Calendar fundraiser serves up $54,000 for Warrnambool's Food Share charity

But the Warrnambool photographer has set his sights on making $60,000 - the entire amount headed to Warrnambool and District Food Share.

"Since COVID-19 we felt there was a growing need for the service because people were losing their jobs and families were hurting," Mr Cho said.

"It's a good cause."

If Mr Cho manages to hit his fundraising target, it will double the amount he has donated in the three years he has been producing calendars for charity.

The $63,000 he raised in previous years went to a mental health charity.

Mr Cho said that while he had taken the images, Michael and Jeff Dennis from Breakwater Insurance had covered the cost of producing the calendar.

"Hence we have zero cost base. Every single cent from the sale of the calendars goes towards the donation to Food Share," Mr Cho said.

"If we reach our target this year, we have contributed more than $120,000 towards charities in the south-west over three years."

Mr Cho managed to capture the stunning images of birds across the south-west in between pandemic lockdowns. But it did require long days on the road and behind the lens in the hope of capturing the perfect shot of a bird in the morning or evening light.

"Very seldom do I come back empty handed, but I'm very fussy with my work," he said.

"If I don't get a good quality shot I could go back to the same spot 10 times if I needed to, which I do."

The calendar's cover shot features a pair of south-eastern red-tailed cockatoos which Mr Cho said was classified as endangered.

"There's only about 1500 left in south-west Victoria and south-eastern South Australia," he said.

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He said they were found north of Hamilton, but he is keeping mum on the location.

Mr Cho said his road trips to capture the perfect shot could be as long as seven hours. "The rose robin is one of the hardest robins to capture because they feed from the top of trees," he said.

Mr Cho said he was keen to capture one because it has the same name as his wife, and it was a last-minute addition to the calendar because he only managed to photograph it a few weeks before the deadline.

"I was thrilled that I was able to find a perfect rose robin," he said.

Breakwater Insurance's Michael Dennis said that over the years he had sent basic calendars to his clients as a thank you, but a few years ago decided to improve the quality and called on Mr Cho to help.

"Around the table one day, we all came up with the idea of printing extra copies and seeing if we could sell them, with the proceeds going to a local cause," he said.

"With the support of local businesses and lots of individuals, it has turned into something we could never have imagined."

The calendars will be available from South West Credit from Tuesday for $20.

You can also contact Mr Cho via email to order a copy on: perrycho888@outlook.com

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