McMILLAN PUBLICATIONS INC
9968 West 70th place
Arvada, CO 80004-1622
303-456-4564
Updated 1-10-13
YEAR 2014 CALENDARS
NEEDS:
We are looking for sharp, well composed images of Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Rio Grande, BNSF, NS and CSX subjects. We need dramatic action shots on main lines and branches; new, old or unusual locomotives; passenger or business trains; seasonal views, such as autumn, summer, winter and spring, and night scenes. Please, no roster shots. We will produce six calendars for 2014: AT&SF, BNSF, UP, Rio Grande, NS, and CSX.
Specific Needs:
Santa Fe - System branch lines, fall colors; winter; views from the 1960's and 1970's; grain, coal and other unit trains. Please, no BNSF. We really need photos from Texas, Oklahoma, northern California and Kansas.BNSF - for geographical coverage, we especially need the Pacific Northwest, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Illinois, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri and Wyoming. Photos must show BNSF units on the point in Heritage I, Heritage II or Warbonnet paint, but trailing units can be ATSF or BN. Please, no "patch job" renumbered units on the point.
D&RGW - We are usually short of images made in Utah, and we always need winter and fall scenes. We prefer shots taken during the days of the Rio grande, but will consider photos made during the SP era if only Rio Grande units are shown. We would also like to see material made on branch lines. We have never published photos of Rio Grande trains between Pueblo and Kansas City, but would certainly consider doing so. No patched units, please.
Union Pacific - for geographical coverage, we especially need the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, and especially scenes on the former MoPac and Katy lines in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Please, only UP locomotives on the point, but trailing units can be leased units or foreign road. Please, no "patch job" renumbered units on the point. We will consider views of the 844 and 3985 in excursion service and diesel-powered business trains.
Norfolk Southern - branch lines, winter, fall colors and new locomotives. We also need slides of the west end of the system, i.e., Illinois, Missouri and Indiana. Coverage should include that portion of Conrail merged into the NS System, however, only NS units on the point. As a note, we receive a large number of fall shots, which is fine, but often we are often thin on summer views. Coverage should include that portion of Conrail merged into the NS. [For all submissions, please only NS black/white units; no Conrail units on the point.] We are always short of images of the NS in the Southeast. Heritage Units: We will use about three Heritage images per year. While these colorful units are very popular, they don't represent the whole railroad. For the 2013 calendar, we used two Heritages: Southern and the original Norfolk Southern. We will be looking for some of the others for the 2014s.
CSX - branch lines, fall colors, winter action. We especially need the west end of the system, i.e., Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio) and the Southeast: Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. Coverage should include that portion of Conrail merged into CSX Transportation. [For all submissions, please only CSX blue and yellow units; no predecessor roads or Conrail units on the point.]
COVERAGE:
The entire Santa Fe, BNSF, UP, D&RGW, NS and CSX systems are considered. We prefer photos from areas other than the super popular locations such as Cajon Pass, Tehachapi, Horseshoe Curve, Bear Mountain or Sherman Hill, but if you have something really spectacular or unusual from these places, we'd like to see it. If in doubt, send it. Please, no off-line shots, such as NS locomotives on the UP or UP units on NS. However, we will consider trackage-rights trains for example: (BNSF trains on UP's Central Corridor for the BNSF calendar, etc.).
WHAT IS A GOOD CALEDNDAR PHOTO AND WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR:
In general, a good calendar photo is a pleasing view in good or dramatic light; a photo one can look at on the wall for a month. Because of the visual impact, overhead views have a better chance at selection than do "grade crossing wedgies." We usually have no need for roster views, unless they are in some sort of dramatic or ususual setting. Though not always possible, we try to select photos that represent the railroad geographically and are made during the four major seasons. Unfortunately, we are usually flooded with great fall shots and in some cases, we are short on summer and winter views. Since we cannot use but a few seasonal views, we will often put blue dot stickers on the backs of slides we'd like to see again for the following year's calendars. Historical shots do not necessarily make good calendar photos. We often get "first run" or "last run" views of trains on some line, but unless these views also qualify as a "calendar shot," they are best left to the news section of some magazine.
"Busy scenes" (not "cluttered scenes") have a better chance for selection than do views where the train is the only object in the photo. We will usually reject scenes where the train is very small in relation to the rest of the scene. For example, a train winding its way along the floor of a canyon where most of the scene is canyon and very little is train.
Many photographers shoot multiple slides of the same scene using their camera's motor drive. Their submissions to us often do not contain the "best" compositionof the series, and we understand that. However, we receive hundreds of slides taken a little too early or too late and this affects the composition of the scene. Because of the large blow-up size of our calendar pictures, we have to use the whole slide and cannot correct composition problems. We reject many otherwise great photos because of this. While we do not expect contributors to send their "keeper" shot, we would like one close to it.
DEADLINE:
The deadline for submitting photos for the 2014 calendars is March 15, 2013, but we would prefer receiving your material during January and February after the holidays.
EMAIL ADDRESS: You must have a valid email address in order for us to consider your submissions, or you must include 60/80 words of caption information about each photo. We do all of our communicating regarding photo information by email (and sometimes by phone) and cannot take the time to correspond by mail when we're running close on printing deadlines.
FILM and DIGITAL: We can use only original 35mm slides. Please, no duplicates, prints, color negatives or medium/large format transparencies. We can use only horizontal format slides for calendars. No vertical views, please! We have no restriction as to the film type used for the original image. We do our own scanning, so the film is never removed from the original mounts. For scanned slides, send us TIFF scans at 4000 dpi scaled at 100%.
We accept digital images taken with cameras rated at 6 megapixels and up. (We prefer images made with 10 to 12+ MP cameras.) For photos made with digital cameras, send us TIFF files measuring 13 inches by 9 inches at 300 dpi on a CD or by a file transfer service such as YouSendIt (Use email address: jmcmillan118@gmail.com) Please do not send RAW images or JPEG images. We no longer require that you submit separate proofs to accompany your digital images, but please, include you initials, location, state, date, and engine number in the file name of the digital image (see LABELING below). We are receiving mostly digital images these days and we encourage that. The sooner we can get out of handling slides, the better. If you have questions, please call us at 303-456-4564.
12-31-11 - NOTE: For the NS, BNSF, CSX, and UP (modern images) calendars, we will no longer accept slides. Slides will be accepted only for the Santa Fe and Rio Grande calendars. (We will accept slides for older UP scenes.) You can submit slide scans of any subject in accordance with the paragraph above.
MAILING:
We prefer receiving slides in plastic see-through pages. In that manner, a slide is not touched unless selected for use or further examination. If you prefer to send slides in a box, feel free to do so. We will put them into plastic pages upon arrival and will return them to you that way.PLEASE GROUP RAILROADS ON SEPARATE PLASTIC PAGES. PLEASE DO NOT MIX MORE THAN ONE RAILROAD ON A SINGLE PAGE. If you mail your slides in plastic pages, do not cut off the notebook binder holes. We keep your slides in large notebooks and if the holes are removed, we just have to transfer the slides to other pages. Unless other arrangements are made, we will return your material via USPS first class or priority mail. For large submissions, we may use UPS or FedEx.
LABELING:
Your photos must be properly labeled as to date photographed, location, etc., but you need not include captions unless you wish to do so (See EMAIL ADDRESS above). If one of your shots is selected, we will contact you if more information is required. In that regard, please furnish an evening phone number and email address with your correspondence, and please be sure your name is clearly displayed on each slide. We still have slides in our notebooks without names on them and we have no idea who they belong to.
For digital images, please include your initials, the location, state, date and engine number as part of the image file name. For example, use this format or something similar: JMM-DenverCO12-11-11-5595
RETENTION:
We will try to return your material as soon as possible, but bear in mind that takes several months to produce a calendar. If we select one or more of your slides for use, we need them on hand until the calendar goes to press. If you wish, we can immediately return those photos we feel we cannot use, but on occasion we'll change our mind about a slide and use one previously rejected. If the slide is not on hand, we can't use it. We will abide by your wishes, of course, but please realize that we may have to retain your material for awhile. There also may be times when we may retain your submission for the next year's calendars if we feel there might be something we can use. If you wish your slides back at any time, just say so and we'll return them. If you change addresses while we have your slides, be sure to tell us.
CDs will be retained in our files for future consideration. We keep digital images in a data base for future review. Please DO NOT resend images. Once we an image recorded, there is no need to receive it again.
PAYMENT:
We pay $75 for each photo used in the calendars. We pay $100 for a cover shot as it is used twice. In addition, you will receive 6 free calendars if one or more of your photos is used (For example, if you have two photos published in the calendars, you will receive a check for $150 and 6 free calendars). You also have the option of buying additional calendars at a 20% discount (Please enclose $5.00 shipping for one calendar and $1.00 for each additional). Your free calendars and check will be sent to you as soon as practical (usually in October).
ADDRESS:
Send calendar contributions to:
McMillan Publications Inc.
9968 W 70th Place
Arvada, CO 80004-1622
Attn: Calendar Photos
RISK:
We will handle your material with utmost care. We have not had a problem with scratching or slide loss, nor do we anticipate one, but there is always a risk involved if you or I wish to have our work published. While we will do everything reasonable to protect your material from damage or loss, we cannot guarantee it.
Joe McMillan, President
McMillan Publications, Inc.
