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How to Build Your Image Competition Advisory Network (PP of OHIO BONUS ARTICLE)

Introducing…. the Image Competition Advisory Network.

I. CAN.

(pause for groaning)

OK, that’s enough, I’m being serious, here.

Basically, here’s the deal. If you are participating in print competition, you want to associate with other competitors. You want to have a team of people who understand what it is you are doing that can give you appropriate feedback. You don’t want your mom or your Aunt Ida or your cousin Jerry’s neighbor. You want competitors. Successful competitors. Local competitors. PPA competitors, not the annual county fair competitors.

And just how does one go about that?

Here’s a tip from me to you. Here’s what I did. Come closer, I don’t want everyone hearing my secret. Go to this link. It is the top secret, double protected official whammy results from all International Print Competitions since 2009. I want you to download and keep a copy of all of these documents. The names in these documents are your “people.” Fellow competitors. Those who walk with greatness. More than likely, they jingle while they do it.

The names are plentiful and the more you see a name repeated, the more experienced and serious that competitor can be assumed to be.

Sidebar: There are, of course, exceptions to this. This is only a handful of years of very recent data. There are a multitude of names from competitions before this that are also worthy of your attention and being active in your professional organizations will help you become familiar with additional names you should know.

Now, back to the I.CAN thing.

Starting with the current year and working backwards, I want you to check the IPC results for the names of folks from your state. Write them down. Make a notation beside each name as to how many general and loan collection images each person had each year. I just go ahead and tally the number of merits each competitor earned across the years of data (each merit image noted with “G” or “GB” gets one point and each loan image noted with an “L” gets two points).

For example – (Ohio people are gonna love me for this) – I compiled all six years of data for entrants from Ohio and came up with this spreadsheet.

Ohio-IPC-2009-2014

So, what exactly is this? What does this mean?

Well, if you take a look at the column on the right hand side, you can see the number of exhibition merits each competitor earned over the last six years. A higher number of merits means more participation and/or a higher level of success, while lower numbers indicate less participation and/or success. In this example, total merits above 48 indicate that the competitor entered the Artist competition as well as the Photographic Open competition.

If you’re from Ohio, you now have a list of the people closest to you, geographically, that can be of the most help. Wootness! I just saved you a couple of hours of work!

If you’re from another state, you’ll want to compile your own data in a spreadsheet just like this. Here is a blank copy of the spreadsheet to get you started: Blank Spreadsheet; just put in the number of merits and loans and the spreadsheet will automatically tally the total merits.

These are your people.

You want to meet as many of the people on your spreadsheet as possible; especially those who compete consistently and most recently. You’ll want to pay special attention to the folks who earned higher number of merits – that indicates those with a bit more experience and success under their belts. Those are the folks you might want to ask for advice and input on your images.

One place to look for fellow competitors is at your local and state affiliate meetings. Check your state competitor spreadsheet against the membership list of your local affiliate or even the state organization. See who might be going to the same events as you or someone who may be close to you, geographically. Not all competitors join professional organizations besides the PPA, so if you find someone on your competitor list from your area, make sure you reach out to them, personally.

These are also the people you want to “like” and “follow” on social media. Don’t be a creepy stalker, just quietly let their work fill up your news feed. It’s a wonderful source of inspiration and also gives you a basis for conversation when you do meet them. I know I’m very flattered when someone remembers a specific image I’ve posted.

Now – pay attention to this – this is not a foolproof way to decide who to pay attention to. There are folks whose names do not appear in IPC results at all that have more experience in their little finger than I can ever hope to have. There are folks who do not compete every year, but when they do, watch out! Just bear in mind that this data does not include every one that is a viable resource, but it does get you started going in a fairly good direction.

Sometimes it’s a bit difficult in the beginning to know where to look for help and this should get you started. If you’re from Ohio and belong to the PP of Ohio – find the print room – find me – I will personally introduce you to as many print competitors as you can handle. And if you want to stick around, we can always use extra volunteers in the print room. See how nicely that works out? This year, we are hosting the Northeast District competition, so volunteers will get an extra special behind-the-scenes view. So exciting!

I found most of my Image Competition Advisory Network among a group of photographers called the Photographic Art Specialists of Ohio. We are all PP of Ohio members and explore the artistic edge of photography. These are the folks I’m most likely to be found discussing art and competition with until the wee hours of the morning. As a matter of fact, I think this was taken during a wee hour:

Back L-R: Robert Kunesh, Milovan Andonov. Front l-R: Christine Walsh-Newton, Robert Hughes, Elaine Hughes. — Back L-R: Robert Kunesh, Milovan Andonov. Front L-R: Christine Walsh-Newton, Robert Hughes, Elaine Hughes.

Bear in mind that not everyone is in a position to advise or help other competitors, so if you don’t get a positive response to a request for help, don’t take it personally. My experience has been that more often than not, competitors are a very friendly bunch who would love nothing more than to welcome another person into our competition family, so just try again and I’m sure you’ll come up with a few folks who are willing to at least point you in a good direction.

Over time, you will meet other competitors from outside your area, through District competitions, or perhaps online forums or social media groups. And you will meet those that you add to your list of names. Before too long, you will have culled your list down to people that you have met, worked with and become friends with.

Your very own Image Competition Advisory Network.

Everyone say it all together now…

I! CAN!

There, I knew you could 😉

3 Print Competition Tips from Jurors-In-Training (& CPPs!)

Jurors-in-training are PPA members and print competitors and who have completed the PPA Judge’s workshop as part of the process in becoming a PPA Affiliated Juror. After the workshop, students who have their Master’s Degree are eligible to begin judging print competitions at a state level.

Like anyone else – we have opinions and advice and here is a roundup of comments from some fellow JITs to help new competitors. This will be a multi-post topic, so stay tuned for more.

Please note that today’s advice-givers are all Certified Professional Photographers. Just sayin’. 😉

#1

Remember: You are not competing against other photographers,
you are competing against yourself.
The goal is to make your work better.

~Margaret Bryant, M.Photog., CPP

Absolutely! Margaret nailed it. If you don’t take any other lesson away from print competition, this is the one you need the most. Print competition is not about beating out other photographers/competitors. It’s not about doing as well as someone else. We’ve all gotten caught up in the emotions of winning/losing, but eventually we all recognize that without a doubt, the competition is within and we all have won.

My own thoughts, excerpted from Why Print Competition? :

“…Competition has made me a MUCH better photographer. Every year that I compete, my work reaches new levels of technical excellence because I constantly push myself to refine my skills, both in the studio and on the computer, and in doing that I’ve looked at my images way more objectively than I ever have in order to eliminate anything that might make it less than a stellar image. It’s an improvement process and a learning experience. It’s not about the merits, scores and degrees (although they’re great reinforcement) – it’s about improving what I’m doing.”

#2

Ask someone who has been successful for a critique of your images.

~Ella Carlson, M. Photog. Cr., CPP

Ahhhh, yes! Ella brings up a very important point. When you begin your print competition journey, you are going to need help. And you are going to ask for it. You need to use discernment in who you ask for help. Your best bet is to ask those that have gone before you. And who have done it well. VERY well.

Shawn & Willard Jones of Jones Photography, Mayfield, KY at their Mentor Booth Appointment with PPA Affiliated Judge, Gregg Wurtzler from OH. IUSA Mentor appointments are a wonderful way to get experienced input on your competition images.

As a matter of fact, let’s dust off an article for you to read, if you haven’t already, that expands more on this topic: Photography Critiques – Part 1

#3

Handle objections before the judges can object to them.

Adrian Henson, M. Photog. M.E.I. Cr., CPP

This is a rock solid piece of advice. If you see anything wrong, and I mean ANYTHING, fix it. If you ask me “do you think the judges will see/notice this?” I’m gonna look at you sideways and comment on the Browns.

And I don’t even watch baseball.

If you can see it, the judges will see it. If I can see it, the judges will see it. Let’s not enter anything at all that will not pass muster. This isn’t the time for sloppiness.

Stay tuned for more JIT tips and a High Wootness Five! to Margaret, Ella and Adrian for sharing their wisdom. 🙂

Diamond Photographer of the Year: GO!

The other day I wrote about an image by a Diamond POTY (see HERE ) and yesterday’s mail brought the January 2015 issue of Professional Photographer Magazine, which featured all the Diamond Photographers of the Year. Diamonds must be in the air – so we’ll just continue along that theme.

Not too long ago, I was exchanging messages with a fellow competitor, when she confided in me that her goal for next year was to “go Diamond.” She seemed somewhat embarrassed at such a huge goal to pursue – but I, too, have that on my goal list, so I can really relate to it.

Now, part of me is a psychology geek and I understand that some of the behavioral theories suggest that setting a big boss hogging goal so completely out of our reach insulates us from criticism and feeling truly bad when we don’t hit it.

I’m not talking about that kind of goal-setting. No flippancy, here.

Let’s go Diamond. For reals.

Yes, it’s a huge chunk of goal to bite off, but if we don’t challenge ourselves to do great things, who will?

It’s the big daddy placement. Aside from the GIA’s that are awarded to only a handful of the best of the best of the best – Diamond POTY is the highest level that can be reached by multiple photographers. Every single competitor has the same opportunity to reach it.

Why such a big goal?

I’m going to blame that on a photographer-kin-soul of mine, Robert Hughes. Robert critiqued an image of mine at my very first image competition in 2009. He asked me what it scored and then he asked my what my goal was for it. I had told him that my goal was to score a 70. Anything below a 70 was not allowed to be hung in the exhibit and that would have just been too embarrassing for me.

Yes, I know. I was new. Just leave it be.

Robert very nicely explained that 100 should be my goal. And why. If I didn’t hit the 100, I was going to land a whole lot closer to a 100 than I was to a 70. Or an 80.

There’s a smarmy little line about aiming for the moon and landing among the stars. You’ve probably heard it.

If we aim too low at the bare minimum – the 80 (let’s just forget about that 70 silliness) – we are setting ourselves up for some major disappointment if we fall even a tiny bit short. By aiming towards the 100, and doing everything within our power to hit it, we are maximizing our efforts, and hopefully our results. And if our results happen to fall a tiny bit short – well, it’s not the train-wreck it might have been.

So, the next time you think about how you might do, how you hope you do, how you wish to do at IPC 2015 – toss over those thoughts and turn to some determination and grit – suck it up and do everything possible to submit the most solid work you are capable of. The goal for every image you work on should be “loan.” Cull, refine, reshoot, retouch – do it all with the goal of “loan” in mind for each and every image.

And four loans = Diamond POTY.

Let’s do this! Ignore the chuckling and the rolling of eyes around you – I’m not gonna do either, so let me in on your goal, I’ll keep it between us and after IPC 2015, check back in and let me know how you’ve done. Heck, keep in touch with me during your competition year and let me know how you’re doing. Write me, call me, email me – I’ve never been a Diamond, but maybe we can help each other out a little and find some other Diamonds who would be willing to help us join their group while they work to stay in it.

And if it just so happens we fall a little short – we’ll still be among the stars – and we’ll try it all over again the next year.

That would be pretty Wootnessy, wouldn’t it?

GO!

When Judging Makes You Cry…

… you know you’re looking at something pretty special.

Last August I took the 2013 Judges’ Workshop (read about it HERE) and in the spring of 2014 I began to judge at state level competitions in order to start squaring away my requirements to become a PPA Affiliated Judge.

I’m considered a Juror-In-Training until I have a certain number of judgings under my belt, a certain number of reviews by my jury chairmen and have submitted a portfolio of my work. After a review by the PEC (PPA’s Print Exhibition Committee), I still may have to go back and do some more work. So, the “working on requirements” phase is just a little open-ended, time-wise.

I’m still working on the requirements and imagine it might take an additional year or two to wrap that up. Generally I’m a “get ‘er done” kind of gal, but in this case, I’m slowly and deliberately making my way through them. In my book, this goal achievement requires that kind of approach, and frankly, I’ll be aiming at doing much more than the minimum number of required elements.

But, back to the story.

In April, I made my way northeast to judge the PP of New Jersey’s competition. I was especially nervous because our jury chair was to be none other than Helen Yancy. Oh gosh, really? Only my second judging – what a way to get reviewed by one of the best – when I’m wet behind the ears in a major way.

Anyway.

We settled in and began to judge. We were scheduled for one day of regular judging, with the following day as trophy judging. As the images rotated through, I settled in a bit and began to enjoy the images. That was one thing I wasn’t prepared for when I started judging – how incredibly honoring it is to be chosen for the judging task – and how tremendously inspiring it is to view and judge works of such incredible skill and creativity. Judging is stressful, but it’s enjoyable – like a private gallery showing of their best and newest work.

I generally walk away from competition judging filled with a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration. Just when I thought I’d seen it all, along comes another image that smacks me upside the head. It’s uplifting, amazing and joyous. Although I’m dead on my feet at the end of the day and would love to sit down and discuss what I’ve seen until the wee hours of the morning with other judges and makers – I can’t. I have to wait until after the trophy judging, and even then I must be careful to not give anything away to the makers before their awards banquet.

But there are times, when I’m in a judging seat, that an emotional smack comes from the middle of nowhere and the image in front of you – well – it shakes you up in a way you’ve never been shaken.

And that happened in New Jersey.

The title was announced. “Eyes on Haiti.” The image was presented. And there was a second, a split second where my eyes locked with the eyes of the portrait and my heart was thunderstruck. I felt…I don’t know – I felt emotion like I’d not felt before. I pulled myself together enough to asses other points in the 12 elements – it was a black and white, so I paid attention to the conversion, it was a natural light portrait so I explored the lighting patterns within it, the composition, the story-telling…. oh, the story-telling – and again my heart was lost.

The score was announced – I don’t remember what it was, but I know I talked about it – so I imagine either I or one of my colleagues challenged it. And as I spoke for the image, I began to silently cry. My throat closed up and I couldn’t go on. Fortunately, I’d said what I needed to say. I don’t remember where the score ended up – but it was up there in the region of scores to be proud of, anyway.

And then the next day, it came up in trophy judging, and as I began to speak for it again, the tears threatened to choke off my words for a second time. In the end, I wrapped up with “I think you all know how I feel about this image” and hoped that I had said enough.

I don’t remember now if it won the trophy it was under consideration for. I do remember that I awarded it my Judge’s Choice ribbon and I asked if someone could let the maker know I’d like to purchase a copy of the image.

I’d never bought a piece of someone else’s photography before. Only Ansel Adams’ reprints graced my walls to this point. But this image – it spoke to me in a way I’d never expected and I wanted it for my own.

Fortunately for me, the maker was part of the print room team and I was able to meet him and speak with him about his work. All of his images did quite well and it was no surprise that his entries in the 2014 International Print Competition resulted in his being named a Diamond Photographer of the Year with “Eyes on Haiti” being one of the four images in his case.

20140221_IMG_1416 — Jim LaSala, M. Photog. Cr. with “Eyes on Haiti.”

When you’re at IUSA this year, make your way to the print exhibit and when you get to the “L” section* – study the images of Jim LaSala.

I’ll be there – and I’ll have tissues with me this time.

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

Jim LaSala’s website: http://www.jimlasala.com/

*Jim is an ASP member so his images will be in the “ASP Masters” section.

2014: It’s all Good, Now.

The Winter Solstice is when I reflect on the last year and think about changes I want to make in the New Year. The winter is long and painful for me and this is the point where I can celebrate being halfway through the time when the sun is rarely here. Warmer and brighter days are coming and it’s natural to make hopeful plans for the future year.

So, 2014… well, it was different. Very different.

We hear a lot about the professional accomplishments of our peers, and sometimes we share very personally in them. Maybe we’ve been there, or some day we hope to be there, whatever the reason, we get it. I’ve shared a few this year that were quite exciting, but I didn’t share too much of the downside. I’m not going to now, in other than a general sense, but if the truth be told, 2014 was probably the most challenging year I’ve experienced since I switched careers from Quality Management to Photography in 2008.

On the outside looking in, things probably looked rosy. The year started off well; I went to some conventions, competitions and judgings. I went to our state convention, did well there and had the most wonderful honor of being presented with the PPA National Award. My first article was published in PPA Magazine, a goal I’ve been hoping to achieve for a great while.

It was all good. It was all really good.

But, then my knees were cut out from under me. And I had to suck some stuff up big time. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and when you do things as publicly as I do, like teach classes and write blogs and sit on boards, you have to maintain some kind of decorum. And when things go tragically wrong, as they sometimes will, it’s just best to not let on.

For awhile, I had to quit writing. I’m an emotional person and the connection between my heart and a keyboard can be a dangerous one. My writing on Wootness slowed down to the bare minimum, my enthusiasm for print competition waned and the only regular writing I did was a monthly article for Southern Exposure, the magazine for PPA’s Southeast Region, where I kept it fairly together.

Fairly. I did have my heart on my sleeve while penning an article about mentoring; an article that I’ve thought numerous times about issuing an explanation for. It drew harsh criticism that hurt, but it also drew those who were touched, and who cried as much during their reading of it as as I did during the writing of it. And in the end, I decided to leave it be, since it was where my heart was at that particular time.

And then there was a health issue that knocked me on my rear end and caused a drastic change in darned near every facet of my life. It’s all good now, but for awhile, it was pretty…hard, discouraging, frustrating and scary.

And then, there was some other stuff. But again, it’s all good. Now.

Yes, it’s all good, now – but it’s taken nine long months to put a couple of things into perspective and I think this is a real good time to clear all that nonsense out of my allotment of give-a-dangs and go forth with things that are only positive in nature. It’s been hard. I’ve made some difficult decisions and changed a few of my closely held heart-truths. I’ve lost a few heroes, and a couple of friends.

But it’s all good. Now.

And I’m back. I’m really back. For awhile I was faking it in a major way. I was calling in my performance. I was not at my best on many levels. And on some, I was at my absolute worst. I did what I needed, the best that I could, at the time. But a lot of those times, my best kind of sucked. Perhaps no one even noticed, but I did.

What’s the Wootness here? Some will say I made it through, that others have it worse – there’s Wootness in that. But sometimes I think there just isn’t gonna be Wootness. No one signed a contract with me that life was gonna be all bacon and Pop-Tarts and this year kind of proved it.

And so we move on. And greet 2015.

With hope. And a bright and shiny clean slate.

It’ll be good. It’ll all be good.

Why I Require My Print Competition Mentorees to Pursue Certification (CPP)

In the past, one was required to have a CPP before they could receive their Master’s degree from the PPA. This didn’t seem to be a popular prerequisite and I remember seeing that the list of Master’s degree recipients was quite a bit longer than normal the first year this requirement was banished. Some folks couldn’t pass the certification requirements and some folks refused to, so when the opportunity presented itself, those folks that had been sitting out because of the certification requirement were fairly numerous.

No matter what the reasoning for it’s implementation and subsequent de-implementation, I think the overall concept had a lot of merit. A major key to doing well in image competition is understanding basic photographic theory and skills – understanding and skills that are confirmed via certification.

One of the things I’ve found in my teaching of print competition workshops is that there is a certain contingent of potential competitors with stars in their eyes. They see their peers and colleagues bringing home the bling and they want to be in on the coolness, too. That’s groovy, that’s fine.

But.

While the competition process is just full of wonderfulness and joy, the message that is missed time after time is that one must be very technically competent in order to do well. And when that message is missed or ignored, we wind up with a number of folks that aren’t very pleased by their results to the point of throwing in the towel and never entering again. To them, competition was a negative experience, and that’s not good at all.

Generally I find that the most enthusiastic new competitor is often the most photographically unskilled, and time after time, my public classes come to a screeching halt while I explain a basic technical concept to a confused competitor. Explaining basic concepts is fine, you’ve got to learn somewhere and some time – (hopefully, the sooner, the better) – but I find that most folks are diving headfirst into competition before they’re truly ready. I would never discourage an enthusiastic student, ever, but in order to maximize the quality of time we spend together in a mentoring situation, our time can’t be spent on learning the basic photographic skill set that is important to have in place before competing.

Since I teach print competition classes on a regular basis, I’m usually asked if I mentor privately. The answer is “yes” but I also require that my mentorees have obtained their CPP, or at least passed the exam portion of the requirements before we start working on competition images.

Why?

The CPP designations assures me that my input and critiques will be understood and respected. Private mentoring takes a chunk of our time and sometimes a chunk of money and I want to make sure that both are spent as wisely as possible. Spending both on remedial lessons results in a less than satisfactory competition mentoring experience.

Imagine a new competitor, all bright and enthusiastic, bringing their portfolio of work to me to begin a process of culling and refining it for competition. Now imagine that during our critique portion it becomes apparent that the mentoree has minimal understanding of directional light, has never heard of ratios and does not know that the distortion from their 50mm lens is causing issues in almost every single portrait they are showing me.

That’s unfortunate, really unfortunate. Because their expectation was that they would wrap up our session with some definite competition possibilities that they just need to refine a bit, but instead, they end up with no competition possibilities at all, and a day that ended with them feeling they do not have a handle on what they are doing. It doesn’t matter how carefully and kindly I approach it – their expectations for the mentoring session were not met.

Occasionally, I’ll have a student who is in the middle of their learning process. If I see that they are pursuing and embracing what they are working on, I will certainly work with them, but at this point – we are both aware that the results may not come as quickly as for others and can adapt our expectations accordingly.

By requiring a CPP or at least a few feet deep into the process, I’m assuring us both that our time together will be productive and the student will go home happy. If certification isn’t in the works, then I can get them started in that direction with resources, study groups and recommendations for classes and instructors that will help them bring their skill set up to snuff. I’m a CPP Liaison for Ohio, so I’ve got a whole different way of helping those pursuing certification.

And as a caveat for those who are just chomping at the bit to find fault with this process – I do waive the requirement if it is apparent the mentoree is chock full of technical talent and passing the CPP exam would be a mere formality. Yes, I still encourage pursuing the CPP – but I’m not going to take such a hard-nosed stance on it – this student will “get” the critique portion of our day, which is the whole point of the requirement to begin with.

By requiring my mentorees to have a certain level of technical competence before we attempt competition activities together, I’m helping them to obtain the highest level of success possible. We can spend our time as productively as possible and maximize the results of our efforts.

My public classes will always be open to students of any skill level and I will do my best to keep everyone on the same page as much as possible, but when it comes to one-on-one education, I’m going to require a certain level of technical competence before we begin.

It’s a good thing – for both of us.

Face-to-Face Photographic Education Reviews: 2014

I’m on a face-to-face education kick right now. I always have been; in choosing my own educational resources, I prefer face-to-face education, but after being exposed to some requests for online education for subjects that just should not be attempted online, I decided to be a little more vocal about my support of in-person classes.

This article should be of particular interest to photographers in Ohio as most of the instructors I’m about to talk about are fairly local.

Fortunately, I don’t have a bad word to say about any of the classes I attended this year. Why? Because I did my research. I didn’t land in any of these classroom seats by chance, I researched the classes available and spent my money wisely. Some of these instructors were at conventions and some were hosted by a PPA affiliate. That’s sort of the requirement for me – it’s highly unusual for me to attend a private class with no affiliation with an organization, although for the right instructor, I will skirt around that preference.

WOOTNESS REVIEWS

ANN MONTEITH

At the beginning of the year, I reviewed where I was with my work and decided that I needed a business class and an art class. Hands down, the no-brainer choice for me for the business class was Ann Monteith. This lady knows her stuff and even though I attended the Marathon Press “Make Money Now” tour in Columbus, Ohio a few years ago, which featured Ann as its speaker, I went ahead and signed up for Ann’s pre-conference “Business Basics for Portrait Photographers” at Imaging/IUSA 2014. Ann has a no-nonsense approach to pricing for profit. It makes sense and is based in real accounting principles. If you don’t know a thing about the income/expense side of your business, try and find a class that Ann teaches, you’ll walk out of there a whole lot less confused. She is teaching the same pre-conference class at IusA 2015

To see Ann’s upcoming teaching schedule, click here: http://monteithworkshop.com/anns_2015_schedule.html

OHIO people: Hear Ye! Hear Ye! She will be teaching in Columbus, Ohio May 18/19: http://www.annsworkshop.com/

KATE HIGDON

I must preface this review with the disclosure that I was a student with Kate at the 2013 Judges Workshop and I’m a member of her home state organization, Photo Pro Network, where she is the Photographer of the Year. We aren’t BFFs, but we hug when we greet and have a similar affection for girly sparkly things, and of course, we both adore print competition, so she was already a winner in my book.

Now, down to the nitty-gritty. Kate is funny, she speaks on a level that does not intimidate newer photographers, yet her presentation is filled with excellent technical lighting and posing advice. She is a current PPA Diamond Photographer of the Year and an excellent example for new competitors. She walked us through some of her lighting setups and told us the back stories behind her concept development of her print competition entries. Helping out was husband Jason Higdon, a PPA Platinum Photographer of the Year. Together they worked well and kept an amusing line of communication going between themselves and the audience. The only thing negative I can say is that they were the presentation at an affiliate dinner meeting, which ran about 2 hours, and I wanted to hear them speak for a lot longer. I’d be in line to sign up for a full day course if they offer one.

Kate & Jason’s website: http://www.capturedmoments-ky.com

JON & LINDA JOHNSON

Another disclaimer: Jon and Linda are members of my home state organization, the Professional Photographers of Ohio. I have been a fellow board member with Jon and see them both several times per year at our events. I’ve thought they were good people for a long time.

Jon & Linda taught an all day program on Boudior photography. Now, this isn’t really an area that I normally shoot, but it’s an area that I definitely wanted to learn more about. I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with it and I certainly didn’t have the skill set it was going to take to make my client comfortable. This was one of those pursuits of knowledge & skill set that was “outside my box.”

There were two things that threw this class into the “blew me away” category. The first was when Jon held aloft a copy of “Body Parts” by Don Blair. Anyone who touts that book has a true understanding and appreciation for traditional photography skills, and I was delighted to see that Jon encouraged the class attendees to refine their skills through its use.

The second thing that blew me away was the entire rest of the 6 hour class. Jon and Linda based the class around a live shooting session with a model. During the entire program, no one watching would be able to tell that the instructors were working with a fairly scantily-clad model. They were highly respectful and professional and pretty much as unruffled as if they were shooting a bowl of apples or bottle of wine. They were excellent examples of how to conduct a Boudior session. I was impressed. Uber impressed. So impressed that I would have no problem at all arranging for my own session to be photographed by them. I think that says a lot.

It goes without saying that Jon and Linda are masters of their craft and teach their classes in a way that reflect that. Corrective posing is one of their strong skills and they spent a good portion of the class demonstrating ways to shoot, light and pose their clients in the most flattering way possible, a mandatory skill for boudoir photographers.

Jon & Linda’s website is here: http://jonsphoto.com/

MICHAEL TIMMONS

I’ve saved the best for last, here. This was not only a class, this was an investment in my education; both of time and money. The class was two days long and was held almost 6 hours away from home, so it required a pretty lengthy drive as well as 3 nights of accommodations.

First of all, I feel really sorry for those of you that considered coming to this class and didn’t. But in a way, I’m glad you didn’t because this class wound up small enough that it was totally customized to the needs of the students. I walked away from this class (which was really more like a small group mentoring) with my head swimming. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve returned home, and not a day goes by that I don’t work on something that I learned from Michael. (Due to the small class size, Michael took over primary instructor duties).

Print Competition is my passion. Any opportunity to take a print competition class causes me to jump for joy because there aren’t many of them out there. I teach them myself, and when the chance to learn from Michael Timmons appeared, I jumped on it. Anything I can learn better, I can teach better.

My eyes were opened in a very non-confrontational way – mainly in the course of learning new skills – to the fact that my skill-set for prepping competition images was lacking. Although I’ve done fairly well in print competition in the short number of years I’ve been involved, I became aware of a variety of things that I’ve been doing that have most certainly been holding me back.

I also had the added bonus of seeing my work turn into something I had never before been able to visualize. With some simple retouching techniques, some truly stellar images came to life. Is that bragging? I don’t mean it to be – I just kept saying “thank you” in a surprised and delighted voice. I couldn’t believe that the images we worked on were really mine. For the first time ever – I felt I could create art. And that’s probably the primary reason I jumped to study with the Timmons. They have a reputation and intent of helping their students see the art within their images. If there was such a thing as “The Wootness 5 star Award” – this class would get it.

Now, here’s the bad news. Michael is heading towards a VERY busy year as PPA president and I believe his teaching schedule will not be very flush with opportunities for students. I do know that he and Tina will be offering a week long class at Texas School of Photography in April/May 2015, but for the rest of the year – I think ya’ll are out of luck and will need to stalk their 2016 schedule.

Michael & Tina’s website: http://theportraitgallery.net/

WOOTNESS HONORABLE MENTIONS

MIKE PRICE

At the recent PP of Ohio fall conference in November, I drug myself out of bed to sit in a class at 7:15 AM. We call these “Early Birds” and most often those speakers who are beginning their journey to fulfilling their Craftsman Degree requirements will find themselves placed into this part of our schedule. Mike’s class was on workflow automation; not a topic I was dying to see, but Mike had impressed me with the energy and passion he exhibited in my dealings with him through the Professional Photographers of Central Ohio and I wanted to support him in his first speaking gig for a PP of Ohio event.

Well, knock me off my seat and serve me breakfast on the floor – this guy was phenomenal! I have never seen a more organized speaker. His presentation was professional, thorough, flowed extremely well and it was perfectly on point. He was able to answer every question posed to him and made a topic with a high probability of being dry, fairly interesting. I went away with a few new tidbits of information that I’ve been able to work into my own workflow, even though it’s fairly similar to Mike’s to begin with.

If Mike Price shows up on your list of proposed speakers – book him! If you have the opportunity to hear him speak – jump at it – you won’t be disappointed.

Mike’s Website: http://www.fairfieldphoto.com/

THE AKRON SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

I don’t belong to a local affiliate, although if I did, this group would be the closest to me and the one I would/should join. I’ve noticed over the past year that they have been hosting a series of very good speakers and two of the reviews above (Higdons & Johnsons) were from classes that they organized and sponsored. Even if you aren’t interested in joining the group – you may still attend any of their presentations (for a higher non-member fee). They’re a group to keep your eye on, for sure.

ASPP website: http://akronphotographers.org/

About that Certification thing…

Yesterday I got a lovely email from PPA employee & Certification Coordinator, Cassidy Hoffman. Cassidy reminded me that the deadline to apply for a 2015 CPP Liaison position was looming and that they had not received my request to be considered.

Of course, it was something I’d put on the back burner to get to later, but I hadn’t yet, so I checked out the application link and remembered why I’d put it off.

Yeah, essay questions. Great.

For someone that writes, you’d think that essay questions would be a piece of cake. The truth is, most of the time I run my mouth, it’s because something has inspired me. Or ticked me off. Writing with passion is a piece of cake. Writing to answer questions – meh, not so much.

So, I figure if I gotta do essay questions, they’re gonna pull double duty. So, here we go.

Five years ago, on a warm day in May 2009, I received a blue envelope from the PPA. That was before the CPP exam/image submission results were emailed. You folks working on your CPP today have it pretty good. I waited 38 days for that blue envelope to show up. 38 wretched days. Yet, I digress.

And when I opened the envelope and read that I’d passed both parts of the requirements and was formally ordained a Certified Professional Photographer, I cried.

It meant that much.

Just last month I sat down and filled out the paperwork to renew my certification. I got a little bit grandfathered into a rule change and needed to re-certify after five years, but from here on out, I’m on a three year schedule. I didn’t have to think about whether or not I was going to re-certify. For me, it was a no-brainer.

Without a doubt, the CPP process was THE biggest step in the right direction I ever could have taken with my career. Everything that has come after that process has only served to improve and add to what I do, but without that first step, none of the rest would have been possible.

I happily received a gold tube just a few weeks ago that contained my Certificate of Recertification. That strikes me a little bit funny, anyone else? I wonder if next time it will be a Recertificate of Recertification. Or a Certificate or Re-recertification. 😉 We shall see, because in another three years, I’ll be definitely going through the process, again. Another no-brainer.

PPA Tube of Gold. Just as cool as Think Geek's Bag of Holding. — PPA’s Tube of Gold. Cooler than Think Geek’s Bag of Holding – just saying.

So, about those questions.

My business, photographic style and why I chose to pursue certification:

My business is as a studio portrait photographer. Mostly. There are times when I teach, write, mentor, design, edit, sing and dance, but mostly I photograph. I specialize in head shots and character portraits. At one point in time I shot everything from school plays to weddings, but over these first five years I’ve settled into a line of work that brings me the most satisfaction and fits well into my skill set. I generally shoot simply and with refinement, and tend to veer towards low key work. I generally use a five light set up and shoot most of my clients with short light.

Five years ago I didn’t know what short light was. Or low key. I didn’t know that the lens that came with my camera from Best Buy was not good for portraits because an 18-55mm lens used for head shots causes distortion. I thought my “style” was whatever Photoshop action was popular and it varied as often the action-sellers kept selling.

Five years ago I described my style as someone’s name, whoever the someone was that I was copying at the time. It was kind of like saying I cooked in the style of Martha Stewart. Without the jail time, of course.

I was young, a rookie, and I didn’t know any better.

BUT, I came from a lengthy career in manufacturing quality and I understood the value of certification. I held two different certifications through the American Society for Quality and those pieces of paper were the key to unlocking the doors to advancement within my field.

And so I assumed (and rightly so) that the CPP certification would hold similar keys. It was only natural that I would pursue the certification offered by the largest and oldest professional photography non-profit organization in the world. There’s that no-brainer thing, again.

Why are you interested in becoming a CPP Liaison?

Well, as Alice might ask, “How can one become what one already is?” I am a built in spokesperson for the PPA on the value of certification. I’ve been a Liaison for five years, served on PPA’s Certification Committee for a year, and whether or not I continue to be a Liaison, I will always support and respect the program and encourage new photographers to pursue the CPP process as if it were a college educational program. I believe in the CPP program, wholeheartedly. It has helped to make me the photographer that I am today. Because five years ago – I pretty much sucked. Don’t make me prove it – take my word for it – I sucked.

I believe every photographer should possess the skill set that is required to successfully pass the CPP requirements. I believe that setting a standard for quality work in the photographic community can only serve to raise the bar in professional photography, for both my colleagues and our clients.

I believe in doing a job well and with finesse. I believe in knowing what you are doing, showing and teaching. I believe that those three little letters at the end of my name make a difference. They made a difference for me and I’m betting they’ll make a difference for everyone else.

And I’d love to hold the hands of those who’d like to have that difference made in their own careers.

I’d like to make the process easier and more understandable and then clap someone on the back after they pass. Or maybe buy them a drink, goodness knows they’ve earned it.

In the last five years I’ve proctored the exam over twenty times. Both at my studio and twice a year at events held by the Professional Photographers of Ohio. I’ve even proctored at Imaging USA. I have maintained contact and developed friendships with nearly all of those who have gone through the CPP process with me. It’s a hard process and by the end of it – we’ve bonded. Except for the inverse square law stuff – we just try to get through that part without hurting each other. 😉

It doesn’t stop there, though.

The CPP process is only a first step, but it’s a wonderful, large step that hikes us up to a better place. A place that helps ready us to be Craftsmen and print competitors and Master Photographers and ASP Educational Associates and Fellows. It’s the beginning of a pathway to success that I encourage all my CPP candidates to continue on.

It’s a doorway to greatness and I’d like to continue to be a doorman.

Please.

Sincerely,
Christine Walsh-Newton, M. Photog., Cr., CPP

Print Competition 101: How To Get Started – the WHERE

from Christine’s Print Competition Workshop | Print Competition 101 teaching materials & adapted for the interwebs:

The question that just about everyone asks first is how to get involved in print competitions. There’s a variety of ways of explaining it, but until you know all of the terms, it’s all a bit daunting, so for the beginners, I’m going to keep the “lingo” to a minimum.

The first thing to make note of is that when I speak of print competition (or image competition), I am speaking solely of the competitions that exist within the PPA and it’s affiliates on state and local levels. That’s it. I’ve got no experience with any other system.

Now, perhaps you just got to that “affiliates on blah blah blah” part back there and got a little bit lost. That’s ok. That’s part of figuring out where you can enter print competition. “Where?”is very good place to start, and in future segments we will further explore this question as well as the “What?” “Who?” “When” “How?” and “Why?”

To keep things on the simple side, I like to think of competition in four levels:

1. Local Affiliate

2. State Affiliate

3. PPA District

4. PPA International

Are you a member of a State or Local Organization? These are what we call affiliates, if they’re officially aligned with the PPA. Generally, they’d be called something like “Professional Photographers of Your State or Town.” If you’re not sure if you belong to one, or you want to know which one you would contact to join, the PPA has compiled a handy dandy downloadable PDF right HERE, so check your state and see what it says. Yes, you have to do a little bit of work here, download the PDF and check. I’ll wait. Make note of both state and local groups that are nearest you.

Alrighty, now I can betcha there’s someone from Alaska or Nevada has a bone to pick with me. Currently there are no state affiliates for you on this list. You may try to join another state’s affiliate and compete under their membership rules for state and local events, but your district is still defined by your state of residence.

I can hear you now, “just get to answering my question, already”, right?

You may enter print competition in any organization that you are a member of. Yes, there are exceptions. Let’s not complicate things, yet. Let’s just stick with the groups we belong to, or intend in belonging to. Soon.

Local Affiliate:

Most local affiliates are tied to a metro area and meet on a monthly basis. Most have a formal image competition worked into their schedule. Sometimes they are more informal than others and judges can have a variety of credentials from a Certified Professional Photographer or a Master Photographer to a Juror in Training or even a PPA Affiliated Juror.

State Affiliate:

State Organizations generally have an annual convention and an associated image competition where the results determine formal Photographer of the Year and other rankings of importance. States generally conduct these in a formal manner and judges of varying degrees of credentials are utilized, but none are specifically required unless the organization itself has set that requirement. Some states also have other image competition opportunities throughout the year, so don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s only one.

PPA District:

District Competitions are held once per year per district. Judges must be PPA Affiliated Jurors. Results from this competition have serious bearing upon IPC results *IF* you are a PPA Member. Yes, you may enter if you are not a member, but, why?

STEP 1: check this PEC District Map and note your district: {click to enlarge} Also available at this LINK.

STEP 2: Check this link to see when the deadlines are for your district, or just read below 😉 :

Northcentral District Photographic Competition

2015 Judging Dates: March 20-21, 2015
Des Moines, Iowa
Entries open: February 9, 2015
Entries close: March 11, 2015

Western District Photographic Competition

2015 Judging Dates: March 26-28, 2015
Vancouver, Washington
Entries open: February 16, 2015
Entries close: March 18, 2015

Northeast District Photographic Competition

2015 Judging Dates: March 13-14, 2015
Columbus, OH
Entries open: January 26, 2015
Entries close: March 6, 2015

Southeast District Photographic Competition

2015 Judging Dates: April 30-May 2, 2015
Charlotte, NC
Entries open: March 23, 2015
Entries close: April 24, 2015

Southwest District Photographic Competition

2015 Judging Dates: January 8-9, 2015
San Marcos, TX
Entries open: December 1, 2014
Entries close: January 2, 2015

PPA International:

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “IPC.” If not, it’s stands for International Print Competition and it’s what I consider to be the “Big Daddy” of image competitions. It’s held every August-ish in the Atlanta, Georgia area and the results of this competition are of the utmost importance. You may enter up to 4 pieces of your best work, either digitally, or physically, or a combination of both. Most competitors work all year long vetting down their finest work to these four final pieces. This is pretty much ends what I call the “competition season” and for those of you working towards a Master of Photography Degree, or wishing to earn exhibition merits, this is the competition that you have to enter for sure. For reals. Seriously.

The results of this competition are celebrated at the PPA’s annual convention, Imaging USA (IUSA) and is held in the Jan/Feb zone at a different location each year. 2015 will be Feb 1-3 in Nashville. For more information see: http://imagingusa.org/

In Conclusion:

If you checked the links and made note of your local, state and district competitions, you have taken the first step towards being an image competition participant, you have determined the “Where.”

Stay tuned for more installments of Print Competition 101.

It’s Not Always About Winning

This article originally appeared in the November 2014 Issue of Southern Exposure, the magazine of the Southeast PPA District, page 13. View it here.

* * * * * * * * *

We’re gonna break my number one rule here and use the word “passion.” It’s pretty much a given fact that I’m passionate about print competition. I enter it, work in print rooms, teach classes in it and just have an all-around addiction going. I firmly believe that it’s one of the most intensive and beneficial learning processes available.

I have colleagues, associates, friends and fellow organization members who are as passionate as I. We seem to draw to each other, like a zombie invasion. In a way, we’re the geeks of our organizations. And we’re very happy to have others participate in the geekness.

Image competition is fun. When you get past the stress and uncertainty and you’re sitting in the audience waiting for your image to spin, the excitement is palpable. I’ve sat in the darkness and felt both joy and disappointment in my scores, but the overall experience was always positive.

And I love it when competition is positive for others. Especially when their hard work is rewarded with merit level scores, certificates and trophies. The road getting to that point can be difficult and it can take a number of years before the first merit is earned. By the time you’ve hit that level, you’ve gone through a number or trials by fire and learned many lessons the hard way.

And then you win. And you begin to collect an array of certificates, plaques and trophies. And sometimes things go a little bit haywire.

Sometimes we grow to expect that we will be winners. And when we aren’t, we have that disappointment to deal with. And sometimes we don’t deal with it very well. At all.

Sometimes we blame it on ourselves. Sometimes we blame it on the judges. Sometimes we blame it on the competition process. And sometimes, well, sometimes the person who had nothing to do with our entry at all gets blamed. The “winner”.

I love excelling, however, the whole “competition” part of competition can be a little awkward. I love rewarding outstanding images as well as talented makers. I love applauding for photographers of the year and others with notable results. I love scores and appreciate the scoring categories that the PPA uses that help me determine the level at which I’m competing.

But, I do not love seeing the quest for trophies eclipse the quest for improvement. I do not love seeing rivalries become a bit more personal when the final case scores are tabulated. And I do not love the word “robbed.”

As a print competition education advocate, teaching the ins and outs of how to enter competition and prepare your entries is the easy part. Teaching competitors how to handle the emotional part of competition… not so much. Both the highs and the lows need handled with a bit more professionalism in some cases.

I don’t know what the answer is, but the problem weighs heavy on my heart.

#1

Remember: You are not competing against other photographers, you are competing against yourself. The goal is to make your work better.

#2

Ask someone who has been successful for a critique of your images.

#3

Handle objections before the judges can object to them.

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