Calendar thoughts, thread 2

[blueraven95]

Theme time!

Please suggest any theme ideas that you have! Keep in mind that it needs to be wide-ranging and accessible.

Already suggested:
"We the people"
"This land is your land"/"this land is my land" (I'm going with this because I think the song will get too complicated, too quickly)

I want to throw in "hope" because the calendar will come out in November, and either we will have hope or we are really going to need it.

This suggestion thread will be open until Tuesday afternoon-ish, and I will put up a poll of my favorite 10 suggestions then.

If you have not already seen it, please check out Calendar thoughts, thread 1

[blueraven95]

1. no other theme suggestions?

:shrug:

[CC]

2. I like this one and it covers

a very large selection of image types. Might make it a bit harder for you and the judges.

I have been MIA and going to be completely MIA for a few more weeks. Heading to Maui Sunday. Spending the next few days getting everyone ready and figuring out how much camera equipment I can fit into a carry on.

[blueraven95]

5. sorry, which one do you like?

have fun in Maui - I would love to go there.

:hi:

[CC]

7. Oh I put we the people and this land is your land

into one. Over doing the multitasking and not comprehending well. Both work though Miss Honey Church had a valid point. If it is too US specific it does cut out those from other countries and ex-pats. One suggestion to keep in mind is that you want pictures that you can stand to look at for a whole month. Ask does the average person really want to look at a picture of strangers for a whole month? That can affect sales. It would really depend on what the people were doing IMHO.



I think once we are in Maui I will enjoy it and really do want to go. It wasn't something we planned a head of time so feel like I am short on prep time. The getting ready though sucks big time. One furchild is going to get kenneled since he scares everybody the rest are staying home and someone is coming here to stay. They don't seem like that much work to me until I sit and start typing all that needs done. On top of everything else I went and took pictures of a ladies ferrets (9 out of 18 of them) and need to have them ready and uploaded asap.:crazy: Off to run errands now.

[MissHoneychurch]

3. The problem with the topics I have

is that non-Americans/Americans who don't live in the U.S. might have a problem coming up with good pictures for that.

[blueraven95]

4. throw them out anyway

it might spark thoughts in other people.

[MissHoneychurch]

6. Sorry, I meant with the two topic you mentioned in your OP

wrote is misunderstandingly.

[blueraven95]

8. now I understand

I think that both "we the people" and "this land is your land" can work if we don't apply the American label to them; that is, if we just use the spirit of the theme, not the literal meaning and context.

[MissHoneychurch]

9. Then maybe rename it

like "this world is your world".

[intheflow]

10. Here's a theme that would include everyone from outsie the US:

"I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world."

That's it: Fellow Citizens of the World.

Another take on that might be: One Planet, Indivisible
That would be an open-ended theme for sure. Entries could illustrate cultures, people, and/or the natural world.

[Mz Pip]

11. Having a theme

that is so broad is sort of like not having a theme at all. Maybe it's best to go with open submissions like we did last year.

Seems to me if we have a theme it should be more specific. Something like "One World" would encompass just as much as an open submission.

[Eurobabe]

12. Love Your Mother (EARTH)

This is pretty wide topic, and can be applied anywhere. Can show people doing something positive for the environment, a beautiful scenic spot, ???

And it also provides hope -- How many times have you been in a bad mood, gazed upon your DU calendar, and the gorgeous shots by one of our own...only to find the negativity melt away?

:hi:

[ConsAreLiars]

13. Maybe the theme doesn't even have to be expressed in words.

Or can't be. Your suggestion of "hope" is part of it and the other comments suggest other phrases. But what seems to be in common is some way of showing the value of life, the strength of the people, the wholeness of our world. Something positive, something true, and something that asserts the power and beauty that that the monsters continue to try to destroy and devour. Woody Guthrie's "This Land." Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Helen Reddy's "I am Woman." Ray Charles's "America the Beautiful." "We are the World." Or not all so saccharine - MC5's "Kick out the Jams." Or Lennon's "Power to the People." And the list goes on.

That's the sort of sentiment I'd like to see the calendar photos express. Asserting the value of who we are as natural born humans, what we love and treasure and want to defend and protect and nurture and what we need to be whole. (Not US-centric at all, as I see it - I expose my cultural limitations in the music examples I list - The Afghan Girl Photo would fit perfectly.)

Photos that affirm life. Photos that reflect our strength and the wholeness and value of our natural world.

(edit to add a bit)

[MissHoneychurch]

14. A trip around the world

[blueraven95]

15. thanks for the good ideas

expect to see a poll shortly.