The Diva Divulges

Shutterbug Diva sold at the Freret Street Art Market this weekend. It was quite an exciting experience, being the very first time we’ve ventured out of cyberspace and into the tangible world. Needless to say, it is quite different from marketing in my fuzzy slippers, parked comfortably at my iMac, operating at my leisure. To the contrary, we were up and scrambling by 9:00 a.m., packing up the car, driving to the market, unloading the car, setting up the tent and arranging the inventory, all in order to be ready when the market opened at noon. Yes, it was as much work as that sounds like, but what a rewarding experience! To be out there in the middle of the hustle and bustle, to actually interact with the customers as they perused and to be able to gauge their response as they saw and touched the merchandise, was quite awesome. I loved it when they asked questions about where certain photographs were taken. Mr. Bingle garnered much attention, as native New Orleanians caught a glimpse of his image and tried to restrain themselves from bursting into “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle …” And if you’re from New Orleans, you know the rest. I am tickled to tell you that not everyone was successful in their restraint. Only one thing tickled me even more than that, and that was the fact that our best seller of the day was the Coffee & Beignets photo notecard. Why should I be so thrilled that people are so interested in my photograph of Coffee & Beignets? Well, it stems from the fact that several weeks ago I was just aghast when I found a blog entry from someone named Cheeseinthecrust, who absolutely tore up Shutterbug Diva’s Deal of the Day with nasty commentary on a day when Coffee & Beignets was featured! (See comment #3)

” …. hello people a NOTE CARD! It has a picture of a cup of coffee and 3 Beignets (square donuts without a hole covered with powdered sugar) on it…oooh how enticing!”

Yes, indeed! Have you ever seen so much contempt for a beignet in your life? A beignet … that beloved New Orleans icon, being chastised for being a donut without a hole! I loved my friend Susan’s take on the the whole incident:

“‘[C]heeseinthecrust’ says processed cheese-mass market pizza-national chain restaurant lovin’ and not appreciating the finer things in life, unlike you! His profile had only been viewed 19 times (I didn’t see a counter on his page). Does not say influencer to me.”

I believe she was correct. Obviously, Cheeseinthecrust was not successful in influencing the many, many wonderful people that visited Shutterbug Diva at the market this weekend, several of whom liked the Coffee & Beignets photo notecard so much that they purchased it! Thanks to those folks, and to all who visited and shopped local! Its the people like them that make New Orleans the unique and wonderful place that it is … and that’s why I stay here!