UK Butterflies 2009 calendar

[Gruditch]

I think we can say for definite that the UK Butterflies 2009 calendar, is now a goer. But as Pete said in a previous post, we were waiting on the BC to get permission to use their logo. That permission has now been granted and the calendar will in-fact be Butterfly conservation in association with UK Butterflies 2009 calendar, which is great news as we hope to reach a wider audience than our own humble little forum and in the process raise some cash for the BC.
We must thank Shirley for coming up with the idea of a UK Butterflies calendar, and then pursuing it till Pete gave in. However Shirley soon realised that this project was getting a bit big and complicated and graciously stepped aside so we could look at getting a professional calendar manufacturer involved.
So while Pete set about finding the best producer he could, I went about choosing the images that would appear on the thing. To save the selection process going on for ever I only choose two people to assist me, them being Sussex Kipper and Eccles who's excellent photography and knowledge of butterflies made them both perfect candidates.
We each selected 13 images from anywhere on the UK Butterflies site, we were surprised that we agreed on six images in our first draft we then filled in the gaps in order that we had no photographer with more than one image and a good cross section of species. Despite about 100 e-mails we had this done in less than 5 days, Pete did overrule me with the front cover, but in the end I reluctantly agreed it was the best cover pic out there, Damn it.
We are now just about to send all our images and logos of to the manufacturer, they will then knock up a draft copy, and send it back to us, if all's well, we will then advertise for orders to be taken, and go into production.
The final images we decided on, can now be seen in the gallery section.

Comments and questions welcome, Gruditch

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/g ... lbum_id=42

[Pete Eeles]

I'd like to second Gary's sentiments - thanks to Shirley, Neil (Sussex Kipper), eccles (Mike) and all of the photographers who have kindly donated their photos free of charge. And a special thanks to Gary for coordinating this, since I simply don't have time to "project manage" this right now. This really has been a team effort that exhibits everything that is good about the UK Butterflies community.

All profits will be going to BC - so please support this and get your orders in (once we've figured out the price etc.)!

Cheers,

- Pete

[thepostieles]

great news. i will defo be ordering one

[Neil Hulme]

Great work Gary,
I'll be having at least three, with one to keep which won't get scribbled on. As soon as we're up and running I'll be asking the rest of the BC Sussex committee to agree to advertising on our website.
Neil

[Pete Eeles]

BC have agreed to publicising it too. So all branches will be contacted in due course. But you beat us to it, Neil

Fiona ("fbarclay" on the forum!) has also kindly agreed to help us through her company, BirdGuides. Most generous.

We'll hopefully get the final proof shortly for review, and approval by BC. We can then really "go for it" in terms of publicity!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Susie]

You can put me down for one as well.

[Dave McCormick]

Put me down for about 4 I have a few people I know who'd like one

[Pete Eeles]

We're good to go! Please see:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/calendar.php

for details on how to order.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Rogerdodge]

Pete

It looks excellent.
I shall have my cheque book with me on Saturday!
Well done to all concerned with it's preperation.

Roger

[Dave McCormick]

Neat, I'll order mine soon

[Gruditch]

If you find the new calender banner ad annoying, it only appears for those that are yet to put in an order. So if you want to get rid of it, you know what to do.

Gruditch

[eccles]

I've ordered a couple, for which you should have had the cheque by now, Gary. I've also put a link on one of my regular chat forums, and emailed a few people at Avon Wildlife Trust so you should get a few from those. So why do I still get that banner?

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks Mike. I'm meeting with Martin Warren at BC on Monday and one of the agenda items is how we publicise the calendar more widely - at both a BC and regional level. But thanks for your support!

Unfortunately, we've missed the deadline for "Butterfly" magazine some time ago (even though it was only sent out this week!) - but I always considered this year as an experiment, to some extent, to figure out what is possible in terms of maximising funds (another discussion for Monday!). For example, how does "Gift Aid" fit into the picture? Do all orders need to go through the "BC books"? etc. etc.

If Gary is serious about removing the banner ad - he'd better let me know since, believe it or not, I really could fix this for those that have placed an order - Gary?!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Gruditch]

No I think we should leave it Pete, just in case Eccles needs a third one.

Gruditch

[bugmadmark]

I can't help but notice that (unless im just not seeing it) the Butterfly Conservation website doesnt itself have any reference to this calendar either? Gary i hope you recieved my cheque ok too. BW, Mark

[Pete Eeles]

Unfortunately, just sticking information on the BC website regarding the calendar isn't as straightforward as you might think - for all sorts of reasons that I could go into but won't bore you! Suffice to say, the sticky areas are to do with the collecting of monies on BC's behalf and the rationale for BC endorsing the UKB calendar, rather than someone else's.

Anyway - I met with Martin Warren on Monday, and we've cut through the red tape and they'll be publicising the calendar in the next few days. I'll then contact the branch websites to follow their lead.

I consider this to be a year in which we're learning the ropes!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Gruditch]

Yes Mark, have got your cheque, and thanks for supporting the calendar.

As Pete says this year is a getting to know the ropes/ experiment year, next year should be a lot more straight forward regarding the calendar set up, working with the BC and advertising, but as we will need to meet the deadline for the Autumn Butterfly mag we will have to start a lot sooner.

The biggest problem next year and in all future years, will be choosing the pictures, as we would like to include all the UK species, use different photographers and keep the quality high, its quite a challenge, I have already earmarked a pic for 2018.

Gruditch

[Shirley Roulston]

It would be fair to include more photos that the ladies take, it seems a very one sided calendar. I don't include myself at all. There are a lot of excellent photos in pass competitions that have been taken by ladies. Perhaps one of the long standing ladies could choose the photos next year.

[Hamearis]

[quote]It would be fair to include more photos that the ladies take[/quote]
Sept for Gwefear, not many good women photogrfers on this list - praps thats why.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Shirley,
I can assure you that the photograph selection was conducted without any consideration of sex (or indeed any other divisive criteria). We simply picked, as a committee, those that we saw as best, in order to create the most attractive and commercially viable product possible. It was only when the first round of 'picks' had been completed (I personally didn't even look at the names until this point), that we dropped the odd photo, to avoid one photographer having more than one entry. Until you pointed this out, I can't say that I've paid any attention or notice to the sex of the photographers! To pick photographs on such a basis (either with positive or negative influence), would surely amount to sexism. Your comments about Gruditch preferring to 'just keep it in the family' are grossly unfair. Gary was absolutely adamant that neither his nor Lisa's photographs be considered for inclusion, despite repeated protestations from Eccles and myself. The 'last minute' decision to use Lisa's (excellent) image for the cover was made by Pete, who quite rightly has the 'last word'. There are far more men that submit images to this site, that have little realistic chance of being included, than there are women. What it boils down to is this - do we want to produce the best calendar possible, in order to sell the maximum number of copies and generate funds for BC - or not? I'm all in favour of one of the ladies (who can give the very considerable amount of their time, as given by those helping this year) assisting in the picking of images for next year. However, I don't think that it should be up to any one person to select them ("Perhaps one of the long standing ladies could choose the photos next year") and nor do I personally believe that the choice should be based on the sex of the photographer.
Neil