Robert Janover, celebrating SoCo's soul one picture at a time

November 1, 2:18 PMSonoma County ExaminerLaura McHale Holland

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Robert Janover at sunset by the water
Robert Janover

The goblins have returned to their lairs to lurk until roused again next Halloween. Leftover trick-or-treat bags are strewn about, certain favorite candies already consumed. All the clocks are set back (or should be) and people are enjoying what feels like extra time on their hands, or so it looked at the Redwood Cafe this morning, which was bustling at 10 a.m. with people in line ordering their Mediterranean omelets or Denver scrambles while also peeking at the football game playing on one of two recently installed wide-screen TVs.

Thus goes a little pause before the frenetic holiday season, the culmination of which will be a brand new year. And despite the ubiquity of electronic calendars, a new year for many means a new wall calendar, and that means Robert Janover’s Sonoma County 2010 Photo and Event Calendar.

A freelance photographer, designer and publisher, Janover began creating calendars in 1989. Initially he worked with Landmark Calendars in Novato, then the largest publisher of retail calendars. But he decided to take complete creative control and publish his own calendars in 1993. Thus began the Sonoma County Photo and Event Calendar, which has become a local institution, as well as a labor of love for Janover.

When asked what he likes best about his work and what is most challenging, Janover mentioned a quote from French Renaissance writer and philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who said, “Living is my job and my art.”

Janover explained that he doesn’t go home after work and unwind with his “other” life. “I don’t work and make money to be able to afford next years vacation,” he said. “I put everything I make right back into what I do. When I wake up, I’m living and I’m working. When I’m driving into Santa Rosa from Kenwood or the cabin on the river, I’m seeing things, scouting photo ops—people, place, things—watching the light and seasonal changes. Sometimes I’m in tune, actively looking for shots; many times they just find me. Sometimes I can see a sunset evolving an hour beforehand; sometimes I capture it on the way to or from making a delivery to a client.”

He mentioned that he wears 35 distinct hats in running his business. “People are always commenting how unique it is to be the artist as well as being the business person behind it,” he said. “I have grown to handle all sides of what it takes to do what I do. The hardest part of the process is finding people that can appreciate the fluidness of my life and be able to keep up with it, either personally and/or professionally, and being competent in so many areas that are relevant and still being compatible.”

Right now more than 50 local retailers have the calendar in stock, and another 20 will be receiving their lot soon, as will larger retailers like Calendar Club, Calendars.com and Amazon.com. Janover also sells through his web site www.robertjanover.com.

“I get the local retail stores set up with the product before I do much direct selling and marketing via the web site, though it is on there, and people do find me,” he said. “I have a strong database built over the last 10 years, plus now I set up a facebook site and have 560 contacts just since summer. I plan to do some fun giveaways via that and also with my retailers.”

He noted that in today’s business climate, you have to capitalize on every legitimate avenue, and for him selling through retailers and through his own web site is manageable. “I’m still not to the point that the Web sales overload me or infringe on my local retailers sales much,” he said. “I do get quite a number of people that order from out of state, so direct to the source works well for them.”

Some of the local retailers carrying the 2010 calendar are Oliver’s Market locations in Cotati and Santa Rosa, Kozlowski Farms in Forestville (where I first snapped one up in 2004, along with one of Janover’s books featuring, you guessed it, beautiful shots of SoCo), Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol; and many more. A full list is of this year’s retailers is at www.robertjanover.com/2009retailers.html.

Included with this article is one of Janover’s youtube videos, “Sonoma Is Beautiful,” featuring exquisite pictures of Sonoma County. Also, another of Janover’s videos is at www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=184825446653.