As you may have already guessed based on my Special Delivery photo last night, I was VERY EXCITED to get a few goodies in the mail from Shuttercal! (So if you don’t already know about them, here’s some background info) First off, here’s what I’ve gotten so far:
1 Museum Quality Archival Shoebox for 12 months of ShutterCal Prints Storage
2 Months (1 month free with shoebox) worth of photos printed, categorized by month and labeled by day with descriptions on the back.
Check out the loot:
The box, isn't it pretty and compact?
This is where the photos go, no need to scrapbook or pick and choose prints. Nice and neat!
After the complete shock that my items arrived (I wasn’t expecting to get them so soon!) I finally got to business and made a quick pros and cons list of what I loved about them, and things I hope they will improve upon in the future.
Pros:
- I’ll never have to scrapbook again!
- It’s Easy, Almost Too Easy ::suspicious eyes::
- Little Packets of Inspiration
- They Automatically Keep Track
- Resonably Priced
No seriously, I joke you not. I HATE scrapbooking. I got into it after looking at my pile of thousands upon thousands of prints and saying to myself “what am I going to do?” I’m one of those organized neat freaks that has to have everything in order, which is why the shoebox is PERFECT. Each month is printed out automatically and sent to me, I place pack in designated slot, I store until friends come over or put away for future date where I can embarass future children with their mom’s Ramen picture. Voila! Done
No uploading to some third party site (already done in my 365 posts), no purchasing credits and picking out which photos I want in which size with what finish, and no extra shipping costs. Literally you prepay the credits and you don’t even need to think about anything except clicking the “Print & Ship” button.
I must admit, sometimes posting photos online everyday for a year doesn’t feel real until you have the evidence tangibly in your hands. I know some of us struggle to find inspiration and motivation to continue on with the project. When I saw my prints on real paper for the first time, and the amount of photographs I’ve actually produced, it kick started my ego and said, “Wow! You really are doing this aren’t you?”. I can’t truly explain it, but having those little reminders of how far we’ve come really helps push me forward.
Their calendar is already in sync with what Day we are shooting, the description for the day, color coded for the month. I don’t need to go back and check my blog post or flickr photo to see what the date was and how far in and why I decided to photograph that one thing. It’s all right there on my card.
So I did the math, and for a year’s worth of photos and storage you are looking at less than $150 for 365 prints! Imagine printing these on your own and buying the photo album and paper and stickers and pens and glue and all those other crazy scrapbooking implementations. Photos and albums alone would run you at least that much, not to mention finding time to do it. I may be putting too much value on time here, but I’d rather be out taking pictures rather than slapping them to pages of paper and finding rainbow and lollipop stickers to place around them. #justsayin
A few examples of my prints
What they look like on the back
Cons:
- Time Cost for New Members
- Mistake Prone
- Size of Prints
- Not Your Typical Photo Paper
If you are a new member to ShutterCal and have a large amount of time to cover in terms of photo uploads, the task could be a little daunting. I understand that the guys are aware and working on a bulk uploader feature so that you can quickly and easily add photos at the same time. However, for the time being it is not available and it is quite a task for anyone looking for quick turn around.
Lookout- if you forgot to add that description for the day, it sure as heck won’t show up on the print. I learned this lesson well from my March pack. Turns out I uploaded a few prints in which I told myself I would go back and add my commentary the next day. I guess I forgot to do so? Again, this is more of a photographer whoops, rather than ShutterCal’s fault, but it still goes on my Con list as a “I wish it would have warned me like my gmail does when I forget my subject line…” 
In some ways I love the square prints and the option to choose how you want to customize them (white or black background, Include days or not), but if you are like me and don’t follow the rules, your photos may be cut off or skewed in printing. This is also a fault of the photographer, so take this con with a grain of salt.
These are not your grandma’s 4×6 glossy photos. They do not come from Walgreens or Walmart. They are matte heavy card stock, and feel and look and act like it as well. What does this mean? It means you’re not getting frame-able work here, you are getting a moment, feeling, or emotion captured alongside your photograph. It’s a 4×4 stock print, expect that.
MINE!
