How we selected photos for our 2017 calendar
We're just putting the finishing touches on a 2017 Daily Herald wall calendar that will display some of the best images created by our award-winning photographers.
The calendar, which also will include dates of important area events, is a new project for us and one we hope will become an annual tradition.
It will be included in the Dec. 18 editions of the paper, and I hope you look forward to it as much as I do.
When the idea of a calendar was suggested, I thought, “How hard can it be to find photographs that fit with each month?”
Well, with the thousands of photos we shoot each year, the options turned out to be overwhelming.
With the assistance of Night Photo Editor Patrick Kunzer, we combed our archives and culled the images down to a short list of about 130 photos.
From there, we ruled some in or out because of content or the shape of the photo.
A calendar page is pretty horizontal.
We floated the idea of multiple photos for each month but decided that doing so would take away from the impact of a single image.
After all, you do have to look at the photo for a month, so we want to make it something special.
A small group of editors helped to narrow down our final selections for each month as well as for the cover.
What made the cut and what didn't?
We chose photos that are about you. These are images from our suburbs, not Chicago or other locations.
These are images from our towns, our schools and our events.
For January, we chose a photo from the Norge Ski Jumping event in Fox River Grove. We liked how the single skier was floating through the air while hundred of people on the ground watched. The mound of snow was the perfect frame for both.
Photojournalists are curious by nature and often see pockets of light that last for minutes or just a few seconds. The image for March captures the late-day sun, also called the golden hour, as it is reflected in on the cars and power lines in Elgin.
Those are just a couple of the photos we've included. We hope you enjoy them all and that you find the calendar a pleasant tool to help get you through the new year.