Posted by Jon Leibowitz on August 31, 2006 at 11:46 AM
Hey everyone. I have been thinking about an idea. I know we have some really talented photographers here. What if we combined our efforts, with ICF (the conservation group associated with NP) and created a calendar to be published. I emailed a publisher, actually one of the best publishers of calendars ÒAndrews McMeel PublishingÓ, and the person I am in contact with told me get together some samples (the more the better), put together a theme (conservation of wild places or something like that) and she gave me the address of where to send it. I would be glad to do all the hard work, as long as everyone gives me their print. We just need some of the head honchos here to set up a voting contest type thing, pick the people to be featured, and then get me the prints and I will package and send it off, deal. And deal with the PR and all that. If weÕre to do it, and get accepted, it would be for the calendar year of 2008. We could do a monthly, but I think it would be better if we did a weekly calendar, than more people can participate. Also, I think it would be a great idea if with each picture the photographer gave a small but detailed description of the place (its beauty, importance....)
This is just an idea, but one that I think would benefit a lot of people. For one, we could give half or even more, or even all, of the proceeds to ICF. It will get all that are involved a published product. And it will be great publicity for Nature Photographers and ICF. Like I said, just an idea....and for it to happen we would need the backing and support of both ICF and Nature Photographers online Mag so the big boys here could talk to them and start a conversation about it.
Doing a calendar and getting published nationally is a huge thing for photographers, and dealing with a major publisher is hard for the individual, but I think we do a conservation theme and get the backing of ICF and NP, it would be a great product.
Any thoughts?
and a jumping smiley face for good measure!
Posted by Evan Anderman on August 31, 2006 at 12:45 PM
I think this sounds like a good idea, but I've never tried to put a calendar together before. I'd submit some images to a contest to get in. I think the idea of a weekly calendar gets more people involved, but does it change the aspect ratio of the pictures?
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on August 31, 2006 at 1:25 PM
I don't know, but I suppose that is something we would need to consider. I think all of the pictures either should be horizontal or all vertical. That way we could stick to a set format for each page.
Posted by Rene Pirolt on August 31, 2006 at 1:42 PM
Jon
I think that this is a fantastic idea. I know there was some talk about producing a CNP calendar a while back, but it never materialized. Pooling our resources and using a publisher would is a great idea.
I suppose this will be open to active RMNP participants and feature images from the RMNP area?
We would probably need to come up with a theme first. I suggest that those who are interested in participating throw out a few ideas, and then we can vote on the theme. Once that is finalized we could submit images that fit the theme.
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on August 31, 2006 at 1:56 PM
Good ideas. I was thinking it would be better to not limit it to RMNP, because then it would have a broader audience. Many photographers here, I think, have great photos from around the country. The broader the collection, the broader the audience, plus ICF is a national group, not just colorado.
As for themes, I would vote for conservation. It is a topic that nobody really disagrees with. Pretty area? Let's keep it that way. Plus with the backing of ICF, that is what they do, on a national level, so it fits. I don't know if thats the kind of theme, or if you were being more specific than that. If we do get ICF involved, they might have a theme in mind as well.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on August 31, 2006 at 5:47 PM
Wonderful idea, Jon!
I'm sure many of us will gladly participate, since you volunteered to to all the work!
Hey, Todd, on a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rank Jon's sanity??
But seriuosly, there are several members who should be able to provide you a lot of insight into calendar publishing. I hope you are still interested after digging into the gory details.
I don't believe group voting would be the best way to pick images for a weekly calendar. Maybe a first cut, but not 52 images! It seems the final selection for a themed calendar needs to be made by an editor.
Posted by Rick Dunn on September 1, 2006 at 9:49 AM
Hey Jon - interesting concept. The calendar idea has been suggested here a couple of times previously. In concept, it's pretty popular, and setting up a submission contest of sorts is certainly no problem. The devil of course is in the details - and as Bill pointed out, there's a lot of them - how the publishing costs are being handled, image selection, assuring quality images, are photogs donating their images or being paid, etc., etc....
If you have detailed info on the logistics of pulling this off, please e-mail me off-line. If it looks/sounds doable, then we'll see if we can take it to the next stage.
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on September 1, 2006 at 12:40 PM
email sent. I will update the thread in a few days if anything pans out.
Posted by Randy Schwanke on September 3, 2006 at 11:50 AM
The online store has the ability to do the calenders. Just need to get submitted images and it can be ready in a matter of minutes online from the store.
Waiting for image submissions....
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on September 3, 2006 at 12:22 PM
Randy, I am aiming for a contribution type thing for ICF and to find a national publisher. If it doesnt happen though, we could always just do one for all of us for 2007 year! Anyways, I am waiting for a reply from some people through email. I will keep everyone updated.
I put a calendar together annually for friends and family arounnd Christmas time, but it's usually through one of the big photo sites like kodakgallery.com. I've never had to change the aspect ratio - they just always snap the "frame" to the edges of the photo. The aspect ratio is an easy thing to fix, though, in PhotoShop anyway.
Discussion
10 repliesThis is just an idea, but one that I think would benefit a lot of people. For one, we could give half or even more, or even all, of the proceeds to ICF. It will get all that are involved a published product. And it will be great publicity for Nature Photographers and ICF. Like I said, just an idea....and for it to happen we would need the backing and support of both ICF and Nature Photographers online Mag so the big boys here could talk to them and start a conversation about it.
Doing a calendar and getting published nationally is a huge thing for photographers, and dealing with a major publisher is hard for the individual, but I think we do a conservation theme and get the backing of ICF and NP, it would be a great product.
Any thoughts?
I think that this is a fantastic idea. I know there was some talk about producing a CNP calendar a while back, but it never materialized. Pooling our resources and using a publisher would is a great idea.
I suppose this will be open to active RMNP participants and feature images from the RMNP area?
We would probably need to come up with a theme first. I suggest that those who are interested in participating throw out a few ideas, and then we can vote on the theme. Once that is finalized we could submit images that fit the theme.
As for themes, I would vote for conservation. It is a topic that nobody really disagrees with. Pretty area? Let's keep it that way. Plus with the backing of ICF, that is what they do, on a national level, so it fits. I don't know if thats the kind of theme, or if you were being more specific than that. If we do get ICF involved, they might have a theme in mind as well.
I'm sure many of us will gladly participate, since you volunteered to to all the work!
Hey, Todd, on a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rank Jon's sanity??
But seriuosly, there are several members who should be able to provide you a lot of insight into calendar publishing. I hope you are still interested after digging into the gory details.
I don't believe group voting would be the best way to pick images for a weekly calendar. Maybe a first cut, but not 52 images! It seems the final selection for a themed calendar needs to be made by an editor.
If you have detailed info on the logistics of pulling this off, please e-mail me off-line. If it looks/sounds doable, then we'll see if we can take it to the next stage.
Waiting for image submissions....