Interview with Fred Ziegler of Florals by Fred

 Fred Ziegler of Florals by Fred

Rico:
What's Your Name?

Fred Ziegler

Rico:
List your shop(s) -

Fred Ziegler :

Florals by Fred

The theme is nature and floral photography. I have been shooting floral mages for years so, the name seemed to be a natural “fit” for my store. I specialize in a rather eclectic mixture of things. Basically, I love nature photography but, I also enjoy fly fishing and Amateur Radio. SO the visitor to my store will find a mixture of all three but, mostly nature and florals.  

Rico:
How long have you been at Zazzle?

Fred Ziegler :

Since April 2011

Rico: Are you a ProSeller?

Fred Ziegler :

Not yet.

Rico:
What's the best advise you got when you were starting out?

Fred Ziegler :

Keep at it, don’t give up.

Rico:
What medium/tools do you use to create your designs?

Fred Ziegler :

Photoshop, filter forge the Bible and, research on the internet.

Rico:
Who or what inspires you?

Fred Ziegler :

You will find quite a number of products with Biblical quotes in my store. So my greatest inspiration comes from the Bible and my wife. She’s been a constant source of inspiration.

Rico:
How much time a week to you spend on Zazzle?

Fred Ziegler :

Between 20 and 30 hours

Rico:
What's the best advise you can give someone just starting out on Zazzle?

Fred Ziegler :

The words of Winston Churchill come to mind,
"Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up."

Rico:
What do you like to do when you are not creating art?

Fred Ziegler :

Fly fishing, Amateur radio and most of all, spend time with my family.

Rico:
Tell me 5 random things everyone should know about you?

Fred Ziegler :

1. I use a Pentax K-5 or a Pentax K100D for my photography. (The K-5 is an awesome camera)

2. I’m a retired sewage treatment plant operator

3. I have 4 fish for pets

4. I’m an early riser

5. I squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle

Rico:
List 3 of your favorite designs you want me to feature. Tell me something about each design.

Fred Ziegler :

San Simeon Sunset 3 Stretched Canvas Print

San Simeon Sunset 3 by FloralbyFred
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I love sunrise and sunset, the most colorful times of day in my opinion. This photo was from a recent trip to the mid coast of California. There are some good memories associated with it. The warm tones reflecting on the water on stretches canvas are superb.



Red Rose for You Posters

Red Rose for You by FloralbyFred
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Roses are some of the most beautiful flowers and the fragrance is immensely pleasing to most. This was shot in my front yard. The image really brings out the texture of the petals and the rich deep color of the rose.



Deuteronomy 7:9 Encouragement Card 

Deuteronomy 7:9 Encouragement Card by FloralbyFred
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Everybody needs a helping hand, a kind word or an encouraging thought from time to time. In the age of instant gratification, kindness is often forfeit. I designed this card as attempt to get folks to send a kind encouraging, uplifting thought to someone. The image is from the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, USA.

Rico:
This is one of my personal favorite designs from your shop


Silky Water 11 Poster

Silky Water 11 Poster by FloralbyFred
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This silky water or long exposure was captured on the Santa Ana River, a small creek in the San Berrnardino Mountains near Seven Oaks, Ca. Photograph copyright © 2012 Fred Ziegler | Rico: I just love this print. The silky effect is beautiful!

Rico:
Where else can our readers find you online?

Fred Ziegler :

Facebook Florals by Fred

My Blog: Florals by Fred Blog

Interview with New ProSeller Scott Ruhs of Scott Ruhs Photography

Scott Ruhs of Scott Ruhs Photography

Rico:
What's Your Name?

Scott Ruhs

Rico:
List your shop(s) -

Scott Ruhs :

 
Scott Ruhs Photography

This is my main store which sells a variety of products featuring my photography and digital artwork.

Atlantic Dreams

This store features the photography and artwork both myself and my Wife, Darlene. Most of the images have a nautical theme.

Look for more in the near future as I plan to create some stores that will specialize in specific products.

Rico:
How long have you been at Zazzle?

Scott Ruhs :

Since 7/20/2003. I only joined at that point to create some T-shirts for my band. Around 2007 I decided to take another look and started to create products for sale.

Rico:
How long did it take you to become a ProSeller from when you started?

Scott Ruhs :

I only became a ProSeller this Summer, so a long time. I don't put in as much time as I would like to, but life can be busy. I'm not complaining though. It was a great honour to reach the ProSeller status.

Rico:
What benefits, if any have you personally seen since reaching ProSeller status?

Scott Ruhs :

I haven't really seen any changes. Sales have actually been a bit slow in the last few months, but I think that has more to do with the economy than anything else.

Rico:
Has becoming a ProSeller change the way you market you shop? If so please explain.

Scott Ruhs :

I've added the ProSeller logo to my store banner, but I haven't used it as a marketing tool. I like to believe that if people are going to buy my products it's because they like the products. I don't think being a ProSeller really matters to customers.

Rico:
What's the best advise you got when you were starting out?

Scott Ruhs :

Create lots of products, try to be unique, know your customer's needs, and make your store visually appealing and easy to navigate.

Rico:
What medium/tools do you use to create your designs?

Scott Ruhs :

Photography is my main medium of choice. I also create some digital composites from my photos using Adobe PhotoShop CS5.

Rico:
Who or what inspires you?

Scott Ruhs :

Anything can be an inspiration at any given time really. Whenever I see the work of others, or read/watch a tutorial on a particular subject it can inspire me to try it on my own, and make it something unique to me. I like things that have an emotional impact on me, and that is what I try to do with my photography and artwork. It is up to the viewer to decide whether or not I was successful in doing so.

Rico:
How much time a week to you spend on Zazzle?

Scott Ruhs :

Not enough, LOL. Because of my full time job and a daily commute of over 2 hours I don't get in nearly as many hours as I would like. I do at least visit Zazzle everyday, and try to spend an hour or so on there.

Rico:
What's the best advise you can give someone working toward ProSeller on Zazzle?

Scott Ruhs :

Be persistent, create lots of quality products, and have fun doing what you are doing. From what I've seen the people who do really well have a dizzying number of products.

Rico:
What do you like to do when you are not creating art?

Scott Ruhs :

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, playing music with my classic rock/blues band, and my wife and I love to go out and explore with our cameras.

Rico:
Tell me 5 random things everyone should know about you? 

Scott Ruhs :

 
I love my Wife,
I recently found out I have a half Sister,
peanut butter and jam sandwiches are still a favourite snack,
I'm left-handed,
I want to some day record Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train in an Elmer Fudd voice.

Rico:
List 3 of your favorite designs you want me to feature. Tell me something about each design.

Scott Ruhs :

 

The Yellow Dory Of White Point canvas Print

The Yellow Dory Of White Point canvas Print by sruhs
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This yellow dory sits on the lawn of the White Point Beach Lodge where my Wife and I stay during vacations in the Summer. We love this place, and it isn't really that far away. I took a number of exposures of this and created an HDR image.



Truck Stop Sky fine art print

Truck Stop Sky fine art print by sruhs
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When Hurricane Earl came through Nova Scotia we lost power at least three times. When the worst of the storm was over the power was still out so I went outside to see what I could see. Across the street from my house there is a parking lot for tractor-trailers, and I saw how the light was hitting this particular truck. The sky behind it was quite dramatic as well, so I got down low and took a shot of it. I was actually contacted by the company that owned the truck and they bought several copies of the image. One of them was to be a gift for the driver of the truck . I thought this was very cool, as would never have known to whom this truck belong.



Good Times Bad Times fine art print Print

Good Times Bad Times fine art print by sruhs
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This image is also related to a storm. When my Wife was a young girl her Father was a lobster fisherman and she used to go out to sea with him. This shed belonged to her Grandfather and she used to get locked in to cut bait while her Father went to get the fishing boat and she would get on the boat from the waterside of the shed. Well in 2007, when tropical storm Noel came through, this shed was damaged and started to fall into the ocean as seen in this image. When I first published this image I was naming my images after famous songs. I thought that "Good Times Bad Times" was fitting for this image as this old shed had seen some good times, and had now seen some bad times as well.

Rico:
This is one of my personal favorite designs from your shop 
 


Surfer Triptych Posters

Surfer Triptych by sruhs
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Surfing at White Point Beach Wipe Out - This is a three part colour photographic image known as a triptych. This depicts the progression of surfing. The first image has the surfer up and doing well. The second image shows the surfer starting to wipe out. The third image shows the tip of the surfboard coming up out of the waves. The background in this image is of a big wave.  Rico: I love the ocean and surfing and this print is perfect!

Rico:
Where else can our readers find you online?

Scott Ruhs :

 

Facebook page

Facebook

Twitter

RedBubble ( Scott Ruhs)

RedBubble (Atlantic Dreams)

Tumblr

NAPP

Model Mayhem

ReverbNation

Atlantic Dreams Blog

Google+

YouTube

Big Stock

Crestock

Fotolia

Interview with Gill of Rural France

 Rual France

Rico:
What's Your Name?

Hi! My name is Gill

Rico:
List your shop(s) -

Gill :

Rural France

My main shop is Ruralfrance, chosen as I live in rural France and my photography is influenced by that. My photos and digital art are mainly of animals and insects, particularly horses (one of my loves) and agricultural themes.

Past Impressions

Past Impressions is a store I started to cover my love of vintage art and postcards, to keep it separate from my own work. It includes copies of some of the postcards in my collection, a few old family photos, and more recently (and still to come!) some book illustrations from the 19th century. It's a good excuse for me to buy more postcards and books :)

Natural Patterns

Natural Patterns encompasses digital patterns made from my photos, as I love to experiment, but wanted to keep it separate from more traditional work. The patterns are mainly made from my flower photos, though you wouldn't think it to look at some of them!

Rico:
How long have you been at Zazzle?

Gill :

Just short of 2 years

Rico: Are you a ProSeller? If yes, how long from the time you open a shop until you made it to ProSeller?

Gill :

Yes I am. That's a difficult question due to the changes - if the criteria had been the same as now, it would have been 6 months, but due to the hold on the program, I came in at bronze level in July, a year and a half after starting my first shop.

Rico:
What's the best advise you got when you were starting out?

Gill :

I didn't really ask many questions, but I did read the forum from top to bottom. There is so much good advice there, and the answer to nearly every question if you look for it.

Rico:
What medium/tools do you use to create your designs?

Gill :

I use a Mac, recently upgraded, along with a very good Photoshop alternative, Photoline, filters from FilterForge, and a few commercial use brushes that I've found. My camera is a Nikon D5000, and the Nikon software is excellent for making initial exposure adjustments.

Rico:
Who or what inspires you?

Gill :

The countryside and nature around me. The French are very fond of their draft horses with plenty of shows, the goats, chickens and Welsh cobs are our own, and there seems to be a much larger range of fascinating insects in France than the UK, which is where I was born. This area of France is very wooded and full of granite, so it's mostly cattle farming.

Rico:
How much time a week to you spend on Zazzle?

Gill :

Initially it was around 12 - 15 hours a day, now it's less though I can still sometimes do a long day. It depends week to week on what else needs to be done, with animals and land to look after.

Rico:
What's the best advise you can give someone just starting out on Zazzle?

Gill :

Do what you enjoy doing most, don't just follow what you think are the best sellers. If you're completely new to graphics, spend some time learning the software and some basic design, and experiment! Be prepared for some hard work for little return initially, and pay attention to your tags and descriptions - they are really important!

Rico:
What do you like to do when you are not creating art?

Gill :

I like gardening, travelling, sitting with a wheat beer and watching the world go by, looking after the animals, and wishing there were more hours in the day.

Rico:
Tell me 5 random things everyone should know about you? 

Gill :

I speak a tiny bit of Czech that it took me 3 years of solid book learning to grasp.
Apart from my other hobbies, I have a passion for canals - it's a really nice way to travel.
A long time ago I used to have a Suzuki GS500E and a 1936 BSA with a hand gear change.
I hate seafood, brawn, snails, offal and any other unusual bits that the French love to eat. I love curry.
I hate any sort of housework, including shopping, and love it when my husband does the cooking.

Rico:
List 3 of your favorite designs you want me to feature. Tell me something about each design.

Gill :

Frogs postcard

Frogs postcard by ruralfrance
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This is my garden pond, an old stone trough, and this was the first year it was inhabited by frogs. There are three here but we actually had seven at the last count, all in a one and a half by four and a half feet trough. It's amazing how much wildlife you can find in an area that size.

Trials rider canvas

Trials rider canvas by ruralfrance
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I'm not all animals and nature. We help out at the local motorcycle trial in Sardent once a year. It's a big event, international and over four days with around 350 riders, a large proportion of them from the UK. This is a photo of one of the experts, given an oil paint filter.

Hummingbird hawkmoth and valerian mousepads

Hummingbird hawkmoth and valerian by ruralfrance
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This is a hummingbird hawk-moth, which I'm quite proud of as they hardly stop still for a second. Taken with a vintage 400mm manual lens with macro bellows in natural light.

Rico:
This is one of my personal favorite designs from your shop

Gipsy Gold Print

Gipsy Gold by ruralfrance
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Welsh cob mare, Trehewyd Sulwen, portrait. Gipsy gold does not chink and glitter. It gleams in the sun and neighs in the dark. ~Attributed to the Claddaugh Gypsies of Galway
Rico: Beautiful! I Love her soulful eye.

Rico:
Where else can our readers find you online?

Gill :
My blogs and lenses are updated sporadically, but I get around to them eventually.

Squidoo Rual France Photos

Squidoo Digital art from photos

Rual France Blog

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