Thursday, October 25, 2001

Relief in sight for Outdoors Gallery

With general deer, turkey and waterfowl seasons nearly here, and bow season winding down, the flow of game photos into the Outdoors desk will increase.
   Add these treasured images to the trickle of fish pictures the Outdoors section receives year-round and the backlog could be substantial.
   Some of you have exhibited extraordinary patience when it comes to delays in getting these photos published in the Sunday Outdoors Gallery, when space allows. I understand the importance, especially for young anglers and hunters, to have these images displayed for recognition and pride. And we might have a solution to offset some of the disappointment caused if a photo doesn't appear in the newspaper.
   Internet space is practically unlimited on caller.com's Outdoors site. So the folks who design this cyber-newspaper have offered to publish every photo we receive, if the image satisfies some basic standards of taste and quality.
   Our hope is to maintain an archive of your photos on the Web site, so that Grandma can view these images at her leisure, even when she learns about it weeks after it is first published.
   We hope to have this feature up and running within two weeks.
   Once online, we will provide a link that will allow the photos to be sent via e-mail to anyone with an e-mail address.
   If you want to get your photo in the newspaper, there are steps you can take to help your photo make the grade.
   The majority of photos submitted to the Outdoors desk pass what we call the breakfast test. This requires that photographs in your morning paper be appropriate for viewing at the breakfast table and in line with the quality expected in this section.
   These pictures are in focus, tightly framed with no more than traces of blood and certainly void of gaping bullet holes. Some of this is fixable with some creative cropping.
   Only a handful of photos sent in are dismissed at a glance.
   To avoid problems, I have republished below the loose criteria for these photos, including some suggestions for making your celluloid memories even better.
   These criteria also will be available online in the outdoors section of Caller.com.