Monthly Archives: April 2015

Gregor International Calendar Award – now also for self-publishers

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Good news for Calvendo self-publishers: The prestigious ‘Gregor International Calendar Award’ has recognised the growing importance of self-publishing and added a new category for self-published calendars this year. So, if you feel you could be among the first ever ‘Gregor Self-Publishing Award’ winners, read on for more information about the competition! 

The most important thing first: Calvendo authors who take part in the Gregor International Calendar Award competition,will get an exclusive discount of 40% on the entry fees: 

  • Fees for submitting one to five calendar titles – EUR 96 (approx. GBP 68) instead of EUR 160
  • Fees for submitting six to ten calendar titles – EUR 150 (approx. GBP 105) instead of EUR 250

A bit of background for you: The international Gregor award was launched in 1950 by ‘Graphischer Klub Stuttgart’ (Graphic Club Stuttgart), Baden-Wurttemberg’s Ministry of Finance and Economy and the employer’s association ‘Druck und Medien’ (Print and Media) in order to showcase calendar creations in Germany and abroad. Participants can submit calendars in ten different subject categories:

  1. Travel/Landscapes
  2. Cities and Architecture
  3. Animals
  4. Art and Culture
  5. Technology and Transport
  6. Sport and Hobbies
  7. People
  8. Eating, Drinking & Lifestyle
  9. Humour/Satire
  10. Nature and the Environment

The competition works with two submission deadlines for summer (24th July 2015) and winter (11th December 2015) and a jury made up of photography and design experts, trade buyers and consumers will decide on the winners. Two jury meetings in August 2015 and January 2016 will each time result in a short list of ten who will receive an award. The ten calendars of the August short list will also be exhibited at Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2015.

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The jury will then select the final winners in the respective categories of the Self-Publishing Awards from the pool of altogether 20 short list winners (from the jury meetings in August 2015 and January 2016). The official awards ceremony will take place in Stuttgart on 21st January 2016 and from the start of September 2015 onwards award-winning calendars will be published on www.gregor-calendar-award.com.

If you’re thinking about taking part, please make sure to claim your exclusive 40% Calvendo discount. In order to do so, you will have to enter your Calvendo author ID in the field “Customer Number” on the registration form. You’ll find you ID number on your account statement in your Calvendo account (“Autoren-ID”, top right). Should you have trouble finding you ID number, please contact marketing@calvendo.com.

You’ll need to submit your calendars by post (three copies per title) to ‘Graphischer Klub’ in Stuttgart plus print outs of your registration form and a short text explaining the calendar concept. For all details how to participate including addresses and contact details please click here (scroll to page 2 of the document for information in English and page 3 for the registration form). Please note that the entry fee needs to be transferred in Euros.

We appreciate that participation involves a considerable contribution and an investment of time and money on your side. However, since we managed to get a discount for our authors and the fact that this is the only award of this kind for calendar self-publishers, we felt that informing you about this option was in order. Good luck to everyone taking part!!

CALVENDO self-publishers in conversation: Rory Garforth

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Yorkshire-based photographer Rory Garforth has a knack for black and white images. His evocative pictures make you look just that little bit longer. Here, he tells us about his photography, what influences his work and why Yorkshire is the perfect ‘shooting ground’.

Rory Image

1. Rory, we need to talk black and white with you: Tell us a bit about your specific preference for black and white photography and how it developed.

My first camera was a Russian Zenit 11 SLR, bought for me by my parents. Back then, aged 11 in the 80s, I instinctively wanted to shoot in black and white and asked my father to get me black and white film. I’ve always loved noir and the look of old movies. I’ve stuck with black and white because I love the timeless, classic feel it gives. I also love the drama in a black and white image with its strong contrast and texture; something I’ve never really achieved in a colour image. I’m also colour blind and have often wondered if this has influenced my photography. My black and white images tend to be strong, high contrast and sometimes powerful – I’m working on soft, gentle and subtle!

Isle of Skye Copyright: Rory Garforth

Isle of Skye
Copyright: Rory Garforth

My appreciation for landscape and wide open skies comes from early trips to the coast in Yorkshire, and my love of mountains from hiking trips to Scotland and the Lake District. Photography wise, my earliest influences were Ansel Adams, Fay Goodwin and particularly Michael Kenna. I felt that his photography showed me what I really wanted to learn and aspire to. Another is Bill Brandt, who really got me interested in street photography and whose dramatic landscapes of Skye first drew me to that location. I really admire the work of Susan Burnstine, she uses handmade cameras and lenses creating a really unique look. I love her book, ‘Within Shadows’.

2. You have a passion for landscape photography and the great outdoors. Looking at your portfolio, it becomes clear that your ‘home turf’ of South Yorkshire definitely plays an important role for your work. What specifically is it that you find so inspiring (apart from the fact that the scenery is indeed stunning!)? And can you tell us a bit about how you find the places and motives to shoot? Continue reading →

CALVENDO self-publishers in conversation: Mark Cooper

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Mark Cooper, a Wiltshire-based photographer, takes inspiration from his surroundings and tells us why perseverance and patience always pays off, be it when shooting butterflies or using Calvendo to set up a calendar.

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1. Mark, you started using Calvendo at the beginning of this year and within a short period of time, have already published five calendars. Can you tell us why you’re using the platform and what makes you keep on going?

I was introduced to Cavendo by an article in the Royal Photographic Society magazine which impressed me. I have a number of recent photos which used to be called stock photos languishing on the computer as well as more impressive images which I wanted to share. A calendar is a good way of showing your work to a far larger audience with all sorts of possible future avenues.

2. Can you talk a bit about your background as a photographer and how and when you took it up?

At college I really went into photography in a big way even having my own darkroom (well, a blacked out bathroom) and did all my own black and white. I was once offered £500 for an image of a friend which I, in my naive youth (and being a romantic fool), turned down. Still, a career in catering kept me busy for the next 15 years. Obviously, I still owned a good camera and kept, of course, taking photos but could not do too much. Costs were a consideration then. Like most people in photography it was not until the advent of digital photography that my passion took up once again. I personally never thought digital would be as good as film (how wrong can you be!). It’s all those hours spent in the darkroom, I suspect. So, I was really late back into the process. It really is a lot easier to produce quality images these days. So, I have a few regrets not taking to digital three or fours years sooner for one.

 

Standing out: "Views of Salisbury Cathedral"

Standing out: “Views of Salisbury Cathedral”

 

3. You specialize in photos and prints of Salisbury and South Wiltshire, and have published a calendar, “Views of Salisbury Cathedral”, featuring beautiful images of the Cathedral from many different perspectives. Can you talk a bit about the process of taking these images: what inspires you, how do you choose the perspectives and why are you so fascinated by this building?

The one thing you cannot buy is an eye for a photograph. The camera does not see all that our eyes can, so you have to interpret the scene. When you are brought up in an area, always returning to the spire dominating the horizon (no two-story building is allowed within a ten mile radius), you have an innate knowledge together with a total geographical insight to the area. Having crafted your angles and viewpoints it is all down to time of day and normally the golden hours up early out late in the summer.

One of the many thousands - in "View of Salisbury Cathedral"

One of the many thousand shots taken – in “View of Salisbury Cathedral”

After 10,000 photos you are likely to get on very good one and if you shoot another 10,000 you might get another two like me. You have to be in the right place at the right time. It is as cliché as that. It also helps if you have a very good camera that you know inside out but after 20,000 shots you do get the basics and then you better upgrade to the latest model. Technology is very fast moving.

4. Your portfolio contains great shots of the South of England, and in particular the coast, and you have already produced a “Cornish Seascapes” calendar. Any more landscapes to come?

Should please not only all those Poldark fans out there ...

Should please not only all those Poldark fans out there …

Yes, I just visited the Lake District and I was very lucky with the weather armed with Stuart Holmes’ book “Photographing The Lake District”. I have been able to capture a few good shots hopefully enough for a “Springtime in the Lake District” calendar.

5. Another one of your specialities is butterflies. Do you have any particular “butterfly photography tricks” for us?

Yes, if you are not very nimble, get up early: They don’t fly much until it reaches 52 degrees. Otherwise, patience is definitely a virtue.

From "Adonis Blue Butterfly calendar

From “Adonis Blue Butterfly” calendar

6. Can you talk a bit about your experience when creating your calendars with Calvendo? Any tips for first timers?

Computers are not my best friends but perseverance pays off. However, I still cannot find my way around all the grids.

7. Last but not least, what are your general comments on Calvendo as a self-publishing platform: Anything you particularly like? Or things that need improving?

Definitely worth giving it a go if you have a twelve or thirteen images which might make a nice calendar. You have nothing to lose because if the idea or pictures are not any good it won’t get published. Greater fun trying, though!

Thanks, Mark, for talking to us, and we look forward to more of your work in our product gallery!

From "Cornish Seascapes"

From “Cornish Seascapes”

More about Mark and his work:
www.mccphoto.co.uk
www.twitter.com/markccphoto
Calvendo product gallery