Photo submissions are now closed for the 2024 Wings Over Bolsa Calendar!  Thank you to all the photographers who submitted photos!

The purpose of the calendar is to inspire and educate people about the importance and beauty of Bolsa Chica birds, wildlife, and ecosystem.

Photography Guidelines

To protect the wildlife, please follow all the CA Department of Fish & Wildlife rules for the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve: Stay on the trails and do not disturb the wildlife or the habitat. 

Qualities we are looking for in photos for the calendar:

• Beautiful and creative images taken at Bolsa Chica only.  
  • Subjects- mostly birds, but also, a few photos selected may be of butterflies, bees, dragonflies, coyotes, fish, etc.; there will also be a few landscapes and waterscapes selected
  • Originality- photos of birds that we have not yet or rarely featured in previous calendars, and photos of often-seen birds taken in original ways.
  • Excellent Technique -lighting, focus, composition, framing, color, high definition, etc.
  • Interesting Bird Action- flying, hunting, feeding, nesting, pollinating, bird group flights, etc.

Submission Information:

• Horizontal format is necessary for full page photos; vertical format OK for smaller photos.
• Photographs are printed in the calendar only with the permission of the photographers who are willing to donate the use of their photographs for the calendar.  By submitting photos for the 2024 calendar, photographers are giving their permission to print the selected image/s in said calendar, and other uses such as social media, newsletters, and other mailings.  However, the photos still belong to you, the photographer.

How to submit your photos: 

Limit 10 photos per photographer.

Please include two copies of each photo you submit:

1. Original photo (for the printer) should be the Highest Resolution possible.  Photos to be considered for the calendar must follow these standards: 300 dpi resolution, full size 10 x 12 or larger, uncropped, RGB or CMYK files in TIFF format
2. A lower resolution copy of each submitted photo that is no larger than 4 MB in JPG format.  We will code each photo with a number, making our selections without photographers’ names attached. This helps make our selection process faster, easier, and fair.

With your photos, please include a short 2-3 sentence “About the Photographer” bio that we can include in the calendar and contact info.

To submit your photos:

1. Register on our secure Online Portal HERE
2. Select Upload Photos from the Calendar Activity
3. Add your short biography in the text box and select photo permission preference
4. Hit the Browse or Choose Files button to select files (Tiff/Tif or Jpg/Jpeg or Doc/Docx only).  While multiple files can be selected, the entire batch of files must be less than 700 MB – this means you may have to upload multiple batches of files. Folders cannot be uploaded.
5. Hit the Upload Button.  Depending on upload size it might take a few minutes to fully finish the upload.
6. If you want to remove a file, hit the Delete button

If you have any questions or problems please email us at erin@bclandtrust.org

THANK YOU!  The BCLT Calendar Committee