SL Calendars – An Announcement

6 years ago, in 2016, I had an idea, inspired by the amazing Strawberry Linden nee Singh.  I decided to start a hybrid meme/challenge which developed into SL Calendar Girls. Originally designed to be a Glamour/Pin Up style photo selection is quickly morphed into a high quality photo ‘calendar’ with a monthly selection. The first monthly selection was in January 2016 and contained 10 Photos.

By the end of this year there will have been 72 Calendar Girls posts, with 6 year ends Calendars. In the first year around 7000 photos were added to the group. Now, around 10000 photos are added per month to the SL Calendar Groups.

In 2018 the Home and Garden Calendar was added and then in 2019 SL Calendar Guys was launched.

Over the years I have viewed hundreds of thousands of photos and the groups, and the posts have become important, not just to me but to so many in the SL photography community. The group and submissions to the group have grown way beyond anything I could have expected when I did that first post back in 2016. That success has been phenomenal but has also brought with it a lot of extra work. The more photos submitted, the more photos that need to be reviewed for consideration into the monthly post and this has been come extremely time consuming.

After 6 years and hundreds of hours it’s time for me to take a break from the project. 

At the beginning of January I will post the final monthly selection for the December submissions to the group and the 2021 final twelve ‘calendars’ for all three groups. On the 1st January though I will be closing the groups.

This may be for just a year and I might pick this up again next year. I am undecided but I do know that for 2022 I need to use the time to get back to doing some of the things I enjoy that I put on hold each month. I’ve made countless friends, been inspired by so very many of the talented photographers that have added to the group each month. I also need to thank a few people who have assisted over the years with ideas or have moderated the group. Artem Viiperi who suggested the idea of making the Girls group a curated group as a first stage in the selection process and, for a time, helped to moderate the groups. Sadycat Littlepaws who also helped to moderate the groups, especially when I was away on vacation and earlier this year when I had surgery after an accident and Melly Clarrington who is currently helping me daily with moderating the group which has made it possible for me to continue as long as I have.

Lastly, but by no means least, I want to thank everyone that has submitted photos to the group, shared the posts and given me the greatest pleasure of admiring their work and seeing their excitement at their work being appreciated.