Self Perpetuating Selections?

[ABERS]

The Country File annual calender selections came round again yesterday evening. Whilst it is in a good cause and raises large amounts of dosh for it  , it is becoming a bit samey with very little creativity involved IMHO.

Is it because the pre-selection stage is carried out by past winners of the event? You would expect someone who takes natural history pictures ad infinitum of a certain type to be drawn to those images that are somewhat similar to those that they specialise in.

That leaves the final judges,  , to sort out the final dozen from a selection that looks very much like the selection they were presented with last year.

If you haven't seen the final 12 images you can find them here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t0bv

scroll down the page on left hand side.

The back-lit pigs are amusing and a little different.

What's yours?

[Reinardina]

You're absolutely right: Same old, same old.

And not only at the BBC!

[DigiDiva]

I like the pigs and ruffled feathers. Maybe the public should vote for the 12 winners rather than the overall winner

[Beaux Reflets]

Guess it is all about sticking to the tried and tested conservative format in an effort to maximise sales - A couple of really nice shots, but rather boring as a whole. 

[deetus]

I've looked at the pigs a few times now and apart from thinking that it is a good photograph it also makes me smile, so that's a bonus 
As to creativity, I don't think that is the raison d'être of this calendar or many other calendars come to think of it. Take, for example, Colin Baxter calendars. Year after year very good landscape photographs but hardly what you would call creative.

[Sandy]

They are what I would call normal Calender photos no exciting images, however I would like to have images like these