Archive for April, 2011

PostHeaderIcon The Wonderful Colors of Feng Shui

The following article covers a topic that has recently moved to center stage–at least it seems that way. If you’ve been thinking you need to know more about it, here’s your opportunity.

Colors affect people in different ways. By using the right colors, you can strengthen the elements of Feng Shui. These wonderful colors are divided into cool which is Yin and warm which is Yang. There must a balance at all times because everything possesses these two components.

Aside from Yin colors being cool, it also represents healing and relaxation. To give you an idea, here are the colors.

? Blue has yin energy because it reflects love. It also creates a feeling of peace and trust. Since it is the color of both the sea and sky, Feng Shui experts associate it with adventure and exploration. Among the different shades of blue, navy blue is the color that best describes intellect and wisdom.

? Black symbolizes money and income. It is great for those who are focusing on their careers especially when this color is combined with metal. In Feng Shui, it is the color of emotional protection and power.

? Next is purple that lies at the end of the spectrum. In Feng Shui, it is associated with spiritual awareness as it is excellent for physical and mental healing.

? White represents confidence, poise and purity. Feng Shui experts use this color in combination with gold and silver as it generates a calm atmosphere.

? You also have green which is represents balancing, normalizing, nurturing and refreshing. It is the color of balance, harmony, healing and health in the emotional, physical and spiritual aspect of things.

Yang colors tend to be fire and wood elements. It is these colors that provide you with positive energy or enthusiasm and here are the colors.

? Yellow represents cheerfulness and friendliness. However, too much exposure to this color can be bad because it often leads to anxiety.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

? Orange helps you strengthen your concentration especially in times when your creativity runs dry.

? Tan or being represents the colors of the earth. It portrays neatness and helps conceal emotion.

? Lavender is the color of sexual indecision. Feng Shui experts believe this color suggests an ability to be manipulated.

? Maroon is one of the shades of red. In Feng Shui, this represents indecisiveness.

There are other colors aside from those mentioned that represent Yin and Yang in Feng Shui. If you want to know more about it, do some research as this is written in books and also posted online.

As mentioned, these colors should be used in different combinations with other Feng Shui elements in order to balance the Chi. These elements are namely earth, water, fire, wind and metal.

Each of the colors above represents one of these elements and by making sure there is balance, you will be able to bring prosperity wherever you need it like in your home or for your business.

For instance, if you want balance in the bathroom, you shouldn’t add the color black as there is enough water already there. Doing so will cause an imbalance and surely you wouldn’t want that to happen.

The wonderful colors of Feng Shui can be used to your advantage depending on the energy you need. For you to achieve prosperity, you have to bring them into your home or office not only in the colors of the wall but also the furniture and décor as well.

There’s no doubt that the topic of Feng Shui can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about Feng Shui, you may find what you’re looking for in the next article.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Concepts Behind Feng Shui

Feng Shui is more than just rearranging furniture, it’s a lifestyle. And lifestyles involve mindsets or concepts that are prevalent. Feng Shui experts just say no to some things without reason. Most of the things they do come with a line of reasoning that may not necessarily be embraced by many people.

Nonetheless, it is still a point of view that among other things, require careful consideration and thought. So what are the thoughts that prevail on the onset of Feng Shui? Here are just some of these prevalent concepts that a Feng Shui enthusiast or researcher may find useful.

Sense of Balance

The number one thing that Feng Shui promotes is balance. This balance comes in many forms, in the color arrangement, in the spatial factors up to the numbers that concern your working space or environment. The balance is more promoted by the five Earth elements of Feng Shui and the bagua, which is designed symmetrically and with complete reference to the different elements of the earth by Feng Shui standards. The standards of Feng Shui is made customized in every person, but it all boils down to having the right sets of things that complement and balance each other out.

Sense of Positivity

A sense of positivity is also what Feng Shui promotes. Positive energy is the thing most sought after by people who try to get the services of Feng Shui consultants. This positivism needs to be maintained. Conversely, it wards off all the forms of negative energy that may come in a given space. This is why there are charms that help cure the bad luck in a given place, especially those which have been established without guidance of Feng Shui.

A Natural Inclination for Beauty and the things that Promote It

If you don’t have accurate details regarding Feng Shui, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

Beauty in symmetry and symmetry in beauty is one of the core concepts of Feng Shui. It appeals to the physically inviting, and also adheres to fighting for beauty and balance in things. Feng Shui, in some ways, is a celebration of beauty in design and other physical elements of the space being designed.

Love for Your Environment

Feng Shui promotes the careful consideration of the environment before establishing places. Good Feng Shui respects the elements of the earth and makes the Feng Shui enthusiast more mindful of their surroundings. They don’t just work instantly in any oppressive place, but strive to remove any existing negativities in the environment.

Love for Self

The love for self is also promoted by Feng Shui. You will detect energy based on what generally feels good to you. Love for self involves not subjecting yourself to oppressive places or harboring negative energies that can be counter-productive to your different activities.

Dreaming big and making the environment jive with that dream

Finally, Feng Shui is more anchored on the greater scheme of things. When you have a dream and you intend to fulfill it in numerous ways, the best way to start is to have an environment that embraces those dreams. If you dream big and work hard, but your environment cancels all the things that you are striving for, it will be a very difficult task for you.

Feng Shui ensures that there is alignment between the things you want and the things that are manifested in the objects you see everyday.

That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Color Coordinated Business Branding

When you’re learning about something new, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

Image is a vital factor in any business branding effort. Color is part of the process of building an image. If you might notice, several top businesses are recognized by their distinct colors. Therefore, you need to realize the potential impact that carefully choosing the color to use as part of your brand strategy will help establish your company’s image amongst consumers.

Importance of Color

Although it might seem trivial, color affects the memory recall of consumers on your product or company overall. When they think of a certain color similar to the ones used by your company brand, then they will easily associate that color with your product. The presence of color will then stimulate one’s senses and sending message signals without having to initiate a communicative pattern.

Now that you know the role that color plays in your brand strategy, the next big dilemma is choosing the color to use. However, even this one shouldn’t be as difficult provided that you have clearly set out the guidelines and vision you have for the company. Once you have chosen the color, you must then use that in all of your business promotional materials to further enhance the prominence of the color in association with your company and its products or services.

Each color have its universal meaning that you must take into account before using them in your business branding efforts. Here are basic colors to consider:

Blue

The color blue, universally speaking, is a well-liked color. It exudes a feeling of trustworthy, responsibility, and security. That is why blue is also commonly used in the business industry because it is not only pleasant to look at, but it exudes a positive vibe as it is a color associated with the sea and sky. The message of stability conveyed by the use of this color builds up trust among individuals working within an institution.

Red

Another popular color used in several brand of company. The color red stimulates your senses rapidly, hence it is an attention grabbing color that creates the impression of being aggressive and energetic. This color is utilized by businesses who want to evoke emotion and quick response from potential customers. Fast food chains typically use the color red because it exhibits a hot, burning and intensify attitude.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

Green

In terms of its universal meaning, green connotes health and serenity. But the meaning can differ though according to the shades of green used. Lighter shades of green produce a calming effect while darker ones exude wealth and prestige.

Yellow

This is a color closely associated with the sun. Therefore, it is a color that you might want to use if you want to establish a positive message of optimism and warmth. There are also varying shades for this color but their meaning ranges from creating motivation to producing positive energy. Bright yellows effectively captures the eyes, so you might want to use this color for displays and you can get people’s attention, which is the first step in every purchase process.

Black

This is a classic choice of color for a business brand. Aside from that, it also connotes a bold, powerful, and sophisticated persona. Therefore, this color is quite common for expensive products or most sophisticated gadgets.

White

As always, white signifies simplicity and purity. Because any white object produce a certain level of brightness, it is good for use on signages. The same with black, it also helps you achieve a professional and powerful image. This color is best associated with products relating to health and sanitary care.

Use all these pointers when choosing a color for use on your business branding strategy and you will be able to produce more impact on your marketing campaigns.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Picking the Right Feng Shui Consultant

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about Feng Shui to be dangerous? Let’s see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from Feng Shui experts.

Unlike several years ago, Feng shui consultants are hard to come by and when they do, they could be very expensive. In the previous years, only the rich and the famous in China could afford the services of a Feng shui consultant.

Until about a decade ago the popularity of the practice of Feng shui became more widely accepted hence the need for more consultants who gave rise to competition. Today, it will not be very difficult to find a qualified Feng shui consultant.

Like everything though that is gaining good popularity, scammers will always be ready in the sidelines to take advantage and make money out of it even when there is nothing better to offer aside from the most rudimentary of its principles.

When choosing a Feng shui consultant bearing the following in mind should help:

Do not be impressed by the strings of stories and the chain of grand titles that the Feng shui consultant has or will offer. The practice of Feng shui has nothing to do with boasts. In fact, be wary of them. A true Feng shui consultant lives and breathes with what he or she teaches? always in harmony with nature and his surroundings.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

Do not be impressed outright with a consultant because he has ready answers for everything immediately. This also goes to someone who tries to impress you with the array of charts at his disposal. Remember that you may have no or very little understanding of Feng shui aside from the tips gathered here and there. For all you know the charts means very little to the person in front of you.

Because Feng shui is a skill earned over the years of fastidious study, what you should be looking in a Feng shui consultant is honesty and humility. As with everything else, the more a person knows about things, the more humble and better that person becomes knowing full well that there are myriad of mysteries that are still beyond grasps and many things that are to be improved and subtleties to be employed.

Before employing the Feng shui consultant that is already on the top of your list, ask around. A good Feng shui consultant should have strings of successes behind him and satisfied customers will always require little egging on if to make a recommendation.

It will also be very helpful if you should learn first the general precepts of Feng shui. Having a good working knowledge of Feng shui will be of invaluable help when you choose experts, since what you know will be a good gauge in determining the level of expertise of the Feng shui consultant that you wish on your payroll.

The tips and write-ups in the web is also a very good place to start as it offers the basic of Feng shui principles. But then again Feng shui, if it will be employed to affect the lives and future of those who wants to benefit from it, should take it to a deep level that only expert Feng shui consultants could provide.

For professional work, remember that subtleties and variables are largely dependent and as widely varied as the person sitting beside you to the next. Advanced Feng shui practice and consultation will require detailed analysis based on charts and investigations, and could take a while to be written up, because Feng shui is about people, about events and circumstances and how this could all be taken in to harmonize with nature.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Feng Shui Principle

Have you ever wondered what exactly is up with Feng Shui? This informative report can give you an insight into everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Feng Shui.

It is not clear when did the principles of Feng shui start. Its development has been going on for centuries and has been applied countless times in China and today, in many places in the world.

One thing is clear though, Feng shui applies principles and practices, many of which could be scientifically proven, and is continuously gaining popularity.

When Feng shui was first heard in the west, it was dismissed as a collection of mumbo jumbo and superstition that has no solid foundation or basis. Whether it really has solid foundations or not remains to be a point of opinion. One thing is sure, one never argues with success.

You can find other tips in other pages of these articles in the practice of Feng shui and determine for yourself those that are directly applicable as it relates to scientific basis. For now though, Feng shui principles, will be discussed.

To find your place on this earth, and how you relate to the forces and motivations that guides and inspire you, you will have to know the following:

From your standpoint, determine the four main points of the compass and its four corresponding sub points. These will comprise your eight directions.

The North

Northern points motivate personal growth, new ideas, innovations, creativity, art, music, career and development.

To enhance this point and derive its benefits it is best to use and place here water elements like ponds, fountains, Jacuzzis, and tool sheds. As much as possible, avoid placing materials that represent the earth like, clay and rocks.

The Northeast is for enhancing spirituality, meditation, and inner journeys it also helps intellectual growth, reading and knowledge.

This is the place where you place earth materials, rock gardens, and equipments that are used for repairing, statues and where you refrain from having plants and trees. Designs on the materials should preferably be low and flat.

The East

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there’s more to Feng Shui than you may have first thought.

Encourages healing, rebirth, rejuvenation and growth. It also contributes positively to family life and relationships. To get its benefits this spot should be a good place to have exercise equipments, fruit trees and medicinal plants and herbs, playground and family gathering area.

Have wood elements and its representation and avoid materials that are made from metals.

The Southeast invites wealth, prosperity, and material possessions and is the spot that makes for better communication. Use this spot to usher those in by using elements made from wood. It is also a good place to cultivate flowers and display fishes. Cylindrical objects also helps including columns and posts.

The South

This is the spot to dream those dreams for it is here where opportunity opens and aspirations happen. Recognition, achievement, long life, festivities, this is the place to have them and to tap your potentials.

This is the spot to use fire and its representation to enhance its capacity to help the person. This also the place to conduct barbecues, to burn leaves and have your fire pits. The shapes that go well with this spot are the pointed ones. Its opposite is materials that are representative of water. This is not a good spot for fountains and ponds.

The southwest is for love and romance, marriage and partners, motherhood and relationships.

Use earth elements in this spot. This is also a good place to dine, sit and talk with your partner, plan efforts that requires a team etc. Avoid as much as possible materials that are made of wood. The color green will help a lot.

The West
Is a place that is best for children and fun. This spot also aids creativity. Use metal elements but avoid fire and its representations. While this spot is good for entertaining, conduct your barbecue in the south. You can also decorate this corner with circular objects and arches.

The northwest is best for representations of activities that are outside of the home like trading, travel, supporters and sponsors including fatherly activities.

Use metal elements and objects made from this material.

That’s the latest from the Feng Shui authorities. Once you’re familiar with these ideas, you’ll be ready to move to the next level.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon The 2 Things that you Should Concentrate on When Discus Fish Keeping

This article explains a few things about Discus Fish, and if you’re interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don’t know.

When talking about the health of the discus fish, there are really only two main aspects where great concern should be focused on. These two will dictate highly whether your discus fish will be able to spawn or let alone be healthy and live a long life. These two is the water where they live in and the food they ingest. Another minor aspect that should also be kept in mind prior to owning a discus fish is the tank mates that your discus fish will have. Generally, it is recommended that the discus fish should be the largest fish in the tank.

It has always been said that prevention is better than cure, so knowing what signs to look out for to determine whether there is something wrong with the tank or with your discus fish. To be honest, it’s much more bothersome to be treating illness rather than just plainly keeping a routine of maintaining a clean tank, at least you can put it in your schedule. Besides, keeping your tank water clean is just one of the responsibilities of owning an aquarium.

Imagine, what would life be if we don’t have air to breathe? Water is air to the discus fish. If your breathing in thick smog all the time then it’s a certainty that you would get sick, maybe develop cancer, or even choke to death in an instant. So, in maintaining the water of your tank, you not only need to keep it clean, you also have to get the right pH levels and the proper temperature which will simulate the waters where the discus fish came from, which is the Amazon river.

Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Discus Fish? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Changing the water in your tank should be done at least once or twice a week. A partial change will also be good and it will require less handling of your fish. Changing at least a quarter to half the water in the tank will suffice as long as you have a good biological filtration system installed. In some cases, some aquarists would just add some medication to clear up the dirt. This though should not be done often.

As for their food, you should ask the store clerk what food they have been accustomed to. Discus fish can be picky so you need to ensure that you can, maintain the food that they usually eat. Make sure though to never overfeed your fish. The extra food will just become dirt inside the tank. For younger discus fish, you should feed them about four times daily, older fish only needs to be fed twice a day. Growing fishes need the food more.

Discus fish should also be fed live or frozen food from time to time. As they re carnivorous, this will add protein to their diet, protein they need to stay healthy. Usually, they would prefer blood worms or shrimp brine.

To help keep the tank clean, always clean your tank two hours after you have fed them, remove the excess food right way.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Expanding Your Business Branding Online

The best course of action to take sometimes isn’t clear until you’ve listed and considered your alternatives. The following paragraphs should help clue you in to what the experts think is significant.

Promoting business branding online is similar and yet different from typical marketing strategies. Therefore, you have to make unique approach to this method of promoting your business brand. And yet, the benefits of using web tools in making your brand distinct includes the ability to maximize your business efforts and expanding your business’ reach. After all, it only makes sense to extend your branding efforts to the internet given the fact that most people nowadays use the internet as their source of daily information.

There are five major areas that you need to address when developing a strong business brand online.

URL Address

This is a crucial determiner for web browsers. Therefore, you must be able to produce a sense of identity for your website and provide a glimpse into your company even before they get the opportunity to see what your website is really about.

Keywords

The keywords are essential to help search engines connect you to the proper audience. Use keywords that are related to the nature of your website, so that it can be easily detected when people run a search on the internet. Try to be creative in coming up with keywords to use, especially those queries not directly related but associated to your business.

Website

This is where you get to showcase your company’s vision and your offer of quality products or services. Therefore, you must create a website that speaks for your brand. There are several ways to do that, which includes the content, style, design, and color. You must also incorporate your company logo in the design of the website, to enhance the level of trust and confidence on the consumers to your website. Therefore, you must refrain from compromising the substance of your website for style. A website is just another form of marketing strategy and its objective is to communicate your company’s message.

Is everything making sense so far? If not, I’m sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.

Weblog

Your blog is basically where you focus on producing quality content. This will help establish your company’s brand as something that is of authority to sell a given service or product. There are several spammers that infiltrate the online community, so you have to separate yourself from them. You can do this by remaining consistent with your vision and highlighting your focus on producing a quality brand.

Social Profiles

There are several social networking sites online such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, among others. When you join any one of these social sites, always include your company signature or brand representative such as a logo. This will help visitors to easily remember your company and be on top of their list.

Business Branding Online Do’s and Dont’s

? Utilizing social network sites that you are interested in as an avenue to promote your brand online is beneficial for your business. Here, you can make connections and expand the reach of your brand. Getting more people into your page will produce major brand building traffic into your site.

? Just write useful and quality content on your site. When people begin to realize the importance of your site’s content, it will eventually impact your performance on search engines.

? Try to offer advice or solution to the needs of the people. But refrain from spamming since it would basically ruin your business’ reputation.

Business branding online has expanded the reach of your branding efforts to produce a more promising growth for your company.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Why Use A Postcard

The best course of action to take sometimes isn’t clear until you’ve listed and considered your alternatives. The following paragraphs should help clue you in to what the experts think is significant.

Why use a postcard? Why not a regular size piece of paper? You can certainly fit more information on it! Postcards have many uses and they are not only used to write to a loved one or a friend from their vacation destination. They can also be used to see a distant place that someone would desire to go to. Postcards, can be used as advertisement or just to stick on your fridge and dream!.Postcards can be a means to simply say Hi to personalize and simplify life in our hectic sms and e-mail world.

With the invention of the automobile tourism soared. People used postcards to show where all they had been on their travels. With cars, people began to vacation in numbers like never before using new streets that were developed. Postcards of an early-developed street and what many streets of the time looked like were quite popular especially for those that couldn’t afford the luxury of a car. Before postcards were developed, many tourists would have used a gazetteer. A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary containing any landmarks or specific attractions of the place a person is going. People would tend to look at a gazetteer before of after they went on vacation to see what they were going to see or what they missed.

Postcards also serve as advertising functions. As stated before, a tropical island can be shown on a postcard, and automatically anyone who looks at it usually wants to go. Advertising could have been as simple as just putting pictures of beaches to attract tourists. Even if one’s vacation was dreary and filled with disappointment, postcards still portray the beauty of the vacation spot. Postcards at one time were quite posh and reserved “bragging rights” at the local get together.

Most of this information comes straight from the Post Card pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

Architecture is another aspect of why people collect postcards. Buildings today have changed from those of the past which you could see using these architectural postcards. Also, you could use architectural postcards to see if any important people of the day lived in a certain town Historical buildings are an important factor to find out about different jobs or businesses of the time.

Improvement of education is another aspect where postcards can be used. You can take a postcard of a school from fifty years ago and compare it to a picture of a school and see the major improvements to show your students. Postcards are a great source for any historical information needed.
Postcards have been used as propaganda during war times. For instance Uncle Sam may have been used trying to persuade people to get involved in the war efforts. As for politics, postcards were used to show who was running and to tell people who to vote for.

Many people think that postcards are just something that gets sent to friends when they go on vacation and although this is true, one can see there are a number of other reasons. The most common people who would use postcards today would be historians and postcard collectors. Historians would use postcards to learn more about cultures and lifestyles of the past. For example, comparing the dress of people or the crowded streets of a certain city. Individuals who collect postcards may do it as a pastime or they may be interested in social history as well..

Knowing enough about Post Card to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you’ve just learned about Post Card, you should have nothing to worry about.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Creating Powerful Message With A Potent Branding System

Your Brand’s Mission

The basic framework of an efficient branding system is a vision. Vision is translated into a brand and that brand is utilized in various communication methods to deliver a message to the market and the consumers. That is how the process works. But in reality, it is not as simple as it sounds or appear. There are several variables involved that could end up you sending the wrong message. Hence, you need to constantly evaluate the branding system you use to ensure that you are communicating your company’s message effectively.

Every company nowadays desire to build a strong brand, because it is after all what helps one produce profits and build a loyal customer base. But what most companies often fail to realize is that brands are avenues to showcase the mission of the organization. Although some companies who fail to do this experience some level of commercial success, those who give much attention to utilizing their brand as a means to deliver their mission is one that is able to withstand the challenges and downturns of the marketing industry.

Purpose of Brand

You can exert your effort on the creation of a logo, name, or design for your company, but the essence behind them is what is truly important in every business branding system. It is not just one of these elements but rather a combination of them all. But how will the market be able to create that distinction about your company against other companies if you cannot foster it to deliver a message?

The brand holds immense power over your company since it is what customers utilize to create perceptions about the company which the brand represents. Therefore, branding is not something that is restricted to large scale companies and be given attention to, but it is basically for all levels of businesses.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Business Branding. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

Steps Towards a Brand Strategy

If you want to arrive at a cost-efficient strategy, your first order of business is to get into the mind of your potential customers. This must be given much attention to when doing your market research. Gather as much information about your customer demographics that you can utilize in the development of your brand. But do not simply settle for that; instead, learn more about what factors would encourage them or prompt them to act on the impulse to heed the message being delivered by your brand. This is the part wherein you tailor your message based on what appeals to the emotional and physical needs of the consumers.

The word-of-mouth is one of the most effective yet cheap advertising tool that you can utilize within your company. Hence, you need to gather ideas on how you can produce a brand that will have people talk about it and convince others to respond to the message of your brand.

Internal Branding

In whatever type of brand strategy you employ, you must focus on remaining consistent with the overall vision and objectives of the company. This also helps build a stronger level of trust among your customers about the reputation of your company.

Therefore, you need to hire and develop people who understand the importance of the core values exhibited in the company’s vision and objectives. Having people within your company who realize exactly what the brand wants to showcase to people, then you are more capable of producing a cohesive and consistent message to the market about what your brand is about. This will also help ensure that you can deliver the promises of the company as part of your branding system.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

PostHeaderIcon Value Of Real Photo Postcards

Advanced collectors of topographical views tend to eventually find themselves in the pursuit of real photo postcards over printed cards. This is mostly due to the image quality and detailed contained in the photo. If you were collecting views from your hometown you might collect any and every card you could find no matter what. They all take on personal meaning to you. A real photo postcards is just that.. an actual photograph and not a printed lithograph. Although generally more expensive they are more detailed then printed views and can often be an extra special find since they could show buildings, homes, people and sometimes even towns that no longer exist. That is quite an exciting find! Many Historians and Preservationists have focused on acquiring photo postcards as they are wonderful historical documents. In 1903 Kodak introduced the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak. This was Kodak’s first “postcard” camera.

This allowed the amateur photographer to produce their own photo postcards. You could take a photo of anything you wanted and send your photograph with a bit of correspondence on the back anywhere throughout the world. These views are often one of a kind. There were also many commercially produced cards by local or itinerant photographers that would take photographs of their regional areas and sell the cards wholesale to the local druggist or a store owner who then resold the cards to their clientele that visited their establishment. Usually these views were of Main Street or important buildings, such as the courthouse, bank, school, churches and even some of the prominent homes in an area. If a business owner did commission a photographer for some work he might end up sending the image to Germany where printed litho cards would then be produced. This was the case up until the first World War when the cards were then printed in the US Unused photo postcards can often be dated by the stamp box on the photo paper.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

Some of the most interesting real photo cards are sometimes called the “boring” postcards. A boring postcard is one you’d respond to by saying, “Now why would anyone want a postcard of that?”

Remember staying in the Howard Johnson’s as a child and standing at the front desk looking at all the postcards? The boring postcards were pictures of the rooms with the orange bed spread and “pleather” white headboards. The view of the pool in Sparta Tn. Holiday Inn, road signs, concrete dams, highways under construction, elementary schools, picture of eggs and bacon from an obscure diner on some off the road place.

There is even a book out called “Boring Postcards. There is a German title, “Langweilige Postkarten” that is even more evocative. It’s a collection of meticulously grouped, carefully reproduced… boring postcards. Yet the parade of gas stations, diners, shopping malls, motorways, airports, and other extremely un-photogenic subjects often photographed without even one bit of ambition, when presented as a collection, is incredibly funny.

Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it? And you’ve earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’s word on Post Card.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO