Alley-Kat
Elder Statesman
With the current talk of the Truck Camper Magazine, 2012 Calendar contest and TCM not recognizing ATC as a camper company, I’d offer an alternative to the TCM 2012 Calendar.
We could do our own 2012 Pop-Up Truck Calendar.
Looking over the TCM submitted 2012 Calendar photos, and seeing many WTW members trip report photos, I’d have to say that the WTW members do a much better job at photographing their campers. The setting in which you guys camp and take your camper photos and your sense of composition is fantastic in my opinion.
I might as well layout the whole enchilada.
There are several web based companies out there that accept high resolution images and make calendars on an “as ordered” basis, so, no up front costs associated with creating the calendars, when purchasing a calendar payment is made to the company that makes the calendar, and the calendar company handles the shipping, too.
We just need someone to gather up the photos, size them for the calendar and then create a free account for a web store with the calendar publishing company, upload the photos and then tell everyone where they are available on the web. Just about anyone with photo editing software and some time can do the work required. I think we have a bunch of WTW members that are qualified to be Project Manager for this kind of thing
It would not be good to suggest taking on this kind of an idea and just hoping that someone else will step up to do it, so, I should say that I have done this for about 4 years and I’m doing it again for some of my motorcycle friends this year. If there is no one interested in doing it, I will volunteer to take on the job, as it’s now pretty easy for me to do it in short order. Once again I think there are a lot of WTW members that would be qualified to be Project Manager for this, and if someone else wants to do this, I can offer assistance as desired or needed.
We just need at least 12 photos to make 1 calendar, and if there are more photos, we can create several calendars, in different sizes (small – 8.5’x11”, medium – 11”x11” and large – 11”x17” for the size of the photos, a calendar hanging on a wall will be larger, see below).
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As a possible suggestion for the person becoming the Project Manager for this, here is how I’ve operated in the past (just my ideas).
As a contest to see which photos get into the calendar would add to the complexity of the project, I’d recommend that you allow the Project Manager to select the photos. This avoids any issues with “publically” hurt feelings for not having a photo selected for the calendar. The photos should be sent to the Project Manager via email and not made public until the calendars are created and ready for purchase. Photos not selected are only known to the submitter and the Project Manager, thus no embarasement. And, remember, we can create as many calendars as we wish, so the Project Manager would only reject photos that were NOT of a high resolution nature, as the printing process needs that high resolution (more on this later), and photos that might NOT be of a common composition quality, i.e., low quality composition photos would stick out like a sore thumb (like most of the TCM Calendar photos do to me). I would also say that photos with recognizable people in them should be avoided. I’ve already experienced the whining about “Why didn’t I get my face in the calendar?” So, photos of just trucks and pop-up campers, with the pop-up camper being more of the main subject, no people, keep it clean. And, of course, show the entire truck & camper and have a really nice background or setting, too.
I use CafePress to publish calendars and they allow setting the price of the calendars at the minimum, wholesale price, i.e., no mark-up = no profit for the Project Managers work on the project. And, as I said there are a slew of web based publishing companies out there that do this kind of stuff, I just like CafePress, someone else as Project Manager may like a different company.
The one disclaimer that needs to be made regarding the Project Manager… if there are a certain number of calendars purchased within a month, the Project Manager can get a “commission” on the wholesale price. There is no way to set the price below the wholesale price at CafePress, which might deduct the “possible” commission. And, there is really no easy way to return the commission to the purchasers of calendars, it’s too much work, so, the Project Manager should just keep the commission. It turns out to be not that much $.
I’m not sure how much the possible commission might be for a Pop-Up Truck Calendar, however, regarding the calendars I have created for my motorcycle friends over the past 4 years, I have earned approximately $60 each year. That doesn’t really cover the time I spend on the project, however, it does allow me to purchase a couple of calendars for myself as the commission can be either CafePress $ used to purchase CafePress items or sent as a check to the Project Manager. So, if a “possible” commission happens, the Project Manager should just keep it, in my opinion, it’s about the only incentive to take on this job.
BTW, the wholesale purchase price of the calendar at CafePress this year is,
Measurements are vertical dimension first (height), horizontal dimension (width) second.
Small – 8.5’x11” image size, 22”x8.5” calendar size = $14.99
Medium – 11”x11” image size, 17”x11” calendar size = $16.99
Large – 11”x17” image size, 22”x17” calendar size = $18.99
The 8.5”x11” image and the 11”x17” image are rectangular horizontal images (verticals don’t really fit here). The Project Manager usually needs to do some cropping to get an image that is square at 11”x11” for the medium size calendar (cropped usually from rectangular vertical images).
So, that’s my idea and how I’d operate.
Other opinions are certainly possible and someone else as the Project Manager is also possible.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
So, anyone interested in being the Project Manager, gathering the photos and creating the calendar? If not, I’ll do it.
Anyone interested in submitting high resolution photos?
Here are the technical details.
Image Type. Photos should be in JPEG format only (look at the file extension -> (“.jpg”), no Raw images please (that would add unwanted time to the project).
Image Quality. Point and shoot small cameras are about the minimum quality of cameras to use. The printing is not National Geographic quality, but it’s pretty darn nice. So we want high resolution images. In non-professional photographer lingo… One measure of high resolution that is easy to understand is the computer file size of a JPEG photo. File sizes should be at least 3Mb (3,000Kb) or higher. The higher the better, the largest calendar can have photos that are 11”x17” in printed size. Another measure of high resolution that is easy to understand is the pixels per inch resolution (you can usually find that in a photo editing program) of a photo at the size to be printed (possible 3 sizes - 8.5”x11”, 11”x11”, 11”x17”), and something on the order of at least 200 pixels per inch is good for the calendar printing process, higher is better, but more than 300 pixels per inch is too much for the company I use and still keep the cost of the calendar somewhat reasonable. A little under the above mentioned numbers and you might still be OK to get a photo into the calendar, I can do a little magic in Photoshop to help your photo get better.
Submitting Images. Emailing the photos to the person doing the project should be only one photo per email. No zipped photos (that would add unwanted time to the project). It’s just easier that way.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
BTW, here are some motorcycle calendar examples that I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past. I only selected and edited the photos (sizing and possible cropping), the photographers are members of another forum.
Small calendar, 8.5"x11" image.
Medium calendar, 11"x11" image.
Large calendar, 11"x17" image.
A couple of Calendar Covers.
BTW, if there is any WTW member or significant other that has some graphic design capabilities that wants to design a basic “calendar cover” to be used on multiple calendars, that would be great, please get in touch with the Project Manager, at least if I’m doing this project. As you can see, I’ve just assembled smaller monthly photos on the calendar covers I’ve made, and added some text to the top, I’m not all that creative (I am organized).
- - - - - - - - - - -
Lastly, if there is anyone that wants to do this project, please take it, I don't need to do it nor will I feel offended if someone else wants to do it (I'm only offering as a contribution to this Forum). It's a neat thing to have some custom calendars.
We could do our own 2012 Pop-Up Truck Calendar.
Looking over the TCM submitted 2012 Calendar photos, and seeing many WTW members trip report photos, I’d have to say that the WTW members do a much better job at photographing their campers. The setting in which you guys camp and take your camper photos and your sense of composition is fantastic in my opinion.
I might as well layout the whole enchilada.
There are several web based companies out there that accept high resolution images and make calendars on an “as ordered” basis, so, no up front costs associated with creating the calendars, when purchasing a calendar payment is made to the company that makes the calendar, and the calendar company handles the shipping, too.
We just need someone to gather up the photos, size them for the calendar and then create a free account for a web store with the calendar publishing company, upload the photos and then tell everyone where they are available on the web. Just about anyone with photo editing software and some time can do the work required. I think we have a bunch of WTW members that are qualified to be Project Manager for this kind of thing
It would not be good to suggest taking on this kind of an idea and just hoping that someone else will step up to do it, so, I should say that I have done this for about 4 years and I’m doing it again for some of my motorcycle friends this year. If there is no one interested in doing it, I will volunteer to take on the job, as it’s now pretty easy for me to do it in short order. Once again I think there are a lot of WTW members that would be qualified to be Project Manager for this, and if someone else wants to do this, I can offer assistance as desired or needed.
We just need at least 12 photos to make 1 calendar, and if there are more photos, we can create several calendars, in different sizes (small – 8.5’x11”, medium – 11”x11” and large – 11”x17” for the size of the photos, a calendar hanging on a wall will be larger, see below).
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As a possible suggestion for the person becoming the Project Manager for this, here is how I’ve operated in the past (just my ideas).
As a contest to see which photos get into the calendar would add to the complexity of the project, I’d recommend that you allow the Project Manager to select the photos. This avoids any issues with “publically” hurt feelings for not having a photo selected for the calendar. The photos should be sent to the Project Manager via email and not made public until the calendars are created and ready for purchase. Photos not selected are only known to the submitter and the Project Manager, thus no embarasement. And, remember, we can create as many calendars as we wish, so the Project Manager would only reject photos that were NOT of a high resolution nature, as the printing process needs that high resolution (more on this later), and photos that might NOT be of a common composition quality, i.e., low quality composition photos would stick out like a sore thumb (like most of the TCM Calendar photos do to me). I would also say that photos with recognizable people in them should be avoided. I’ve already experienced the whining about “Why didn’t I get my face in the calendar?” So, photos of just trucks and pop-up campers, with the pop-up camper being more of the main subject, no people, keep it clean. And, of course, show the entire truck & camper and have a really nice background or setting, too.
I use CafePress to publish calendars and they allow setting the price of the calendars at the minimum, wholesale price, i.e., no mark-up = no profit for the Project Managers work on the project. And, as I said there are a slew of web based publishing companies out there that do this kind of stuff, I just like CafePress, someone else as Project Manager may like a different company.
The one disclaimer that needs to be made regarding the Project Manager… if there are a certain number of calendars purchased within a month, the Project Manager can get a “commission” on the wholesale price. There is no way to set the price below the wholesale price at CafePress, which might deduct the “possible” commission. And, there is really no easy way to return the commission to the purchasers of calendars, it’s too much work, so, the Project Manager should just keep the commission. It turns out to be not that much $.
I’m not sure how much the possible commission might be for a Pop-Up Truck Calendar, however, regarding the calendars I have created for my motorcycle friends over the past 4 years, I have earned approximately $60 each year. That doesn’t really cover the time I spend on the project, however, it does allow me to purchase a couple of calendars for myself as the commission can be either CafePress $ used to purchase CafePress items or sent as a check to the Project Manager. So, if a “possible” commission happens, the Project Manager should just keep it, in my opinion, it’s about the only incentive to take on this job.
BTW, the wholesale purchase price of the calendar at CafePress this year is,
Measurements are vertical dimension first (height), horizontal dimension (width) second.
Small – 8.5’x11” image size, 22”x8.5” calendar size = $14.99
Medium – 11”x11” image size, 17”x11” calendar size = $16.99
Large – 11”x17” image size, 22”x17” calendar size = $18.99
The 8.5”x11” image and the 11”x17” image are rectangular horizontal images (verticals don’t really fit here). The Project Manager usually needs to do some cropping to get an image that is square at 11”x11” for the medium size calendar (cropped usually from rectangular vertical images).
So, that’s my idea and how I’d operate.
Other opinions are certainly possible and someone else as the Project Manager is also possible.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
So, anyone interested in being the Project Manager, gathering the photos and creating the calendar? If not, I’ll do it.
Anyone interested in submitting high resolution photos?
Here are the technical details.
Image Type. Photos should be in JPEG format only (look at the file extension -> (“.jpg”), no Raw images please (that would add unwanted time to the project).
Image Quality. Point and shoot small cameras are about the minimum quality of cameras to use. The printing is not National Geographic quality, but it’s pretty darn nice. So we want high resolution images. In non-professional photographer lingo… One measure of high resolution that is easy to understand is the computer file size of a JPEG photo. File sizes should be at least 3Mb (3,000Kb) or higher. The higher the better, the largest calendar can have photos that are 11”x17” in printed size. Another measure of high resolution that is easy to understand is the pixels per inch resolution (you can usually find that in a photo editing program) of a photo at the size to be printed (possible 3 sizes - 8.5”x11”, 11”x11”, 11”x17”), and something on the order of at least 200 pixels per inch is good for the calendar printing process, higher is better, but more than 300 pixels per inch is too much for the company I use and still keep the cost of the calendar somewhat reasonable. A little under the above mentioned numbers and you might still be OK to get a photo into the calendar, I can do a little magic in Photoshop to help your photo get better.
Submitting Images. Emailing the photos to the person doing the project should be only one photo per email. No zipped photos (that would add unwanted time to the project). It’s just easier that way.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
BTW, here are some motorcycle calendar examples that I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past. I only selected and edited the photos (sizing and possible cropping), the photographers are members of another forum.
Small calendar, 8.5"x11" image.
Medium calendar, 11"x11" image.
Large calendar, 11"x17" image.
A couple of Calendar Covers.
BTW, if there is any WTW member or significant other that has some graphic design capabilities that wants to design a basic “calendar cover” to be used on multiple calendars, that would be great, please get in touch with the Project Manager, at least if I’m doing this project. As you can see, I’ve just assembled smaller monthly photos on the calendar covers I’ve made, and added some text to the top, I’m not all that creative (I am organized).
- - - - - - - - - - -
Lastly, if there is anyone that wants to do this project, please take it, I don't need to do it nor will I feel offended if someone else wants to do it (I'm only offering as a contribution to this Forum). It's a neat thing to have some custom calendars.
