How to enlarge your portfolio

You might not have seen it in our system yet so that’s why we’re telling you know: You can easily turn your existing calendars into planners by using specific layouts provided in the Calvendo online editing tool. Planners (called “organizers” in the Calvendo system) are very popular calendar products and you probably have one yourself at home hanging on your wall to pencil in birthdays or all the important dates that must not be forgotten in a family.

Here’s how you can easily turn an already published calendar into a second product for sale:

Go to your account and ‘Projects approved by Calvendo’, click on the plus sign on the right in order to copy a published project, change the calendar grid from a normal to an organizer one, adapt the layout and then submit this new project to our jury. You’ll find all the different organizer layouts available in the online editor: Just click on ‘Calendar Grids’ on the right, a window will open, scroll down and click on ‘Organizer’ in order to see all the options. If you’re working with a landscape format, you can include one column, for the portrait format, you can create birthday calendars, organizers and family calendars with up to five columns.

You don’t need to change the pictures of the existing wall calendar that you’ve copied and can also use them in the same order. Likewise, you don’t need to come up with a new title and cover because a planner is a different product to a ‘normal’ calendar and has another use for the buyer.

However, it is important that the retail platforms and their customers can clearly distinguish the two products and see why they’re different. We’re therefore providing a special ‘button’ (logo) that you’ll have to include on the cover of your new organizer. You can downoad these buttons in different colours and choose the one that best matches your projects. Just click on the options available and save them on your computer – red, black and white.

Click here for instructions how to position the logo on your cover.

CALVENDO self-publishers in conversation: Chris Ford

Be it commercial work, street photography or coastal landscapes – Chris Ford, who grew up in Canada and now lives in in the heart of the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, has bags of experience that he imparted to his students during 30 years of teaching photography in Oxford. Here, he tells us how he approaches street photography, shares his love for Dorset’s famous landmark Pulpit Rock and why it’s worth persevering when creating your first Calvendo calendar, even if you’re not a techie …

Pic Chris Ford

Chris, can you talk a bit about your background as a photographer and how and when you took up photography?

I was introduced to photography by my grade six school teacher in the academic year of 1967/68. She had visually described the lyrics to a current song on the radio at the time, and then assigned similar as homework. I tried my best, using my plastic Kodak Instamatic camera in the middle of a very white Canadian winter. Needless to say, my results were useless, but the seed had been planted. I later studied it in high school and had decided I wanted to make it a career during my college (Quebec CEGEP) years (1974). Educationally, my training was as a commercial advertising photographer, specializing in studio photography.

How would you describe your style and approach as a photographer? Continue reading

CALVENDO self-publishers in conversation: Andrew Kearton

Location, location, location: Being at home in a place where the great outdoors of the Peak District is in spitting distance means that landscape photographer Andrew Kearton is perfectly placed for his work. Here, he tells us about his approach to photography, what he likes about Flickr, what to have in mind when creating a calendar plus he’s got a very simple, but nonetheless essential tip for Calvendo first timers.

Andrew Kearton

Andrew, can you talk a bit about your background as a photographer and how and when you took up photography?

I began photography as a means of recording the beautiful places that I went walking with my dog (who also features in my photography). I had only ever taken snapshots for years with a pocket camera but always had in the back of my mind the idea of taking photography more seriously. In 2007, I bought an entry level DSLR and was totally hooked from then on.

The past few years I’ve been trying hard to refine my skills. After leaving my previous job due to some health issues I became a self-employed landscape photographer last year. I’m lucky to live in a beautiful area on the edge of the Peak District national park so I am spoilt for locations. When my health improves I will go further afield.

How would you describe your style and approach as a photographer? Continue reading