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.

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!

My sister, Sarah Welch, and I have always gotten along well (except when she was first born–they tell me that I wasn’t too happy about it). Sarah is two years younger than me and we used to hang out together in high school. Her friends were all friends with my friends and vice versa.

Though I am older, I look up to Sarah, and only dream of catching up with her amazing business accomplishments. She is currently starting-up not one, but two businesses! And she always calls me in to help with photography, and pays me well.

I didn’t know it until now, but Sarah has been redesigning the website for her Buttoned Up business. It’s a great business with beautifully designed organizational tools for the busy people. I’ve featured some of her products on this blog and in my newsletter when I have photographed them.

This time, I just want to say, “Go look at Sarah’s awesome new web design!” I may be prejudiced, but I seriously think she could win awards for the design alone. Explore her products, and enjoy her organizing tips. I’m awfully proud of her.

Most of the product photography for Buttoned Up was done my me over the years. I can’t take credit for the lifestyle photography on her site.

This week’s newsletter features a short story of a country mouse who travels to the city of his dreams.

As winter draws to a close, I am thinking of adventures and new beginnings still just forming in my mind. Have you ever noticed how dreams begin? Sometimes vaguely… sometimes they’re very detailed.

What fascinates me is the way the world appears to be amazing, and almost unreal, when you actually fulfill a dream. It’s hard to tell whether the concrete expression of the dream is really there in front of my eyes or is still inside my mind, like the foggy thoughts that spawned it.

How is life treating you this late winter? Have you gotten out recently? What dreams are you pursuing?

These ten images can be purchased as wallpaper photos (normally $0.99 each). When purchased together, they are only $7.43 (25% off).

You may have noticed that there is a little poll in the left-hand sidebar of this blog asking you to choose your favorite wall calendar size. Thank you to everyone who has voted. As of Jan 7, 2009, there have been 27 votes.

The pictures in this post are from the 2009 calendar designs that were not printed last year. One of my mistakes was to choose a large calendar size that was not what everyone wanted. I plan to make next year’s calendar or calendars from the same photos but in a different format.

I would love to get 100 votes before making a final decision on the size of next year’s calendar or calendars. Could you take a second to cast your vote?

And if you have any friends that you could let know about the vote, that would be awesome. The sooner we get to 100 votes, the sooner we can start exploring designs for next year’s calendar.

I plan to make the design process transparent, and a part of this blog. Your input will be very valuable at every step. The first step, before we can start the layout, is to decide on a calendar size.

Here is the same poll that is in the left hand column. If you’re reading this in an RSS feed reader you have to click through to the blog website to see the poll and vote.

Thanks again for your help, and please spread the word that we’re taking a poll. Every vote helps a ton!