If you want to get your images out there and get published in books, calendars, magazines, etc… then you need to make sure that all of the images you post on flickr.com are tagged properly.  99% of the requests I get for my images are through flickr because someone searched a specific animal and came across my stuff.   I have yet to contact any organization myself offering images, everything I’ve been published in so far is because people contacted me.

For example, this photo below would be tagged:   circle b bar reserve, lakeland, florida, polk county, duck, bird, flight, black bellied whistling duck, juvenile.

I’ve got the location covered, the type of animal it is, the specific name of the animal, and also the fact that it’s a juvenile and in flight.

That way, should someone be looking for a Florida duck in flight, or some sort of wildlife from Polk County, this image would be returned in their search on flickr and possibly through a google search as well.

Also, make sure that there’s a way for someone to contact you other than through flickr messages.  Some of these companies or individuals looking for images don’t have a flickr account.  Update your flickr profile to include a way for them to contact you outside of flickr, such as a link to your contact page on your website or blog.  I have my flickr profile updated and I also have my website address right in my watermark that I place on all of my photos.

That’s about it for tagging.  For me, it’s important.  It helps me locate my own images on flickr and it helps other people find my images on flickr.

It’s now been almost four months that I’ve been in my Crohns Colitis flare up.  There’s good days and bad days, there’s good days and REALLY bad days.  It does get to you after awhile.  You don’t have the energy you used to have, just going to a few stores and walking around gets you completely and utterly exhausted.  You don’t ‘just get’ Crohns.  Since it’s an autoimmune disease you end up with several other things piling on top of it….arthritis, muscle pain, gout, etc.  There’s days when I really get depressed….but I try to think about the positives.  We can’t afford health insurance BUT my husband runs his own company and he’s been busy every day, I work from home so I can be here at home every day.  A lot of people who are sick do not get that luxury.  Many of them have to force themselves to go to work no matter how absolutely horrible they feel.  I’m just trying to rest my body as much as I can, I stay away from foods that have given me trouble in the past, and I’m basically just waiting it out.

I have also started my journey to quit smoking.  Yep…during my flare up.  What was I thinking?  A friend of mine tried, The Safe Cig.  It’s an electronic cigarette.  You smoke it as if it were a real one but you’re not getting the damaging smoke in your lungs, you’re just taking in the nicotine.  It’s similar to the patch, the gum, etc…. except it looks (and acts) like a real cigarette.  I’ve been on it a little over three weeks now.  The first two weeks I fell off the wagon several times, but now I’m at the point where I haven’t had a real cig in over a week.  I’m very happy with it.  If you’re interested in which one I use…it’s The Safe Cig Micro and it can be found HERE.  The refills I’ve tried are Classic and Turkish, both are great.  Classic is kind of like your typical Marlboro and Turkish has a flavor closer to Camels.  Both are really good.

Here’s a photo of me holding the actual e-cig, with the box it comes in to give you an idea of the size and how it looks.  If you’re looking to quit, I highly recommend this brand.  Plus, it’s cheaper.  A refill pack runs $16.95…that’s the equivalent of 7 packs of cigarettes.  Normally, down here in Florida 7 packs would probably run you around $40.00 or more.

Recently, one of my Florida Panther images was used in a brochure for the FWC.  We picked a few of them up at the Florida Panther Festival last weekend.  Here’s a photo of me with the brochure and my photo