I have been talking with Wayne about a pond calendar. I had asked him if I could use a picture of his pond on a calendar for myself to which he said he would be interested in one for himself. If you would be interested in a calendar and/or would let me use a picture of your pond please let me know. I need 12 pictures, one for each month. Since it is a 12 month calendar I can start with the month of February as January is already in progress and to make sure we get our money's worth ;) The pictures need to be pretty clear so they need to have a high resolution. Most of the pics we post here are downsized so some of them I can't use. I can tweek the pictures a little if need be. I may even be able to give you a link so you can see what it would look like before you buy. I will have to look into that. Don't feel like your pond has to look like Waynes. Just a nice shot of your pond.
Right now it's looking like we are going with the bigger one. Here is a link to the thread that Wayne and I had been chatting about that shows pricing and size: http://z2.invisionfree.com/Fishpondinfo/in...?showtopic=3591
When I order them they will ship to me. I will then ship them out to anyone who want's one (and of course paid for it). We can use Pay Pal for payment if anyone is interested. Like I said I don't have all the details as far as the shipping goes. I suppose I would ship them by mail and would guess them to weigh around 2 to 3 lbs. If you private message me your zip code I can give you a rough estimate as to what the shipping might be. I don't know how to ship them to Canada b/c of the duties and customs fees or if that would even apply.
These calendars are for personal use only and will not be sold. They are just for us. So please don't think I am trying to make a profit on your work. Don't feel like you have to buy in to be able to have your pond on the calendar.
I wish I would have thought of this sooner but better later than never :) I will need to get going on this so hurry up you guys! :lol: :lol:
Any input is welcomed.

I'd buy one! :)

Is there any way you could adjust the calendar dates? Instead of losing Jan. 2008 already, does the company adjust so you could make it past Jan. 2009? Waynes fire waterfall pic has GOT to be DEC. :D I think versions of that are all on our wishlists. :D And Dec. is the best month for dreaming. :rolleyes: On the other hand, my pond belongs to March. March=Irish=Murphys Law. <_< Just kidding, my pond is NOT pic worthy. But other ponds would look nice in the kitchen. :) I'd want one too. :) ( zip is 01020 )

I have been re-thinking the calendar for this year. KK had the idea to wait and do one for 2009. That way it would give everyone time to spiff up their ponds (Wayne doesn't need to) and take a new picture if they want. We would then get the full 12 month calendar year. Then if Robyn doesn't mind maybe we can post the pictures and vote on the ones we would like on the calendar. Sadie has a good idea maybe we can pick which pond we like for a particular month. The pictures don't have to be spring/summer pics either. Fall/winter would work too. There is also a cover page on the calendar that we could vote on. I am not very good at this planning thing so what do you guys think?

Sounds better all the time. I like the idea of waiting for next year ... and giving people time to get a good pic ... and voting.
If Wayne does spiff up his pond we can just use one of his old pictures. :P :lol:

I like the way you guys think.
We have all experienced rushing a job , and later not being happy with it.
Tic ; I commend you for taking this on. I am sure what ever you put together or whenever, it will be outstanding and bring us all together as those of like interest.
We look forward to your instructions on how we can help.


Wayne

:blink: Critque time again. :D There's a pic of a pond in the showcase. It 'looks' like a simple layout ( ponders know that doesn't really exist :P ) The colors are vibrant and balanced. There's a meditative tone yet the water shows rippling. I would vote for Robyn's 1800 gal. pic for the cover. I love that pic, there's no big wow factor, no big 'thats alot of work' factor...I actually like the pic ( and no sucking up involved ). Now that I think about it, I think I did alittle copying. I have red flowers on one side balanced by greens opposite. Except I've ended up with too much pale lavendar. <_<

Ok, SadieMay, what do you want?

Just kidding! ;)

I love that photo myself. My brother took it when my pond was young, from the roof! Can any of you take photos of your ponds from the roof? You can't beat a view directly above the pond because it shows most everything! That photo is a scan of an actual panoramic photo so I could rescan it with more resolution. Did you notice the pot sitting on the side of the pond? I guess I was repotting that day. It gives the pond an "I'm being used" look.

I like the idea of everyone having time to take good photos of their ponds and then voting on which ones to use next fall for a 2009 calendar.

I had mentioned to tlc that I could put the calendar up in my store and set it up with no profit for me (just the lowest base price). That way, she wouldn't have to pay for shipping to her house and then shipping to other houses. Plus, then only as many as were actually ordered would be printed so tlc wouldn't have 100 calendars in her basement for 10 years or something. They can ship anywhere. My store is at http://www.cafepress.com/fishpondinfo where I have had it for many years and only sold my first two things last month (made like $3!).

I found one pond calendar on there (ok, lotus) to show you what they look like:
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/watergarden+c...pt_/fpt_/c_666/

I am so in and Yes you can use my extremely HUGE POND FOR THE COVER LMAO

Kidding aside I think it is great and that will be my barter to hubby on the NEW and Improved pond that we are starting in the spring that his work may be featured in a calendar. GREAT IDEA.

Ok who bought that build a pond software I need a design. LOL

C2

I so want one.

I was thinking that all of the regulars on this forum should be guaranteed a page in the calendar. There are fewer than a dozen of us. Any extra months can be filled in by non-regulars or us if need be.

Here is a regular list. Am I forgetting anyone? Sorry if I do!

Robyn
SadieMay
KoiKrazy
Christina
tlc
Wayne
Johnnyboy
Pool Guy (new actually but pretty enthusiatic!)

Names added I forgot:
Karen (sorry!)

The calendar was tlc's idea so it's up to her if she wants to do it her original way or via CafePress. I haven't heard from her yet.

My idea (for what it's worth) would be that each person submits say up to 5 photos. We all vote on the best one for each regular to get their page. We then vote for the extra months (a free for all), a cover photo, and a title for the calendar.

It would be nice to not only have full pond photos but some of pond fish, pond plants, and other pond-related stuff.

P.S. One of those pond photos with the Christmas lights would be a good photo for December. I put a little light tree by my 1800 gallon pond too so I can tell if there's power there by a glance (but still need a flashlight to check if the falls are running). I really needed a light by my 153 gallon pond but the outlet only has two plugs that are being used.

Do you have room for me?

I won't be on the list. :( Or can't...my pond isn't finished, AND we're planning a redesign this summer.

OK PEOPLE! This is HOW it is going to BE!!!!

This calendar is going to be for everyone who is active on this site! Anyone who is active on here will see this thread of conversation. Anyone who keeps up with the thread will know all the details and can enter.

We will do it as a vote!

Tia (TLC) is the one who came up with this idea so we should just let her have at it.

I have seen what she is thinking and it is great! The calendar is very cool. It has some very special features that is going to let her personalize it alot. There is even a suprise in there that is going to give us all (with not as nice of ponds, likeWW) a chance to be in it too. Enough said.

I only know a little about her project because I went to her with the idea of doing it next year so all us newbies would have a chance to work on our ponds more.

Robyn, thanks for trying to help Tia out!! I think you do sooooo much for us already that you should just enjoy the fruits of our labour on this one! I will even personally buy you a calendar as a show of my appreciation for all that you do here FOR US!!! You are much appreciated :D

Okay everyone I hope this clears it up a bit! Now get your butts outside and start taking some winter pictures to enter for this fall! Cheers, KK

I hope no one thinks I was being rude! I can be rather blunt at times! I just want everyone here to have a chance to have fun with this and see the fruits of their labour in print! Like lets get serious, although my pond is very large and very functional for my geographic location, it is definately NOT photogenic! I can live without being in the calendar, I, like SadieMay, have alot to do still, but hey SadieMay, maybe we will pull it all together in time :-) This is all in fun, no stress involved, and I really don't want anyone to have hurt feelings over any of this!

Hey Tia! I hope this is okay with you. I know this is your project afterall and we all seem to be putting our 2 cents in!! I am sure whatever you make for us it will be great! I look forward to hearing about your progress!! ( :P )

Sorry to keep you guys waiting on this. We have been trying to get ready for a trip and I was busy with that.

No KK I don't think you are being rude. You just say what's on your mind and that's why we like you! I asked for input and that's what I got. So don't worry. :)

You guys have some great ideas. I do like the calendar layout from Costco as it allows me to customize it quite a bit. I will see if I can get a pic and post you so guys can have an idea of what it will look like. I had a little suprise in mind that the other calendar that Robyn suggested would not allow for. Just my little contribution to the people here on the forum. I can't give much advice b/c I am very new to ponding. Heck new to having fish even. Robyn, WW, JB, KK, Sadie and some others that don't post that much have been SO helpful that I just wanted you all to know that I do appreciate you! Ok enough of the mushy stuff. I can't type when my eyes are leaking. :)

I can really see that this thing is going to evolve over time. After all we had quite a few months left in 2008. I don't want anyone to feel left out or excluded so yes Karen you can be part of this too! This is a calendar for all and hope that you will be happy with the results. I am still working on the details and will keep you all posted with the updates so please watch this thread!

Sadie and KK I have seen both your ponds and I am sure you guys can come up with something. And like PoolGuy said we can use an OLD pic of Waynes if he spiffs his up to much this year ;) ha, ha..

I wish Johnnyboy was here so we could hear (read) what he has to say. I guess we will have to wait for his return.

tia

Ok, I'll butt out other than to offer my stagnant web sites as a place to put up photos if wanted/needed.

And, nobody need buy me anything but thanks KK.

JB would want his 'bathtub pond' printed. :P :o :D

LMAO, YES, forsure he would!!! I don't think he would get toooooo many votes!
Well maybe from WW :P (j/k)

OK, here is what I have for a cover (example only). This is just to show you what it would look like. Robyn had suggested that we have a title. We can put that at the top or bottom. If it's a long title we could split it up, part on top and part on the bottom. Now remember this is an example of a 2008 not the 2009 that we will be building.

For the month's pages we have some options. We can go with the cover layout meaning 1 big picture or two pics like this:

Or three pics:

Or 3 pics 1 big 2 small and to the right:

Or 3 pics, 1 up 2 down:




Not sure if this is getting to complicated. You guys tell me. It does mix things up a little. I told you that I didn't have this all figured out. :)

More than one picture would envolve more picture choices for the month so that means more voting... Geeze you would think we are voting for a president or something. :lol: ;)

Sorry if it takes a while for you to see them but I wanted them to be as clear as possible.

Ok, now how do we vote on this anybody know??
Help!! :huh: :blink:

Personaly ,I would be fine leaving it up to tic. Less complicated and lets her be creative.

Good Idea Wayne, I think we should leave up to Tia. I like the one big picture, but I also like the lay out of the one bigger picture with the 2 smaller ones to the right the best out of the others :-) That one would be cool too! KK

So far there are two people woking on it,Tic and tia . hehe. Its good we found Tic some help.

WW, tlc is also helping. ;) :lol: :lol:

If you have enough pics, I really don't need to be included. Just let me know.
K

Technically, you could put as many photos on a page as you want by combining photos and re-saving them as a single photo. I've done a few photo collages that way - many images saved as one new one. I think though for calendars, a single photo for the months usually looks best because you can see it from a little distance. But, a collage on the cover would make more sense since the purchaser looks at that closely (but not as often) as the month pages. Oops, I wasn't supposed to butt in. My mother is always telling me to shut up!

It's up to tlc for decisions. :) But I'd keep it simple with one big picture. I also would put any voting you'd want kept in the Notices catergory. That way no bogging down the rest. For example: take three approved picks for January vote. One wins and the other two get moved to Febuary with one new..and so one. That way the final vote would be on the 'regulars' and no guilt or bad feelings would be put on one person if somebody's pond didn't make it. :)

I hadn't thought of doing a collage as an option. Hummm good idea!

I hope you guys are working on/watching for winter pictures! When it comes time to display them you will need to keep a copy (un edited) for me. I will need to have lots of pixels. I would like nice big files up to 11 mb will work. If you have any questions just ask.

tia, tic, tlc