The Great 2011 Calendar Project

After considering this project for several years and some prodding from friends and acquaintances, I decided to self-publish a calendar for 2011. It isn’t just any calendar, it is a calendar of Australian Cattle Dogs doing what they were bred to do. The sub title is “Cattle” is Their Middle Name.  No one has published a calendar quite like this. I have chosen some of my favorite images of cattle dogs pushing cattle. You’ll see dramatic images of heeling, heading, confidence and courage. If you scroll down you can get a taste of what the calendar is like. The YouTube video gives a sense of what it is about.

I have been in virtual seclusion over the last two months designing, fine tuning and producing the calendar. My cameras have been on vacation too, enjoying the time off. This isn’t the type of calendar where I just plug 12 images  into a template and upload to have some strange person print it out on a digital printer. I got quotes from printers through out the US and Canada. I decided on a local printer to print the project. The calendar is printed on a printing press using four-color process. I specified quality paper and varnish on the front and back covers as well as the images. The varnish gives things an extra ‘pop’ and is worth the extra expense. Each calendar comes shrink-wrapped in plastic for protection with a stiff chipboard insert. When you compare the quality of this calendar to the big publishers of dog breed calendars, there is no comparison in quality. I win.

I didn’t want to create something halfhearted. Since this is my first foray into self publishing, I’ll see how it goes. The problem with calendars is that they have a shelf life (actually this one should be good for the years 2022 and 2033 also). With each project, I have three benchmarks or goals: 1) recoup my out of pocket expenses 2) get paid for my time invested  3) rewarded for art or uniqueness.

The best part of the calendar are the images, if I do say so. I am an avid photographer of herding dogs and more specifically Australian Cattle Dogs. In the ACD world, I am know for my action images. I license my images to publishers, editors, authors, advertisers and to corporations. The images I have included are among my favorites, some are very, very unique!

Anyway, that is the short version of this project. If it flies, I’ll do it again for 2012. I already have some very creative and unique images in mind and hope to be selling some calendars at this time next year.

Thanks for stopping by.