“Our Dartmoor” - Issue 1
Limited copies available - grab one while you can! 😂
So, the first issue of “Our Dartmoor” is now available - it’s taken over a year to get this together and I’m not going to lie, I wish I’d never started.
Being mostly an anti social type, I don’t know vast swathes of people and asking busy types to contribute something for absolutely no return, along with having to find the spare time myself, struggling to make something anybody might have the slightest interest in, has been very stressful.
I also have no desire to be in this position, however Social Media gives quiet, innocuous, insular people absolutely no chance of having their opinions heard and as a human who would (if pushed) have always; at least; put themselves in the cross section of the Venn diagram of such individuals until recently, I guess it’s fallen to me to at least attempt this.
Since trying (and failing) to make it as a photographer, whilst simultaneously being lauded for my creations by numerous artistic types (and making absolutely no money) I kind of don’t give a shit any more!
The zine is not the internet.
That is, I will not be responding to people’s viewpoints on my viewpoint.
If you have a different opinion, feel free to contribute to the next zine.
I do not edit. I might not agree, but that is the point.
The fabulous poet Susan Taylor not only wrote a poem for my zine, she also took the time to discuss the present tribulations of the Dartmoor Ponies 😍
If you feel the desire to post your disapproval I will either besmirch you or delete your jibber jabber.
If you enjoyed my ramblings or those of my other contributors, please share that enjoyment with others and feel free to add to the conversation. Nobody is ever completely right, nobody is ever completely wrong.
52 glorious colour A5 pages of stuff about Dartmoor - printed on Uncoated 120gsm paper with a 250gsm cover … take a look 😍
I have been lucky enough to have had many contributions from some lovely people I have had the pleasure of (mostly) meeting in person.
Both Susan Taylor and her husband Simon Williams have written poems that feature in issue 1.
I am eternally grateful for their patience and their belief I wouldn’t create something terrible (jury is still out on that one!) …
you can find out more about Susan on her website https://www.susantaylor.co.uk/ and a plethora of information on Simon’s website : https://www.simonwilliams.info/
Trees They Have It All Worked Out - By Simon Williams
Regular readers of my blog will recognise the marvellous Max Piper, a splendid young man who is always willing to help and at an age where I had little direction has already written a book on Dartmoor 😍
Google “Max Piper” and you’ll be amazed how prolific Max is 🥰
Jim Hitchcock is a veteran who I met through Twitter (or X or whatever it’s called this week) we’ve enjoyed many walks together on the moor and I hope many more!
Jim is a mine of information on the numerous aircraft crash sites on the moor and was the first to show me the Tiger’s Marsh B17 location.
Jim Hitchcock Class of ‘82 (5 Flt, 2 Para Gp)
Local Artist Andrew Luscombe is the only contributor who I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting in person, though we’ve enjoyed one another’s work and communicated extensively whilst I’ve been endeavouring to put the zine together. Rush Along Steady Andrew 😍 https://www.andrewmluscombe.com/
As well as stunning paintings of Dartmoor - Andrew paints amazing seascapes!
Prof Bob is another gentleman I met through Twitter, firstly discovering his posts about the brilliant work his group does with Virtual Heritage on Dartmoor and finally meeting up with him in person on a typically wet and miserable Dartmoor afternoon! Hopefully we’ll get to chat in real life again soon! For a better idea of what this proud Plymothian gets up to, either buy the zine or take a look at his YouTube Channel 😍
Bob also uses 360 degree video capture in his Hospice and Care Home work
The remainder of the 52 pages are filled with some of my (rather fetching) photographs of Dartmoor and a little bit of how I feel about a few things personally. I spent a lot of time pontificating on what to include and the limit of the format means that a great number of images didn’t make it into the final print. Also at least two whole articles I’d written didn’t make the cut!
So, if you want to know what they were about, you better buy a copy.
Feel free to message me, email me, whatever your preference - either for me to arrange sending you a copy, or if you’d like to contribute to the possible second edition! 😂
I’ve priced the zine to make sure I’m not out of pocket and that either I sell all 100 copies and I make enough money to produce a second issue or at the least I’ll have managed to pay myself the princely sum of something like £1 an hour for the work I’ve put into the zine (not including the work it took to take the photographs).
Here’s a breakdown for you.
100 A5 Zines (plus postage) - £125.57 so lets say £1.26 per zine.
Providing contributors with a gratis copy and paying postage on each of these - £21.06 (dividing this cost between the remaining 94 copies gives us 22 pence to add to the cost.
So far £1.46.
If I want to produce another issue I have to double this and hope that the printers don’t put up their prices too much in the meantime and I don’t have more contributors for the next issue … hence £2.92 … so we call it £3, remembering I have to actually sell all remaining 94 copies for this to be viable.
Now, provided people pay me cash and walk away with their zine, £3 is us all done and dusted!
However, most people will want me to post them the zine.
I am signed up to Click and Drop with Royal Mail, so I get a bit of a discount from their advertised prices.
Second Class post in the UK for the zine will be £2.30 because I stupidly opted for some nice thick quality paper that puts it over the 100g limit for a ‘letter’ (Lesson learnt).
I have a load of second hand envelopes I can reuse, but I also need to factor in having to use some new ones and printing labels and taping and general faffing … say 15 pence per posting.
So, we now have £5.45 to keep us with my budget, however PayPal and Stripe will relieve me of 46 pence and 28 pence respectively, so to balance this out let’s say £5.65 including packing and postage in the UK.
I know this is unfair on PayPal users, but thems the breaks! 🤣
This has obviously not been carefully costed, however I have put a smidgeon of effort into these calculations and although I’m fairly sure I’ll end up (as usual) out of pocket … at least I tried something 🤪
Best idea is to contact me if you fancy a copy and I’ll sort the best way for that to happen!
And you wonder why anything vaguely artistic makes absolutely no money!
Without either being able to finance vast quantities of product (and then the budget to market and sell said quantities) or taking the risk of sale or return, there is nothing to be made from creating small runs of inexpensive items.
The zine is something I felt the need to create, hopefully a voice for those who don’t normally have one.
I don’t pretend to have answers but I do feel that randomly commenting on pointless internet posts achieves nothing apart from the ephemeral “Chufty Badge” of stroking your own ego 😂
Putting something in print feels a little more like it holds some weight. Maybe you don’t agree, however, as I said … I don’t give a shit! 😁
