I am really excited about how this project turned out and am looking forward to the feedback.
I randomly print some of my captures to check if the vision with which I executed on a picture extended to the print format as well. I frame most of them, display in the house and my better-half relocates them around as she changes the interiors of our home once in a while.
At some point it struck me that I should pick some of the better ones and compose a calendar out of them and so started this project.
I culled all the pictures I took until the end of the year 2018 over a period of a couple of months. I consciously left out pictures I took in 2019 because I wanted to challenge myself to have enough new ones when I set out to create the calendar for the year 2021.
In parallel, I had to research if there is a vendor that can create a calendar based on the pictures I chose. Let me cover that towards the end.
I picked this particular picture for January for no specific reason actually. When I looked at all the 12 pictures I picked for the calendar, this seemed to have a rather neutral theme to it so I thought why not pick it.
I captured this during a visit to California coast a few years back. I deliberately cropped this picture with the horizon almost in the center to break a composition rule but I think for a calendar, it is probably OK.
For February, I picked an image from one of my favorite places in the DFW area and of a favorite subject of mine - Butterflies. Click on the image to read my earlier post on my love of butterflies.
I captured this beauty at Heard Museum, which is a 289 acre wildlife sanctuary in the DFW area setup with the purpose of educating children about nature.
#HeardMuseum also offers something for visitors of any age through a variety of exhibitions, collections and Gardens.
For the month of March, I wanted to pick something that signifies the onset of Spring.
Yes, contrary to popular belief, Texas does have seasons :)
These are the Texas State flower, the #Bluebonnets, that I captured near Ennis a few years back.
#Ennis is located about 35 miles to the south of Dallas and hosts the #BluebonnetTrailsFestival which is held on the third weekend of each April.
I wanted to continue with the Spring theme for April but this time, since April is the first full Spring month, I wanted to pick something that has more 'pop'. And of course it reminded me of Sangrias as well!
I picked this image from a food photography workshop from a few years back.
This is a genre I have not spent much time on but it is one of my goals next year to spend a bit more time learning about Food Photography and hopefully can take some good pictures at least one of which should make my 2021 Calendar.
While I wanted to highlight clear blue skies for the month of May, I also wanted to bring attention to the hot air ballooning hobby that some residents in my neighborhood seem to have.
This drives my dog crazy but I have been able to capture some delightful shots from my backyard.
I also make it a point to visit the Plano Balloon Festival that happens every third weekend of September (weather permitting).
I captured a picture of this turtle several Springs back at the Heard Museum.
It has been a favorite with my kids since that trip and we have made it a point to visit each year in Spring and Fall as the landscape and the habitat tends to be different as the seasons change.
A large part of the Heard Museum are prairies and wetlands that you can traverse by getting on any of the trails most of which are self guided and easy to moderate in terms of difficulty.
Another location I discovered fairly recently but am absolutely in love with is the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge near Sherman, TX that consists of about 12,000 acres of uplands and wetlands.
#Hagerman is home to a variety of migratory birds, butterflies, wildlife and native plants.
This was my first ever capture of an Egret and am really proud of it. It really justified the purchase of my 70-200mm lens and the 2X Extender!
Mountains beckon as August approaches! I twice planned to visit Rockies in August but plans did not materialize but last year was able to make up for it with a trip to the Big Bend National park (although went there the during Thanksgiving!).
Click on the image to take you to an earlier post I wrote on my trip to the #BigBend.
I picked this image of Burro Mesa for August to remind me to see the mountains in August. Hopefully I can check that item off from my bucket list next year!
As a tribute to the State of #Texas, I picked this image of the Big Texan who dons the Fair Grounds during the Texas State Fair that usually begins every last Friday of September and runs for 24 days.
Click on the image of the #BigTexan to take you to an earlier post I wrote on the #TexasStateFair.
The State Fair showcases everything from shows and live music to food to exhibits focusing on live stock, agriculture, art, industry, etc.
I picked a butterfly again because I love them so much as I confessed earlier but this time for October because that is also when the Monarchs migrate through Texas.
I captured this beauty at the Texas Discovery Gardens which features native and adaptive plants complete with hundreds of different types of free-flying butterflies in a two-story Butterfly House.
The folks living in the DFW metroplex are lucky in some aspects. Because of the proximity of the two cities (or sheer coincidence or competition among the cities), we seem to have two of everything including Zoos, Arboretums, to name a couple of examples.
This is the capture of the Mountain goat from the Dallas Zoo.
I have visited both the Zoo's a few times but I think my favorite is the Fortworth Zoo.
Although, I picked something neutral for January and hope that I build some interest in my pictures as the year progresses, I wanted to end the year with something special.
Most of us end the year with a sense of achievement, reflect on the events past looking forward to what is in store in the future, making goals and resolutions.
I sincerely hope that this image of a couple enjoying the vistas of the Big Bend captures that mood.
While culling the images was an enormous endeavor, finding a service to print the calendars was no easy task either. My preference was to pick from among the popular choices that are out there so I looked at mpix.com, shutterfly,com and vistaprint.com. They were either too expensive or did not give me the flexibility of picking images of my choosing for each of the months in the calendar or their templates were just not professional enough.
I finally ended up with printingcenterusa.com whom I never heard of before but the end result has been fantastic and were great to work with. Once I picked them, I did have to post-process my images again and re-do the calendar once, it was nevertheless a smooth process.
I plan to mail out the calendars to friends and family in the US in the next few days and hope to hear their feedback while I extend a warm seasons greeting to everyone. If you need one, do drop me a note so I can mail it to you for a modest fee of $9.99. If you prefer prints of any individual images that I used for the Calendar, let me know too as I can accommodate that as well.
Cheers!
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