Calendar themes? There’s loads!

Cats and dogs are all very well but at some point another cute animal calendar simply won’t do anymore. On the other hand, there are many topics and motives that are still underrepresented in our UK calendar programme, so here are a few ideas for all you calendar makers out there. And obviously, it’s not only photography we’re after. Any of the following could work as illustrations or paintings, too!

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Sports, hobbies & activities – think British!

When people are looking for gifts related to a person’s hobby or favourite sport, calendars are popular options. If you have good images featuring typical British sports and activities, such as Cricket, Polo or Rugby, let us see them. Likewise, dog and horse racing or show jumping are interests shared by many that could be catered for with a corresponding calendar.

In general, calendars featuring sports and activities perform well with buyers and there’s a wide range of possible topics for you to consider – surfing, motorbiking, cycling, golf, dancing, ballet, skateboarding, skiing, yoga. Just to name a few.

British classic cars, historical (steam) trains and military planes, anything that falls under the heading history, nostalgia and heritage are also popular topics for the UK market.

Landscapes – there’s more than Cornwall!

Landscape photography is extremely popular and a lot of great work is submitted to us. However, please don’t forget that there’s more in the UK than popular places such as Cornwall, Scotland and the Lake District. We’re currently missing rural sceneries beyond these classic UK destinations and would like to see more from all the other counties, too.

Just use the search field in our product gallery to check which terms don’t produce any or only few results yet. For example, we haven’t got a lot of calendars in our programme featuring scenes from the North/North East and East. Yorkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk or Cambridgeshire, just to name a few, are full of beautiful scenery and picturesque villages. Maybe you’ve captured them! And while dramatic coastlines are great to look at, so are the famous English rolling hills, moors or country lanes.

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Towns & cities – beyond London, please!

When it comes to British towns and cities, let us see what you have beyond London. Historic as well as contemporary images of British towns and cities, industrial sights and architectural structures can work just as well for a calendar as beautiful landscapes.

If you’re thinking of doing a London calendar, think outside the box and the classic sights or, if you want to feature the most popular attractions, come up with ideas how to present those in different ways. Street photography, urban scenes and graffiti are perfect calendar material, too. Individual elements of London, such as the city’s parks, streets or markets, could work very well, too.

Food & drink – yes, definitely!

We’re interested in more material for the many foodies out there! Again, take a look at our product gallery and do your research to see what’s there and what’s missing. What kind of food trends are there currently in the UK? What are people particularly fond of?

We haven’t got anything on street food yet, for example. Or cupcakes. Speaking of which, with this year’s Great British Bake Off in full swing, we’re also reminded of the great British love for cakes and sweets. Why not come up with an original calendar idea that would make a good present for keen bakers (or cake eaters)?

When producing a food calendar, you could also integrate recipes. However, you’d need to be familiar with picture editing programmes then in order to design your jpgs accordingly before uploading them.

Less of the following

This one is in particular for all our German users producing work for the UK market: Very local and regional German themes are difficult to promote in the UK, simply because people are not familiar with geographic regions that are well known to Germans but not internationally.

It’s (unfortunately) safer to stick with the stereotypes, such as Bavaria/Alpine topics, major cities such as Munich (Oktoberfest), Hamburg or Berlin, Black Forest or the Rhine Valley/castles that British buyers associate with Germany and would be searching for online.

Gregor International Calendar Award – now also for self-publishers

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

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’.

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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