In this age of smartphones and electronic organizers, is there still a market for old-fashioned photo calendars? Based on the number of themed wall and pocket calendars mailed out every year by animal rights groups, military organizations and other fundraising entities, the answer would seem to be “yes.”
Everybody enjoys looking at beautiful photography. And there’s no more visible and cost-effective way to share a collection of high-quality images than with a personalized calendar.
Bay Photo Lab, headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, offers a broad selection of calendar designs and printing options. Clients can choose from annual, quarterly and monthly formats—as well as yearly planners. The calendars come in three different output options: photo printing, offset press or high-definition inkjet. Sizes range from 5×5 to 11×17 inches, depending on format. The company also offers personalized jewel case calendars for CD and DVD cases.
“Photo calendars are particularly popular with Bay Photo’s fine art and landscape photographers who sell their calendars from inventory or on-demand to clients,” says Matt Whittaker, sales manager. “Others offer calendars as add-ons or gifts to their best clients. Or they feature them as giveaway products through social media.
“In any application, they can be great promotional products, as there is room for a logo and contact info in the text node of the calendars,” he adds. Clients can drag-and-drop their images into Bay Photo’s exclusive premade calendar designs or create their own artwork, using Bay ROES or Bay Designer software.
Moreover, press-printed calendars are Bay Photo’s most popular output option. However, as more photographers are exposed to the clarity, color range and high resolution of their Dream calendars, many are switching to the HDR alternative. Dream calendars are printed with the Canon DreamLabo 5000. The seven-color production inkjet printer uses high-density inkjets to precisely place large numbers of ink droplets in a single pass. It delivers up to 2,400-dpi resolution.
Bay Photo released Dream prints in August 2017 and launched its Dream calendars three months later. “It was the natural direction for us to go with Dream prints, as we knew this technology was conducive for multiple-page projects, like calendars, books or albums,” Whittaker says. “Dream prints are becomin
g a favorite, and there is a growing demand in the school, senior and sports photography market due to their natural flesh tones, accurate color and realistic saturation.”
“Bay Photo Lab takes pride in providing professional photographers with the highest quality prints, relying on the finest equipment available for their output. The DreamLabo is a perfect fit for our needs,” adds Bay Photo’s president, Larry Abitbol. “Quality, service and innovation have been the driving forces in Bay Photo’s success through 42 years of being in business.” bayphoto.com
Artifact Uprising is a Denver, Colorado-based company that creates premium, customizable photo goods for digital photos. Founded in 2012, the company is driven by the belief that everyone has a story to tell. Its signature products include a layflat album, touting ultra-thick pages and foil-stamped covers, textured matte Everyday prints, and a line of customizable calendars and photo goods.
The company’s calendars are simply designed, consisting of a 7.5×5.5-inch easel with a metal clip that holds 12 5×7-inch printed sheets. Moreover, a magnet on the back allows for display on metallic surfaces. Each calendar page is printed on premium 120-pound Mohawk Superfine Eggshell paper. It displays one calendar month as well as a photograph. Customers can choose from classic, modern or simple calendar designs. In addition, each calendar easel is refillable. Customers can order a new year’s worth of prints for $15.
“Calendars have been a part of our product line since the beginning, with the launch of the Wood calendar,” says Melanie Robertz, product marketing coordinator for Artifact Uprising. “Since then, we’ve expanded our calendar line with the Solidwool calendar, the Brass Easel & Calendar and a foil-stamped annual calendar. We’re planning to roll out our newest in the next few months.
“Our calendars are always on the best-selling list for December and January. They are wonderful gifts for the holiday season, and we find it human instinct to shop for them as the year wraps up. While it may seem intuitive to order calendars during these two months, we love that our calendars are rolling, meaning you can change the start month of your calendar at any time,” she adds.
Artifact Uprising set out with the intention of creating all its products with purpose. “We aim to identify a potential problem or gap in the marketplace and then offer a solution to our community. That’s how this product came to life,” says Robertz. “It was our intention from the start to create a beautiful desk calendar product that would live on for years and years, with the ability to enjoy it even after the 12 months pass by. Adding the refill pack felt like a great addition so our community could enjoy the stand (brass, wood or solidwool) and replenish it year after year with the calendar refill pack.”
Another of the company’s goals is to produce environmentally sustainable products. This includes the use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for printing, reclaimed beetle pine for its Wood calendar easels, and the introduction of a unique new material, Solidwool. Hannah and Justin Floyd developed the material as a new outlet for low-grade wool in the United Kingdom. This strong and beautiful composite material uses fleece from upland UK sheep to make a substance similar to fiberglass, but with delicate wool fibers mixed in. For more information, visit solidwool.com/about.
Companies or individuals interested in participating in Artifact Uprising’s affiliate program, can contact the team at affiliate@artifactuprising.com.
Minted, a design marketplace and printing company based in San Francisco, California, offers conventional wall calendars with a creative flair. Targeted primarily at the personalized consumer market, the company’s product line features creative content from a global community of independent artists. Moreover, the artists hail from all 50 U.S. states and 96 countries. Founded in 2007 by Mariam Naficy, Minted is also an early pioneer of crowdsourcing. Artists’ design submissions are curated and rated by Minted’s artistic community. Winners are added to the company’s selection of art, home décor, and stationery sold directly to consumers.
As a result of its artists design challenges, Minted offers a rich variety of calendar designs. Moreover, they are customizable with various photo layouts, colors and text. The company’s multipage, round-corner, spiral-bound calendars come in two sizes: standard (8×11.5 inches) and grand (11.5×14 inches). In addition, they are printed on Minted’s exclusive 100-pound, 14.5-point cotton textured Signature Cover paper by Mohawk.
Minted’s newest calendar design is a reversible-format Hanging Bar calendar. It has six months displayed on each side: January through June are on one side; July through December on the other. Shipped in decorative gift tubes, the 11.5×17.5-inch hanging calendars have a reusable magnetic wood bar. Moreover, they are printed on high-quality, 130-pound, 19.3-point, off-white cotton-texture Mohawk paper. The same photo is printed on both sides for ease of creation.
Photo Calendars: The Perfect Display Product
Whether your client base is comprised of professional photographers or consumers seeking to share their memories with loved ones, personalized photo calendars are still a popular product for the holidays.
“Generally, the importance of having tangible, printed photo products has increased in awareness,” says Whittaker. “Calendars will always make great gifts. So naturally, they are a great product for displaying multiple images (or a visual story) at an affordable price.”
