Creating a photographic calendar

This is the sixth consecutive year I’ve produced an end of year calendar to celebrate the photographic year past and by doing so herald in a new photographic year. The selection process is good fun. My wife, Lisa and I go through a shortlist of images iteratively until the final print is agreed. Generally, I order 20 copies
as a New Year gift for our neighbours and friends. 24 images are selected, 12 for the main calendar and 12 for the B List – a single page provided at the back.

For the past four  years https://colourcalendars.com/ has printed the calendar. An A3 double paged size with front and rear cover was selected. Their website is intuitive and there is a good selection of templates to choose from.
Text for each image can be included. I tend to order in early December for Christmas delivery. Choosing an image for each month taken in that month in the previous year is challenging and not always possible or preferable.
A silk finish was picked this year, matt a previous year and was satisfied with the finish and quality of the print. An easy to use upload feature is included on the website – export a good numbers of images as jpgs from Lightroom and then swap in and out and see what works well.

The cost for 20 units including shrink wrapping is c.170 euro – about 8.50 euro per calendar. But the unit price decreases for bulk purchases – for example, 200 units
works out at less than 5 euro per calendar.

Each year, a single copy is placed on the bookshelf as a keepsake and I wonder how many years I can keep this going for. Comparing each year with the last helps gauge whether my photography has improved. As I’m typing this blog,
I’ve taken 2021 at random off the shelf and I can definitively say it was a better year than 2023! In my defence, the quality and variety depends on how active I’ve been in a given year and on the number of locations visited.

So if you’re an amateur photographer with a digital SLR or phone camera why not consider creating your own calendar next year. With the text accompaniment for each image, it acts as a summarised
diary for the year past and a tactile trove of memories for years to come. Actually, as I’ve built a portfolio of images over the past few years maybe it’s time to create a book of my favourite images over the past five years
and promise myself to do the same in five years time! That’s another little project to add to my 2024 list.

Hope you’ve found the blog useful – until next time.

Each year, a single copy is placed on the bookshelf as a keepsake and I wonder how many years I can