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The calendars will be
mailed to the membership on December 6th!
Orders are now being taken for additional copies
on a first come, first-served basis. Calendars are $7.50
ea. plus S&H. If you wish to place an order, please contact the Suri
Network office at
office@surinetwork.org,
suriassociation@aol.com or call 970-586-5876. WE NOW ACCEPT AMERICAN
EXPRESS along with VISA and MasterCard.
We are so inspired with this first calendar, that we are anxiously
waiting to start the next one!! With that in mind, let's start thinking
about it now and keeping an eye out for those priceless photo
opportunities. This winter will be your only opportunity to get new
winter photos for the 2008 calendar. Spring will be a perfect time to
get those new cria photos we love to see in a calendar like this.
As you are thinking about your submission for the 2008 calendar and
snapping away with your camera..........please keep in mind the
following guidelines:
- Try to take digital photos in the highest resolution
possible. I know this eats up all your memory on your memory card
because it uses so much space, but the photos will be beautiful.
The wonderful thing about these digital cameras is that you just
erase the shots you don't like.
- Steph at Able Publishing recommends that you don't
crop the photo you want to use. This process loses data and reduces
the resolution. They can crop it for you without reducing
resolution. A good way to do this and get the subject matter in the
photo that you want is to use whatever program you have on your
computer to crop the photo the way you want it, then save that as a
separate file. You can then send both the original full size photo
and the cropped image which they will use as a guide to produce the
exact image you want for your photo page.
- There will be some stricter criteria for your
submitted photos next year. As with any new product we experienced
some design challenges and some of us really struggled with creating
our photos in the right resolution and dimensions AFTER they were
taken. Now that we have that learning experience behind us we can
eliminate all that extra effort by creating photos in the right size
and resolution and with the best subject matter right from the
beginning. We will be fine tuning the design of the calendar
after the first of the year, but at this point we do know that the
following criteria will apply to the 2008 calendar photo
submissions:
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All photos need to be in vertical format and will be
cropped to a finished 5x7 size.
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Photos will have to correlate to the season in which
your purchased page is located. If your page is the last week of
November a late fall or winter photo is appropriate. If your page
is in the first week of April a spring photo is appropriate, and so
on.
-
The main subject of the photo must be
alpacas. As much as possible avoid including humans and buildings
in your shots. The goal of the calendar pages is to show alpacas in
their natural setting, and portraying them as beautiful as they are
in real life.
-
Only suri alpacas will be accepted in the photos, so
if you own huacayas too, try to isolate your shots to your suri(s)
that you want in the calendar.
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As I mentioned above, we will recommend that you send
the original photo along with a copy of the finished cropped 5x7
image that you want produced on your page.
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No printing or graphics will be accepted on the photo
itself. We will be working with the designers at Able to come up
with a better use of the space below the photo to include your farm
name and logo and any slogan or tag line that you use to promote
your breeding program. That is an awkward size space, but we are
sure we can make it work really well for you if we put some time
into it.
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Remember that your photo is a representation of your
farm and your breeding program. In many cases this calendar will be
a new suri enthusiast's first impression of your farm and what you
have to offer them. Make it a golden opportunity to put your suri
alpacas in the best light possible!
Thanks so much to the calendar committee who worked so diligently on
this project while fitting in families and jobs and alpaca farm
business. Their dedication made a fantastic idea in an almost
impossible time frame a reality. Alpaca people really are the best!!
Josh Hanson, Eureka Alpaca Suri Ranch;
Ann Rogers, Coldwater Creek Ranch Suris; Mike Murphy, Flying M Ranch
Suri Alpacas; Ken and Marsha and staff at the Suri Network office; and
of course tons of thanks to Steph Pride at Able Publishing, the most
patient woman on earth.
The calendar committee wants to thank all the participants who bought
pages and logo ads and sent us really beautiful photos. Without you
this would just be a book with a bunch of blank calendar pages. We
really look forward to working with you on the second annual Suri
Network Planning Calendar next year.
Happiest of Holidays and blessings in the coming year!
Denise Sowles |
