Help Wanted : video footage of Dactylorhiza fuchsii

[Maggi Young]

Friends, I've received the following message - can we help out with some  video footage of Dactylorhiza fuchsii?

Hi! I'm looking for some footage of the orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii and the San Francisco Orchid Society suggested that I check with you (SRGC). Do you know of any available footage that we might be able to license, and/or would you be willing to inquire with some of your club members?
 
 Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
 
 Cheers,
 
 Eve Benson

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Maggi,
   My Canon G15 does video clips.. I’d be happy to shoot some footage up at Menwith Hill.. If you direct her to the thread ‘I Spy Dactylorhiza’ on the forum (last post 07/07/2012), then she can see, from the stills, if that’s what she wants.

Tim DH

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Tim - that's this thread : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=7516.0 - I remember it now.

I'm not sure what the footage is wanted for - or if good stills might suffice- I'll let you know when I hear back from Eva.

[ChrisB]

I have a super form of it in my sink and could have a go at video with my iphone but I've never done it before.  I put pics of it up last year I think...

[ChrisB]

It's not quite in flower yet

[ChrisB]

And it's a bit strange really these things don't exactly move you know....

[Maggi Young]

Just heard back from Eve:
"I really appreciate your help and will keep an eye on the forum to see if
anyone comes up with something promising.

In regards to the use of the footage, I work for a production company in
the US that makes commercials and infomercials, mainly for beauty
products. We have created a new anti-aging serum that features an extract
from Dactylorhiza fuchsii and are looking for footage to help tell the
story of the orchid and its origin.

Thank you again for your help and please keep me posted if you hear of
anything!

Cheers,

Eve"

[ChrisB]

Here's mine, its more than twice this size now.... this taken 2012

[Maren]

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Dactylorhiza aren't exactly abundant in the wild and are protected by law.

The thought of someone digging up plants for commercial purpose of making a beauty product is to me akin to the trade in tiger bones for Chinese medicine.

There is also a danger that support from the SRGC for this could be interpreted as an endorsement, which I am sure nobody on this forum intends.

If dactylorhiza are sufficiently abundant in the States for commercial exploitation, then it should be easy to go and take some video clips of them there.

[Maggi Young]

There is no official  "support from the SRGC" for this, any more than there is for the majority of requests made in the forum.  This was a question asked  via the website and I have posted it to the forum, as I do with other such requests.
The issue of the commercial aspect to this has only just become clear and it is up to members, as Maren suggests, to make up their own minds as to whether or not to become more involved.

[SteveC2]

Very strange!  If this had been posted on April 1 I would be laughing.
So this company has access to enough Dactylorhiza fuchsii to extract something to put in a "beauty product" on a commercial scale but not enough access to actually video some of these plants when in flower.

[mark smyth]

Here's mine, its more than twice this size now.... this taken 2012

wow

[mark smyth]

If you look at beauty products the biggest ingredient is water

[Maggi Young]

Eve Benson has seen this thread and sends the following message: 

"Hi Maggi,

I looked in on the forum today and it seems like I've stirred up some
controversy! In response to some of the issues that were brought up:

No-one is "digging" any wild Dacs out of the ground!!! That would be
highly inefficient in addition to being a bad environmental practice, and
I'm astonished that anyone would jump to that conclusion.

Our company works with a greenhouse in Belgium where the orchids are grown
especially for us. Dactylorhiza fuschii are nearly impossible to find in
the US (I've found a total of 3 nurseries nationwide that carry them) and
I don't believe one is allowed to sell or purchase them in France because
they are protected there, which is why we have orchids shipped all the way
from Belgium to our French lab.

The footage of the orchid growing in the wild is something we'll use to
tell the story of the orchid and its origin. We are certainly not trying
to imply that we are walking through fields and up hillsides in Brittany
and plucking wild orchids for our products. Hopefully, ( Forum ) members will
understand that there is zero correlation between purchasing orchids from
a greenhouse and having access to the same flowers in the wild for
filming.

There are NO Dacs growing in the wild in the United States. We were
filming in Paris this month and had a film crew sent all the way to
Brittany to try to film the hillside where they grow, but the orchids were
not yet in bloom.

I appreciate the offer to film with an iPhone but, unfortunately the quality won't be what we need. To work for this project, we need high-quality film and footage of blooming orchids in the wild.

I hope that this info quells a few concerns.

Thank you again for your help with this,  I truly appreciate it.

Cheers,

Eve

Eve Benson | Associate Producer
Lieberman Productions "


The situation is as I supposed and I too hope the fears of some members are now lessened.

[David Nicholson]

I've been trying to beautiful for donkey's years without any success but now I know what to try!