Photos needed of swap party "setups"

Help! I've got a couple of articles ready to submit that I hope will encourage DGers to put together more local gatherings like we've been enjoying here in the Mid-Atlantic. I went to my photo files to get some images to go with some tips/suggestions for hosting a get-together, and I discovered I'd had a lazy camera at these events! LOL

In particular, I could use a shot or two of plant swap tables (from any of our swaps, especially one showing good organization & labeling) and finger food buffet displays from the fall swap at my place (or from the previous Sweethearts' Tea at my house). It's unlikely anybody took a photo of the entrance table last fall with the gifts and the nametags, but PLMK if you did.

I thought I had a shot of the buffet at Chef Lin, but I can't find it... so a food shot from there would also be appreciated, although I can also get one the next time we're there. If anybody happened to snap a shot of the table during the seed swapping this winter (I've got a photo of the gift table and of the gift bags), that would be great also. :-)

Any other photos that you think might be useful to show how we throw a party around here would be appreciated! I'm trying to emphasize simplicity and to show how everybody pitches in to make it easy to throw a DG party. After all, the more people who read it and think, hey, I could host something like that, the more potential DG events there will be on our calendars!

Please post photos here if you're willing to let me include them, and I"ll Dmail you. Needless to say, photographers will be credited both in the mouse-over title of the photo and in the article text.

THANK YOU!

Oh, and I've been trying to think of what would work for a "thumbnail" image at the top of the article...

Can anybody help me out with a shot of the festively decorated canopy from Becky's swap this spring? I can always stage a photo with a party balloon and a plant, but I'd rather use an image from a "real" event... :-)

Shoot...........I trashed all those pix. But did I not post them to DG also? I sure do not know how to answer this question or find them in search if I did. You ask for and I sent you at least one of you.

Good article idea.

Hope I will be OK to attend your Feb. RU. "Stuff" is in the making for give-a-ways.

Dwaine

Here's a link to the ones I posted for Becky's swap instead of re-posting here. Use any you want or let me know if you want originals if you choose any.

Edit:
Shoot, I hoped the link would start the thread from the beginning point for all the photos but it just shows the one post. But if you click the line at the top "In reply to: Becky's Spring Swap, follow-up thread" it will take you to the thread at that point where you can view the rest.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5026497

PS. This week got away from me. Are you busy next week for lunch or we can have coffee Thursday before my italian class since it started again? Both of the trailing coleus you gave me are finally big enough for cuttings that I can bring. LMK

This message was edited Aug 1, 2008 1:22 PM

No worries, Doc, I've got some photos from the Feb party, and I could swear I've got one or two more hiding in a photo somewhere... oh, jeepers, and I just managed to find the winter swap photo thread, which was eluding me. (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/816848/ for anybody wanting a trip down memory lane)

Miata, thanks, I'd found one photo thread from the spring swap but hadn't located the other yet. Hooray! Oh, and at the moment there's nothing on my schedule for next week (at last! a free week!), so lunch of whatnot would be delightful! I'll pick up some bacon in case my tomatoes start turning red...

So mostly now I'm looking for photos from last fall's plant swap here, or from the Sweetheart's Tea from a couple years ago... and I'll be Dmailing people for permission to use photos from the other swap threads. Thanks!!

Jill,

I am forever the photographer......I will gladly post what I have from your Fall Swap.
I have a lot of shots of the people there--some silly. Like Becky mixing margaritas.....
As you know--there were only a dozen people there--or less. Maybe eight?

I will post whatever I thing "may" go in an article. You can choose!

Here's your "grazing table" with goodies...

Here's Bobbie's hubby perusing the chow table....

Jill and "Happy" in the kitchen

Becky mixing drinks.......

"Happy" being convinced that she REALLY, REALLY wants this Oregano plant!
Like--someone "threw" it a her and said: "Yes! You really want this!!!"....

Your Banana plants outside......

Sally--hanging around--with the hanging baskets.....

Now, Jill, IF you are willing to go outside your "box"--I do have photos of Becky's Plant swap also. Here is Sally's table.

Here's a picture of you and Bobbie.....

The cake Chantell's daughter made for the Swap......

One end of the food table.....Mostly Pot Luck. The other end was becky's extravagant fruot and veggie platters. NOT exactly the typical "simple" food one would expect to provide.....

Hubby's always willing to baby sit--while wifey swaps and shops.
Larienda's husband and daughters.

Hart explaining the virtues of some plant or other to Ruby and John.

Thanks, Gita! I'd love to use the "grazing table" photo... I can't believe I didn't think to take a photo of the food! I do have a photo of that wonderful cake and some of the other goodies from Becky's swap... LOL, I got a few more photos of that one.

I'm thinking I won't use "face" photos from the swaps since it's more about how to throw a party and less of a report on the parties we've had... and then I won't need to worry about permissions, either. (For anybody who might be wondering, I'll always ask before publishing a photo with a recognizable face... distant crowd shots at low resolution and photos of backs of heads I figure are OK... and I pretty much just won't use kid photos, never with a face... I'd rather be careful!)

Jill,

I know i took pictures at hart's Swap--but they don't seem to be on my digitals.
Maybe i just took them with my regular camera. I KNOW i had a lot of pictures!
I even think i sent some to other people here on DG. So--they had to be digitals.

Have to look at all my folders and see if they are hidden in some of them....

Are you even interested in some from hart's? if not--it will save me a lot of time.

Gita

This is probably the best shot I have to show the decorations on the canopy at Bec's. I have a bunch more photos if you need any.

Thanks, Hart!

This is what I've got at present as a "thumbnail" image for the top of the article... most of us were concentrating on photos of people, and I couldn't come up with a single image that seemed to sum up the festivities, so I cropped out this bit with plant and colorful paper goods, photoshopped the butterfly into place from the top of the image, and added a caption across the top...

What do you think?

??

or... an actual plant swapping photo as the thumbnail:

(I don't have to have any permission to publish my own face, LOL)

or... ??

I don't know why I'm getting so hung up on images for this article... probably just because I usually have a stuffed folder of photos to choose from, and this time it's slim pickings from my own files, LOL!

People are always more interesting than things. When I was editing, I would never use a shot of an object over a shot of people.

Of course around here, you could amend that to say people or plants are more interesting than things. LOL

I don't have any swap photos of just plants. I have photos of the coop plants but that's not the same thing.

You posted the photo above while I was writing this. I'd definitely go with the shot of you with your plants. And the Celebrate! text matches your shirt. LOL

Good point about people being more interesting than things... I'll fool with the cropping of that photo to include the "Celebrate!" and then it'll look like a party-time thumbnail, LOL.

Similarly, I may use Doc's shot of me messing with the gift table as a thumbnail for the seed swap party article.

Since I'm discussing my hosting tips, after all, I guess using photos with me in them makes sense... and then I'll stop thinking that I need some sort of festive shot with plants and balloons! :-)

Hart, next time I'm stuck on a layout issue, may I come to you again? :-)

Thank you!

New potential thumbnails... for the plant swap article



This message was edited Aug 1, 2008 6:51 PM

... and for the seed swap article (thanks, Doc)

My thanks again for help with images & advice, as well as for all the help with the DG gatherings I've organized and attended! It goes without saying that proceeds from these 2 articles, if they're accepted for publication, will go to the "MidAtlantic DG party fund" LOL.

:-)

Now I need to go outside and see if I can find a really good plant tag from somebody showing both a plant name and a DG name... who can we uphold as a sterling example of plant swap organization? :-)

I hope you find a place for a pic of Chantells DDs cake- the saying on it is so nice.

Here's the cake.

Thanks Hart... that may be a better photo than the one I took. I've got one, though, all cropped and bordered in pink! :-)

Here are mine :-)

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