Just a thought .......

[rockin rex]

Some of the folks on this forum are incredible with the stuff they can do with the cams. The video that was put together with the cams that I saw the other day was great. My thought is what about pulling out the best cam views from the past year and putting them onto a calendar for 2007. The money that would be made would go to the M.W.O. I know if the calendar was available I would buy it. I know over 2006 there were some incredible cam shots. Just an idea that might generate some money for M.W.O.

[Brad]

If we save enough pictures in the favorites, this could be possible. My plan is to put together a year video of the Ravines images - one image a day for the year.

[Mike D]

Good idea. I am not sure how good the images would look printed on a full-size calendar though. At 640x480, they would be quite pixelated unless we made a small, page-a-day calendar.

[Bill O]

The calendar idea gets tossed around every year. Jim Salge's photos come to mind, and they would make an excellent calendar. But it never gets done.

Time, money, and a short selling season are some of the factors. The revenue generated would have to be thousands to cover the production costs, and by March your calendars are useless.

2007 is out of the question. A big calendar run like that would have to be produced over the summer.

Not to mention, who buys wall calendars anymore? Sure, people do, but there is a whole generation emerging that has no need for them. I'm on that list.

[Bill O]

Good idea. I am not sure how good the images would look printed on a full-size calendar though. At 640x480, they would be quite pixelated unless we made a small, page-a-day calendar.

Yeah, what Mike said. I was thinking that too. I always felt that page-a-days were more of a liability than an asset. Sure, they are fun for the first few weeks. Then you fall behind, a week than a month. Next thing you know you are tearing off half the pages in one pull and tossing them in the garbage.

I also can't get over the fact that they are only saleable for a few months. Stick with a book, those don't expire.

[KD Talbot]

Bill has good business sense. If you print a bunch of calendars and they don't sell you're out a lot of money. The thing to do would be to take orders in advance for a delivery in, say November, in time for Christmas. I think it would be nice to set up the website so folks could vote on their favorite photos in the photo journal, similar to wundergrounds wunderphotos.

http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewimages.html

The monthly winners could become the calendar. Also, screen savers would be cheap to make and could include even more photos.

I think there is enough good material sent in to have a juried show followed by an auction. Framed prints could be displayed at the weather center and bids could be taken on each piece. What do people think?

I'm leaving in ten hours for the summit to cook for the upcoming week so I'll try to post some pictures each day.
KDT

[Brad]

Throughout the year we collect family photos and produce a custom calendar for grandmothers and others in the family. The software we use is from www.digi-labs.net and it works well. We compose the pages - size the images the way we want - have several on a page to fit the month. Then teh file is sent to the lab and they print and bind it all. Cost for a finished calendar is less than $25. There has to be a discount for volume.

If someone pulled together some of the photos and constructed the file for the upcoming year (2008), the printing would be done by the lab. A lot of the headaches would be gone. This has worked well for us.

[Bill O]

If someone pulled together some of the photos and constructed the file for the upcoming year (2008), the printing would be done by the lab. A lot of the headaches would be gone. This has worked well for us.

If you're doing a calendar 2008 is what we should be talking about. I think it is a fun idea.

Economically, the numbers just don't work. The time and investment would be better spent in other fundraising ventures. But, if a few individuals want to take on the project it could be worthwhile.

[rockin rex]

If someone could get them together for 2008 and only have a certain amount made I don't see how there could be a problem with selling them. If the money would go to help out M.W.O. they would fly out of the stores. The question is can the cam pictures be formated to fit on a calendar and have them look nice. These last few days from the cams are INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!

[Bill O]

As Mike D stated the webcam images are only 640X480 pixels. A good photo quality print needs about 300 pixels per inch. That means these photos would have to be 3"x1.5" to be photo quality. Not a very good wall calendar.

There are a few tricks to add pixels and enlarge the image, but only they can only be stretched so far.