2006 Club111 Calendar photo contest!

[MattG]

The 2005 Club111 Calendar was a huge success, raising hundreds of dollars for the club to help us get off the ground (liability insurance for the club sucked up the biggest part!). We're now soliciting photo submissions for inclusion in a 2006 edition of the calendar. As with the 2005, 100% of the profits will go to Club111 (a California-based non-profit) to fund club development and club activities. You do not need to be a Club111 member to submit a photo, or to vote.



Requirements, and Rules

- Each photo must be available in high resolution format (3 Megapixels or greater, approximately).

- By submitting a photo, you are stating that you either own the car shown in the picture, or have permission from the owner of that vehicle to use the photo for this purpose (this is necessary, don't blame me, blame the lawyers).

- By uploading a photo to this gallery, you agree to allow Club111 to use the photo, royalty-free, in their 2006 wall calendar only. No additional uses are implied or authorized. In other words, you can rest assured that we will not then use the photo in posters, etc - you maintain control of your work (this is one reason to only submit 640x480 images for now).

- You must be a registered member of EliseTalk to post images to this thread or to view other submissions.

- Credit for the photographer and vehicle owner will be given unless waived (this will be arranged if and when your photo is chosen for inclusion in the calendar).

- If your photo is selected, but the image file provided is inadequate for use by our printers, an alternate may be selected per our discretion. In this event, the photo would be chosen based mostly on the number of votes received (ie, we go to the #14 photo, then the #15, etc).

- There will most likely be no financial compensation for people whose photo(s) are used in the calendar, but we will explore the options for providing free calendars to those people (no promises though!).

- The thirteen photos chosen for inclusion in the calendar MIGHT NOT BE the thirteen photos that received the highest number of votes. We will strive to maintain balance, specifically with car colors, so if the results are skewed towards one direction, we will restrict the number of pictures of a particular color. This decision will be made by the Club111 staff.


What makes a photo appropriate for this calendar

This calendar will mirror the style of the 2005 calendar. A 'good' photo can be considered one that may have some artistic component but most importantly good photographic composition and style. It does not need to be 'tweaked' in Photoshop to qualify; our team of photo-editing garden gnomes will do that if needed (unless you specifically request otherwise). Style-wise, the photo should feature a Lotus Elise or Exige as the primary visual element. Meaning, when a person views the picture, his or her focus should be first drawn to the Lotus, before being drawn to other objects in the photo. Another way of putting it is, this is not a 'pretty girls with Elises' calendar (sorry!). This is a professional quality Lotus calendar, the sort that any person would proudly display at their place of work as well as at home (hey, that way we sell more calendars, you see ).


To submit a Photo

Please attach a low resolution (640x480 or so) version of the photo to this thread. Once the thread is closed to new photos, the Club111 staff will judge the submissions and reduce the number to a more manageable level. The photos will then be posted, and you'll be given a chance to vote on which ones you'd like to see included. Based on that vote, the final thirteen photos will be selected (one cover photo). At that time, the EliseTalk user who submitted each of those thirteen photos will be contacted via email and given instructions on where to send the high resolution version of the image.


Please see this thread for information on how to post pictures.


Please submit your photos by 11/15/05

Thanks in advance, everyone!

[MattG]

Allow me to kick it off with this one:

[Lotus F1]

Originally Posted by MattG

Allow me to kick it off with this one:

Damn that is a awesome picture!

[JWA]

This is my favorite from the meet at the Dragon:


The full-sized version is 1200x1600, is that going to be large enough? (Now I'm off to find out who owns the blue car...)

--Josh

[LarryB]

A couple more:

[MattG]

Josh, that's a great picture, but it does bring up one important point - it's probably better if photos are in landscape orientation. We can use portrait (vertical) ones, but when being voted upon, I'll be adding black or white bars on either side to represent how it'll actually look when printed out. For the photo you posted though, it could be cropped to a great image if the resolution would be enough.

1200x1600 is probably not adequate. I tried forcing some lower resolution ones through last year, but CafePress (the company that printed the 2005 calendars) rejected them automatically. The ideal size for these calendars is 2300x1800. If it's close, I can of course increase the resolution in Photoshop, you just lose some image quality in the process.

[MattG]

One more thing - we may consider doing a photo collage for the cover. So, if you have an oddball image that is either a portrait orientation, or maybe not quite enough pixels, please go ahead and post it here and just indicate what resolution you have available for that image (if known).

[Patricko]

Originally Posted by MattG

- By submitting a photo, you are stating that you either own the car shown in the picture, or have permission from the owner of that vehicle to use the photo for this purpose (this is necessary, don't blame me, blame the lawyers).

Hello Matt,

I was on track media with a media pass for the FIA GT race at ZhuHai. So I have full rights to any images I took at the race weekend. What do your lawyers say about that?

Here are a few you might want to choose from.

Patrick

[Patricko]

Matt,

I was just thinking that I have the business card of the head of Lotus Asia Pacific (he was at the race) I could e-mail him if it makes the lawyers happy. I also know a lot of the guys that raced in the Lotus Challenge race and I could e-mail them as well.

If you have seen any other pictures that I have posted from that weekend that you think are suitable go ahead and consider those as well.

Patrick

[Conejo]

I thought you'd never ask.

[Conejo]

A few more...

[khamai]

Here's one...

[mopho]

Originally Posted by Patricko

Hello Matt,

I was on track media with a media pass for the FIA GT race at ZhuHai. So I have full rights to any images I took at the race weekend. What do your lawyers say about that?

Patrick

Actually, as I understand it, quite the contrary. Were you specifically told that you have the full rights when you received your credential ?
The media pass is only giving you permission for greater access to the track and serves to free the track owners, organizers, promoters, sanctioning body, car owner, etc. of liability if you were to get hurt or killed. It does not give you free rain to use images of peoples property for anything you want.
There is also a pretty good chance you gave up your commercial use rights to the photos and passed them on to the sanctioning body when you accepted the media pass. At most major sporting events copyright, trademark, etc are held by the owners of the series, images taken at the events are only legally allowed to be sold/distributed for editorial purposes, i.e. as news or PR (NASCAR is famous for this). If you wanted to use the photos for any commercial purposes, i.e a calendar, you would likely need expressed permission from the track owners, organizers, promoters, sanctioning body, car owner, car company and all the companies with sponsor stickers on the car

I had some photos published in in a couple of those Car and Driver car a day calendars, and even though the racing shots I submitted were shot at rallies/track with media credentials, I still needed to get signed releases from the car owners and C/D had to get releases from the car manufacturers.

Now the reality is, you likely won't have any trouble with something like this calendar since it is (I assume) not going to be raking in the big bucks to make it worth a lawsuit

This all being said, according to the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) website http://www.asmp.org/commerce/legal_article_001.php , there is not a lot of hard law regarding property rights and that all the legal is for the use of a persons likeness, because people have a right to privacy, property does not. It basically says that you should get a property release to be safe than sorry, you don't want to be the test case

[Patricko]

Originally Posted by mopho

Actually, as I understand it, quite the contrary. Were you specifically told that you have the full rights when you received your credential ?
The media pass is only giving you permission for greater access to the track and serves to free the track owners, organizers, promoters, sanctioning body, car owner, etc. of liability if you were to get hurt or killed. It does not give you free rain to use images of peoples property for anything you want.
There is also a pretty good chance you gave up your commercial use rights to the photos and passed them on to the sanctioning body when you accepted the media pass. At most major sporting events copyright, trademark, etc are held by the owners of the series, images taken at the events are only legally allowed to be sold/distributed for editorial purposes, i.e. as news or PR (NASCAR is famous for this). If you wanted to use the photos for any commercial purposes, i.e a calendar, you would likely need expressed permission from the track owners, organizers, promoters, sanctioning body, car owner, car company and all the companies with sponsor stickers on the car

I had some photos published in in a couple of those Car and Driver car a day calendars, and even though the racing shots I submitted were shot at rallies/track with media credentials, I still needed to get signed releases from the car owners and C/D had to get releases from the car manufacturers.

Now the reality is, you likely won't have any trouble with something like this calendar since it is (I assume) not going to be raking in the big bucks to make it worth a lawsuit

This all being said, according to the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) website http://www.asmp.org/commerce/legal_article_001.php , there is not a lot of hard law regarding property rights and that all the legal is for the use of a persons likeness, because people have a right to privacy, property does not. It basically says that you should get a property release to be safe than sorry, you don't want to be the test case

Wow, thanks for the info

I do have one question, what is the point of giving out media passes if you then don't have the rights to the pictures?

Edit:I just had another read of your post and I think I get it now

Thanks again for the tip on the "how to photograph cars" book it was very good and I read it on the plane form LA to Shanghai. I am sure my pictures benefited from that I just got an e-mail from Amazon to let me know that the other on has shipped so it will be waiting for me when I get home.

Patrick

[Ancient Wedgie]

After only 30 minutes of owning my Laser Blue and having driven it for the first time in a blinding downpour. Here was a respite over the last hill with a rainbow to reward me for my ordeal.

[mopho]

Originally Posted by Patricko

Wow, thanks for the info

I do have one question, what is the point of giving out media passes if you then don't have the rights to the pictures?

Edit:I just had another read of your post and I think I get it now

Thanks again for the tip on the "how to photograph cars" book it was very good and I read it on the plane form LA to Shanghai. I am sure my pictures benefited from that I just got an e-mail from Amazon to let me know that the other on has shipped so it will be waiting for me when I get home.

Patrick

The whole reason to get media credentials is for the SWAG! My whole wardrobe is automotive and motorsports related, the best was a free iPod I got at a BFGoodrich press conference

To answer your question, Most photographers make money shooting motorsports by shooting for magazines/newspapers and/or by selling prints back to the teams (in which there is no property right issue)
The regular photographers (which usually are the better snappers) are sometimes hired by a car manufacturer or sponsor to shoot the race for their advertising/PR (again no real property right issue since you are more or less doing the work for the property owners)
If you were to sell a photo to a third party and it was not an assignment you would need to get permission as I stated in my other post. Depending on what it is for, who you are and how much a part of the community you are, that can be easy or hard. Most property owners in motorsports see it as free advertising for them and will give permission

glad the books worked out for you

Sorry for the off topic...now back to our regularly scheduled program

[Ancient Wedgie]

Oh, As an added bonus, perhaps Smith Lotus will sponsor this photo in the calendar along with the story of how they set up my headlights so I would survive my 800 mile drive home in the rain and the dark.

[MattG]

Originally Posted by mopho

Now the reality is, you likely won't have any trouble with something like this calendar since it is (I assume) not going to be raking in the big bucks to make it worth a lawsuit

Agreed, but the situation here is a bit different. Last year, we used CafePress to produce the calendars, as it requires almost no work on our part (once the calendar is submitted), and imposes no financial risk on the club. This year, we'll probably do the same. The problem lies with CafePress - they're a little trigger-happy. They pulled our 2005 calendar from our store a couple months ago because of the content; I was able to get it relisted by convincing them that all of the car owners and photograph owners had consented (though they made it clear that if any corporate entity complained - Lotus, for example - they would immediately pull the item from our store again). I would not be surprised at all if we face similar scrutiny with our 2006 calendar.

While I realize there is an easy way out, to pay a conventional printer to produce a large number of these and have people buy from Club111 directly; the reality is we're a bit constrained when it comes to manpower, so would rather focus our efforts on building the club and organizing events.

[mikester]

Some cool photos already ! I really like the one at the Corkscrew and Patrick's also got some great shots !

[Patricko]

Originally Posted by MattG

While I realize there is an easy way out, to pay a conventional printer to produce a large number of these and have people buy from Club111 directly; the reality is we're a bit constrained when it comes to manpower, so would rather focus our efforts on building the club and organizing events.

I will get releases from the owners