[Oleg Volk]

http://www.olegvolk.net/newphotos/tn3/secureinhome_s.jpg
Comments, suggestion, gripes?

Also: the high-resolution image is available as 1MB JPEG and a 13MB PDF. Would anyone here go to the trouble of downloading the 13MB file for the sake of more clear printouts?

Oleg

[Wildalaska]

Suggestion....the shotgun is too "mainstream", ie no on ever cares about shotguns they are "hunting guns" to the anti gunners..

Substitute a nice 1911 or BHP, perhaps holstered draped over a teddy bear..

Or even better...an AR15 (use an M4 with a folding stock dotn forget bayo lug and flash hider)..

WildcantdraworphotographbutstillisajerkoffcriticwhoshouldjustshutupAlaska

[Oleg Volk]

Intended audience are people who really haven't thought about this topic much. The Nova is a compromise between an EBR and a wood-stocked shotgun.

[coldshot03/04]

Get rid of the Shrubs around your house. Easy place for a BG to hide.;)

[Oleg Volk]

Got Claymores in every blind spot :D

[Devonai]

I've always been impressed with the high production value of your posters, Mr. Volk. I think this one could use a couple of changes for clarity.

One, there is nothing in the picture that identifies the house as inhabited by firearms owners. Since the Benelli is overlaid on top and outside the frame, it does not seem to be connected to the house. My brain associated the shotgun with the latter half of the statement, "how about you."

One possible misinterpretation, therefore, is that while there is something else about the pictured home that is secure, your solution is to buy a firearm.

I'm not sure how I would solve this. Placing a person next to the house who is armed might not send the right message either. Perhaps a close-up of the front door, which bears an NRA sticker or something easily identifiable as pro-gun.

[Oleg Volk]

That sounds about right. I've been thinking about the house as a mataphore for a while, and came across a pic of my old home...but need to think through the text and the visuals. Got some other items in the works after a long break.

[jsalcedo]

Maybe the same shotgun seen leaning up next to an open doorway
with a discarded glove or ski-mask on the ground

[erikm]

Would anyone here go to the trouble of downloading the 13MB file for the sake of more clear printouts?
If the 13Mb file provides a provides a high resolution DIN A0 printout they might, if they also had (access to) the equipment to print an A0 sheet (area 1 square meter, aspect ratio about 1.5:1).

Cheers,
ErikM :evil:

[seeker_two]

I like it as is... :D

Maybe in the next one, you could have the Nova hanging above the mantlepiece or leaning by the back door in the rural tradition... :confused:

[MagKnightX]

All of your photos and posters and such that I have seen have been excellent, Oleg. This is no different. However, it is unbalanced, leaning toward the bottom/right. Perhaps this was your intention, but the eye barely notices the home, it focuses more on the text and the gun.

My suggestion is to break up the text more. Place the first phrase near the top, but leave the end near the bottom. That way, it forces the eye to follow the entire photgraph, at least in theory.

I guess.

[duckfoot]

A idea for a shock value

pic would be two shots

pic #1 A spouse sitting in a chair a firearm on a table next to them with scattered casings on the floor with tears in thier eyes.
pic #2 Crime scene photo of a dead victim of a break in.

caption "Which spouse do you want to come home to after a break in"

Just a idea

[outfieldjack]

Where can one view the rest of your posters? I like what I see.....

Jack

[Ian Sean]

No Razor Wire? Just kidding.

I would change the caption from, 'People living here" to "The Family living here". It's a little more direct and hits someone as family=my family compared to people=plain old anybody. The word family will strike a little harder and make someone think.

Other than that, I think it is a good approach to the fence sitters. I would like a different version with an AR or an AK. That would help show the ignorant these weapons have value. Kind of getting two messages out with one poster.

[greyhound]

Get rid of the Shrubs around your house. Easy place for a BG to hide.

I dunno, those shrubs are so small I don't think even Tatoo from "Fantasy Island" could hide in 'em.:D

[Darrin]

I agree with replacing "People" with "Family."

Could you take a new pic of a similar house and have the "wife" standing in the large picture window holding the shotgun? The woman with the shotgun should be visible, but not the focus of the house. (ie, looking at the house and then you notice, "hey, there's a woman standing in front of the window with a gun!") Maybe even have the picture taken closer to dusk.

Yes, I'd download a 13Mb PDF, but I have a cable modem so that's no big deal.


That'll be $0.03 from me. ;)

[Nightfall]

Nice landscaping. :)

Personally, I think it'd hit the emotional center more if the house picture involved a family BBQing out back on a summer day or something. A couple kids, a wife and husband, maybe a pet dog, etc. would add more emotion to the question than a house alone. Maybe even just the wife/husband outback working on the yard or relaxing. While people are certainly interested in defending their possessions such as a house, loved ones spike the ‘concerned about defending' scale more. That and ‘people' to ‘the family', as suggested.

[willyjixx]

NRA sticker or something easily identifiable as pro-gun.


im sorry but pro gun doesnt mean safety..................true there usually associated but its a pretty far stretch. i think the picture is great for what Oleg wants people to do when they look at it, and that is to start thinking. id back it up with a few more posters of proper training. maybe a photo of before and after

before: family at the range having a good day with some well placed shot groups


after: bad seen of a clean up of a home defense shooting but everybody is safe

[hammer4nc]

Oleg,

Interesting choice for a house...maybe more self-defense gun-related than you realize. The house is a "garrison colonial" style; second story cantilevers over the first floor in front. The origin (myth or legend?) of this style, in early new england, was that gun ports were cut in the overhang, above doors and windows, so the homeowners could remove plugs and fire down upon attacking indians from the second story. Just thought you might find it interesting.

[geekWithA.45]

Hmmm....good poster, but there's something subtle about the caption I don't like.

I think it's along the lines of shotgun = absolute security, but we @ THR know that isn't the WHOLE picture, and it may open you up to some criticism along the lines of:

"So, Mr. Volk thinks that all you need is to leave a shotgun lying around, but what if....{followed by any of a number of semi-plausible scenarios}"

How about something along the lines of:

"The Family Living Here
Can Defend Their Home.
Can You?"

or, along the lines of your previous "stay alive till help arrives" posters:

"The Family Living Here
Has The Means To
Stay Alive Till Help Arrives.
Do You?"

[hso]

Oleg,

Something about it bothers me. It could be that the composition suggests that there's someone with a shotgun that the homeowner needs to protect themselves from. The thought that came to mind immediately was that the was a shotgun weilding intruder casing the home.

Consider using a grouping of home security devices, motion sensor lights, alarm sign, driveway monitor, camera with the shotgun as another tool.

[Oleg Volk]

http://www.olegvolk.net/newphotos/tn3/securehome_s.jpg

Trying to convince the neutrals that looking more food-like than the neighbors could be bad for them...

Reload the image -- I removed the shotgun outright. Now residents and guns are in the minds of the viewers.

[TamThompson]

I would suggest a different shot--the interior of a bedroom, with a nightstand and a handgun on it.

If you really want to go with the shotgun (best home defense weapon for most folks, so OK), I'd show the whole thing, and not crop it. I would also opt for a more old-fashioned-looking shotgun, with a wood stock and blued barrel, not a solid black new looking one for the reason that sheeple find solid black guns more scary (example: Glocks.)

Otherwise, very nice concept!

[Oleg Volk]

I'll do hso's idea, too -- alarm, dog, deadbolt, gun, prickly bushes, claymores.

[spacemanspiff]

the poster is great, but the suggestions of others have me wanting to see one that features a family having a bbq in one shot, all normal, and the second shot shows the parents revealing their holstered ccw's, and a shotgun in a case on the porch.
a caption that reads something like: "this family's 'castle' is secure. what about yours?"

[TallPine]

Gotta have a dog in there too ....

[DMK]

Maybe not for this one, but what about a play off the 5th ammendment: "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects"

A shot of a desk in a house with some important looking papers on it, a generic CCW licence and a small, concealable pistol like a Kahr or P-32, with a pocket holster.

[Gewehr98]

Maybe an inset image, that shotgun propped behind the door, or the nightstand gun? Idyllic, tranquil exterior, no different in appearance than the food-grade population, but the inset reveals that these aren't potential victims living here.

[bogie]

Suggest moderate closeup of a photoshopped alarm company sign, with an arrow pointing "next door, where the people are unarmed."

[Mikul]

Nice work, Oleg. I haven't seen your posters in a while. I'm glad they're back.

Of course, the armchair designer in me just can't help but offer input on what I would do differently.

1) I'd not do nearly as nice of a job.
2) I would have gone for the wooden stocked shotgun. Our HD shotgun has a wooden stock so my wife could warm up to it. People see wood as friendly, but the Nova makes for a practical and affordable HD shotgun.
3) A visual threat would help to drive the point home. Maybe a man in black running away with a homeowner holding the shotgun.

For some reason I keep picturing an image with a security sign on the left and a shotgun on the right. The caption could read:
1) If you were a burglar, which one would you be more afraid of?
or
2) Security for sale: $250.

[Oleg Volk]

You are onto something with a forground threat silhouette. Will add.
Wood vs. plastic -- probably. Need to dig up pics of a wood-stocked 870.
Alarm vs. gun -- why not both, in practice? Not sure I want to oppose the two.

[mattd]

You want to only push them hard enough to think up of the rest by themselfs. Like showing a gun in a house makes them safer rather than saying it out loud and in their face.

About what hammer4nc said, I think it just looks like a 1 story house with a 2nd story added on.:rolleyes:

[Blackhawk]

Would anyone here go to the trouble of downloading the 13MB file for the sake of more clear printouts?Yep. Where's the link...?

[Standing Wolf]

The second version is definitely an improvement, if only because "secure in their home" doesn't sound American. It's understandable, but not conversational.

[Biff]

Oleg-
Po moemy mneniyu-

There is insufficient contrast between the shotgun and the shrubbery. It just does not stand out well due to the closeness in tone values. Perhaps a brightly finished Rem. 1100 with wood stock, or even a Mossberg Mariner (silver shotgun) would come through a little clearer. (I make signs)

[campergeek]

Oleg, the problem with asking for free advice is that you get a lot at that price and most of it is worth what you pay. Having said that, it's obvious that I'm about to give some advice myself.

First, I must say that I really love browsing your site. You do some great work that really stimulates thinking.

However... I don't think this poster ranks as one of the best. I agree with what was already said about the message not being clear enough that the house is safe because of the shotgun. Even the second, for some reason I can't put my finger on, seems slightly vague. Perhaps because the outside of the house looks peaceful to begin with, it's hard to see it as threatened.

In my mind the message would be clearer if you actually saw what was inside of the house, contrasted with a potential threat. For example, the picture might be from the inside looking out into the dark, where a BG can be seen skulking (or maybe right at the window, looking surprised/fearful). In the foreground, to the side (but very noticeable) can be seen an arm with a 1911 in the hand (as if the perspective of the picture is in the eyes of the person holding the gun). Alternately, might be seen the Benelli shotgun held across both hands. The caption would be close to your original; something along the lines of: "This home is secure, how about yours?"

I do have to say I like the use of the Benelli Nova, but I'm biased because I just bought one. It's a "sporting" gun which is easily accessible to many, but it's got a little bit of "evil black" looks to it - not to mention those cool "Star Trek" grooves in the stock.

Anyway, there's what you get for free.

[Oleg Volk]

Agreed on all counts.

[hso]

Oleg,

Remember coming into the kitchen door at our place - big yellow dog on back porch, motion sensor lights on corner of house, security company sticker on kitchen door ... armed homeowner with loaded .45:D .

Ya know that wouldn't make a bad picture. Light the back, stand the dog, get the sticker in the shot and the homeowner looking out the window of the door with cordless phone if one hand and handgun in other.

OBTH - it's the alarm company sticker on the property and motion sensor lights and kid's toys in the yard (shows you ain't got nothing worth stealing) that makes the thieves go to the neighbors not the gun.

Gun = defense

Doors/windows, alarms, dogs, no concealment = security