by PPW Social | Feb 10, 2020 | Blog, Educational, Events, Featured Photographer
Pet photography. Perhaps you have considered adding it to your photo business playbook for 2020. Creating the ideal pet session takes time and thought to be able to not only light and create the set properly but provide the ideal environment for the comfort and convenience of pets and their owners.
Gena Tussey will walk attendees through how to start with the idea, create the vision, building it to serve multiple purposes and marketing it to be a money maker each season with minor changes. There is nothing you can’t do with paint, wood, fabric and Knick knacks that you may already have just laying around and how Gorilla Glue, hot glue, sticky dots, duct tape are your best friends.
- Where do you want your profitable mini pet shoots to go?
- What can your return on investment to be?
- How many clients can you expect to book reasonably?
- How much storage do you have for props? What do you have in reserve?
- Where can you find inspiration? What’s your style or voice?
She says,” My one piece of sage advice is to “Take what you do seriously but with passion and a sense of humor…we get to do every day what some people can’t wait to retire to pursue is a life calling.”
by PPW Social | Jan 14, 2020 | Blog, Educational, Events, Featured Photographer
This workshop will cover all aspects of the judging process, including terminology, scoring, ideology, digital vs. print, presentation, and conduct.
This workshop will cover the process of judging and will break down the judging process so that you will be able to understand the “12 Elements” of print competition, scoring, challenges and, most importantly, the rules that govern the entire print competition event. The 12 Elements are the foundation of judging within our system. They are used at all 4 levels and help the judges determine the final score.
Examples of all levels of scoring will be discussed. This workshop will involve all those in attendance. All seminar attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a practice judging. All attendees should be prepared to sit in the “hot” seats. When you have completed the workshop, and have passed the judging evaluation, you will have an understanding of the judging principals and be able to participate in future judging’s within in your local association.
Learn more by visiting: ppw.org/Conference-2020/
by Faye Johnson | Dec 13, 2019 | Educational, Events, Featured Photographer
Oregon’s most award-winning photographer, Bruce Berg will be giving a program designed to help you be successful whether you’ve been in business six months, six years or even 30 years. Bruce will cover many topics of a successful studio strategy such as:…
- Why Branding IS important and what you can do about it.
- Unique Marketing ideas to help make your wallet fatter.
- Because you can’t make a living if you don’t have clients!
- Working more than 40 hours a week? Tips to get control of your life. Sales
- Strategies and how to price your work that will have you singing to the bank.
Learn more by visiting: ppw.org/Conference-2020/
by Faye Johnson | Dec 8, 2019 | Blog, Educational, Events, Featured Photographer
Mary Ann Breshears will explain the step by step process she used to overcome these hurdles, going from part-time to full time to flourishing. She will show you how creating these daily habits and growing them into routines, allowed their photography business to grow by 73% in 2016 and then another 50% in 2017. Currently, they have had a combined growth of 315% since 2104. She will explain how habits and routines continue to sustain that growth.
Learn more by visiting: ppw.org/Conference-2020/
by PPW Social | Feb 24, 2018 | Blog, Educational, Featured Photographer
What is it that motivates you…. Makes you get out of bed, put your feet on the cold floor and move through the door towards the rest of your day?
Do you ever pick up your camera and say to yourself “what if I tried it this way?”
“What if I chose to photograph this thing?” “How many different ways can I photograph this object and create a totally different image each time?”
It seems to me that the biggest change in photography in the last 20 years is the freedom that the digital sensor brought to us. The physical limitations to recording light on a piece of plastic coated with chemicals held us in bondage.
Sure, there were people that pushed the boundaries that film imposed but the growth of the art has increased exponentially with the onset of the digital age.
It is now the age of experimentalism. So many people doing things in so many different ways and creating amazing results. How do you keep up? It’s difficult and time consuming but you have to do it because the next cool thing is built on what is being done today. The foundation is constantly and swiftly shifting. If you are building a skyscraper that is not a good thing; however in the digital world it is the reality we live with. Not every image you experiment with is going to be salable but it’s what you learned in the making of that image that will lead to something greater next time. Never stop asking “what if…”
Those are the reasons we choose to attend PPA’s Imaging and PPW’s annual conference and classes. Never stop learning.
by Faye Johnson | Dec 26, 2017 | Blog, Featured Photographer
Sure, we all need to make money – it’s what makes it possible to live and move in this world. What can we do to make a different kind of impact in other people’s lives? Is it possible to look deeper and find a use for our photographs that transcends our everyday life?
Ralph and I have been working with a charity called ChildHope. They build schools in poverty areas and operate a sponsorship program that helps those children get an education and escape the poverty cycle.
Each year we visit the ChildHope schools in a different Latin American country. The goal is to provide the organization with high quality photographs that they use to promote the program in the form of calendars, brochures and on the web.
Last year we visited Panama and one of the schools we photographed was the Guaymi Indians who live in the mountainous region of Northern Panama. It is a long, rough trek to reach their area; about a 6 ½ hour drive from Panama City and the last couple of miles look like an ad for 4 wheel drive vehicles. There is no electricity in this particular village and they live in houses made from local vegetation or a few scraps of tin. They like brightly colored clothes and are shy but friendly people. 
I recently ran across this quote from David DuChemin:
“Anyone can take a picture of poverty; it’s easy to focus on the dirt and hurt of the poor. It’s much harder – and much more needful – to pry under that dirt and reveal the beauty and dignity of people that, but for their birth into a place and circumstance different from our own, are just like ourselves. I want my images to tell the story of those people and to move us beyond pity to justice and mercy.”
When we go to these types of areas we have always made it a point to use every bit of our portrait abilities to make sure that we reveal the inner spirit and strength needed to live in difficult conditions. Working for a charity or a nonprofit organization helps us move beyond feeding our bodies to feeding our souls.
