A calendar project

Do you have problems selecting Christmas presents for family and friends? It is a problem I have experienced, and it seems to be becoming a greater problem each year. After all, there are only so many pairs of socks.

For Christmas 2006, I decided that, rather than give impersonal gifts like underwear, chocolates or socks, I would prefer to give something more personal and more indicitive of an effort having been made on my part. I had, in the past, received gifts such as home-made preserves and jams that made me think that actually producing something from my own toil had merit.

And of course, being a photographer, what better than some of my photographic work? I thought about having a print framed or mounted for each person, but then you run the risk of coming up with a frame or mount that isn't suitable for their house, or isn't to their personal taste.

Then I thought about a wall calendar. This gives you an opportunity to show off twelve of your images (thirteen including a cover) and is something that most people actually need. I looked around on the web and found that there are many companies that offer photo-finishing services that include printing your images on mugs, calendars and even T-shirts.

Snapfish, by HP (http://www.snapfish.com.au/) have an attractive range of calendar templates, and the process is very straight-forward. You simply upload the images you want to use and place them in the appropriate month. The calendar can start from any month you like, but I suspect that most people would want one that started in January. The costs are reasonable, with price reductions if larger numbers are ordered.

So I ordered a number of calendars for Christmas 2006, and I was so pleased with the results and the feedback from the recipients that I repeated the process for Christmas 2007. For my first attempt, I used a number of animal images that I had taken in Africa in that year. This one is an example:

But for Christmas 2007, I had almost the whole year to work out which images to use, and of course, I also had time to take some specifically for the calendar if I chose. Rather than limit myself to a specific theme, I decided instead to use an eclectic mix of images, hopefully as different in genre as possible, and make it a real photo showcase. I'll definitely be making another calendar for 2008, and I am starting my planning now.
Why don't you see if there is a photographic project that you can start now for Christmas gifts later this year?

EXIF: Nikon D70; Nikkor 80-400mm VR; ISO 400; 1/160 sec; f5.6

TFF