Woodwind Forum Calendar Fundraiser ...

[pete]

... and a few other things.

1. As a favor to Ed, to help defray the operating costs of this forum, I will be creating a woodwind calendar, very much like my http://thesax.info calendars (see http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fStoreID=1358770).

2. I will still be doing a saxophone calendar for 2010 and for all eternity -- or until the pics stop coming in.

3. I also have a saxophone book project.

These are all separate things. I just wanted to mention them all in one thread.

Detailed information for each is on my Wiki at http://www.thesax.info/mediawiki-1.1...lendar_project.

You can e-mail pics to my Gmail account at thesaxinfo@gmail.com or contact me and we can make other arrangements.

[pete]

Quick Details:

* You need to send me pics. As big as possible (seriously). As many as possible. All the same size.

+ For the WF calendar, any woodwind pic is fine.
+ For my http://thesax.info calendar or book project, it must have a saxophone in the pic.

> Please, no pics with people or copyrighted music. <

* You need to fill out a release (PDF form).
* You can make some money from one or all of the projects, depending on how much you submit. (Provided your pics are suitable.)

-> My share of the profits (minus the cost of proofs) for the WF calendar go directly to Ed.

Again, go to my Wiki for full details (where you can find exact picture size requirements, profit splits, etc.).

DEADLINE FOR CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS IS SEPTEMBER 1.

[Gandalfe]

My projects this year are:

For the Sax calendar the definitive picture set for the Eppie to low A.

For the WF calendar shots of the late 1800s boxwood clarinet that I purchased last year. It didn't have a barrel, thus the low price, but Steve's fabricating one for me that I suspect will look just like the original.

[tictactux]

Hmm, you mean I can rig my camera and redo some of my Marigaux pictures?

[pete]

I would welcome both.

Jim, you could even go with the boxwood clarinet and your piccolo that's in this year's calendar.

TTT, I think that Marigaux is one of the nicest looking clarinets I've ever seen and the roller mechanism is unique, both of which are reasons to have photos in the calendar.

Your pics are good, on that website, but they are too small for the calendar. I could blow 'em up a bit, but if you can take bigger, that's better. Much better. (While the pics look large on screen, the printing "process" essentially reduces the size by over 1/3. At least, that's the easiest way of looking at it.)

Hey, Grant: I know you've got some nice horns. And maybe you could convince that dealer to send pics of that new contrabassoon ....

Which reminds me: dealers are welcome to send pics. I've had several dealers do so in the past.

[Heckelphone]

Hi Pete,

Yes, I plan to send you a boatload of pictures, sometime later this spring.

Will look into the contrabassoon.

Grant

[Chris J]

Hi Pete

Could you mention some guidelines please?

Orientation (portrait or landscape)
Proportion (eg 6 x 4)

I seem to remember that you do not want a dark background for printing reasons. I must admit to taking all my instrument photos with a dark background eg my Yanagisawa A600 or one of my Monopoles below:





So with a dark background, narrow crop and portrait orientation I am guessing that my Rudall Carte bass photo is not much use to you, but if it is the sort of instrument you would like me to have a shot and submit a photo of, do let me know



Chris

[pete]

Chris, thanks for your support.

In the past, I posted everything that is now on my Wiki in a post and people generally ignored it, so I didn't bother, this year.

* As a rule, you're correct: dark backgrounds don't do well. The printing process seems to make everything a bit darker and that makes dark backgrounds, well, really dark. I recommend a soft-colored background, e.g. "baby blue" but not "midnight navy blue". Your dark blue with the bass isn't bad, actually, and that case is rather kewl.

* Quoting my Wiki, "Lulu, the publisher, wants at least 2625 x 3375 pixels at 300 dpi and preferably 4125 x 5775 at 500ppi. For all submissions, including if you can't take pictures that big, please send me multiple EQUAL SIZED pictures and MULTIPLE POSES of your horn."

Remember, the calendars are 11" x 8.5" and 13.5" x 19". The book will be 10" x 8". Both are shorter than they are wide.

As mentioned previously, I can blow up pics a bit with GIMP, but over 150%, it starts looking granular. Multiple pics can help with this.

* Regarding what KIND of pics, I generally say, "Go to www.vintagesax.com and browse. Those will give you an idea."

If the pics are EQUAL-SIZED, I really don't care how they're oriented, because I can flip them about in GIMP.

As a general note, alto sax and lower are relatively easy to compose because they're "fat". Soprano clarinets, flutes, etc. are skinny, so they generally get the "mosaic" treatment, i.e. multiple pics from different angles, when I put them into the calendars.

FWIW, I could probably lighten your pics slightly in GIMP and they'll look fine. They just need to be a bit bigger.

[Chris J]

Pete

Thanks for that. I misunderstood you when you mentioned equal-sized. I thought that was each of the same picture quality and dimensions ie equal to each other. What I understand from your post is that for equal sized I can interpret as square?

Finally, how much of the editorial digital darkroom do you want control over? Would you like RAW pictures, or would you like them converted to JPEG, with levels, white balance, sharpness and crop (and other digital trickery) already done?

Chris

[pete]

Originally Posted by Chris J

I thought that was each of the same picture quality and dimensions ie equal to each other.

This would be accurate. Sorry for any confusion.

I can convert practically any format. If you can send something in a "lossless" format, like XCF, that's great. If not, JPEG is fine.

If you want to use digital trickery to make the photos look as good as possible, that's great. Please note that I may still have to resize or crop them.

[pete]

Update, with two months to go:

While I am still wallowing in my last college class (ends at the end of August), I wanted to say that I haven't yet gotten enough photos for the WooF calendar, much less my saxophone calendar. Please send in pics!

[pete]

Update, with about a week to go:

* There will be no specific WF calendar. Way too few submissions from WF people. Sorry 'bout that.
* There will be a sax-and-related calendar, including much bigger pics of TicTacTux's Marigaux clarinet.

HOWEVER, I am still short a couple horns for the calendar. Please send more! (I know Gandalfe said that he'll try to send me something a little late.) I really need to get things crackin' by September 1 to get my proofs and such back from Lulu.com.

[tictactux]

Originally Posted by pete

Update, with about a week to go:

* There will be no specific WF calendar. Way too few submissions from WF people. Sorry 'bout that.
* There will be a sax-and-related calendar, including much bigger pics of TicTacTux's Marigaux clarinet.

HOWEVER, I am still short a couple horns for the calendar. Please send more! (I know Gandalfe said that he'll try to send me something a little late.) I really need to get things crackin' by September 1 to get my proofs and such back from Lulu.com.

I could take some breathtaking pictures of my Bundy Alto clarinet just to please Terry, but the rest of my honk rack is soberingly unspectacular.
And I couldn't convince Thomas Inderbinen yet to build me a hand-hammered bass clarinet...(I'm dreaming of some sort of a tiny paperclip)

[pete]

Well, I hear that Orsi will make just about anything you'd like ...

[Gandalfe]

Warming up the camera for the Rothophone shots tomorrow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gandalfe

[Helen]

What rothophone Jim?

[Gandalfe]

Originally Posted by Helen

What rothophone Jim?

The one you mention in the comments of your post here:

"Ah yes, bass saxes aren’t the only thing you have that I’m interested in. I still covet your roth. Maybe someday if the market ever picks up again… "

Hey, a pointer to your blog. Do I get friend points for this?

[Helen]

Ah yes, I had a funny feeling that was the one. You didn't buy it from him did you? Although it isn't technically "for sale", he did say he would sell it to me. Despite the economy, I suspect I'd still need to sell a kidney to pay for it...

[Gandalfe]

Naw, I just took a picture of it and the saxophoniseetas on Facebook are all over it.

Don't tell Terry, but I just bought an alto and a contra alto clarinet from Kesslers. More on that later... ssshhhhh. Mum's the word.

[Yamahaaltoplayer]

I see a ophicleide too Gandalfe.. those are the ancestors of the sax right? Does it go on Pete's calendar? Oh but wait... it's a brasswind.

[Gandalfe]

Originally Posted by Yamahaaltoplayer

I see a ophicleide too Gandalfe.. those are the ancestors of the sax right? Does it go on Pete's calendar? Oh but wait... it's a brasswind.

Pete is the one to decide these matters. I was kinda disappointed to lose over 25 shots when one of the data chips on my camera crapped out. Thank goodness I alway use two cameras. But I certainly didn't get the best pictures because of the hardware malfunction.

[Helen]

Nice pics anyway Jim, of a couple of very rare beasties. Now I am regretting that I didn't talk to Matt again and get the Roth... I just committed to buying a couple of very rare tenors... Something I can actually use. While the roth would be über cool, what the heck would I really do with it? (I'm being rhetorical, please don't answer... Even if you have one! ) Besides, maybe Matt wouldn't really want to part with it if it came right down to it. (Don't answer that either. )

[pete]

Originally Posted by Yamahaaltoplayer

I see a ophicleide too Gandalfe.. those are the ancestors of the sax right? Does it go on Pete's calendar? Oh but wait... it's a brasswind.

Remember: with a Rothophone .

I generally try to have one or two insanely interesting things in my calendars, be it a straight bari sax or a nice cartoon from Kim Pelletier or some such. Hey, I've already mentioned that TTT's Marigaux clarinet will be in the calendar.

I've had a picture, from Rob Verdi, of a tenor Rothophone, but the pic really didn't come out that well for something as large format as the calendar: the thing's so skinny, there's a lot of empty space. Pairing the Roth with the Oph, now that's a kewl idea. Additionally, Matt, the owner of the horns, said that the Oph is a C bass, which is essentially the horn that A Sax put a single-reed mouthpiece on and said, "Hmm. This sounds pretty decent. I wonder if I can improve it."

[pete]

Current line-up:

* 1970-ish Silver plated Dolnet M70 tenor sax
* 1866-ish Bare brass Lecreusett & Quandieu Bb soprano sax (almost 100% an A. Sax copy)
* 1924 Silver plated Buescher Bb bass saxophone
* 1951 Conn 28M alto, 1936 Conn 26M alto, and 1937 Conn 26M VIII alto (all three in one shot; delacquered, silver plated and lacquered, respectively)
* The above mentioned Rothophone and Ophicliede
* Gold plated SML tenor sax (sorry; don't remember the year, ATM; sorry!)
* 2002/3 SML Margiaux Symphonie Model Bb clarinet
* Lacquer, Martin-made Lyric Eb alto sax (I have to research what it's a stencil of and when it was made, but it's pretty)
* ca. 1960 Selmer Eb alto sax with additional factory keywork
* Couple sopranos and a Soprillo (Gandalfe's pic)

You'll notice that that's 10 pics. I'm short 2 months and a cover. I've had a couple people e-mail me and said that they'll try to get me stuff, shortly, but if you've been sitting on a pic or two, send 'em my way!

[Gandalfe]

Did you wanna use the Ref 36 tenor shot? I don't think you've done a Ref 36 yet.