project. You can do work you really love.

And working online from home has it's own set of perks. You are no longer limited to a tiny office cubicle but can reach out to the whole world. Everything you want or need for your business is right at your fingertips. You have the date, time, reminders for jobs to complete, email to communicate and a whole world available at the click of a mouse.

This morning as I wrote in my journal I wrote out the month, August. Usually a quick 8, 2, 09 gets the job done. But there comes a time when living in a digital, all numbers world, you forget to take the time to celebrate the little accomplishments or even to mourn the losses.

We go day after day working and living, producing and going about the business of our new found free life. It's so easy to forget to honor what has gone by and be grateful for what has been as well as give a little kiss of farewell to what we have given up.

Gratitude pages, Thank you pages and Evening Journals where you recall the day that has just passed are great tools for doing that. I learned about these journals of self expression from Julia Cameron author of The Artist's Way. She has many tips for honoring our true artistic nature.

Work at Home Can be Lonely Too

We give up the hustle and bustle of office work. And we no longer have to deal with office politics, grumpy bosses, disgruntled co-workers. We no longer have a boss breathing down our necks pushing us for a deadline.

But just the same we don't have the occasional reward of "Job well done!" I even remember one boss who would give out little certificates of accomplishment at the team meeting once a month as an incentive to encourage better work performance and good office morale.

What happens when you work at home? There is no boss to breath down your neck only your own internal boss. And there is no one to say thank you but you. Talk about taking full responsibility for your own life. That includes the rewards and the time for grief, the time to breath and the time to laugh.

Companionship is one that can be difficult to come by. All the people you used to hang out with at the water cooler are now hanging out with those you left behind and having lunch with their other work buddies. Oh you have friends you've met on line but it is hard to put a human feature on someone who is miles away, isn't it?

So what's the answer?

There are ways around this too. I have a friend who makes his living as a professional blogger. Slade writes for his site, Shift Your Spirits, on his laptop while at a local cafe. His articles carry that personal note you can relate to as he builds his articles around the people he talks to there.

Places like Barnes & Noble are connected with a cafe that you can read, commune with other readers and even work on your laptop while you have a cup of coffee or tea. After an hour there you will feel refreshed and reconnected with the world. And you could even come away with a whole list of article ideas for your web site.

Managing A Busy Schedule

My daughter, Mikki, runs a little hub of her own right from home. She started out following her passion and love of children with a site called Unique Parenting.com. The youngest of her four children decided one day she wanted to feed the homeless. Morgan came up with the idea for Morgan's Mobile Meals, because no one deserves to go hungry. This gave Mikki the idea to add another site to her group called A Better Family Business.

Now Mikki has kids ranging from 8 to 20 something. So her life is full of people and activities that keep her in the world of people. But how on earth does she manage the honoring of soul?

Once a week she makes a special trip to Star Bucks. You may have heard of them? They have a few little tables in a quiet atmosphere. It's the perfect place to sit and plan her week ahead. And best of all she gets to enjoy her favorite beverage away from that computer.

Myself, I like to walk in nature but even that can be an isolated adventure. Yet seeing people walk their dogs, ride bikes and occasionally horses keeps me in touch with the human side of things.

So whatever you choose, take time for honoring your accomplishments and maybe even get together with friends. Give yourself a routine that fits you. What makes you feel good about yourself? Give yourself a pat on the back. Job well done!