We are accepting photo submissions from the Lappy community all over the world, followed by an open vote, at the end of which we have the top 12 photos which will be collated into the calendar. We hope to publish the calendar at the end of November, so it will be in plenty of time for Christmas!

So now is the time to dig through all your Lappy photos, because the photo submission period is now OPEN!  The email to submit your photos to this year is sflscalendar2016 @ gmail.com (take out the spaces around the @sign).

The last date for submitting photos will be 16th October 2015, so there should be plenty of time to dig out those photos. If you’ve seen a lovely photo from someone else, why not let them know about the Calendar too?

Shortly after submissions have closed and photos have been processed the voting will begin. To ensure the smooth running of the whole thing, please do read the rules really carefully and also ensure you include all the relevant information for each photo with the submission.

The rules are all the same as before but please read on to remind yourself of them. Remember that we don’t accept portrait oriented photos.  This means that the photos have to be either square, or wider than they are tall.  Despite having some amazing portrait oriented photos in the past, due to the landscape format of the final printed calendar, we have decided that photos that are taller than they are wide simply get too small and therefore cannot be included in the vote.

The full rules and regs are outlined below.  I know they are long, but please take the time to read through them to ensure we get as many accepted photos as possible. Please note also the new email address to use for submissions (last year’s email address will not be used and will not be checked).

All the calendar shots will be photos of Lapphunds, and as ever you all get a say in which final 12 photos will feature in the calendar.  The calendar is NOT limited to SFLS members nor SFLS members’ dogs.  Absolutely anyone who has a photo which features one or more Finnish Lapphunds can submit it, anyone can vote for the photos and anyone from anywhere in the world can buy it. Full details of ordering and costs will be published later in the process.

And now for the boring bits!

How it works:

All photos should be emailed to sflscalendar2016 @ gmail.com (take out spaces around the @sign).  They can be submitted anytime between now and 16th October 2015.  All accepted entries will then be posted on the internet where you will be able to vote for your 12 favourites.  Once the voting has closed, the 12 photos with the most votes will go through to the calendar.  The one photo which receives the most votes will feature on the cover as well as inside the calendar.  The calendars will then be printed up and should hopefully be available late November.

The rules:

To ensure that everything runs smoothly and is fair for everyone, we have set out some rules as outlined below.  The rules will be followed strictly, so please read them through carefully:

1.                        Please submit FULL SIZE images.  Although we are happy for you to edit the photos digitally before submitting them, please do not resize the photos (although some cropping is acceptable) or change the resolution.

2.                        Please note that only photos that are square or wider than they are tall will be accepted.  If you have a portrait oriented photo and are not sure if it would work cropped to square, please do email it through and we will crop it for you. You can then decide if you would like the photo to be submitted.

3.                       All photos will be vetted for quality!  This is NOT about the photography, the subject or the dog, but about whether or not the photo is of a high enough resolution to be printed.  Unfortunately, we will have to reject any photos which we do not believe will print well.

4.                        You MUST have permission from the person who took the photo to submit it.  We ask you to include with your submission the name of the person who took the photo and, if this is not you, will require you to confirm that you have their permission to use it.

5.                        You MUST have permission from the owner(s) of the dog(s) in the photo to submit it.  We are happy for you to submit photos that you have taken of other people’s dogs, but we must ask you to confirm that you have their permission to use it. We ask you to include with your submission the name(s) of the owner(s) of the dog(s) in the photos.

6.                       The photos must feature Finnish Lapphunds only and no people (incidental people in the background are ok, but not people as part of the main subject).  We are happy to see Lappies from both the UK and abroad.

7.                        You may submit ANY number of photos.

8.                        The photos might be edited.  We reserve the right to edit photos by cropping etc to fit the format of the calendar.  We will, however, always let you see the edits before the photos are included in the vote for you to agree to these edits. However, should you not agree, this may result in the photo not being included in the vote.

9.                        Red eyes or stray leads?  We are happy to help out with other editing.  If you have the perfect photo, but have red eye or unwanted objects in the photos, please feel free to submit them anyway, and we shall do our best to edit them.

10.                    Photos MUST be submitted by 10th October 2014.  This will be the final cut-off date for photo submissions. Photos submitted after this date will not be included in the vote.

In summary, for submissions of photos: Please email your photos to sflscalendar2016 @ gmail.com (take out spaces around the @sign).  Please send only ONE PHOTO PER EMAIL, however you can send as many as you like.  Please ensure you include in the email the kennel name AND pet name of the dog(s) in the photo, the name of the owner (and confirmation that the owner has permitted you to submit it if this is not you) AND the name of the person who took the photo (and confirmation that they permit you to use it if it is not you).

Once all the photos have been collated and approved, they will be uploaded a voting website.  We will send you an email and post on the Yahoo Group and Facebook to confirm this.  You will then have a short period in which to vote.  The rules for voting will be:

1.                        You can vote only once.

2.                        You may vote for up to 12 favourite photos (in no particular order).

3.                       We will only include one dog from each household in the final calendar.  If more than one dog from one household features in the top 12 photos, the top scoring dog photo from that household will be included and the others not.  The next photo in scoring order will then be included and so on.

4.                        If there is a tie in the number of votes, the editors of the calendar (Adam Glover and Pia Reynolds) will have the final say as to which photo will be included.  If the tied photos include any dogs owned by Adam Glover or Pia Reynolds, Andy Lee will be asked to have the final say.

5.                        The editors of the calendar will choose the order of the photos within the calendar.

6.                       We will announce which photos will be included before you have to confirm any orders for calendars.

Please start emailing your photos NOW!  We want lots and lots so keep them coming.  If you have seen a great Lapphund photo from a link on the Yahoo Group, Facebook or anywhere else, why not contact the poster to ask if you/they can submit it.

TIPS FOR THE PERFECT CALENDAR SHOT:

All types of photos are welcome, whether they be ‘formal’ shots of your dog in a show pose, an action shot of your dog digging up your daisies, or a snap of a sleeping puppy.  You don’t need a ‘fancy’ camera for this, however if your camera has a quality setting, please do set it to the highest quality (sometimes called superfine or similar) to ensure the resolution will be ok for printing.  This does result in larger files, so you are will probably be able to fit less photos on your memory card.  We are NOT looking for David Bailey quality shots, but if the shots are very blurred or out of focus, they will likely not print too well.  However, as mentioned, red eye and ‘stray objects’ in the background need not be a problem. We can most likely edit these problems out.  The photos will be printed on the calendar in a size slightly smaller than A4 and the pages will be ‘landscape’ orientation, so landscape photos or square shots will be the only ones accepted.

Please do not be offended if a photo does not make it through to the vote.  It is nothing personal!  A photo which prints quite well on your home printer, looks good on the web or even prints well onto 5″x8″ photo paper at your local photo printers does not necessarily mean it will print well on the calendar.  The printing techniques used for the calendar mean that low resolution photos and out-of-focus shots show up a lot more.  However, please do submit any photos even if you are not completely sure if they will work as we will do our best to include every single photo submitted!

And that’s it.  Get your photos in, and remember they have to be in by 16th October.  If you have any questions at all, please email me on sflscalendar2016 @ gmail.com (take out spaces around the @sign).