2012 Calendar Released

I have just completed the 9th edition of our IPphotos.com / IPYOA.com Island Packet Calendar for 2012. This year the images are even more fantastic. Ehat I especially like is the international aspect of the collection. We have photos from Canada, Denmark, Scotland, Germany, Bermuda, Caribbean and the USA! This is also the first edition that I built while living aboard IP35-165. I am on anchor off St. Marys Georgia, as I was there for the Cruiser's Thanksgiving Event where we had 9 IPs participate.

The building of this calendar is a complicated process, please allow me to share my process. First I use a multi-layered image for the frame that I have perfected over the years. This frame image fits the calendar pages exactly for the full bleed printing process used at CafePress.com. The center of the frame is transparent and this is where I place the source photo UNDER the frame, allowing me to move it around and size it to the frame. Then each source picture is processed and enhanced to make it the best it can be. It is placed onto a new layer under the frame. Each of these 12 month images are then saved at about 10-15 megs each. From that layered image, a new image is lifted off as a PNG file in one layer. This new image is saved as a new name and is the image that will be uploaded to CafePress. These PNG files are 5-6 megs each! Now, with the images lifted, they are uploaded into the media basket at CafePress. Then the images are attached to each month, one at a time, until all 12 images are connected to the calendar pages. The final step is to design a cover image. This usually takes as much work as making 4 or 5 month images because of all of the layers and added drop shadows and captions. The cover then goes through the same export process and upload process and it is finally attached to the cover page. The next process is to write the description and to move the finished product into the storefront for sale. We now, at this point, have a product ready to sell.

Next, I move into reprocessing images for our IPYOA.com and IPphotos.com web sites to show the images to all and to connect these to the storefront. I make new exported images at 800 x 600 pixels for IPYOA and IPPhotos. I take these images and upload them into each web site making a new photo album to display the images. The next step is to make a small thumbnail of ONE calendar page to use as a button on the announcements and menu links on each web site.

The final step is to edit IPphotos and IPYOA home pages and menu bars and side columns to present the calendar for sale. Then on BLACK FRIDAY, every year, the day after Thanksgiving, I announce and release the calendar. When it is all said and done, we sell about 100 calendars and the proceeds go to pay for the two servers running IPYOA.com and the two other servers running IPphotos.com. If there is anything left over, that money is used to pay for the many software upgrades and apps I buy to run these two web sites.

So, that is the process of building the IP calendar, I hope you enjoy the product and I thank you for sharing in the enjoyment of owning an Island Packet Yacht. I know I have enjoyed IPownership for over 20 years now....

Hayden, on anchor St. Marys, Georgia

One of my favorite photos for 2012....IP40, Larking About, fast reaching home from Bermuda!