I've been producing a wall calendar for a few years now, for reasons I've outlined in a previous post. In the last few years, and certainly since I started selling my calendars commercially, they have been black-and-white affairs. This was partly because I like the style of monochrome, partly because I like the artistic challenge of making good monochrome images and partly because black-and-white tends to suit Melbourne.
This year, for the 2018 calendar I've gone colour (in addition to the 'normal' black-and-white, but that's another story).
Why? Mostly for the challenge. Again it comes down to finding a specific reason to take pictures – something that can be useful for anyone whether they are doing it for professional reasons or not.
I also did it because I know Melbourne has some great colour and I felt it was time to give a nod to that aspect of this wonderfully picturesque city. What I was looking for was mostly blocks of colour or, failing that, scenes offering a range of vivid colours.
I set myself a couple of rules. One was to avoid street art, not because I don't like Melbourne's vibrant street art scene (who doesn't love it?) but because I'm not very comfortable appropriating other people's art into my own. The other rule, which is a general rule of mine, was to include a person in the picture whenever possible – that's just what I like to do.
For the most part I stuck to these rules, the main exception being the April picture (and main picture for this post) which doesn't have a person in it and borrows the work of another artist in Ash Keating, who painted the walls of RMIT's A'Beckett St Urban Square. I just liked that picture too much not to include it.
My favourite image? Always hard to pick your favourite child though I am particularly happy with the February picture featuring Mordialloc Pier. It took two trips down to Mordy to get that picture, it was such a glorious day that I was just happy standing in the sun so getting the picture was a bonus, and it's always nice when someone obliges by walking into your shot wearing just the right colour board shorts! The March picture of the 'chickens' is another favourite because that was also a sensational autumn day and I was glad to be able to capture the colour of Moomba.
Will I do colour again? The jury's out on that one. It's a lot of work and a bigger investment producing two calendars, and good colour scenes are harder to find (feel free to add a comment with your suggestions). Ultimately it might depend on how well the colour calendars sell – a brutally commercial way of making the decision.
Of course, if you happen to like these colour pictures and would like to see more next year, I'd love it if you could show your support by buying one of this year's batch.