Make a calendar? OK it's a date!

I had an interesting email from a friend the other day who wanted to tell me about a company called Calvendo. They produce and sell calendars created by photographers using their own photos. Calvendo were particularly interested in bird photos at that time so since I have thousands of nice photos just languishing on my computer I thought I would have a go.

So far I have produced two calendars, the cover of one of them is shown above.

Like so many photographers I would dearly like to have an outlet for my work. It is one thing amassing a collection of beautiful shots, but quite another to share them with other people and enjoy their delight in your work. This is what someone called "oxygen for artists". Without feedback and appreciation like this the artist can become stale and demotivated. Oxygen from outside is needed to breathe life back into your passion. That is partly why I write this Blog, have a website www.johncrabb.co.uk  and a Facebook page www.facebook.com/johncrabbwildlifeimages

The Calvendo interface is really slick and easy to use, their web address is www.calvendo.co.uk if you want to have a look. 

You first upload thirteen photos, one for the cover and one for each month of the year. Then you choose a calendar format and allocate photos to each page - their capable interface makes sure that you do this correctly. The calendar above was produced to A4 format and is specifically for the UK market. You could choose a French or German version if you wanted, as long as you know enough to provide text in those languages! I am thinking of having a go at a French one - bit scared though!

Selecting photos for each calendar was really the difficult bit for me. Here are some flying Swans from my archive which I included in this calendar.

 And here what I consider to be a beautiful shot of a Great Egret.

 And below is Miss May, a Bittern for that month!

I could show you all the months of course, but perhaps just one more on this Blog. It's a Short Eared Owl for March.

I had often wanted to do a calendar and actually did make one a few years ago! I only paid to have 25 printed and even then I was sweating about selling them all before the advent of January killed the market. So publishing a calendar is normally a big risk. Who wants a bedroom full of unsold and unsellable out-of-date calendars to dispose of?

That is the beauty of the Calvendo approach. Firstly, they only print calendars when they receive an order and, secondly, the calendar that you create this year can be reused in subsequent years because they simply change the dates information that goes with the photos. 

You can set a price for your own creation and a table immediately tells you the amount you will receive for each calendar sold. My only beef with the pricing is that the minimum price you are allowed to set looks quite expensive to me. Anyway, it is all completely free to you and does not cost a penny.

I do not know if I will sell any, but Calvendo do their best to maximise your chances. Once you have submitted your creation they give it a good hard looking at and offer advice on any changes that might be needed to maximise its impact. They arrange for it to be allocated an ISBN number and then list it on various websites - here is my listing on Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.com/Beauty-Birds-Flight-2016-John-Crabb/9781325107803   Amazon listing is in the pipeline.

So what about my second calendar I hear you asking?

That one is called "Garden Birds in Flight" and here is the cover photo.

You might notice that I have chosen to go for the "international" square format for this one. I have no idea if it will make any difference. Here is just one more shot from that creation

Here is the Book Depository listing for this one http://www.bookdepository.com/Garden-Birds-Flight-2016-John-Crabb/9781325107544

Here is a link to both calendars on the Calvendo site http://www.calvendo.co.uk/galerie/?s=John+Crabb&lang=2&cat=0&type=0&kdgrp=0&format=0

So, I obviously do not yet know how well it is all going to work out, but I have my fingers crossed. Certainly Calvendo have provided all the mechanics and the support that were needed to get these projects off the ground (get it?). All I had to do was provide the photos - simples. It has been a very satisfying process and I already have ideas for two more projects.

Please do visit my website at www.johncrabb.co.uk   and perhaps follow and "like" my Facebook page at  www.facebook.com/johncrabbwildlifeimages

Oh! and you may even like to buy a calendar, it would mean a lot to me!











 

More from the marsh!

I had always thought of summer as the quiet period for bird watching and photography. Not this year though!

Having spent much of my last Blog entry moaning about missing the best of the bird action, I happened to be in the right place when this Bittern came out of the edge of the reed bed to have a look at the world. I think it may be a young one. As I watched, it looked like it might be about to launch into the air, but each time thought better of it and crept back into the cover of the reeds. It did do a bit of posing though, including an attempt at adopting the famous vertical-neck posture to blend in better with the reeds - it is actually known as "bitterning" apparently.

Just in passing, I must mention that my new Canon EF 400mm f4 DO II is giving me some astonishingly sharp photos. This bird was a good 40 or 50 metres away, but cropping in more tightly to these already cropped photos shows how sharp the bird was. That is with a 1.4x converter too. I do not think that the original DO lens would have performed as well.

Apart from this very obliging bird, there were other bitterns on the wing from time to time. It is easy to miss them as they usually make no noise to announce their presence, and the first thing you notice is them gliding silently by too late to raise the camera. Got this one though.

Although the marsh at Ham Wall seemed quiet, a little patience paid off. Here a Swan is taking exception to the insistent presence of a Cormorant.

It ended up giving it a good hissing to! The Cormorant was not bothered. Here it is making a bit of a splash to show its disdain.

 
Here in Somerset we are still lucky to be seeing Great Egrets every day. A fabulous sight and I am still very keen to photograph them. This one was calling as it erupted from the reed bed.

I am also always on the look out for those other charismatic birds of the wetlands, Marsh Harriers. They seldom come close enough for a good shot, but these are not bad.

At the other end of the size range is this Reed Warbler, although you would be forgiven for not recognising it. It has lost most of its head feathers and looks distinctly weird!

I once saw a photo of a Robin looking like this and it was perched on a sign which read "Queue here for sympathy." I have no idea if this was genuine or not, but it was very apt.

You will also have noticed that there are no Barn Owls in this post. I think the obliging day-flying individual that has featured in the last few posts has become nocturnal or moved away. Here it is taking a dubious look at the daylight and deciding it would go back to bed.

Don't be shy about visiting my website www.johncrabb.co.uk I could also do with a few more people "liking" and "sharing" my Facebook page www.facebook.com/johncrabbwildlifeimages
Thanks!

Here is a post from my Facebook page that you may have missed.

I caught this Cormorant eating its lunch at #RSPB Ham Wall. You can read the whole story about this and a selection of...

Posted by John Crabb Wildlife Images on Wednesday, July 8, 2015

You cannot be in two places at once ...

.... in my case I can only be in the wrong place all of the time! Whilst other photographers I know chose the South Coast to get pics like this (these are two of mine from previous years)

I had chosen that day to go to #RSPB Ham Wall where I was having to make do with pictures of Frogs!

I do not have anything against Frogs per se, but Barn Owls do a lot more for me. I cannot explain why Ham Wall seemed so quiet on that day. On previous visits recently there was a lot more Marsh Harrier, Great Egret and Bittern activity. When I visited this time I found it to have descended more deeply into the Summer doldrums - what a fine word that is!

Not that a visit to Ham Wall or the other Somerset reserves is ever wasted. Nearly every photographer I know has one of these pics of a Cormorant. Well, now I've got a few too.

And very handsome this particular bird was as it dried off in the bright sunshine. It struck all sorts of poses.

But still I cannot disguise the fact that I would rather have been taking pictures of Barn Owls. So, the very next morning I went back to the South Coast and, guess what. After spending about three and a half hours there, no Barn Owl appeared! Everybody said how yesterday it had been zooming all over the sky, skimming their heads, passing left and right etc. Even worse, it is odds on that there was intense aerial activity at Ham Wall whilst I endured my fruitless wait for the Barn Owl on the South Coast, but I do not really want to know about that! Wrong-place syndrome again.

Seriously, it is one of the most difficult things to decide - where to go. You cannot win. To beat the curse of wrong-place syndrome I have thought of pretending to make definite preparations to go to one place whilst surreptitiously planning to switch destinations at the last minute. I do not know if this trying to trick fate into suppressing all bird activity at the wrong location would work.

The same problem presents itself even when you just have to decide which hide to go to within just one reserve. So many times I have decided to move only to turn round and watch a spectacular fly past of some choice bird over the location I have just vacated.

I really do feel picked out for specially bad luck over all of this. People are starting to avoid being in the same place as me.

Anyway, accepting that there were no Barn Owls, I did the best I could. This Kestrel presented the opportunity of an against-the-light shot. It makes a dramatic change from the usual view. The light shines right through its tail feathers.

Perhaps the biggest stroke of luck though was spotting these young Swallows perched on a branch and waiting to be fed.

They did not have to wait long as their parents made frequent visits.

 This one gives a whole new meaning to the name Swallow!

 So, even if things do not go exactly as you had hoped there is always something to watch out for. That is the joy of it all and, one day, you never know, I may get lucky!

I'll leave you with this dramatic photo of an imperious Buzzard. Please visit my website at www.johncrabb.co.uk and "like" my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/johncrabbwildlifeimages