Family Calendar 2013

I've been making calendars for my family every Christmas for the past few years, and this year was no exception.  It takes a lot of time and patience, but I am always happy at the completion of my creation.  I've learned a lot about doing them every year, from what people like to see, to getting as efficient as possible with the production.

The first year I made these calendars, I focused around photographs I had taken that year, that I had really enjoyed.  I think my family liked it, but I moved on to use photos of family members throughout the years.  I've also gone from using one traditional photo per month, to including about a dozen shots each month.  I think this is more enjoyable for everyone - especially now that a lot of my siblings are having children.  My sister posted a video on Facebook of her daughter pointing out her aunts and uncles in the family calendar I made last year, which completely melted my heart.

I've contemplated getting these calendars done professionally every year, but I find that it's not a financially smart decision for making twelve calendars.  It's about a hundred dollars cheaper to take the time to create my own calendar (which I simply do in iCalendar on my Mac, where I put in everyone's birthdays, different holidays, and the full moon schedule each year) and print off my own Adobe Illustrator files of photographs.  My only costs are my time, a pack of card stock paper, a couple cartridges of printer ink, and the process of binding at an office supplies store.  I print the calendar on one side of a sheet of card stock, then flip it around and print off the photos.  It takes a lot of time, and patience, but it's worth it to me.  My mom has a binding machine that I've used in the past for my calendars, but this year I decided to knock the whole process out before we went home for the holidays.  My local Staples store was able to bind my calendars within a day, and they even included a clear plastic sheet on the front and a black linen covering on the back.

It seems like every year I make some sort of mistake - this year I discovered after about eight months in that I was printing the calendar part on the top half of the hanging calendar, and the photos on the bottom.  I seem to have an "oh-shit" moment like this every year with my calendars, but I know that I am getting better with the finished product with each shot I take at it.  As they say, you'll be a pro at anything you put ten thousand hours into.  I'm only a couple hundred hours into this family calendar, but I love seeing the progress I make each and every year.  And it's all worth it to see my calendar hung up in my family members' homes whenever I go to visit them.  Not to mention, it makes remembering everyone's birthdays Much easier!

Around Town

It's been a weak week for my camera and me - very busy at work, lots of Christmas preparation on Saturday, and a little hungover on Sunday after a work Christmas party.  But Brian and I made it out around Calgary today, and checked out the new train stops that just opened up.  I made a mental list of things I wanted to photograph, focusing around the sun and people, and this is what I ended up with...

A Day in the Mountains

Brian's mom and aunt came to Calgary last weekend, and we spent a day in Banff with them.  It was an absolutely beautiful day in the mountains - there was snow on the ground, and the weather was, as usual, changing dramatically every twenty minutes.  (As they say, Calgary is the only place where you can slip on an ice patch, fall into a puddle, and dust yourself off.)  Here are a few shots I got in Banff - I like how they turned out, but I don't know if anyone could ever capture how truly amazing it is up in these mountains.  Come visit!!

                                                                  

The Best Science Experiment Ever - ESPECIALLY if You Have Kids!

Brian and I spent some time this past week photographing food coloring.  I had told him I wanted to take some pictures of food coloring dispersing in liquid (after watching my tea steep so beautifully at work in the mornings), and he mentioned he saw a cool experiment online involving milk and food coloring.  He said he would be happy to help me take such photos of food coloring and milk, and (as our life balancing act together goes) I was ready to get the ball rolling while he was still de-stressing from the workday.  So, I initially took some photos of my own interpretation of food coloring and milk:

I thought this was pretty cool, but when Brian got around to see what I was doing, he told me I wasn't doing the "food coloring and milk experiment" right.  He then went on to take about a cup of milk, pour it onto a plate, drop in a few drops of food coloring, and follow it with a drop of dish soap.  All I can say is, WHOA.

Apparently, what happens is, the food coloring sits on top of the milk.  When you put in a drop of soap, it eats away at the fat in the milk, and therefore moves the food coloring apart.  This was such a cool thing to see, and I can't wait to do it again.  I could have spent another hour photographing what I saw, but the fire alarm went off in our apartment, and we had to end our experiment...  I've already told Brian we're doing this again sometime, and I can't wait to get much better shots.  Until then, you should try it for yourself, and see it in real life.  Simply mind-blowing.

One foot in front of the other

I've had kind of a rough week, in the sense that I've had all sorts of things on my to-do list that didn't have anything to do with picking up a camera, and most of my items to get done were incredibly energy-consuming, and not very fun.  But I'm trying my best to be consistent with my photography, as I can feel myself growing each week that I try.  Here are a few shots I've taken in the past few days...

It's hard to learn to do the right thing for yourself, when all you want to do is eat, sleep, or watch tv.  I've spent more time on my photography in the past couple months than I have (I hate to admit) all year.  But as hard as it is for me to pick up my camera or process what I've taken sometimes, I know I'll feel better at the end of the day to do the necessary work than if I hadn't.  It's a hard lesson to learn, and one that will take me years to master, I'm sure - but I don't like to think of myself as a quitter.  Sometimes you just have to know when to grit your teeth and do what needs to be done in order to get to the other side.

Apples and Beer

I broke out my studio/stovetop setup this past week to take some photos of apples and dirty dishes, which didn't turn out as exciting as I thought they would.  This seems to be the best shot I got out the group:

I was about to throw in the towel and put everything away, when Brian asked if I wanted to split a beer.  One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I'd taken two dozen shots of foam.  I did these by pouring the beer into a wine glass and giving it a good swirl, while holding it in front of the light.

I'm pretty excited by the way the photos turned out - especially since it proved how well my new stovetop studio works!  And needless to say, that was some of the flattest beer I've ever consumed.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

These past few days have been a really, really difficult time for me, photographically speaking.  After a busy, hectic week at work, I was more than ready to take my camera out for the three-day weekend.  I even had a list in my mind started, revolving around snow and icicles, after the foot and a half of powder we got on Thursday and Friday.  I was really excited to get some high-contrast photos of the snow, especially when I saw it was going to be sunny for the whole weekend!  But one thing led to another - our winter tire installation took about three more hours than I expected on Saturday, the sun started setting before Brian and I got to the ideal photographic spot on Sunday (I HATE winter, not because of the cold, not because of the ice and snow, but because the sun is never there for me!), and I woke up today not even wanting to touch my camera.  But I was able to get a couple shots in the less-than-ideal lighting yesterday, and I mustered up the energy to take the old camera out for a stroll this afternoon (although, again, I waited until the sun was starting to set...).

Here are some shots I got that I'm pretty happy about - although next time I'll have to make sure to get my ass out there BEFORE the ideal lighting goes down!

Dinosaur Head Reflecting on the Sidewalk

Salt's Effects on Ice

Off the Charts!

I learned the same lesson for the hundredth time this weekend - which is to take advantage of the ideal time to photograph, even if you don't want to.  Don't get caught without your camera due to unexpected plans, and don't make excuses when the time is perfect to get the shots you want.  I know I've missed out on thousands of opportunities of beautiful, spectacular moments (especially since I've moved away from home) - and I know I'll miss out on at least a few hundred more, but I hope at some point I'll get some sense knocked into me about this!  It's really not such a hassle to take your camera with you, or to pull it out for a couple shots, and you'll thank yourself years from now if you do.