Clear and cold. Calm this morning, though probably breezy in places later in the day. Overcast by this evening.
I spent most of the day at the Christmas Bazaar. Since I knew I wouldn’t be getting done until it was basically dark, I made sure to get observations this morning.
After dropping off the last of my stuff for the bazaar, I made a short trip over to the ramp in front of UAS.
I caught the first sun on Peak 4900, and took pictures of a few birds in the channel.
Photos sales were very similar today to what I did last year. However, revenue was more than double, since I was selling calendars as well.
Calendar sales were encouragning, in that I sold 46 today (more than I sold total last year). On the other hand, I have a long way to go to break even, and even longer to come close to selling out.
With observing work taking up so much time these days, I’m not really expecting to be able to put much effort into selling. My best bet is probably to have an option to sell online. Between that and maybe selling another 40-60 at the Made in Sitka Market in two weeks, hopefully I can at least break even.
It might be a few days before I make time to update my spreadsheets, but I’m pretty sure I had at least 8 first-time sales. Most of those are photos I’ve had in inventory for at least 2 years.
At some point it might be interesting to do a more careful comparison of last year’s photo sales compared to this year. One issue today was being out of two or three different popular prints in the 4×6 or 5×7 size. I hadn’t checked carefully, and just assumed I had them, since I had printed so many previously. Today would have matched or exceeded last year in photo sales if I had those.
I did get some names and contact info, and will get prints ready for those folks. Plus I’ll try to make time to do a more thorough review of inventory before the next markets.
Rowan came and helped me pack at the end of the market. Then we went to the radio station and recorded a conversation for tomorrow’s show. I was a little surprised she had not been reluctant at all when I half-teasing broached the possibility a week or two ago. As it turned out, we had plenty of things to talk about, and after we were done, she started mentioning other things she could have talked about.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
