Made Calendars this year (finally)

Ann McRae

This is one of those tasks that I have procrastinated about many, many times. Finally did it this year through lulu. They are not live yet as I am waiting for the proof editions (shipped today), but I have put the photos up on smugmug as well, so thought I'd share a preview here.

Bryce/Zion is here:
http://canadian-ann.smugmug.com/gallery/2141297

and the Fundy Coast (from my recent trip to New Brunswick) is here:
http://canadian-ann.smugmug.com/gallery/2130386

My plan for them is to order several to give as Christmas gifts to coworkers and to past supporters of my photography, and to make available for sale. I am really not sure about selling through lulu due to the currency and cross border stuff I have to deal with.

I'd love feedback - interestingly, I am feeling like my editing skills are getting much better. I've re-edited several of the Bryce/Zion shots recently and think they are improved for the effort.

ann

cwphotos

Awesome Ann. I would buy one.

BSleuman

Great work Ann.

You might want to check April - Fundy Coast (Font size?)

Keep up the good work,

Buck

Ann McRae

hehe, Dean, I will let you know when they are available!!!

Thanks!!!

ann

cwphotos wrote:

Awesome Ann. I would buy one.

Ann McRae

Thanks, Buck. I' ll check that out for sure - thats why I am waiting for the proofs before releasing - hope to catch any other errors (I know a few already that I need to work on).

ann

BSleuman wrote:

Great work Ann.

You might want to check April - Fundy Coast (Font size?)

Keep up the good work,

Buck

Nikolai

Congrats, Ann!
Very nice!

Ann McRae

Nikolai wrote:

Very nice!

Thanks, Nik!

ann

Ann McRae

Got the proofs today. The Bryce/Zion calendar is really nice. Just one or two titles to fix and it is golden.

The New Brunswick one has me scratching my head - I need to look at the origianls again, but the photos seem much grainier that they should - gotta check what ISO I shot at first, then if that doesn't explain it, well??

Overall quality for the $ is pretty good. I am still debating placing a big order with shutterfly instead - a big order (25 calendars) gets the price to the same range as lulu.

ann

Flyinggina

Ann,

What a great selection of photos for your calendars! Good luck with the project. I know it was a lot of work to pull it together, but it was sure worth it. I hope you figure out the problem with the New Brunswick pix. They are wonderful shots. clap

Virginia

gus

Trully stunning ann ..you have wonderful work.

Ann McRae

Hi Virginia

Thanks. The print issues are with the following photos - they printed rather murkily and the color of the sky, subtle lighting did not print well at all. There is only one shot in the Bryce calendar that has pastel color range so maybe that is the difference.










ann

Ann McRae

gus wrote:

Trully stunning ann ..you have wonderful work.

Thank You very much, gus!

ann

Ann McRae

Well, I changed a few (2 I think) photos on the New Brunswick calendar and have put them both into the public realm.

http://canadian-ann.smugmug.com/gallery/2130386

http://canadian-ann.smugmug.com/gallery/2141297

ann

frankenstein

Ann,
you have chosen 2 great sets of images for your calendars - they deserve to sell well. I made my first Lulu calendar about a month ago and purchased 10 as Christmas gifts for family and friends, and when they arrived I was so impressed by the quality that I created another calendar from different images and ordered 8 of them! (that's one way to increase the sales rank )

And what a good idea to make separate Smugmug galleries for the calendars and feature them on your homepage! I'm just about to do the same right now!

Frank

raptorcaptor

Great work! You'll have to let us know if the printing holds up!

Ann McRae

Hi Frank

Thanks!

Well, I ordered 15 of one and 20 of the other for gifts to clients and workmates. I also emailed all my 'friends' announcing them, and have inadvertantly sold 5 so far. What I am hoping is that someone will fall in love with the photo on the calendar and need a big, high quality version of it!!!

The idea for a gallery for each isn't mine - but it is a good one!

Cheers

ann

Ann McRae

Hi Glenn
Thanks. The big order shipped tonight so I should have an answer about print quality next week - interested to see if there is consistency from calendar to calendar.

ann

Ann McRae

So the large order just arrived, with the replacement photos in the Fundy calendar.
I took a leap of faith and
1. included a sunset photo with a really big hotspot/overexposed area
2. ordered them without a proof

and guess what - that photo is not a good candidate for printing.

However, all in all, they look really good - maybe better than the first run proofs.

They arrived with an additional $35 COD charge for custom brokerage, so are costing me about $15cdn each.

I will be giving them as gifts to coworkers and friends and to sports photography customers. As well, I have orders for 8 so far. I am hoping that this gift will inspire future photo purchases.

ann

Phyxius

Congratulations Ann! This is something I keep saying I'm going to do and I just never get around to it. There's no time like the present though, right?!

Great job again and LOVELY images!

dogwood

Phyxius wrote:

This is something I keep saying I'm going to do and I just never get around to it. There's no time like the present though, right?!

Great job again and LOVELY images!

I agree. Thank you for the inspiration. I had never heard of lulu but now you've really sparked my interest!