It's Time To Vote (on calendar photos)

No dirty politics or ugly campaign ads here.  Just me asking for your help picking the photos to go on my 2019 calendar.

I have done the hard part and gone through 8,546 photos from the past 12 months and narrowed them down to 38. Now I need your help with the really hard part - picking the finalists to go on the calendar for next year.

There are a few changes for 2019:

#3 Monet at Bays Mountain

• I'm trying out a new company to print the calendars.  I used the same company for years but they have made some major mistakes in the last couple of years.  I haven't used this new company before and am praying that their quality will be outstanding.  
• I will also be switching from the spiral bound to a stapled format, which saves on printing costs.  This means more money goes to charity.
• Two spots will be reserved on the calendar for photos I haven't taken yet.  I'm heading to Grand Tetons National Park and hope to come home with a couple calendar-worthy photos.  No pressure, right? I'll pick those last two, add them to the calendar and announce the election results in mid-October.

Here's how you can vote.

1. Go to the 2019 Calendar Candidates gallery on my website - https://www.thesiggins.com/SpecialProjects/2019-Calendar-Candidates/
2. Pick your favorite 12 photos that you would like to see on the calendar.  The order doesn't matter so no need to rank them as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.  Each photo has a title and number from 1 - 38.  I need the number.  
3. Email the list of 12 to rcsiggins@gmail.com by Tuesday, October 9th.

The calendars will be $15 again this year and all the profit is donated to a local charity.  If all goes well I will have them available in early November.   You can pre-order calendars by sending an email to rcsiggins@gmail.com.  I deliver locally.  In the past, I have mailed calendars to customers across the US, Japan, and Europe and I will do that again this year for $3 per calendar.  International rates will be a little higher.

Feel free to forward this on to friends that may be interested in a calendar.  As long as they plan to buy one they can vote.

And the winners are....

The votes have been gathered, tallied, and double checked.   The photos that will be on my 2015 calendar are:

Wild Ponies, 39 votes

Top Pick for 2015

Burkes Garden, 35
Big Red, 33
White Top Sunset, 29
Winter, 27
Old Country Church, 27
Home Place, 25
Bald River Falls, 25
Southern Plantation, 23
Sunrise Above The Clouds, 23
Peacock, 23
Peaceful Reflections, 22
Lambs, 20

Dewdrops was tied for last place with 20 votes.  I had to pick one and decided to go with Lambs because it is so appropriate for the Christmas Season.

A preview of the calendar is available on YouTube.   Click HD - 1080p for the best video quality.  Be sure to have your sound on to enjoy the beautiful music by Gerald Sheppard

I got a number of requests to include The Spider That Ate The Moon in next year's calendar.  It might be too much for some people to see a giant spider on their wall for an entire month.   You might find a smaller version creeping around October.

Each year I am surprised by your selections, which ones are your favorites and which ones you really don't want on your wall for a month.  This year there were 33 photos to choose from.  All were photos I thought were good enough, but some only received 3 or 4 votes from 47 people.   While some photos were not popular they were picked by a few people.  The Wild Ponies was picked by 39 out of 47 people so while it was the top pick there were 8 people who did not think it was one of the best photos.   I am blessed with friends with a broad spectrum of tastes.   It's a good thing I didn't pick the photos myself.

These calendars should be available by the end of October this year.   Send me an email if you would like one or more.  Don't forget to tell your friends about the calendars.  Spread the word and help me support Hope Haven Ministries.

Building A Calendar

Each year I put together a calendar to raise money for Hope Haven Ministries in Kingsport.  Hope Haven is a Christian, interdenominational, non-profit ministry that reaches out to homeless men, women and children who may be impoverished economically, educationally, emotionally and/or spiritually.   Hope Haven doesn't receive any government funding or support from United Way.   Like all non-profit organizations they are in constant need of financial support to keep providing the services they provide in our community.   These calendars are one way you and I can support this ministry.

Photography and sharing photos is my hobby and I really enjoy putting this project together.   It's not a quick process and usually takes several days to get together 25 - 30 candidate photos.   This year I

1. Selected the 4,620 photos from past 12 months that are wider than tall (landscape orientation) to fit on the calendar pages.  Because I use Lightroom to catalog all my photos this took about a minute.  Would have been about a second but I had to remember how to do this.

   

   Saved From The Bit Bucket

2. I then narrowed the candidates down to 165, then 60.   If I thought it is a photo people might like to see on their wall for a month then I marked it as a candidate. This step took a while.  The interesting thing is I selected some photos that I had not touched since down loading from the camera.  I have a lot of these images on the edge between keepers and destined for the bit bucket.   Sometimes something that doesn't catch my eye when I first look at it turns out to be a favorite later, like the one on the right.  Click on it for a larger view.
3. With June and Holly's help and a couple days we narrowed down to 34.

Is this one in the top 13?

That's all I can do.  It's hard for me to pick any more to throw out.  After all,  I have eliminated 131 from my first list.  I am asking my friends to help me narrow the 34 down to 13 to go on the calendar.  So far 32 people have voted and I'm already seeing some trends.

• There is a clear front runner - 27 out of 32 have voted for this one.
• Two photos got only 2 votes each.  Doesn't look good for those two.
• There are three tied for 13th place with 13 votes each.
• There are two more with 12 votes each.

How many people would like a black and white photo on their calendar?

As you can see, one person's vote can determine which photos make it on the calendar and which ones are left out. 

The deadline for sending me your vote is Saturday, September 20.  

The winners get announced on Sunday the 21st.  Instructions for voting are on the September 5 blog post.  Drop me an email with your vote.   Oh and let me know if you're interested in buying a calendar.