OrchidSafari ARCHIVES*

"Orchids Australia" the Inside Story My name is Colin Hamilton and I live in Rockhampton, latitude 23 deg. South – the Tropic of Capricorn. Australia is the largest island continent and is approx. the same size as the USA. I have prepared a map which shows where I live, and other Orchid Safari members: Mark (Lismore), Darryl and Guy (Sydney), Stephen (Melbourne) and Fleur (Hobart, Tasmania). There is approx. 2000 miles between Fleur and I.

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
Colin, how much do you feel an editor should guide an article in development? Some seem to like a 'my publication' look while others are very reluctant to suggest anything at all.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Ed: Pretty much depends on the person and the article. If I, for example, have too much input it starts to look like me, and that's not what I want. Some major technical articles are vetted first.

A magnificent spire/sun dial marks the Tropic line in the city, and on the summer solstice of December 22, the sun is directly overhead at noon and the spire throws no shadow on the sun dial. I work for the Australian government's research organisation called CSIRO. Our project here is the Australian beef cattle industry, and Rockhampton is the Beef Capital of Australia. As if we didn't have enough cattle around the area, statues of different beef cattle breeds adorn the main roads leading into the city and airport. There are eight bull statues (one is in the photo). When arriving into the city you are greeted by a bull. When you leave, the lasting memory is of looking up the back end of a bull !!!

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
Seems very reasonable to me.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
vetted?

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Vetted = perused.

Fleur (Tasmania)
For those who have not seen a copy of Orchids Australia. It's about the same size as Orchids, roughly 100 pages, glossy with a hybrid update (from Sanders) liftout in the centre. A very very good bi-monthly publication

Ellen,Smithtown,NewYork
Does it deal with only Australian orchids?

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
The 'lift out' Sanders registrations is a great idea!

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)

"Orchids Australia" (OA) is the official publication of the Australian Orchid Council Inc. and this year celebrates its 10th year of publication. It is 92 pages (originally 68 pages) and mainly full colour. Only about 30% is devoted to advertising on average, unlike some others. It is published each two months: Feb, April, June, August, October and December. As I said in my preamble sent out by Lois, the AOC is not like the AOS we have no full time staff, nor premises. Yet we have a large number of orchid societies there are over 70 in the state of Queensland alone, accounting for almost half the number in Australia. By comparison there are only 5 societies in Tasmania.

Ellen, we do publish items from abroad as well. That gives diversity and keeps Australians up to date with what's happening elsewhere.

I said in my intro that I was asked to contribute to OA prior to the first issue in February 1989 and I have continued that ever since. At the end of 1994 the then Editor/Publications Director, Don Gallagher, phoned and asked if I was interested in taking on OA. The next week was my final exam for a Desk Top Publishing course I was doing PageMaker. It turned out that that was the same program they were using, but on a Mac (circa 1991). I flew to Adelaide to have a look and accepted the job. The Mac computer (which I had never used before) arrived just before Christmas and I was immediately thrown into preparing the Feb. 1995 issue, due at the printers only four weeks later. What a horror that was! But I got through it and thought it was great. Now I realise some of the mistakes I made, e.g. pictures too small. Experience is a great teacher. Today I use a Pentium 233 with 3.2Gb Hard Drive, 64Mb RAM, Zip drive, CD-ROM and a marvellous 17" pivoting monitor which, when used in the vertical position makes working on a magazine page so easy. (Oh, and the old Mac it had 9Mb RAM and a 50Mb Hard drive, and the only way to install a CD-ROM was with an oxy-acetylene torch.)

Yell if I am going too fast or slow. If you are asleep, just snore!

marilyninOttawa
I have found the publication both rich and varied in content. Whether you have an interest in Cymbidiums, Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Paphs or species, you find something very interesting to read and view.

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
Colin--your doin great!

marilyninOttawa
Do you get an opportunity to contribute articles too?

Fleur (Tasmania)
Just going fine, Colin.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Marilyn has noted (again) my philosophy of diversity. The other Australian magazine chose to devote half its content to Cymbids about two years ago. For those across the top half of Australia, that has no relevance. BTW, I have regular contributors from many parts - including Marilyn.

Yes, I do write, but because of the work/time involvement, it may be something small to plug a hole on a page. But then there are major shows, conferences, travels etc. too.

Fleur (Tasmania)
Not much relevance to some of us in the south either. *grin*

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Articles are mainly contributed with some occasional coercing. In the main the contributed major articles are good quality and we are fortunate to have some excellent photographers here in Australia, as well as overseas contacts. I typeset all the articles, although more are now coming in on disk or by e-mail as file attachments. Editing, if necessary, happens at this stage. The typeset copy and original goes to the AOC Registrar of Judges, a retired school teacher, in Adelaide, who goes through them. (Some last minute ones don't due to time constraints.) When they come back, I make any alterations, and then do the layout with the photo frames, etc. A 10 page layout can take 4 hours. Why? It depends on the photos – I prefer to work with slides as they can be viewed on a light box and the crop marks drawn in pencil on the frame. If there is not much cropping the job is a lot quicker.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Colin did an outstanding job on the Rio show. Told it like it was.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
LOIS!! Really you can't keep a secret. I know you read between the lines.

As some of you know, we publish Cultural Notes from around the country (remember Australia is roughly the same size as the USA}. Marilyn mentioned these earlier. This is what they look like although you wont be able to read them here.

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
I have to read that article!

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
*S*

marilyninOttawa
I think the Cultural Notes are an approach that we might try out in a North American publication.

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
Colin, may I plead as a writer that ALL changes be coordinated with the author. I just got another print copy where somebody's spell checker made my look like a bigger dummy than I am.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Other regular features are book reviews, cymbidium page, selected species, computer corner, AOC Awards, people and places, and one feature which fascinates some of our American members society show reports. This latter section shows the ordinary hobbyist what is winning at shows and keeps them up to date. However the down size is that there are some orchids which seem to win innumerable shows, such as Cym. Jubilation ‘Geronimo' or Blc. Sylvia Fry. I sometimes ignore these as they are seen in print so often, preferring to publish something different. My philosophy is to make the content diverse something for everyone. Speaking of people and places, Marylois and GraphicGreg conspired to put this photo of two famous people up for this session. It is the next AOS President, Milton Carpenter, and yours truly during my recent visit to the USA. (I'll get even with you pair!)

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
I can read it on my 15 inch screen, Colin.

Fleur (Tasmania)
I can read that OK

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Ed, while appreciating your concern, this does occasionally present some problems, e.g. English versus US English.

Fleur (Tasmania)
OK, Colin you better tell us which one is YOU.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
How do the stories in my computer get into print? The first step is to set up a 30 page publication on the computer. I begin with the advertisments, and work from the back cover forwards. Each advertisment is in its own file, so I have to open the file and drag-and-drop it onto the magazine page. Sounds easy? Maybe not. You see, the pages are a mixture of 2-colour and 4-colour. Any ads with photos or special colour request have to be placed on 4-colour pages. Page make-up I can't place 4 quarter page ads for different Cymbidium nurseries together on one page, nor ads for similar products. There is a similar make-up for the front of the magazine. The cover has four pages full colour. Then comes pairs of alternating two colour and four colour pages. From page 34 to 59 is a straight run of full colour. This is mainly kept for the major articles. Some photos are worth devoting a full page to when they are as great as this Oncidium Margaret Reid ‘Lemon" which received an AD (Award of Distinction) for his albanistic colouration.

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
Cultural Notes - what a great idea. I can read them easily. Should be useful for all kinds of things.

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
Must be an Oncidinae that Milton's touching!

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Fleur - I'm the one with the pained expression!! And no, it wasn't that Milton was boring me. He is a real gentleman.

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
I like the part about placing 4 Cym nursery ads on the same page. Australia needs a good civil war to clear the air.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
As soon as I have the middle and last sections completed, a copy is printed out and all the slides or photos attached to each relevant page. This goes to the printer in Adelaide to get a start with scanning the pictures, retrieving previously used film (special ads) or prepare new specials. As soon as the front is finished, it goes to the printer with the complete magazine on a zip disk. One issue occupies around 30Mb on the zip disk. (What a marvellous invention!!) Usually about 7 to 10 days later I receive the chemical proof sheets. The printer has imported my IBM files into his Mac system, adjusted any substituted fonts, inserted the photos, checked the colours applied to the text, page background, etc., and TRAPPING. (This is so that there is no gap between a photo and a background colour, such as this photo of Stanhopea nigro-violacea which carries 36 open flowers and 44 buds, and received a Cultural award.

Don't worry Ed, we have a civil war, but it isn't about orchids, But then again.....

Someone mentioned photos. Here is a front cover. After proofs are checked and any problems noted, they go back to Adelaide overnight. Next day the problems are fixed and the first thing to happen is that the cover is printed 24 hours before the rest of the pages. Why? Bet you didn't know the cover is varnished !!! This is a thin layer to protect the print on the cover being spoiled by rubbing, etc. The rest of the pages are printed on sheets of 8 pages, with one run through the four colour press, double sided printing (16 pages per set per sheet).

The final step is all the pages commence a journey on a conveyor belt. The sheets are folded and placed in hoppers. Metal fingers race along the track grabbing a set from each hopper and somehow the pages are inserted into a cover, stapled together and pass through a guillotine to be trimmed to finished size. Then come the inserts, we publish the RHS Orchid Registrations earlier than any other magazine and nearly six months ahead of the AOS. From here the finished magazine receives a pre-addressed wrapper around it, then stuffed into a plastic bag, sealed and automatically sorted into postal areas and stacked in special cartons for the Australia Post truck to back into the loading dock and cart them off on theirjourney to all parts of the world. It is up to them how long it takes to reach you.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Hmmmmm, so you have an 'in' with the RHS? *G*

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
They speak the same language Lois!

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
No, Lois. We just use our brains to get the info early enough to print it. There is a fine line between the info arriving and our deadline.

Ideally the selected photo is a lead in to an article within. With that sort of magnification obviously the photo has to be excellent quality to begin with. Here is the front cover of the August issue. This may appear marked as the scan was done from the chemical proof which shows some emulsion marking. It refers to a major article on the Dendrobium section formosae, and is Den. sanderae var. major.

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
Doesn't it seem strange that new hybrids are listed by the new name (not on our tags or records) instead of either one of the cross names, which we have?

marilyninOttawa
What a picture!!

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Picture by David Banks. There was no competition for the front cover this month!

Fleur (Tasmania)
I look forward to it's arrival.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Why do magazines have such a huge lead in time? Simple. Try preparing one OA is 92 pages. AFTER the typesetting is finished, the layout, paste-up, colouration etc usually take me up to 3 weeks (remember it is only in my free time). The printer's pre-press work can take a further 2 weeks, then another week after the return of the proofs. I aim to get the magazine out in the first week of the month of issue. The best I have achieved so far was last March when I received a bundle of copies overnight, hot off the press, to take with me later that day to Vancouver and New York.

That is not the end of it. All those photographs and slides have to be returned to their owners. We average around 100 per issue. Many Kodak slides down here are mounted in heat sealed plastic mounts. The printer has to break the mount to remover the film for scanning. I then have to re-mount these and write up the information on the new frame.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Shucks, Colin - takes me 2-3 weeks to do 16 pages in black and white! And the printer 7-10 days. You're moving!

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
It's more fun to write than to edit!!! My hat is off to you, Colin.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
I don't do everything though. The jobs of handling subscriptions, renewal notices, giving the database to the printer to prepare the mailing wrappers is handled by the AOC Treasurer in Adelaide. Overseas copies and bulk mailings cannot be handled by the printer, so Len and his wife do these BY HAND! They also hold any stocks of OA and our other publications.

When you get your copy of OA or any other orchid magazine, do you 1. Turn to the back and run through the ads. First? 2. Thumb through looking only at the colour pictures? 3. Read it from cover to cover? If (1) you are a hopeless orchid addict; (2) one of the majority; or (3) a different sort of addict.

Our related WWW site www.infoweb.com.au/orchids is handled by me. It has been operating for just on three years now and all material and design is another of my jobs. This exposure has been very successful. In the 12 months to 30 June 1998, we recorded over 13000 hits and over 8000 copies of the OrchidArt montage had been downloaded. Visitors have been recorded from 96 countries - all corners of the globe, and some most unlikely places. Last week we had a visitor from Qatar.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
What sort of 'different', Colin? 3, is me. *G*

Fleur (Tasmania)
I usually read the whole Mag, but skip the adds unless I'm looking for something.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Where's Qatar?

marilyninOttawa
Thank you Colin, for the insight into OA publication. Very useful and informative. (Guess I'm 3 too!) *G*

Ellen,Smithtown,NewYork
I bad, Fleur, I do the ads first.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Lois, I think you are all three!!!!

harold6820 (Farmers Branch, TX)
I look at the front and back cover, then start at page 1 and go page by page to the end, stopping to read as I go. Then I go back and read and or reread anything else of interest that I missed.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
OA is only available by subscription from the Australian Orchid Council. If we were to distribute it through news stands, the charges are 40% of the face value, no returns. Domestic cost is AUD $40 and overseas surface mail $44.

Qatar is around the Middle East - Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, etc.

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
I'm 3 too!

marilyninOttawa
Goodnight all! Thank you, Colin.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Most people ask me why I do it, after all it is a big job. Well it certainly isn't the money. There is much more to life than money (even though it helps). I see the magazine as a creative thing and it is an outlet for my creative juices. Second, there are the people. I have met many people through this job and not only in Australia. If I had not taken on OA, I would not have gone to the WOC in Rio, and I would not have met Lois, and I would not be here talking to you. Then there are the opportunities to travel, mainly at my own expense, but OA is a good excuse. In three weeks I am going to Papua New Guinea to cover the official opening of the ORCHID HAUS PAPUA NEW GUINEA (HAUS is pidgin English for House) at the National Capital Botanical Gardens in Port Moresby, during the two day "First PNG Orchid Spectacular". The HAUS is huge and is the shape of the country. It is capable of housing 100,000 plants. The story will appear in OA, probably in October.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Thanks, Colin - for Qatra...still thinking about the other one *LOL*
That will be a good one, Colin - looking forward to it. Yes, you DO get around. *S*

Fleur (Tasmania)
Do you need a Secretary, or your own personal nurse???

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
So next time you receive an orchid magazine (hopefully Orchids Australia), give a thought to the countless hours of work that went into getting it published and into your hands. That's all folks. Any questions?

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
Great program and great publication, Colin. Thanks.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Wonderful, Colin. GOOD JOB!!!

Ellen,Smithtown,NewYork
Good program, sounds like a wonderful magazine. Can you put up the address to subscribe?

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
Colin--do you think it will grow like AOS?

Fleur (Tasmania)
Thanks Colin, I enjoyed your talk very much.

send Orchids (Marla in Boise)
Outstanding Colin, and the pictures were terrific!! I'll have to go check out the website!

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
And to subscribe what is the conversation to USD?

AORCHID (art,simpsonville sc)
god job colin don't think any of use really appreciate amount of work that goes into publishing a magazine like yours or Orchids.

nodosa (Ed in SAT)
If subscription can be by credit card, you usually come out ahead on the rate of exchange.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Australian Orchid Council, PO Box 145, Findon, SA. 5023, Australia, is the address for subscriptions. USA price is AUD $44 surface (up to 10 weeks) or $60 airmail (2 weeks). Currently 60cents US to our dollar (tears!!)

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)

And you mastered PAGEMAKER! That's a career in itself!

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Forgot to mention - We accept Mastercard and Visa cards.

Lanceps (Thamina from Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
Fantastic pics

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
Lois---his talk was soooooo good--can we pay him double the normal speaker's rate??

Fleur (Tasmania)
I vote we triple it.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Triple, Steve!

sparkysteve (of Boca Raton Florida)
OK! I agree! TRIPLE!!

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Thanks Steve. Does that mean I collect two monogrammed glasses instead of the usual one.

marylois (RAIN in northwest Louisiana)
Glasses? Hmmmmm - now there's an idea.

colinham (Colin Hamilton, Australia)
Sorry, I should have mentoned you can e-mail a request for subscription to me at colinham@networx.com.au

Ellen,Smithtown,NewYork
Enjoyed the program. Will say goodnight. Thanks, Colin.