I’ve received quite a few requests to purchase this photo, “The Farm On Route 67,” one of the most beautiful roads in my county. To me, it’s an especially interesting photograph, it was taken with my Dagueorrotype Achromat lens in misty sunshine over the weekend.

The color is striking, as is the depth of field and the magical feeling. The photograph is interesting, at times looking like a painting, and them melting back into a photograph.

It has some of the best qualities of a watercolor and some of a photograph I think.

The house and barn at the center are in sharp focus, the trees and meadows are in soft focus – not digital sharpness – to draw the eye to the center and heighten the impact of the image.

Some people see the soft focus as being out of focus, but that is not the same thing, it is a very deliberate effort to create an atmosphere as well as picture.

I think it is exciting and original, and I think we have found a way to sell it inexpensively and with the highest quality. I do not copyright or watermark my photographs, I want people to use them freely, but some pictures stand out and warrant selling, I think.

And despite rumors to the contrary, even New York Times bestsellers are not big shots these days.

I will watch out for the responses to certain pictures,  and also the number of people who take the trouble to contact me about buying them. In this case, as with the Blue Heron, it was a lot of people.

We have sold more than 40 Blue Heron prints, which are $110 plus shipping, and are 8×14 inches.

Maria is going to sell the photos on her blog, she will get a commission, I don’t want her working on my stuff without getting compensated. She has grudgingly agreed to the commission. The print will be smaller than the Blue Heron, around 8 x 10 inches on high quality archival paper and printed by George Forss,  a technical and artistic genius.

Every print will be signed.

It is a pure joy to work with Maria and George on any project, it is blessed from the start.

We are still working out the details, but we think we can sell a print like this for $60 unframed plus shipping.  It’s a good size to hang on a wall, and inexpensive to frame. That may change a bit, depending on what we figure out about the printing.

A number of good friends have suggested to me that the occasional selling of unusual and distinctive photographs could provide a small but useful revenue stream, along with the blog and other subscriptions and work donations.

After dawdling for several years,  I have started accepting new sources of revenue to compensate for the traditional loss of income writers are experiencing. It is not a crime to get paid for your work.

I rejected the selling of lots of pictures, and was not happy or successful selling $400 framed photographs at art shows. For  someone like me, those days are gone. The smart phone cameras are very good. But not as good as handcrafted art lenses on powerful digital cameras.

If all of our calculations turn out to be correct, Maria will put a Paypal button up on her website later this week (people can also send checks if they prefer) and people can buy them.  The ship out in very sturdy special tubes.

We will print to order and if 10 people want the print, we’ll print that many, if 50 do, we’ll print that many. If no one does, we’ll move on.  If I make four or five thousand dollars a year, that will pay our local school and property taxes. If I make more, we may go on vacation next year as well.

I will make an appropriate profit, but not much. The photos I choose to sell will be occasional and distinctive pictures that can’t be taken with smartphones or conventional cameras and lenses and that might evoke feelings and emotions.

Maria and I will only sell prints of photographs that people wish to buy or have requested. She’ll post the photos on her gallery pages on her blog. We’ve been trying to figure this out for years, but this approach feels right to me

Very few photographs will be offered for sale. So if you’re interested, look for an announcement later in the week. To buy any of my pictures, you will have to e-mail [email protected]. She gets a commission now.