Todd Smith Photography —

Preliminary image selection for next year’s calendar

by Todd Smith on May 5, 2009

Thank you to everyone who left comments helping me choose the pictures for last year’s photography calendar.

Now it’s time to narrow down the choices…

January

I’m thinking about moving the frozen flowers, which is the most popular image for this month, to March–the right time of year for this image. What do you think? After the ice photo, the two most popular pictures for January are the rows of apple trees in the snow and the lone tree in the snow.

February

The three most popular photos for February are: the ice breakup on Lake Skaha, the hay bales in snow, and the grapes on the vine in snow. What’s your favorite for February?

March

The choices for March are the hillside of poppies and lupines, or the frozen flower buds from January. Both were very popular. Would the ice work here in March? What would you choose?

April

For April, it’s between the ladybug, the clematis and the lilacs, with the ladybug winning so far. Any votes?

May

The daisies are slightly ahead for May, followed by the yellow roses and the crumpled tulip. What’s your preference?

June

It’s between the peacock and the waterfall for June, with the waterfall winning by a body length. Any more input?

July

It was a close race for all of the photos for July. The two leaders turned out to be the apricots and the cherries. I’m also going to save the apricot in the tree. So it’s between these three. What would you like on your wall next summer?

August

The clear winner for August was the fishing scene, but unfortunately I can’t use that one without a model release (and I didn’t think to run over and ask the couple in the picture for one when I took it). After that, the waves crashing and the horse picture are the closest seconds. Do you have a preference?

September

The grapes picture was way out in front for September. After that was the apples in bins, and then tied for third was the green apple and the milkweed pod. Any last words?

October

This turned out to be the hardest month. They are all in a dead heat. Can you pick a winner? I’m leaning towards the first one because it worked well on the cover I did a few weeks ago.

November

The ice crystals image is the clear winner for November. If you have other suggestions from January or February, let me know. I might use the old sunflower from January here, or the grapes in snow from February.

December

December’s favorite was by far the pinecones, the next contestant was the snowy village. What’s your opinion? We could also use extra images from Jan or Feb.

Leave your comments below… we’re coming down the home stretch now!

I’m currently in Astoria, Oregon, on my way down the Pacific Coast. Lots of rain the last few days, but I saw the sun this evening! Photography and camping in the rain is challenging, but there were some good shots nonetheless. Photos will show up here over the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

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Topanga Canyon and LA on a Clear Spring Day

by Todd Smith on April 13, 2009

A couple of weeks ago these photos were featured in my newsletter.

Interestingly enough, though I didn’t know it at the time, they proved to be a survey of my new home. I will be moving to LA, probably around Topanga Canyon, in the next month or so. I will make this announcement on my newsletter on Thursday, but you heard it first here on the blog! 🙂

Things will be a bit busy for me over the next few weeks. I will be traveling to New York and D.C. for my cousin’s wedding and then plan to take two weeks to drive down the West Coast from Washington State to Southern California, taking pictures all along the way.

If you don’t hear from me three times a week, as usual, don’t worry, I’m probably just packing or traveling or some such thing. Same goes for email. You may not get a response right away. Thanks for your patience.

Here are the photos of the area where I’m going. You can order wallpaper or screensavers of all of these 20 shots for $14.85 here.

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Can you help me choose the pictures for next year’s calendar?

by Todd Smith on April 8, 2009

The time has come to create a wall calendar for next year. Can you help me choose the pictures?

Last year I was too ambitious when I created four calendars that never went to press. This year let’s just make one, with the best pictures we can find.

I’d love your input on the picture choices… I’ve chosen a few pictures for each month below (some are landscapes, some are flowers… it’s a bit of a mix this year).

Maybe we’ll call it a “Landscapes and Flowers” calendar. There is fruit in there too. Maybe we’ll call it an “Outdoors” calendar, or a “Nature” calendar. If you have any thoughts on this, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks to your input on my survey over the last few months. The winner for calendar size is 12 x 12. This makes sense, as it is the most common calendar size out there. The pictures for the calendar below are cropped to a square aspect ratio so they will fit on a 12×12 calendar.

If you had to choose one picture for each month from the list below, what would it be?

Please tell me your favorites in the comment section below. If you want your favorites to make the cut for next year’s calendar be sure to leave a comment to let me know.

Oh, by the way, this year’s calendar will be printed on recycled paper! 🙂

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Whew! That’s a lot of pictures. If there are any in particular that you would really like to see in next year’s calendar let me know in the comments below…

Speak up now so your favorites don’t get cut!

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Pruning my ever-growing workload

by Todd Smith on April 7, 2009

A few weeks ago, I featured orchard pruning in a newsletter. Since then I’ve had a lot of time to think about doing some pruning in my life.

I went to my favorite doctor, Vaidya Mishra, and he told me in no uncertain terms that I have to back off, slow down, and most especially decrease my computer use. I’m getting too much electromagnetic radiation every day and it’s affecting my health. Specifically, he told me I need to take a break after every two hours of computer use, and stop using the computer at night – as in “don’t go near it after 7pm!”

I’ll admit, it took me a full week to accept this one. It means getting way more streamlined in what I do. Sure I’m in front of the computer all day, but how much of what I am doing is really productive? I’ve been thinking more and more about what my priorities are for my business and this is forcing me to keep the important things at the top of my to-do list every day. That’s the only way my work will keep from spilling over into my nights.

My sister Sarah, (from http://www.getbuttonedup.com) has been preaching this forever and I’m just now starting to hear it. She says, use the 80:20 rule: take care of a few important things (20%) and you will solve 80% of your problems.

I guess pruning is just about making priorities. Choosing which branches and shoots will be the ones you want to build your tree on. For me the most important shoots of my business tree are:

my newsletter – because that’s what motivates me to get out and create new photos all the time
new product pages for my website – because my business depends on selling photography products like framed prints, greeting cards, calendars, wallpaper, and unframed prints
my blog – because this is where we all create new products together and where I get feedback from everyone
social media – because that’s where I meet new people and build relationships that lead to new opportunities

I put them in order of priority for me. That means that if I have to cut something, it will be from the bottom of the list first. For example, I’m spending a lot less time on Twitter as I used to. It’s hard to cut things I love, but I can’t do it all. I can’t believe I’m still learning this lesson at age 38. I have always done everything that I was “supposed” to do (in school for example I always did all my homework). The problem is that the more you grow, the more there is to do. Some decisions have to be made.

In my school days, and in other phases of my life, I often chose to neglect my sleep or play time in order to do all the things on my plate. I did everything that everyone else asked me to do, but I didn’t leave time for me to have a life. Now I’m realizing that I can choose the things I want to excel at and neglect other things. This time I’m choosing to take care of my health and run a profitable business. Some areas of my business may not grow as fast as I might like, but I’m going to be more conscious of keeping balance in my life now. And I’m going to do it by focusing on the 20% of things that really matter most.

How about you? Are you doing too much? Do you have clear priorities? Have you been through crossroads like mine before? What’s your advice?

Here are the photos that inspired these thoughts. Every year the orchardists prune their trees… why don’t we?