ShutterCal: Your Life, in Photos

Now that Wrath of the Lich Kingisn’t taking my every waking moment, I found some time to write! (Also, if you are a WoW player and HAVEN’T picked it up yet, what are you waiting for?!)

But that isn’t what this is about. Today I am just going to give you a short little thing on a site that I have been using recently (because seeing is better than hearing about, right?).

The site? ShutterCal.com of course! ShutterCal is pretty much what it sounds like - a calendar site with photos. Your photos. Other people’s photos! Lots of photos! The idea is pretty basic as well, as explained by their about page, “…documenting one image per every day of your life will leave you with an impressive visual history to look back on.”

Maybe it doesn’t sound like much, but the community and the people behind ShutterCal really make the site great. Seeing pictures from the lives of other people every day (and being able to comment on them) is also an unexpected surprise… I never thought I would be as interested as I am in what people choose for their daily photos, it is a little like a snapshot into someone’s life every day.

I will leave you with some quotes from their site, and I hope you check it out and maybe even join up. I keep up there, and it probably won’t be too hard to find me. Enjoy!

About page:

ShutterCal is a new, calendar-based photography site. Here, you are given a calendar, linked to the site’s community, and encouraged to upload one daily photo. Its image and subject matter is up to you, but the idea is clear — documenting one image per every day of your life will leave you with an impressive visual history to look back on. As time passes, you will have an interesting window into the happenings of every single day. You will remember people you have met, and places you have been. Your photography skills will improve dramatically with daily practice, and you’ll receive the encouragement of many others involved in their own calendar projects.

ShutterCal started as a mock-up sometime in February of 2007. The site itself was started later that summer, with an official public beta release in January 2008. There isn’t very much to tell about the history of this site, but as far as the future goes, we plan on continuing what we are doing until we make enough to pay rent. The rest is golden.

Stay up to date with the latest ShutterCal news in the ShutterBlog section. For some good ole’ fashioned questions and answers, check out the FAQ section. As always, feel free to contact us at feedback@ShutterCal.com if you have a question, commment, or marriage proposal.

- Your happy ShutterCal family! (mach5, victoria, DefaultArtist, and amperes)

FAQ:

Who are you?

For a general introduction, refer to our About page. For something a bit more specific, you can stalk the ‘Cals of your site creators:

• amperes (Kim Wong): The Face
• DefaultArtist (Scott Harris): The Designer
• mach5 (Dan Ferrante): The Coder & Admin

Wait, I don’t get it. What am I doing?

As a ShutterCal member, you are basically uploading one picture per day. This picture usually shows something that you did during that particular day, someone you saw, something that happened to you, etc. Though, you are not limited to showcasing your day. Some other ideas that you could do would include posting one drawing that you do per day, one person you talk to per day or perhaps another creative idea that you can come up with that can be tracked on a day to day basis. This is the sort of thing that might not seem so impressive in the short term, but over a couple of months, these pictures really start to turn into something wonderful.

Do I really have to update this thing EVERY day?

You can, but you don’t HAVE to, just be sure to take a photo every day and hold onto them, and you can fill in the days on your next visit. The average user uploads twice a week. Of course, the more regularly you update, the more interaction other Cal’ers will have with you and your photos. Just remember to stick with it and have fun!

Is this site limited to photography?

No! We have been waiting for some creative people to come along with a neat idea we haven’t thought of. A drawing a day? A poem a day? A news clip a day? We would be interested to see anything you can think of!

So what’s the catch?

No catch. We just want to encourage people to take and post a picture per day for as long as they desire. This sort of thing is a large undertaking so it helps to have a support network of people who are doing it too.

What the hell time is it?

Our server is located in the Central Time Zone (GMT-6), so you can upload your next picture at 12:00:01AM CST

What with all the stars?

There are three stars you’ll see throughout the site, to visually let you know when someone has last made an update:

• Updated today or yesterday
• Updated in past week
• Updated in past month

Are you going to sell my pictures to some creepy guy on the internet?

Any pictures uploaded onto ShutterCal remains the property of the photographer. We aren’t selling your pictures to anyone, creepy or not.

Any general rules of conduct that we should be aware of?

Don’t be a jerk. That’s really it. Be supportive of each other and if you’re going to criticize, let it at least be constructive. Oh, and no outright porn, because then we have to do that age restriction crap.