Hot models helped make the Bella Avalon Bermuda Swimsuit calendars a hit with residents when they were released last Christmas.Denae Simmons is hoping to replicate that success in the coming months.The 24-year-old has planned a six-month calendar of swimsuit models and scheduled a release date for next summer.“Instead of November and December we will release them in the summer, in June and July,” she said. “It makes sense since we have a swimsuit theme. We want to start doing promotional parties in reference to it and blowing it out of proportion. We want to make it the next big thing.”Miss Simmons has been compiling the Bella Avalon calendars for the last three years.“I liked making the calendar so much that I am now working on my fourth and fifth male and female swimsuit calendars,” she said. “I have always had a passion for photography. I came up with the idea to put together a calendar featuring Bermudian models. Then I thought it would be a creative way to market local businesses.”When she first told her parents that she planned to make a swimsuit calendar, they were a little sceptical. That all changed after she produced the first two.“Now they are helping me,” she said. “Now that they have seen the product, they think this is great work. I have gotten positive feedback from many people. I have had grown mothers come to me and buy these calendars for their younger sons. That tells me it is a respectable calendar. I didn’t want anything like King magazine. I wanted it to be a bit like the Victoria Secretcatalogue, and maybe a hint ofPlayboy but not necessarily with the same [type of clothing]. I wanted it to be chic but also respectful.”The first year she bought all the swimsuits for the models abroad. The next year she bought some from local stores and also made a few. Some of the models wore only body paint.“The swimsuit theme is an easy theme that shows off beautiful models and Bermuda’s scenery,” she said.Many of the models she uses are her friends or local celebrities current Miss Bermuda Rochelle Minors and Bermudian international model Darius Dio are among those who most recently posed.“Next year I want to do a casting call because I want to see who else is out there,” she said. “I look at how popular they are in the community. That is what helps to sell the calendar. They [also] have to have good features. The guys have to have a six-pack because that is what girls want. With the girls, we don’t generally do plus sizes, but we have done a curvaceous female and she was very popular. It all depends on who the person is and how they carry themselves and if the public likes them.”The most complicated shot to organise was probably the 2012 calendar’s motorcycle babe, Miss October.“We have three bikes in the shot and their owners would not bring them out on a rainy day,” Miss Simmons said. “If it was rainy we had to reschedule. It was a matter of having all three bikes at the same time in the same location and having the model ready. She had tattoos so we had to find a theme that fitted her.”She continued: “I enjoy photography, but I am not a photographer. I wish I was. I hired everyone for this calendar. Anthony Francis did all the photography for the last ones. This year I have photographers Eddie Smith, Jei Swan and Akil Simmons on board the project.”Miss Simmons is currently employed at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. She is planning to go back to school eventually to study radiology but wants to continue making calendars as a hobby.“At first, I wanted to go into the arts,” she said. “I started doing it at the Bermuda College. I did my first calendar as a portfolio. I put one together, and then I ended up finding a different career choice.”She has information about the calendar on a Facebook page under Bella Avalon Bermuda. It includes pictures and behind-the-scenes footage of previous photoshoots. It also has details if you would like to model.“I have had models and photographers e-mail me with interest in taking part,” she said. “It made me feel good about the project because most of them have said, ‘Oh, I want to take part because I want to move to your type of level’. I guess they want their work pushed out there.”Miss Simmons said putting together a calendar like this is not for the faint of heart. It can be very expensive.“Everyone you see in the calendar has to be paid,” she said. “Everything you see on the girls has to be paid for. The photography and make-up and artwork also has to be paid for. The printing is basically what kills the budget because it is so expensive. Right now, I am looking to see if a Bermuda company could sponsor the printing to cut down the cost.”The 2012 calendar is now available at Kit ‘N’ Caboodle in Bermudiana Arcade and Shannon’s in the Windsor Place on Queen Street.