Etsy Tuesdays: Bonnie Jones

Well, that was quite the week for us here in the northwest.  But luckily, we survived to eat another turkey, along with some gravy and mashed potatoes too.  My grandma and an uncle and a couple cousins from my dad's side of the family came over, and the inevitable card game happened.  Normally I would enjoy that, but I haven't had the best of luck lately, and got thouroughly stomped.  But, there's always Christmas, and hopefully things will go a little bit better! :D 

I also had my first (of two) craft shows of the season on Saturday.  There was a little less traffic than I was hoping for, but it turned out alright in the end.  I'm really looking forward to my next show on Fox Island, December 11th.  It should be cozy and christmasy and have lots of people wandering through!

Anyways, our Etsy artist of the day is Bonnie Jones.  She's a photographer who runs an etsy shop of the same name.  Her photographs are creative, thought-provoking and beautiful.  I especially love her journal series.  Here's her story:

"My name is Bonnie Jones and I'm a photographer. For me this means that my eyes are always at work (thank goodness for contact lenses) and my mind is constantly distracted by the possibility of a picture. It's a rare situation that I don't see in a photographic way.

I studied creative writing in college but quickly became obsessed with my photography classes. I went on to do an MFA in photography a couple of years later. Oh, how I'm grateful for those three years, being able to focus on photo projects of my choosing - what a luxury! But it's not unusual that those years didn't equip me with too many ideas for making a living. So I set out to figure it out.

In the five years since then, I've taught elementary school art and adult ESOL, I found myself working as a photographer at a car dealership (bad) and in a village bakery in England (good!). After getting married in 2007 and making two military moves with my husband, the prospect of more cross-country job searching pushed me to get creative about work. On the side, I began selling notecards and small prints at a weekly farmer's market. A customer suggested I check out Etsy. As it turned out, Etsy, and selling online in general put loads of ideas into my head about trying to make an income from my photography. With the next move in 2008 I thought why not now?

Being my own boss has been at the top of my list of life goals for as long as I can remember. I was able to watch my dad, a writer, and my grandfather, a musician, thrive as self-employed people working with their talent. So I'm very excited to be giving it a try. Currently I'm selling work online, through several galleries, and at art festivals.

I'm certain that I got carried away and made that decision to try photography full time prematurely. But I'm so glad I did. And I'm thankful for a husband who is supportive as I experiment and work to get it right.

Visit me at my website, www.bonniejonesphoto.com or at my Etsy shop, www.bonniejones.etsy.com."

Thanks so much,

Bonnie"

Posted via email from Earmarks