What price art?

I see a lot of people selling stuff on the Internet. Of course, Ebay is loaded with them. It's the point of the thing, don't you know, so you'd figure. There are plenty of people with hobbies that are both enjoyable to them and also earn a profit for them if they can find people to buy their things.

At this time of year, you see a lot of home-made wreaths and ersatz Xmas trees. I'd guess they spend the other 11 months making the stuff. People sell homemade furniture, quilts, jewelry and candles.

I have no mechanical or woodworking capabilities, so my best hope is some form of art. Since I can't draw a straight line without an edge to lay my pencil on, I'm left to either this stuff or my photography. I can't imagine anyone willing to shell out fifteen bucks for 300 pages of this junk, but I could imagine someone who might want to look at a nice photo of Philadelphia hanging on their wall. I think that's how it would work.

Like a lot of things, desire and will are the controlling factors. Lacking one or the other, it just isn't going to happen. I have the desire to do it, but I don't have the will to charge people money to look at something that's just a snapshot with a nifty lens.

I've looked into digital infrared photography, where one takes an ordinary scene and takes a snapshot that absorbs only invisible infrared light. The effect is more like an abstract painting than a photograph, and the interesting thing that happens is that our eyes tell our brain that trees are white and water is black.

The caveat - there's always a caveat when technology is involved - is that in order for a camera to see infrared light, the image sensor has to be replaced, which costs $400. In addition to that, it renders an otherwise normal camera otherwise useless, so one would have to have a spare camera, unless you wanted to explain to people how Billy's birthday party photos looked so strange.

So, let's add money to desire and will, since they are a nice trio. When you factor in the $300 for a new camera, the $400 to convert the old one and the $185 for the lens I need to convert the camera and $85 for software, I'm into this artistic endeavor for about $1,000. The mind is willing, but the wallet is weak.

Perhaps if I laid out a thousand dollars for stuff I'd feel less willful of charging people for my photographs?

There's some motivation for ya.