Official Manx Club 2015 Wall Calendar

[abgiles]

I've been approved by the Manx Club board of Directors to design and distribute an official Manx Club 2015 Wall Calendar, but I need your help!

First, let me state that I am NOT doing this for any profit to myself. I am doing this for benefit of the club, and any/all profits (along with detailed receipts) will be turned over to the Manx Club to help promote what the club does best, and that's helping share our love of the fiberglass dune buggies.

This will be a 16 month calendar, starting January 2015. It is your normal wall sized 11"x17" folding calendar, with a full page photo at the top, normal holidays on the appropriate pages, and confirmed Manx Club event dates on the applicable pages.

The price of the calendar will be right around the $15 mark. I'm working on finalizing the shipping quotes (from me to you) and will have one fee to ship anywhere in the U.S. For outside the U.S., I'm sure it won't be too much more, and will be done on a case by case basis. I can't imagine it being much more.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: I need some high quality photos of your fiberglass buggies! I've got to come up with 17 (including cover) high quality photos to put on the pages.

FAQ's: 1. Q: Does it have to be a Manx to qualify?
A: No! It just has to be a fiberglass dune buggy!

2. Q: What kind of pictures do you need?
A: I need high quality (yes, phone pictures will work, but they need to be original size - more on that below) .jpg photos of your dune buggy! If you're able to do it, please make sure they're
.jpg's in the RGB format, and not the CMYK format due to printing issues with the CMYK format.

3. Q: How do I get my photos to you?
A: EMAIL your photos to me at abgiles@tds.net. Please put Dune Buggy Calendar Picture in the subject line, so I know can have my email program sort them to my folder for these photos. Please attach them, rather than putting them in the body of the email. That's the only way that I can download them the appropriate size. Thanks!

4. Q: When are the photos due?
A: Since I am pushing hard to get the calendar out to the purchasers before Christmas, I have to have the order to the printer on 24th of November, I am issuing a deadline of the 21st of November to have your pictures submitted. Unless your name is Bruce or Winnie Meyers, there will be NO exceptions to this.

5. Q: How do I take a high quality picture with my camera?
A: I can't tell you. Make sure that it's on its highest resolution setting, and snap away.

6. Q: Brian, since I already have your phone number, can't I just text you some photos?
A: NO! Texting a picture drastically reduces the photo quality, usually on both ends of the text. Thanks to Scott Bussard for the education here.

Scott took a 4megabyte picture with his phone, and then texted it to me. His phone sent it as a 900k picture (less than 1/4th the size, and thus image quality), and then when my phone
received it, it shrunk it to 300k. What I ended up with is a picture that was 1/10 the original image quality.

If you have the abilitly to manipulate your photo's aspect ration, please format it to 8.75/11.25 size. All photos must be 300dpi or larger. Any less, and the pictures will appear pixilated.

7. Q: I have no idea what the answer in question 6 means. How can I send you the pictures I have on my phone?
A: Email them to me, and I will check them out. If the email program asks you about what size to send, send me the original (not shruken) size. I'll figure out the rest.

8. Q: What else do I need to provide?
A: As much information about the picture as possible: Owner's name (If you want it to be on the photo), location, date (all of this is if it's known), etc... Still seeing how it would look.

9. Q: How can I order one of these fantastic calendars??? Can I order more than one??
A: Once the design is finalized and submitted, I will post ordering information in a separate post. You can order as many as you're willing to pay for. They make EXCELLENT Christmas gifts for
your favorite buggy lover!

10. Q: Can I submit a photo with mulitple buggies in it?
A: Absolutely! Just no pictures of people standing beside, sitting in, or otherwise posing with their buggies please! If it's an "action shot" of somebody or multiple buggies on the road, beach, offroad, etc... then people in the photo are fine. Event pictures with multiple buggies, an outing with friends, a show picture, etc... is certainly encouraged also. Please note: I will not use any pictures of the group shot that was taken at MOTB for the poster shoot, so don't bother submitting them. Bud is heading up a poster with this shot, so order one like I'm going to do!

11. Q: Do I have to be a Manx Club Member to buy one?
A: No! Manx Club Members will have a 10% reduced cost over non members.

12. Q: Who's deciding what pictures go into the calendar?
A: In short... Me. I have toyed around with the idea of a voting system on Facebook, etc... but with the limited time from photo submission cutoff and having to go to print, I just don't think there's going to be time for that. I may end up changing it, and I may not.

I will continue to post here as I receive questions. Please ask your questions here, rather than emailing them to me. Thanks!

Brian

Items in bold are the added questions after the original post!

[abgiles]

One more thing to mention: This calendar is about the buggies, not the people, so PLEASE don't have anyone in the picture, unless the person in the picture is Bruce Meyers, and then I will only put it in the Calendar with HIS permission!!

[RedBaronofRedBud]

Thanks for making this happen, Brian. Just pics of buggies is cool, but there are some pics that have people in them because they are driving. Im sure it will be great!

[abgiles]

Bud,
You are correct sir! I will edit the original post, and provide some better guidance! Action shots are allowed and encouraged, and I guess having a driver to make the action is a must, so those will be allowed. What I wanted to avoid was everyone trying to send me a picture of themselves standing by their buggies, etc...

Thanks for the suggestion!

Brian

[abgiles]

Thank you to everyone that has submitted a picture (or multiple pictures) so far! I've got some great shots for the calendar. I know that I won't be able to include everyone, and some will not be happy that I chose another photo over one that they feel is better. Unfortunately, since I didn't conceive of this project until so late in the year, I wasn't able to open up the pictures for voting, etc... and had to use my best judgement. There are a number of reasons why certain pictures have been chosen, and why some weren't. Some things to think of when taking photos this year for next year's calendar:

1. Image quality: See the above thread for quality concerns, but typically, if it's not at least a 3 megabyte file, it is not good enough quality to enlarge to full page. Texting photos, or allowing your phone to send in a reduced size via email lowers the quality, and thus, the chances of having your page.
2. Format: .jpg images are the best. I can convert them over, but you almost always lose something in the conversion process. Phones and most cameras already use this type of picture file, so not a large factor.
3. Settings and background. These are buggies. They belong outdoors. I'm not going to put a picture in the calendar of yours in the garage, on a trailer, at the grocery store with the broken down Pinto in the background, lots of people in the background, or with the Hooters Girls blocking the view. I have NO issue with Hooters (took a friend there last night for his birthday), but they do have their own calendar, and I won't put them in ours. Beaches, mountains, volcanoes, deserts, etc... in the background (in my opinion) are what looks right to me. Lighthouses, etc... are great too. Interesting roadside diners with several buggies is a great shot. Americana, Canadiana (is that a word or did I just make that up), other country icons are wonderful too. Just keep it clean, simple, and natural.

I am going to apologize if I offend anyone. It's hard these days to say hello without offending somebody, so I'm sure I did.

Lastly, if yours wasn't included, and you believe it's exactly what I was looking for, it may have been. The selection process has been extremely difficult. I've been working on this project for several hours a day for the last two weeks. Just as I believe I've got exactly the perfect setup, I receive two or three more pictures that I love, and have to go back through the entire calendar, bump some out, insert others in, and try and get it as close as possible to what I believe it will be.

After it comes out, I solicit your feedback and positive suggestions on how to make it better next year. This is a huge learning process for me, and I know I'll have quite a few good suggestions for next year.

Thanks to everyone again for the huge support I've received. Now I've got to get back to work, as I'm sure I'll be receiving quite a few more last minute pictures over the next couple of days!

Brian

[abgiles]

http://manxclub.yuku.com/topic/1292/Off ... HM0YdLF8uE

Here's the link to the ordering information!
http://manxclub.yuku.com/topic/1292/Off ... HM0YdLF8uE

[abgiles]

What about next year's calendar (2016)? Here's how you can help:

1 Again, high quality images. See the postings above about image size, but 3meg seems to be a good size. Anything over 2 meg can be fullsize page, but sometimes the width vs. height of the image isn't right, and I have to zoom, etc... The larger the size, the more I can manipulate the photo.

2. Themes would be cool. This year, I received a couple of winter pictures, so not enough to have winter pictures in the winter months. I'd love to have more month type themes. Maybe some Halloween pictures, 4th of July pictures (I did have one for this year), etc... I'm sure you get the idea. Oddly, I did have a ton of spring, summer and fall pictures. The people down south sent their winter pictures since they can drive them, but it's hard to tell they're winter pictures.

3. Remove the people from the still shots. I did have quite a few submissions of people by their buggies, in front of their buggies, etc... While I personally have a lot of these of myself, wive, kids, etc... I'm not able to use them in the calendar. I did have a lot of people share them with me just for fun, and they were great to see. I just can't use some of the ones that were submitted for the calendar.

4. Group shots in natural settings. I did receive a few, and loved them all. I had a lot of individual buggies, but more group shots would be great.

5. Lighting. There were a lot of pictures that were too dark, too bright with the sun directly behind them, long shadows falling over the buggy, etc... This was probably the biggest reason why some otherwise great pictures weren't chosen. They just didn't look right to me.

6. Picture width vs. height. On a calendar page, it's a rectangle, while most pictures are square. I can do the cropping of a picture, so save the originals before you crop them for use on your computer. Again, the larger the picture size, the easier it is for me to manipulate it, enlarge it to fit, crop it, etc...

I cannot say enough how thankful I am of everyone's support! I have resolved to make this an annual project, and have learned quite a bit in the process. I will start earlier next year, so I can take a little more time on it before going to print.

Brian

[manxdavid]

Any chance of a preview of this years?

[abgiles]

David,
I just sent the order in, and should be receiving an electronic proof within the next 24 hours. I'll find a way to add a watermark, and post it for public viewing.
Brian

[calvin]

Brian, I would like to make a suggestion.

In the Deserter Owners Group, we have a similar calendar. Each month Bob Elliott (who put together the calendar) posts a paragraph or two or three about the buggy featured on the picture that month. Sometimes he gets the owner to post a few comments, and sometimes they are pictures of historical significance to Deserters. Would it be too much effort to do this for the Manx Club calendar? I think sometimes it would start a nice thread on the forum or the facebook page, or both. I know some of the buggies on the calendar, but others I have no idea who, or what, or when, all of which I would kinda like to know.

I do know about France's Kickout SS, but I have never really heard a rundown of the specs for the buggy.

Calvin

[abgiles]

Calvin,
Thanks for all the information you sent, and I'm getting started now!
Brian

[abgiles]

I've been meaning to post calendar photo credits, along with the buggy owner's names for a while here, and got sidetracked. I guess I got excited about having Loretta make her journey to West Virginia to have some work done at the hands of a very skilled buggy craftsman. Any of you following the postings of her chassis and roll cage build, and fiberglass repairs will certainly understand.

Anyway, here is a listing of the photo/buggy credits from the 2015 Manx Club Wall Calendar:

Cover: Bruce Meyers - In his Red Kickout (I believe). Sent in by Bob Hunter
2015
January: France Rosseau – Manx Kickout SS – Mount Washington July 2013
February: Top – Calvin Walsh @ St. Anthony sand dunes BL – Rebecca Powers BR - Don & Lisa Lewis @ Pinnacles in Trona, Ca
March: Donna Landon – Tiger Tow’d
April: Allen Chittenden
May: Dave Carnevale
June: Paul Mabin – ECVW trip 2014
July: Top – Duane Falls BL – Stacey White BR – David Cash
August: Robert Jones' Glitterbug - Lancaster, CA pier
September: TL - Connie and Lynn Breedlove @ "The Snake" in the mountains above Malibu TR – Timothy Byrnes BL – Scott Bussard @ Manteo/Dare County Airport MOTB 2014 BR – Bob Izykowski
October: Joseph Wheeler’s Buggy, taken by Evan Mabin – MOTB 2014
November: Greg Lewin
December: Thomas Szwajkos - The St. Regis. Dana Point

2016
January: TL – Christopher Lewis TR – Jerrid & Melissa Guerrero BL – Bud Zeller BR – Vince Simanski
February: Top – Adam “Pivot Bolt” Hostetler BL – Joe Spittler BR – John Marcinka
March: TL – Rich Roy TR – Mike Dario BL – Gerardo Lami BR – Jeffery Holt
April: Top – Scott Jackle BL – Gary White BR – Bob Stein