Category: Artists

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Photography & Business Goals for the New Year

Foreseeable, attainable and lofty goals to move my business forward.

A wise man, Benjamin Franklin, once said, “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.” With that in mind, I’ve been looking at a few marketing goals for my Bill Swartwout Photography business for the coming year.

Attainable goal: A couple weeks ago I started back at my earliest upload folder and began making black and white versions of images where B&W actually “works” well. In doing that, I am updating (cleaning, culling, rearranging) keywords and adjusting descriptions as needed. I have been selling a few black and white images and, with a greatly increased inventory, hope to sell even more in 2021. That project will likely add 500 +/- images to my current gallery total at USPictures.com.

Attainable goal #2: Increase my web presence of individual sites (blog and image style) that support my better-selling themes/collections.
Examples: https://www.FortMcHenry.net – https://www.IndianRiverBridge.com – https://www.MyPhoneography.com.

Attainable goal #3: Redefine my personal website to better focus on photography. I’m trying to be/act (more) retired – so I want to eliminate all old affiliate marketing “stuff” and clean out extraneous and obviously dated posts/articles.

Lofty goal: Double my current inventory by the end of 2021.

But – first and foremost – my photography must remain fun.

YOUR THOUGHTS? Please leave a comment…

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Jigsaw Puzzles by Independent Artists

Photographs by Bill Swartwout are now available on Jigsaw Puzzles.

These premium jigsaw puzzles are available in two different sizes: 18″ x 24″ (500 pieces) and 20″ x 28″ (1,000 pieces).   Each puzzle is made from premium 0.200″ thick card stock and includes a custom-designed box containing the puzzle with artwork by Bill Swartwout Photography.

Jigsaw Puzzles by Bill Swartwout Photography
More than 700 Jigsaw Designs with images by Bill Swartwout Photography.
Representative Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces to Illustrate the High Quality of the Product

Challenge yourself and your brain with a jigsaw puzzle designed with imagery by Bill Swartwout Photography. These puzzles are made from premium 0.2″ thick paper stock and include a semi-gloss coating on the top surface to make the image really stand out. The puzzles are available in two different sizes and piece counts: 500 pieces at 24″x18″ and 1000 pieces at 28″x20″. The puzzle pieces are unique and contained in a sturdy puzzle box with the image printed on the top. Care instructions include keeping the puzzle in the box when you are not “puzzling” and store it at room temperature.

Jigsaw Puzzle of the Indian River Bridge at Twilight
Jigsaw Puzzle of a Crowded Beach at Ocean City, Maryland

These are produced and fulfilled by Fine Art America/Pixels and have a 30-day Satisfaction Guarantee. In addition to the 700+ offered by Bill Swartwout Photography there are over a million designs by created by other independent artists. CLICK HERE to get started.

Jigsaw Puzzle of French Fries Not Judging You
This puzzle design always evokes a laugh.
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My Favorite Cat Artist in the Whole World

Dora Hathazi Mendes has a pure talent for depicting cats in watercolor.

Dora is an artist colleague who lives with her husband and family in Portugal. We have collaborated on various art activities over the last two years. We are colleagues in that we both use Fine Art America as our Print On Demand (POD) art production facility. (FAA is the largest fine art POD in the world. )

If you like cats, as most people do, and find them fun to be around, you might just find that Dora’s art a real joy to see. That’s why I decided to share some of my favorites here on my personal website. I hope you like her paintings as much as I do.

Here is an assortment of snapshots of the above work-in-progress. There are many steps involved in creating such a lifelike likeness of the black kitten – especially in the medium of watercolor on fine art paper.

Of course some cats take a more laid back approach to life. Here is Dora’s watercolor of a ginger Maine Coon cat. The Maine Coon is the largest of domesticated cats and, even though they have active hunting skills, are laid back, fluffy and friendly. Below you can see this artwork on a notebook cover, one of the popular items also produced by Fine Art America from original art. BE sure to click the picture to see the actual piece.

Here are links (click below) to Dora Hathazi Mendes and her art at Fine Art America:

Note, please, that this is not a “sales pitch” – but should you decide to purchase something from Fine Art America, Dora will earn her artist fee and FAA will pay me a (very) small ad fee.

Dora has contributed to the success of my new Artistic Face Masks website where her designer face masks have proven to be popular sellers.

You can see my work at Bill Swartwout Photography.