Have you ever noticed that things take longer than you expect? Yet I find that those last few changes are the ones that really make things pop. They say that the difference between good art and great art is a matter of millimeters. And they say that God is in the details. In other words, subtle changes make a big difference when it comes to art, or anything really.

In photography, I find that the last few moments when I’m taking a picture, long after I have found my angle, and shutter speed, etc… the last few seconds when I’m adjusting the composition, a hair to the left or a hair to the right, these are the moments when transcendence is most likely to occur. This is when the mind settles into something that is more than just a photograph. And I’ve learned not to rush that moment if I can help it.

It seems to be a similar thing with design. I have been working on this wall calendar pretty steadily for the past week or so, much of my time spent checking holidays and details like that. I would really like to get it to the printer, and I do believe I am only one double-check away from doing that tomorrow. However, I’m glad I’m letting the process run its course.

One suggestion that I got regarding the final photo choice made a lot of sense to me. A friend said that, while each picture makes a good calendar shot, overall the pictures picked last week were a little gray… more “pop” was needed. I agreed completely and revisited the images we had to choose from. I even opened up some recent images.

Playing with the back cover design, it took me a while to settle on a selection that jumps off the page more than what we had last week. Let me know if you agree.

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I’m now settled in LA, and am excited to announce that the final calendar design is almost ready. With your help, the pictures have been chosen, and we’re almost ready to go to press in the next day or two.

I am still working on one introductory page (not shown). If you want to take a look at the calendar design so far, just follow the links below. If you like to proofread, your comments or corrections are very welcome.

I suggest that you choose your birth month to proofread if you only do one month. That way, we won’t all be proofreading January!

Here’s what needs to be checked for each month:

1. Numbers of the days of the month (check that numbers and sequence are correct). Check against a standard 2010 calendar here.

2. Numbers of the small calendars (previous and next month for each page). Double check numbers and sequence, as in #1, above.

3. Holidays (including grayed-out holidays from previous and last month for each page) See holidays for 2010 here. Canadian Holidays here. Hindu holidays (I’m just doing these few: Navaratri, Vijaya Dashami, Dipavali) see here.

4. Moon phases (check each phase) See moon phases here.

5. Full moon and New moon times (Times are given in Universal Time (Greenwhich Mean Time) – be sure that I converted the times to EST (minus 5 hours in winter) and EDT (minus 4 hours in summer daylight savings time) correctly. Moon data can be found here.

Here are the calendar pages:

Front Cover
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Back Cover

If you find any corrections, please leave a comment below right away. The calendar will go to the printer in a day or two.

Thanks again for all your help!

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