Professional photographer 2008 04

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PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | APRIL 2008

CONTENTS

DESIGNING DUOAllison & Jeff Rodgers bring ad agency service to studio clients

by Jeff Kent

BRILLIANTA glittering gallery by the Diamond Photographers of the Year

by Jeff Kent

PORTRAITS: JOY RIDE

Michael Gan & Leslie Artis-Gan:It’s a pleasure to be creative for a living

by Stephanie Boozer

PORTRAITS: BOLD BLACK AND WHITE

Portraitist Kerry Brett brands her distinctive style

by Lorna Gentry

PORTRAITS: CLASSIC BEAUTY

Portraitist Tim Kelly shares the secrets of his success

by Lorna Gentry

IMAGE BY ALLISON RODGERS PHOTOGRAPHY

94

66

72

82

86

Features

5,6-contents 3/13/08 11:32 AM Page 1

DepartmentsCONTACT SHEET

20 Eye of the storm: Jim Reed

22 Chris Lommel’s Greenspace

26 Copyright help is a click awayby Maureen Cogan

28 Led by passionby David McKay

PROFIT CENTER

33 What I think: Allison Rodgers

36 Web sites: Online & on your mind by Angela Wijesinghe

40 Web sites: Tap the powerby Kammy Thurman

44 The joy of marketing: Stay trueby Sarah Petty

THE GOODS

49 What I like: Julia Gerace

52 Pro review: Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6100by Ellis Vener

56 Labs: Spring tryoutsby Joan Sherwood

62 Photoshop and Lightroom:What’s the difference?Part IIby Andrew Rodney

ON THE COVER: Kit and Alicia Teeter instructedAllison Rodgers to capture the true nature of their5-year-old twins Cassie and Kinsey and their 3-year-old sister, Kyleigh. Our cover image, captured withthe Canon EOS 5D and a 24-70mm 2.8L lens,was one of nine images that Allison and Jeff Rodgersdesigned to go in the Teeter’s home as a grouping.Rodgers recalls, “So many expressions, so manymoods. This image captures just one second inthe life of the Teeter girls.” Read more about AllisonRodgers Photography in our feature on page 86.

6 • www.ppmag.com

14 FOLIO

106 CALENDAR

111 PPA TODAY

130 GOOD WORKSPROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | APRIL 2008 | WWW.PPMAG.COM

Portrait artist and Improper Bostonian photographer Kerry Brett loves

a challenge. Whether it’s time restraints with celebrity clients or having too little space to

work in, creative problem solving heightens her delight in photography.

©K

erry Brett

CONTENTS

72

5,6-contents 3/12/08 3:29 PM Page 2

©2008 Collages.net Inc. All rights reserved. Photo ©2008 Erik Matey.

What happens when you ask a group of nine fun, creative, and innovative women to design a comprehensive product line for professional photographers?

They develop a beautiful, elegant, high-quality product collection that fi ts the product needs of every wedding and

portrait studio. Learn more about the products and how these women used the highest quality materials, the hottest

colors, and the most innovative design to create fi ve best-in-class product lines at www. collages.net/creative.

Check out Collages.net’s comprehensive product line at www.collages.net/products.

Albums | High-End Cards | Press Printed Books | Gallery Wraps | Professional Printing | Online Presentation

is Your_ Product Development Team!

Our Product Development Team…

Mind. Body.

A Picture-Perfect Relationship

Photography.

director of sales and strategic alliancesSCOTT HERSH, 610-966-2466, [email protected]

western region ad managerBART ENGELS, 847-854-8182, [email protected]

eastern region ad managerSHELLIE JOHNSON, 404-522-8600, x279, [email protected]

circulation consultant MOLLIE O’SHEA, [email protected]

editorial officesProfessional Photographer

229 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303-1608 U.S.A.404-522-8600; FAX: 404-614-6406

Professional Photographer (ISSN 1528-5286) is published monthly subscriptions

Professional Photographer P.O. Box 2035, Skokie, IL 60076; 800-742-7468;

FAX 404-614-6406; email: [email protected]; Web site: www.ppmag.commember services

PPA - Professional Photographer 800-786-6277; FAX 301-953-2838; e-mail: [email protected]; www.ppa.com

Send all advertising materials to: Debbie Todd, Professional Photographer, 5431 E. Garnet, Mesa, AZ 85206; 480-807-4391; FAX: 480-807-4509

Subscription rates/information: U.S.: $27, one year; $45, two years; $66, three years. Canada: $43, one year; $73, two years; $108, three years.

International: $39.95, one year digital subscription. Back issues/Single copies $7 U.S.; $10 Canada; $15 International.

PPA membership includes $13.50 annual subscription. Subscription orders/changes: Send to Professional Photographer, Attn: Circulation

Dept., P.O. Box 2035, Skokie, IL 60076; 800-742-7468; FAX 404-614-6406; email: [email protected]; Web site: www.ppmag.com.

Periodicals postage paid in Atlanta, Ga., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Professional Photographer magazine,

P.O. Box 2035, Skokie, IL 60076Copyright 2008, PPA Publications & Events, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.

Article reprints: Contact Professional Photographer reprint coordinator at Wrights’s Reprints; 1-877-652-5295.

Microfilm copies: University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

Professional Photographer (ISSN 1528-5286) is published monthly for $27 per year by PPAPublications and Events, Inc., 229 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 2200, International Tower, Atlanta,GA 30303-1608. Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, Ga., and additional mailing offices.

Acceptance of advertising does not carry with it endorsement by the publisher. Opinions expressedby Professional Photographer or any of its authors do not necessarily reflect positions ofProfessional Photographers of America, Inc. Professional Photographer, official journal of theProfessional Photographers of America, Inc., is the oldest exclusively professional photographicpublication in the Western Hemisphere (founded 1907 by Charles Abel, Hon.M.Photog.), incorporatingAbel’s Photographic Weekly, St. Louis & Canadian Photographer, The Commercial Photographer,The National Photographer, Professional Photographer, andProfessional Photographer Storytellers. Circulation audited andverified by BPA Worldwide

10 • www.ppmag.com

PROFESSIONAL

senior editorJOAN [email protected]

features editorLESLIE HUNT

[email protected]

editor-at-largeJEFF KENT

[email protected]

art director/production managerDEBBIE TODD

[email protected]

manager, publications andsales/strategic alliances

KARISA [email protected]

sales and marketing assistantCHERYL [email protected]

EDITORIAL

Investigative reportingTHE VALUE OF A GOOD Q&A SESSION

What a client wants and what a client says she wants can be two

different things.

In journalism, there are fundamental questions every story is

supposed to answer: who, what, when, where, why and how. If the

reporter can elicit the answers to these six questions, he’s armed

with the facts he needs to write the full story.

The idea of a thorough question-and-answer session applies to

portrait photographers as well, at least those interested in

maximizing every sale.

Most clients aren’t familiar with the dramatic strides in por-

trait-making in the last few years, and the plethora of new media

and photo products now available. They need the photographer’s

expertise to walk them through the selections. To provide true

counsel, you have to know not only what the client wants,

but what he really needs. You have to put on your reporter’s cap

and find out.

“When clients come in, I ask a thousand questions about who

they are and what they’re looking for,” says Allison Rodgers, who,

along with her husband, Jeff, runs a successful studio in Olive, Miss.

“I want to see the color palette of their house, the layout, the style.

We look into all of these elements so that we can provide a solution

that fits them.”

The Rodgers, profiled on p. 86, are both former art directors,

and accustomed to demanding corporate clients. Their experience

in the rough-and-tumble advertising world taught them how to

anticipate their clients’ requirements.

In the end, says Allison, “It’s about helping people understand

what they need.” And isn’t that the most effective sales strategy

there is? �

Cameron Bishopp

[email protected]

Director of Publications

technical editorsANDREW RODNEY, ELLIS VENER

director of publicationsCAMERON BISHOPP

[email protected]

10-editorial 3/12/08 3:30 PM Page 1

Three amazing cameras designed to inspire. Starting with the powerful EOS-1Ds Mark III. With a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, dual DiG!C III Image Processors, and a 3-inch LCD monitor, it’s far and away the most remarkable camera Canon has ever created. The innovative, feature-filled 10.1-megapixel EOS 40D letsphotographers take the next leap forward, with its DiG!C III Image Processor and 6.5 frames-per-second shooting. Along with the exceptional EOS-1D Mark III with its blazingly fast 10.5frames-per-second shooting and 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, Canon makes the creativeprocess easy, rewarding and, most important, inspiring.

©2008 Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon, EOS and DiG!C are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States. IMAGEANYWARE is a trademark of Canon. All rights reserved.

To get more inspired about the Canon EOS system, go to: www.usa.canon.com/dlc

11 canon 3/12/08 8:56 AM Page 1

Professional Photographers of America229 Peachtree St., NE, Suite 2200Atlanta, GA 30303-1608404-522-8600; 800-786-6277FAX: 404-614-6400www.ppa.com

2008-2009 PPA board

president*DENNIS CRAFT M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API, [email protected]

vice president*RON NICHOLSM.Photog.Cr., [email protected]

treasurer*LOUIS TONSMEIRE Cr.Photog., [email protected]

chairman of the board*JACK REZNICKICr.Photog., Hon.M.Photog., [email protected]

directorsDON DICKSONM.Photog.Cr., [email protected]

SANDY (SAM) PUC’ M.Photog.Cr., CPP, [email protected]

RALPH ROMAGUERA, SR.M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API, [email protected]

CAROL ANDREWSM.Photog.Cr., [email protected]

SUSAN MICHALM.Photog.Cr., CPP, [email protected]

TIMOTHY WALDENM.Photog.Cr., [email protected]

DOUG BOXM.Photog.Cr., [email protected]

DON MACGREGORM.Photog.Cr., [email protected]

industry advisorKEVIN [email protected]

legal counselHowe and Hutton, Chicago

PPA staffDAVID TRUST Chief Executive Officer [email protected]

SCOTT KURKIANChief Financial [email protected]

CAMERON BISHOPP Director of [email protected]

DANA GROVES Director of Marketing &[email protected]

SCOTT HERSHDirector of Sales & Strategic [email protected]

J. ALEXANDER HOPPERDirector of Membership,Copyright and [email protected]

WILDA OKEN Director of [email protected]

LENORE TAFFEL Director of Events/[email protected]

SANDRA LANGExecutive [email protected]

*Executive Committee of the Board

“Melancoly” by Joseph and Louise Simone


12-board 3/12/08 8:57 AM Page 1

13 edpierce 3/12/08 8:59 AM Page 1


folio| Comprising images selected from the files of the PPA Loan Collection, Folio is a monthly sample ofaward-winning photography by PPA members. The Loan Collection is a select group of some 500photographs chosen annually by the PPA print judges from more than 5,000 entries.

JIM CARPENTERJim Carpenter, CPP, of

Gitchells Studio, Inc. inCharlottesville, Va.,

captured “Crayola Cafe” asa self-assignment after

noticing the colorful umbrellasfrom the highway. He got

permission from the Universityof Virginia to climb onto a

roof, where he snapped theimage with a Fujifilm

FinePix S2 Pro digital SLRand 17-35mm Nikkor f/2.8 D

IF-ED AF-S Zoom lens,exposing the frame for

1/250 second at f/8, ISO400. He used Adobe

Photoshop only to remove acrack in the concrete. “The

umbrellas are really thatcolor,” he says. This Loan

Collection image won aFujifilm Masterpiece Award.

©Jim Carpenter

R3-4 folio 3/12/08 3:31 PM Page 1

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RICH NEWELLWhile out photographing Italian architecture one afternoon, Rich Newell, M.Photog.Cr., of Photography by Eicher’s in Springboro, Ohio, noticed these threegentlemen with a baby carriage. “What were they talking about so intently, and why was there a baby carriage?” Newell wondered. With an answerin mind, Newell captured “I Told You to Use Protection” with a Fujifilm FinePix S2 Pro digital SLR and 80-200mm Nikkor f/2.8D AF ED lens,exposing the frame for 1/250 second at f/4.5, ISO 100. “This was one of those real-life moments that you just couldn’t make up,” says Newell.

TINA TIMMONSWhile showing a client some fine-artpieces, Tina Timmons, M.Photog.Cr.,

of The Portrait Gallery in Frankenmuth,Mich., came up with the idea for “It’s a

Girl Thing” when the client expressedinterest in a photo of purses. “My

mom was making photographic pursesand totes for gallery resale,” says

Timmons. With her Fujifilm FinePix S3Pro digital SLR and 18-200mm Nikkor

f/2.8 G IF-ED AF-S DX VR lens,Timmons ran down to the purse shop

and exposed the image for 1/125second at f/5.6, ISO 800. She used

her own special combination of AdobePhotoshop, LucisArt, BuZZ, and Nik

Color Efex Pro software to achieve thefinal image.

©Rich Newell

©Tina Timmons

R3-4 folio 3/12/08 3:31 PM Page 2

If seeing is believing, you will want to see your images in their true colors. Monitors and graphic cards interpret color in their own unique ways, and they’re all different. i1Display 2 ensures that what you see onyour monitor is the real color in your digital files. It’s simple to use and includes everything you need to getaccurate on-screen color throughout the digital workflow, both in your own studio or in a collaborative production environment.

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CONTACT SHEETWhat’s New, Events, Hot Products, Great Ideas, Etc.

All images ©Jim Reed

BY JEFF KENT

Eyestormof the

20-22,26,2,29-CS 3/13/08 11:39 AM Page 1

For the better part of two decades, Jim Reed

has lived on the edge of a tempest. That’s

not a metaphor. Reed is a world-renowned

storm chaser and award-winning weather

photographer who has witnessed the fury of

countless floods, blizzards, tornadoes, and

hurricanes. His work has appeared in

National Geographic, Nikon World, The

New York Times, Reader’s Digest, and Time,

and the Web sites of the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration and the

World Meteorological Organization. Reed

is also the author of “Storm Chaser: A Pho-

tographer’s Journey,” winner of widespread

critical acclaim.

Reed’s career began in Los Angeles as a

filmmaker and writer, working on a variety

of commercial projects. But his childhood

fascination with weather began to reassert

its pull, as televised coverage of severe

weather became more immediate, and he

began shadowing weather researchers.

Well before the movie Twister thrilled

audiences with the tumultuous life of

storm chasing, Reed had secured a niche

documenting extreme weather. In the early

’90s, with a spate of severe weather lashing

across the country, Reed turned his focus to

the skies full time. While everyone else

was running for shelter, he stepped into

the maelstrom.

Reed moved from Los Angeles to

Wichita, Kan., in 1992 and set up a weather

photography operation. He chases storms,

journeys to major weather events, and sells

his images to the media and stock and fine

art houses. “Kansas is amazing because of

how energized people are in terms of talking

about these life-changing storms,” says

Reed. “And Kansas is at the geographic

center of the United States, and as the

crossroads of weather patterns, mete-

orologically it’s a battleground for atmos-

pheric conflict.”

From a photographic perspective, Reed

relishes the opportunity to interact with

nature and produce jaw-dropping

“atmospheric portraits.” From a social and

environmental perspective, he enjoys

knowing his work can affect our perception

of nature. “I am convinced that we’re

moving into a period of increased frequency

of harsh weather challenges. I’ve learned

that if you are not prepared, not engaged

with nature, there will be traumatic results.

Photography plays a critical role in helping

people realize what’s going on around them,

and motivating them to learn to adapt.”

To see more of Jim Reed’s weatherphotography, and for information on his book, “Storm Chaser,” visitwww.jimreedphoto.com.

20-22,26,2,29-CS 3/12/08 3:33 PM Page 2

For Chris Lommel, M.Photog., CPP, of Chris

Lommel Photography in Big Lake, Minn.,

“going green” is more than a buzz word. His

4,000 square-foot home and studio sits on

two-and-a-half acres landscaped into idyllic

settings for portraits, the culmination of his

love of both photography and landscape design.

“I love being in tune with nature and the

evolution of things,” says Lommel, who works

alongside his wife and high school sweetheart,

Kim. “My photography reflects that, too,

because I’m always trying to grow and change.”

The Lommels planted the garden’s first

seeds in 1995, and it’s been sprouting in new

directions ever since. In 1999, they installed

water features, a pond 50-feet in diameter,

and a smaller pond that runs into a rocky

creek bed with a series of waterfalls.

“It’s a great place to capture candid photog-

raphy with the kids,” says Lommel. Conditioned

by Lommel’s hand-feeding, the Koi and

goldfish follow alongside visitors as they

circle the ponds. “The kids have a great time

feeding the fish and playing in the yard. I can

capture kids just being themselves.”

Caring for a sizeable garden takes much

time and manual labor, which Lommel was

feeling acutely in 2001, when he learned he

had multiple myeloma. Lommel immediately

began an aggressive campaign of treatment,

including intense chemotherapy and,

eventually, a stem cell transplant. Recovery

meant a year-long hiatus from the studio

and his beloved garden, and another two

years of working part time.

His family, members of the Rotary Club and

others in the Lommel’s community tended

the grounds, while photographers in the

area volunteered time in the studio to keep

his business going.

“Last summer, the doctor said I’m cured

until proven otherwise, so we’re back to

adding to the landscape,” says Lommel. He

plans to add a rustic floor and roof to the log

cabin on the property, and to partially restore

a fieldstone farmhouse in another section. And

there’s always the ongoing work of planting,

weeding, mulching and maintenance.

The cycle begins in winter, when

Lommel seeds some 40 flats with annuals,

leaving them to sprout under the grow lights

in his basement. When the frigid Minnesota

winter eases into early spring, Lommel

moves the flats to a greenhouse. Memorial

Day marks prime planting time, and friends

and family come to help with the task.

“There’s always something to do in a

garden,” says Lommel, whose mother, too,

tends to the gardens in the growing season,

putting in more than 30 hours a week. “It

really is a labor of love, designing and creating

things outdoors. I’m fortunate that I can

work in both areas that I love so much.”

See more of the Lommels’ landscape and portraitwork at www.chrislommelphotography.com.

CONTACT SHEET


GreenspaceAll images ©Chris Lommel

Portraiture thrives in Chris Lommel’s garden

BY STEPHANIE BOOZER


20-22,26,2,29-CS 3/12/08 3:33 PM Page 3

Tell your story with a Photo Book from Mpix. Our new Custom Hard Covers give you complete freedom to add vibrant, colorful images to the front and back of

your book. Now your story starts before you even reach page 1.

PHOTO BOOKS

Visit www.mpix.com to see our full line of photographic and press products.

Imag

e cou

rtesy

of

Salle

e Pho

toga

phy,

Dalla

s, TX.

If you want to protect your copyrights, PPA’s

Copyright Kit will show you how. Prepared

by the PPA Copyright and Government

Affairs Department, the kit is an exclusive

service for PPA members. Formatted as a

40-page downloadable PDF file, the kit

includes clear explanations of copyright

laws; steps to take to protect your rights;

filing how-tos; interactive, printable U.S.

Copyright Office forms; sample usage

licenses; model release forms; copyright

transfer contracts; and more.

Our company, MoCoPhoto, incorporated

the information and forms in the kit into a

brochure for clients that explains our legal

copyright over the images we create, how copy-

right protection is vital to our business, why

we stamp a copyright notice on our images,

and what constitutes copyright violation. The

brochure accompanies every order we deliver.

It’s not difficult for consumers to scan,

copy and enlarge prints, but if we educate

our clients, we can stem unintentional

copyright violation.

At DeMartini Photography, in San

Diego, Calif., Christie DeMartini goes over

contracts with each client, highlighting key

points, including her copyright to the

images, and asks the client to initial each

point. She also inserts a PPA-supplied

copyright notice in each order. Further, she

embeds her copyright in the metadata of

each digital image file, and clearly marks it

on every image on her Web site.

“I market to a clientele who appreciate

fine art,” says Vanessa Ard, of Vanessa’s

Photography in Ellicott City, Md. She

screens clients and educates them during

their initial consultation. She uses projection

rather than paper proofs, and only rarely

agrees to post a lo-res Web gallery online,

and then for a limited time. Her final prints

are textured and mounted, which both

raises their perceived value as fine art and

makes copying them virtually impossible.

At Mecey Enterprises, Inc. of Beverly

Hills, Calif., most of David Mecey’s images

are made for limited use in catalogs or

brochures, so he doesn’t usually register

them with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Instead, Mecey writes the terms of the

client’s usage of his images into every job

proposal, and reiterates the terms in every

invoice. He clearly states that the client is

buying usage rights for a limited time and

purpose only, and that ownership of the

photographs remains his. He does formally

register images of celebrities or singular

events that might be widely used.

“My advice is to be as careful as you can

with your images,” says Mecey. “But I think

losing sleep over thinking someone may be

copying or using one of your images

without permission is a no-win situation.

Restrict the use of your images, and always

get it in writing."

Maureen Cogan, CPP, owns MoCoPhoto inColumbia, Md. (www.mocophoto.com).

To obtain a free Copyright Kit, PPA memberscan visit www.ppa.com, click on theCopyright tab on the left, and selectCopyright Downloads.


CONTACT SHEET

Copyright help is a click awayHow photographers are using the PPA Copyright Kit to protect their intellectual property BY MAUREEN COGAN, CPP

The back of every print that leaves MoCoPhotois stamped with a copyright notice (left). Coganencloses brochures on copyright info with everyorder (above).

©Maureen Cogan

20-22,26,2,29-CS 3/12/08 3:33 PM Page 4

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27 mamiya pocket 3/12/08 9:01 AM Page 1

Pricing wars, retail giants, and a shaky economy

are only a few of the reasons why niche mar-

keting your art is crucial to your studio’s success.

To attract clients who want art rather

than cookie-cutter mediocrity, your work

needs to be fresh and unique, and capture

CONTACT SHEET


Led bypassion“When you’re truly excited aboutyour work, your clients willsee it … and believe in it, too.”

BY DAVID MCKAY, CPP

©David McKay

ESSAY

20-22,26,2,29-CS 3/12/08 3:34 PM Page 5

the imagination. The market is ripe for

innovation that’s driven by artistic passion.

If your business is known for doing a certain

type of portraiture (ours is wall decor in brown

tones), and nobody can match your quality,

your marketing should attract clients who want

your work and expect to pay a premium for

it—we have wealthy clients, but we also have

clients who save up to purchase a McKay.

Start by following your passion and listen

to your inner voice. When you’re truly

excited about your work, and you know it’s

valuable artistically, your clients will see it in

your body language and believe it it, too.

Others may try to imitate your style, but

nobody can duplicate the passion you put into

your images. Others are trying to imitate our

brown-tone style, but clients tell us that their

work just doesn’t have the depth and emotion

of our portraits. When you create art that

is uniquely yours, your competition isn’t with

other photographers, it’s with a value system.

We don’t do portraits in the park like

some photographers in our area, and, yes,

we lose a few clients when we say no. The

clients we do attract know what we’re going

to do for them and how much it will cost. If

we took on every kind of photography, we’d

devalue our work.

Be who you were created to be, a true

artist who lives with passion and purpose,

and you will succeed in your chosen career.

McKay Photography is in El Dorado Hills,Calif. (www.mckayphotography.com).

©David McKay

April 2008 • Professional Photographer • 29

20-22,26,2,29-CS 3/12/08 3:35 PM Page 6

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©2008 Collages.net Inc. All rights reserved. Photos ©2007 April Rocha Photography and Boucher Photography.

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GO TO PPMAG.COM TO ENTERSubmission deadline: Saturday, May 31, 2008

Have you always dreamed of seeing your work on the cover of a national magazine? Here’s your chance! Beginning March 1, 2008, submit your photographs for an

opportunity to be featured on the cover of Professional Photographer.

Contest Rules & Judging: Images will be

judged on technical and artistic merit. Helping

Professional Photographer magazine editors

choose the best entries will be guest judge

Helen K. Yancy, M.Photog.M.Artist.MEI.Cr.Hon.

M.Photog., CPP, F-ASP, Hon. F-ASP, the chair-

man of PPA’s Print Exhibition Committee.

You may submit as many images as you wish,

provided they are representative of the work

you sell to your clients. What we’re seeking

are real-world examples of portrait, wedding,

commercial and event photography. All work

submitted must be original and previously un-

published, and you must have written releases

on fi le from any subjects pictured in the image.

Prizes: In addition to landing the cover of a

2008 edition of Professional Photographer, the

winner will be awarded a selection of prizes

from among our cover photo contest sponsors,

Bogen, Canon, Kodak, Microsoft and Miller’s

Professional Imaging. Prizes will also be

awarded to 2nd-, 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-place win-

ners, and as many as 25 entrants will receive

prizes for honorable mention.

How to enter: Go to www.ppmag.com to

enter. Only digital fi les will be accepted. Print

images and e-mailed images will NOT be

accepted. Upload your electronic images to

www.ppmag.com.

Format/Specifi cations: Submit low-resolution

images only, in standard digital formats (.jpg,

.pdf, etc.). Images should be 525x700 pixels;

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ppmag-Contest-AD-v3.indd 1 2/13/08 9:43:52 AM


Professional Photographer P R E S E N T S Business, Marketing and Sales Strategies

What I thinkAllison Rodgers raises a family of loyal clients

What do you wish you knew when you were first start-

ing out? I wish I had invested in studio management

software to manage the mass of information I gathered.

Once you develop a client base, one of the most

important things you can do is nurture that list.

You can’t do it with sticky notes.

What’s the biggest business risk you’ve ever taken?

In November 2005 we moved into a 3,000-square-

foot building with triple the rent of our previous

two-location setup. I wanted to get all of us into

one place so we could work as a unit with room to

grow. And guess what—we grew! We added

framing and three more employees. It was a big

risk, but it’s been so worth it.

What’s your deal breaker? When parents try to run

my child portrait sessions.

What’s the secret to running a successful photog-

raphy business? We always say that things change

every six months. We are constantly re-evaluating

and putting new things in place to make the

experience of Allison Rodgers Photography better.

You have to figure out what your clients’ needs are

and meet them. Go above and beyond. Create an

environment for your clients where they feel like

they’re the most important client you have. And,

most important, be generous with your time and

your talent. Being generous will help you create a

family of clients that will be forever loyal.

IMAGE BY ALLISON RODGERS

PHOTOGRAPHY

WWW.ALLISONRODGERS.COM

33-profitsplash 3/12/08 3:32 PM Page 1

“Your Web site is terrific!” That’s what Farrah

Braniff heard when her recently overhauled

Web site, www.farrahbraniff.com, landed

one of this year’s two PPA AN-NE Marketing

Awards for Best Web Site. Braniff is the

owner of Farrah Braniff Photographs in

Houston. The goal of the site redesign, she

says, was to “mirror what we do, our

personalities, our studios, and our work.”

Wendy Rouleau, owner of Portraits by

Wendy in Buford, Ga., also heard rave reviews

about www.portraitsbywendy.com, the

second AN-NE Web winner. “I looked at lots

of photography sites and saw the same stuff.

I wanted to be different,” says Rouleau.

The AN-NE awards recognize creative and

effective marketing strategies and campaigns.

Farrah Braniff recalls a saying she once

heard, “The only thing that nobody has but

you … is you.” She wanted her site to convey

her unique style and personality through

both words and images.

Braniff ’s original site was elegant enough

with its featured black-and-white images and

traditional style, “But it wasn’t all of me,” she

says. “My work had changed enough that I

needed a fresh look, a more complete

portfolio, and more information about

myself in a new blog.”

Braniff arranged her online galleries to

spotlight bright, fun photos, caught-in-the-

act poses and location shots. People find a

wealth of portrait ideas on the site, and

often come in with requests for specific

poses and styles they’ve seen there.

Building on a gray background, Braniff

designed the entire Web site in Photoshop,

adding swatches of various colors and

textures, then dropping in images and text.

On her Portfolio page, this background sets

off the filmstrips of images showing various

styles and categories. An image mouseover


AN-NE Award winners use smart Web designto show off their unique style and personality.BY ANGELA WIJES INGHE

Online & A LOOK AT TWO GREATSTUDIO WEB SITES

PROFIT CENTER: WEB SITES

Farrah Braniff needed a fresh look to reflect thechanges in her work. She designed the siteherself and hired a programmer to make it workas she envisioned.

©Farrah B

raniff

on your mind

36,38-websites 3/12/08 3:36 PM Page 1

draws a circle around the frame and brings

up the image category, such as family. A

click takes you to that gallery. The look is

reminiscent of a modern scrapbook.

Big and bold, Braniff ’s images explode

onto the screen throughout the site. Wanting

the images to make an impact from the

opening slideshow, she conceals most of the

site’s navigation tools until you roll over them.

A small link takes you to pricing and pack-

aging information at the bottom of each gallery.

Braniff believes you should tell people what

they want to know up front, which in this

case also helps screen out price shoppers.

Throughout the site, the vibrant text

looks handwritten. Headers include “Rave

Reviews” (testimonials), “True Love” (wedding

gallery), and “Me, Myself, and I” (Braniff ’s

bio). “I wanted the site to not only look

personable, but sound personable,” she says.

Braniff ’s frequently updated blog contains

both personal and professional information. She

also uses it to display post-session images for

clients, which they in turn can send to

friends. “It’s just one more avenue to reach

people,” she says.

Braniff was able to design the site herself,

but she did hire a programmer to do the

coding for all the interactions. Web sites with

unworkable links and unsophisticated features

are worse than not having a site. After all,

Braniff says, “Your first impression needs to

be outstanding to get clients to call.”

Wendy Rouleau hired a talented firm to

transfer her ideas to her Web site. She

wanted to control the design, yet she knew

the firm would add the polish to inspire

clients’ trust in her abilities. Rouleau wanted

her site to be her main marketing tool.

“I don’t want to imply that I’m something

I’m not. I want clients to want my style of

photography and not to be surprised when

they come,” says Rouleau.

Rouleau looked at sites in several industries.

“I saw what I liked and what was possible …

I didn’t have to stay with a template,” she

explains. And it helped her define the qualities

that make people remember and return to it.

Opening Rouleau’s home page is like

peeking at her studio through a keyhole.

“We believe our studio space helps define

who we are, that it’s part of the experience,”

she says. The studio is located at the top of a

staircase in an old brick building in historic

Buford, Ga. First-time visitors don’t know

what to expect as they climb the stairs, but

their first word upon entering is usually, “Wow.”

Images of the space capturing its archi-

tectural features appear throughout the site.

The tabs are images in slide mounts, and

a postage stamp leads to the contact us page.

The site has short movies geared to elicit

parental emotions, and a studio blog. Rouleau

expanded her online marketing to include

handsomely designed e-mail promotional

campaigns with links to the complimentary

pages on the Web site. It’s such a fluid

transition that Rouleau also won a PPA

AN-NE Marketing Award for Best E-mail

Marketing Campaign.

Both sites illustrate the power of smooth

transitions, polished graphics, and person-

alized text, yet they reflect the unique

qualities of each studio. �

Angela Wijesinghe is a PPA staff marketingspecialist.


PROFIT CENTER

The Portraits By Wendy site incorporates wow-inducing images of the studio itself, creativenavigation tabs, and short movies to elicit emotions.

©W

endy Rouleau

36,38-websites 3/12/08 3:36 PM Page 2

39- bellies-babies 3/12/08 9:03 AM Page 1

With some 77 percent of American adults on

the Internet, it’s more than important to have

an effective Web site. It’s necessary. “If you’re

not on the ’Net, it’s as if you don’t exist,”

says marketing expert Ilise Benun. “It’s not

just the tech-savvy who expect you to have

a Web site, these days it’s almost everyone.”

Professional photographers have risen

to the challenge with sophisticated sites and

beautiful images; now it’s time to fully tap the

power of the Web as a marketing machine.

Statistics show that fewer than 1 percent

of Web surfers ever return to a site unless

they have a special reason. How can you give

them a reason to return?

Here are five pointers on boosting the

marketing power of your site by as much

as 72 percent:

• Use your site to begin a relationship.

On average, a mere 2 percent of the prospects

who visit a studio’s site will decide to book a

session right then and there. Most visitors

are researching, trying to get a feel for the

photographer behind the site and looking

for a good reason to call you—or not.

Once they leave, you have no way to

continue the relationship with 98 percent of

your visitors, who could be perfectly wonderful

clients. Since most people need to hear from

a marketer seven to 10 times before buying,

you need to find a way to keep in touch.

• Give potential clients a good reason to


Having a Web site is no longer an option inbusiness. Besides showing off your beautifulimages, you can make your site pay off big time.BY KAMMY THURMAN

Tap the powerYOUR WEB SITE CAN BE AN AUTOMATED MARKETING MACHINE

PROFIT CENTER

On every page of your site, put an e-mail capture form “above the fold” where people are sure to see it.

E-MAIL MARKETINGBEST PRACTICESE-mail marketing these days isn’t as

simple as putting together a list and

sending e-mails. Internet service providers

and spam filters use sophisticated

techniques to protect users from spam. If

you don’t follow the rules or know what

to include in your text—like an opt-out

option and your contact information—

your mail might never find the inbox, or

worse, you could be blacklisted as a

spammer. Asking your readers to add

your e-mail address or domain to their

address book or allowed-sender list will

also help you avoid their spam filter. You

want e-mail recipients to see you as a

welcome visitor to their inbox, not a

nuisance. Reputable automatic responder

services can guide you in adhering to

Internet requirements for responsible e-

mail practices. If you prefer to try it on

your own, enter “e-mail marketing best

practices” in your preferred search engine

and do your homework first.

—Joan Sherwood, Senior Editor

40,42-thurman 3/12/08 3:36 PM Page 1

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41 cpq 3/12/08 9:05 AM Page 1

return to your site. I’ve seen many top-notch

sites with absolutely gorgeous images that show

the photographer’s best work. But what about

the potential client?

Put yourself in her shoes. She’s been

checking out the sites of studios in her area

to see which best fits her needs. After looking

at a dozen or two other sites, what will

motivate her to call you instead of another

studio with a beautiful site? You have to

offer something that will elevate your value

over the others. As non-artistic as it sounds,

the something needs to be information,

enough useful information to make the viewer

comfortable with deciding to call you.

Our studio Web site routinely lands new

clients who tell us they chose us because of all

the information we provided. They feel they

know us by the time they call, and that gives

us the opportunity to differentiate ourselves

from our competitors in a number of ways.

• Give high-value information in exchange

for the potential client’s contact information;

this is a marketing technique called reciprocity.

Instead of asking your potential client to merely

sign up for your newsletter, invite her to

request a specific article, report, photography

and posing tips or a free premium, and say

you’ll give her your monthly newsletter, too.

That’s two valuable items in exchange for

her name and address.

You’ll want to have an e-mail management

program on your Web site, where visitors can

leave their contact info and ask questions. Don’t

have her just send you an e-mail to request

the premium, or you’ll waste gargantuan

amounts of time sending out premiums to

one person at a time. I suggest subscribing to

an e-mail capture system like Constant

Contact (www.constantcontact.com) or AWeber

(www.aweber.com). I find AWeber easy to use,

and it has effective safeguards against spam.

You can create a form for your site to cap-

ture prospects’ contact info, which is then

housed on the capture provider’s server.

(AWeber has tutorials that show you how to

create the forms.) A few minutes after your visi-

tor fills out the e-mail form, she receives your

premium and a thank-you note automatically.

• Stay in touch with prospects and cus-

tomers. It’s one of the most important aspects

of marketing, and also one of the hardest. A

program like AWeber can simplify the task.

You can write multiple messages and store

them in the program until you want them

sent. A good timeline seems to be sending

seven to 10 messages over a 30-day period

after the first visit, followed by regular

contact at least once a month.

You can use these messages—also called

auto-responders—to talk about how the cus-

tomer will benefit from your services, to deliver

a short e-course or your e-newsletter, and

seasonal promotions. Just don’t make them

all sales messages—remember the content

needs to be high-value (80 percent high-

value to 20 percent selling is a healthy mix).

• Put your message-writing self on

autopilot. Schedule the time to sit down and

write your messages once a month, or even

once a year, choose how often you want

them sent, then forget about them and

concentrate on your photography.

Statistics show that continued contact

with site visitors brings them back again

and again, increasing sales by as much as 72

percent. At that rate, isn’t it worth taking

another look at the marketing opportunities

lurking within your Web site? �

Kammy Thurman is a direct-marketingcopywriter and consultant, and co-owner ofAnchor Photography in Laurel, Mont. Formore marketing strategies, read her free“Photography Marketing Report: 15 Ways toBoost Your Marketing Return—WithoutIncreasing Your Marketing Budget,” atwww.anchorcreative.com


PROFIT CENTER

Offer something of value to the prospect inexchange for their contact information. It’s agood idea to do this for each product line, asyou’ll have a different target market for each.

We send premiums (free gifts) of interest to thespecific target market for each of our productlines. These should all be created before offeringthem online, or you’ll spend a lot of time tryingto catch up when people start requesting them.

When someone gives their e-mail address, youreceive a notice with all the info you ask for in thee-mail capture form. This is the info we capture onour contact page. You now also have their snailmail info so you can send direct mail promos, too.

40,42-thurman 3/12/08 3:37 PM Page 2

Your brand is conveyed in the unity of every-

thing that identifies you, from your logo to

your photography to the look of your studio.

In the years to come, you’ll update your studio

décor, see your photography evolve, and infuse

your marketing campaigns with fresh elements,

but your brand must stay true to your identity.

Tim Walden, M.Photog.Cr., F-ASP, and

Beverly Walden, M.Photog.Cr., of Walden’s of

Photography in Lexington, Ky., are experts

in brand building. In their seminars they

present proven strategies for branding and mar-

keting that are applicable to studios of any size

and specialty. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

“I am less concerned that everyone likes

what I do as that they know what I do,” says

Tim Walden. When a studio has a well-defined

style, the Waldens say, and when people love it,

they’ll travel any distance and invest whatever

sum it takes to get it. The people who don’t

like their style will go elsewhere, and that’s

just fine with them. “The customer is always

right, but not everyone is our customer,” he says.

Narrowing your focus to a few specialties

and well-defined products helps your busi-

ness grow quickly. It doesn’t mean you have

to do just one kind of photography for the rest

of your life, just define what you do early on,

communicate it clearly, and be consistent.

“Every decision is a style decision,” says

Tim. The Waldens’ chosen style dictates how

they decorate their studio, what equipment

they purchase, and how they promote their

business. No fad will sway them from being

Branding is more than design and decoration; it’s communicating your style tothe kind of clients you want to attract.

Stay trueWHY BRAND CONSISTENCY IS CRITICAL

SARAH PETTY, CPPTHE JOY OF MARKETINGTM

The Waldens are known for their elegant styleof family portraiture in black and white. Everyelement of their marketing reflects this style.

All im

ages ©W

alden’s Photography

44,46-petty 3/13/08 11:33 AM Page 1

45 bwc 3/12/08 9:06 AM Page 1

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3�DAY BUSINESS PLAN WORKSHOPWith Carol Andrews, Ann Monteith and Sarah PettyNow’s your chance to increase profitability and receive instruction on essential elements for business success (in both group settings and one-on-one consultations).

June 9-11ß

NEW WEBINARS (online seminars)PPA and SMS are bringing education to you, and all you need is a computer and the Internet. Keep watching your inboxes for information on live business webinars about:

Marketingß Financial Planningß Managerial Accountingß Top Performing Studiosß Starting a Photography Businessß Business Basicsß Salesß And more…ß

Plus, you can watch the archived versions at your convenience. Just visit the Events section of PPA.com and click on Webinars to reach:

Income Tax Strategiesß Pricing for Profitß The Art of Pricelistsß QuickBooks: Getting Startedß And more…ß

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Professional Photographers of America www.ppa.com | 800.786.6277


Professional Photographer P R E S E N T S Products, Technology and Services

What I likeJulia Gerace connects withdigital technology

What makes your workflow flow? Adobe Light-

room. I wasn’t sure shooting raw was worth the

hassle until I tried Lightroom. Now I love it.

What’s the best equipment investment you’ve

ever made? Photoshop. Until I went digital, I

outsourced tasks as simple as retouching a few

pimples. Now I feel like I can create, explore new

concepts, and learn to my heart’s content.

Little thing, big difference … My ExpoDisc. It’s

been great for getting accurate white balance in

some very odd lighting.

Has a piece of equipment ever changed the way

you approach photography? My Canon EOS

5D camera. The files are huge, and I’m not as

concerned about cropping into an image and

losing information.

Is there a non-photographic item that you’ve

adapted to your work? Makeup. I knew becoming

a certified makeup artist would be a great service

for my clients. A useful item for your studio is a

basic skin mattifier—a clear gel you apply if a

client’s face is too shiny.

What’s the one piece of gear they’d have to pry

from your cold, dead fingers? A reflector.

There is not one lighting situation where I

don’t use a reflector.

IMAGE BY JULIA GERACE

WWW.JULIAGERACE.COM

49-goodsplash 3/12/08 4:58 PM Page 1

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{ }11

8

1-3

7

4-6

9

11

10


Canon’s first serious salvo in the wide-format

printer market came in 2006 with the

imagePROGRAF iPF5000, the iPF8000 and

the iPF9000 pigment ink printers. In my tests

with the iPF5000, print quality was excellent,

and despite the environs—a relatively dry

and pet-infested house—it never suffered

paper jams, clogged heads or ink dropouts.

But there were problems. The two-part

user interface was confusing; Canon’s generic

profiles for Canon brand papers were sub

par; there were problems with the roll feed

mechanism on many iPF5100 printers; and

the 17-inch iPF5000 and 44-inch iPF8000

models left a huge gap in output size.

Canon announced replacements for the

first iPF printers in early summer 2007, the

imagePROGRAF 100-series (iPF5100,

iPF6100, iPF8100 and iPF9100), which

would not have these problems and would

have new features as well.

I tested the new 24-inch iPF6100 and

found several welcome changes. Topmost

are the greatly improved user interfaces and

generic profiles, and the addition of the

GAROS plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS3

to enable 12-bit-per-channel printing. Like

HP, Canon has also started to build in color

management features with the iPF printers.

The 100-series printers still use 12 Lucia

pigment inks: yellow, photo cyan, cyan,

THE GOODS: PRO REVIEW

All images ©

Ellis Vener

Canon improves the user interface, fills the sizegap and introduces a color calibration systemwith its next-generation wide-format printers.BY ELL IS VENER

Much improvedCANON IMAGEPROGRAF iPF6100

The Canon GAROS plug-in for Photoshop CS3enables 12-bit-per-channel printing and somewhatsimplifies color management in the output stage.

52-54-canonreview 3/12/08 4:33 PM Page 1

photo magenta, magenta, black, matte

black, photo gray, gray, red, green and blue.

With the exception of the blacks and two

grays, the eight-color formulation remains

unchanged. The gray, photo gray, black and

matte black inks were reformulated to

reduce bronzing type metamerism, lessen

the appearance of “grain” in the deep

shadows and blacks (I never saw it in

iPF5000 prints), and make the prints more

resistant to scuffing and scratching.

As in the first iPFs, there’s an active system

that automatically detects clogged and non-

firing nozzles. If it detects a problem mid-

print, it remaps the ink flow to another

nozzle and clears the offender when the

print is complete, minimizing waste in time

and materials. With both matte and photo

grays and blacks onboard, there’s no

downtime or expensive ink waste when you

switch between matte and gloss/semi-gloss

papers. And the iPF6100 uses ink sparingly.

Print speed remains fast: a 16x24-inch,

high-resolution, 16-pass, 12-bit per channel

print takes less than 10 minutes.

One of the biggest headaches of printing

in-house is color management. The iPF 100

series incorporates a color calibration system

designed to keep them working to factory spec-

ifications. Normally, the calibration needs to

be done only once, at setup, but if you move

the printer or change heads, it’s a good idea

to recalibrate the printer back to factory

specs. There’s an added benefit for studios

with multiple printers, even in different

sizes: with all of the printers working at

factory tolerance, they can share profiles for

the same media and the prints will match.

Canon rebuilt its generic profiles for Canon-

brand papers, which now include some fine

Hahnemuhle papers. Compared to my own

custom profiles, these new profiles are first rate.

But calibration is not the same as having

a built-in profiling system, such as the

X-Rite i1 Color Spectrophotometer system

in HP Z3100 printers. If you decide to use

papers other than Canon-brands, you’ll

need to make your own profiles.

The Kyuanos color management system

introduced in the 100 series is compatible solely

with the Microsoft Vista operating system. I

don’t use Vista, so I can’t comment on it.

Ease-of-use is a critical factor in color man-

agement. As it now stands, the best way in

Photoshop to print is to make a dupe of the

master image, convert the dupe to the destina-

tion profile, sharpen for output size and media,

then go through the Photoshop print dialog,

where you have to instruct both the Photoshop

printer dialog and the print driver not to apply

additional color management steps. The process

is a distracting, time consuming, and somewhat

arcane art until you’ve mastered it.

52-54-canonreview 3/12/08 4:34 PM Page 2

The Canon GAROS Photoshop Export

plug-in for Photoshop CS3 improves this in

two ways: it allows you to print 12-bit-per-

channel color, and only once requires you to

specify that you want no further color

management. You still have to make sure to

specify the correct size and media type, which

Canon certainly could make clearer (see

www.usa.canon.com/dlc to find Canon’s

profiles and media type selections).

How good are the prints made with the

Canon iPF6100? With high-end papers—my

current favorites are Canon 300gsm Polished

Rag for both color and black and white, Canon/

Hahnemuhle 188gsm Photo Rag for mono-

chrome “toned” prints, and Moab by Legion

190gsm Entrada Rag Natural—print quality

is state of the art. Colors are clean and exhibit

no magenta contamination in the light blues

(due to the use of an actual blue ink), the

blacks are inky, and the highlights are clean.

One thing keeps the iPF6100 from being

perfect: When I use sheet rather than roll

paper, I have to feed in each sheet one at a

time. For multiple printmaking, you’ll

appreciate the savings in using rolls, but it’s

a hassle if you’re making portfolios. �


specs: Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6100PRINTER TYPE: 12-color pigment inkjet MEDIA WIDTH: 8- to 24-inches (cut sheets and rolls)MEDIA THICKNESS: Top-loading manual feed 0.08-0.8 mm (3.2-19.6 mil), front-loading manual feed 0.5-1.5 mm (19.6-59.0 mil), roll 0.08-0.8mm (3.1-31.4 mil)BORDERLESS PRINTING WIDTH: Roll media only—10-inches, B4, A3+, 14-inch, 16-inches, A2, A2+/17-inches, B2, A1, 24-inchesPRINT HEAD: PF-03, user replaceable, six colors per print head, two print heads (12 colors total), 2,560 nozzles per color (30,720 nozzles total)NOZZLE PITCH: 1,200dpi, non-firing nozzle detection and compensationINK DROPLET SIZE: 4 picolitersINK CAPACITY: 130ml per color, starter ink tanks packaged with the printer have less capacity than the replacement ink tanks specified hereINK TYPE: Pigment-based LUCIA inkDIMENSIONS: 46.3x33.9x39.1 inches WEIGHT: About 150 pounds with standPRICE: $3,495

THE GOODS: PRO REVIEW

Whatever you shoot, make the most of it with our unparalleled digital photo printing.You work hard to get those great shots. You deserve a creative

partner that consistently delivers perfect photo nishing

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Need proof? Call 800.382.2101 or go to fullcolor.com.

Photo printingPress printingGallery wraps

Online hostingand much more

Adding a new item or two to your product

lineup can freshen up your sales presentations

and boost your profits. But before you make

the investment to incorporate a new product

in your Web site, marketing materials, pro-

motions and price lists, you need to know

that it’s right for your brand and that the lab

will deliver what’s promised.

With such a bounty of eye-catching

specialty products available from profes-

sional photo labs, you need a strategy for

choosing both the products and the provider.

First, go window shopping to find products

that excite you—if it doesn’t excite you, you

can’t sell it. Then narrow the list to the

products that will sell in your target market.

Once you’ve settled on a product, you’re

ready to hold your tryouts.

A big part of working with a professional

photo lab goes beyond prices and products,

to customer service, prompt delivery and the

ease of integrating the ordering system with

your workflow. With this in mind I set out to

order several print products from selected labs.

(I chose labs advertising specialty products

that I’d noticed attracting interest at trade

shows and, while not exclusive to a single

lab, were not saturating the market yet.)

Without identifying myself as a Profes-

sional Photographer editor, I signed on as a

new client with three labs. I researched the

products, went through the ordering

process, and contacted customer service.

For comparison, I ordered similar products

from two of the labs, metallic prints on Kodak

Professional papers from MPix and prints on

Fujicolor Crystal Archive Pearl Paper from

BWC. I ordered a product sampler from

THE GOODS: LABS

All im

ages ©Joan T. Sherw

ood

Dalmatian Black & White Custom Lab offers aDigital B&W Sample Packet that features sevenprint types using your own image for $110. It’s agreat way to sample the line and see how yourphotos work with different print methods.

You don’t know what you’ll get until you’ve gotit in your hands, so it’s wise to take time topreview a supplier for service and quality.BY JOAN SHERWOOD, SENIOR EDITOR

Spring tryoutsHOLD YOUR OWN PRODUCT AUDITIONS


56-58,60-LABS 3/13/08 11:37 AM Page 1

Dalmatian, specialists in black-and-white

printing.

As you would probably do, I made a list

of the product qualities and lab services that

are most important to me, and kept notes

throughout the ordering and delivery process.

It’s easy to get fuzzy about the details, and

such notes help you make a sound decision.

DALMATIAN BLACK & WHITE

CUSTOM LAB

By partnering with Ilford and Durst,

Dalmatian’s product line includes digital

black-and-white silver gelatin fiber-based

400dpi prints on True Ilford Multigrade

Fiber Base Paper processed through True

B&W Chemistry.

Dalmatian gives you a choice of three sample

packs under the Customer Service tab on its

Web site. One is a free sample pack of six

different print types, including silver gelatin

fiber, and silver gelatin RC and black-and-

white giclée. On request, they’ll add samples

of canvas and traditional fiber. The two Studio

Sample Packets contain 8x10-inch prints of

a user-provided image. The Traditional B&W

pack includes five types of prints and costs $70.

I ordered the Digital B&W Sample Packet,

which includes a borderless digital machine

print; a full-frame black border digital machine

print; a custom digital RC print with your

choice of border; a custom digital fiber print

with a border of your choice; a B&W giclée on

photo rag paper; a giclée on photo rag paper

with your choice of color or sepia ink; and a

giclée on canvas with your choice of B&W,

color, or sepia ink. This sample packet costs

$110. Other kinds of print samples are

available for an additional fee.

Account Setup. Call customer service or

fill out an online form with a field for you to

describe the kind of photography you do. Fill

out a payment and shipping information form

and fax or mail it to the lab. A Dalmatian repre-

sentative will call you and answer any questions.

Ordering. The online order form has fields

to type in your own file names, order specs

(size, quantity, etc.), and room for additional

instructions—no pull-down menus. A lab

rep calls you if an item on the form needs

clarification, such as when I inadvertently

combined the names of two borders when

requesting just one. If you have questions

about such things as supported file formats,

resolution, color space or dpi, you’ll find

answers to most of them in the FAQ under

the Resources tab. If not, call.

Customer service. I called to ask how to

fill out the order form to request a sample

pack. I also asked about my choice of borders

in the sampler; they weren’t on the Web site

as of press time. Within minutes of my call,

Dalmatian e-mailed me a PDF showing the

choices. I got prompt response, straight-

forward answers and excellent personal service.

My original image. A 3,008x2,000-pixel


Mpix prints on Kodak Professional Metallic Endura paper with pearlescent finish (top) made colors more vibrantand shadows darker than in BWC Photo Imaging prints on Fujicolor Chrystal Archive Pearl paper (above).

56-58,60-LABS 3/13/08 11:37 AM Page 2

color file converted to grayscale in Adobe

Photoshop Lightroom, unsharpened. Saved

as a TIFF at 400ppi, and zipped for upload.

Dalmatian encourages clients to send RAW

files along with unsharpened TIFFs for

certain print types.

Costs. Sample pack $110; shipping $8.50

Turnaround. Order placed February 22,

shipped UPS ground service February 29,

arrived March 4.

Packaging. Sturdy corrugated cardboard

box padded with bubble wrap, prints placed

in glassine envelopes. The 8x10s were in an

order envelope, and the canvas print

sandwiched between corrugated cardboard

flats. All well protected.

Quality. Sample prints are identified by

type, paper and ink on the backside in clear

handwriting. The giclée prints on

Hahnemühle Photo Rag had a velvety feel,

and the B&W version was still slightly warm

toned, likely due to the combination of the

paper and the Ultrachrome Inks. Shadows

and midtones were a bit richer than the

original. The machine prints looked fairly

standard and true to the original. The sepia

canvas print (about 12.75x11 inches with a

7.5x5-inch image area) held surprising detail

in the trees and water reflections, and even

in the subtle ripples in the water. The Ilford

fiber-based silver gelatin print looked and

felt as you might expect, with rich, deep

blacks, sharp detail and definitely darker in

the sky and shadows than the original. The

custom digital RC print was the most impres-

sive of the lot. The printmaster had notice-

ably improved the file, bringing out fine

detail in trees and shadows, better defining

muddy areas and bringing up the tone of

the building on the right to make it pop.

MPIX

A division of Miller’s Professional Imaging,

Mpix provides easy online ordering for pros,

and requires no credit application as Miller’s

does. Mpix offers a range of specialty and press

products and papers, in addition to forums and

photo-sharing galleries. I ordered 8x12 prints

with a pearlescent finish on Kodak

Professional Endura Metallic paper.

Account setup. Easy as joining any consumer

online photo sharing site, requiring only

your name, e-mail address and a password.

Ordering. A simple create-an-album

setup. Create an album of your images, then

order prints of selected images. You can

request only one kind of paper per order, but

with a variety of optional frames and finishing

services. You can crop images directly in the

ordering interface and request color correction

services. Go to Help > FAQs for info on file

formatting and technical answers or to request

an ICC profile. Under Tips for great images,

you can download some questionable advice

in a document called “Simple Color Manage-

ment Techniques,” which suggests you adjust


THE GOODS: LABS

Mpix prints on Kodak Professional Endura Metallic paper (left) punch up the yellow and make shadows rich. The Fujicolor Chrystal Archive Pearl prints (right) from BWC Photo Imaging portray skin tones more realistically and retain more detail in the shadows.

56-58,60-LABS 3/13/08 1:00 PM Page 3

59 dury 3/12/08 9:07 AM Page 1

your monitor to match your print order.

Customer service. E-mail contact only.

There’s no phone number for personal service.

I e-mailed a question about color correction

and got a response within 5 minutes.

My originals. An album of 3,872x2,592-

pixel color JPEG files at 300ppi. The album

upload interface was a little quirky with

Firefox, better with the File Browse option.

Costs. 8x12 prints at $3.99 each,

shipping $4.95.

Turnaround. Order placed February 25,

shipped priority mail on the 26th, arrived on

the 28th.

Packaging. Flat cardboard box, prints in

glassine envelopes, sealed with plastic to a

corrugated cardboard sheet and cushioned

with packing foam. Very well protected.

Quality. The pearlescent metallic prints

brought out a vivid color that practically

radiated like an RGB display. Blacks were

super rich. Yellows were particularly

pumped up. Medium-brown skin tone

became a warm coppery brown, and a pale

pink complexion gained color as well but was

not overly yellow. Specular highlights and

metallic subjects gleamed. In some areas the

shadows went dark enough to obscure some

color and detail.

BWC PHOTO IMAGING

This full-service digital lab also provides

visual communication and marketing

products. BWC offers creative services and

products that most labs don’t, like trade

show exhibits, design services, and store

merchandising decor. Of the three lab Web

sites I tried, BWC’s was the least intuitive.

Customer service indicated that site

revamping was going on. Some tabs were

still in development, including Price Book.

There’s a host of products and services

under Photo Lab Services, where I found

Photo Digital Printing. But there is no one

list of products, just e-mail links to a

specialist in the department.

Account setup. I could order without

setting up an account. To get an account,

you fill out an application. I called to have

mine e-mailed to me. The Customer Access

account tracking feature was being revamped

at press time and was not available.

Ordering. I should have used the simple

browser-interface E-ZPics option, but I went

directly to Send Us A File and tried to use the

ROES ordering system that many pros use.

ROES populated my desktop with many

windows, some convoluted with the text

overlapping until I enlarged them. I found

the Welcome to ROES window at the

bottom of the stack, and from there I could

figure out the ordering.

As an individual making a first-time

order of a few prints, this interface seemed

overly complex; a studio that orders specific

sets of print types and sizes would benefit

more. Unlike the Mpix album setup, your

files don’t go through the upload process

until you’ve placed the order. I liked that you

could have your logo added to the image,

but I didn’t try this option. I ordered a set of

Signature Portraits on Fujicolor Crystal

Archive Pearl Paper with the same images

from my Mpix order.

Customer service. My e-mail to digital-

[email protected] was bounced back to my

Yahoo account. I e-mailed [email protected] and

received a response within 15 minutes. There’s

no customer service or help tab. I found phone

numbers and a customer service description

under the About Us tab. I called the 1-800

number, asked a question about metallic

and pearl prints and got a clear answer.

Costs. 8x12 prints $5.57 each, pearl adds

16 percent to the base price of $4.80; no

shipping charge.

Turnaround: Order placed February 25,

shipped UPS ground commercial on the

27th, arrived on the 29th.

Packaging. UPS box, prints in a glassine

sleeve with thin cardboard backing tucked

into another plastic sleeve, wrapped in

brown craft paper. Well protected.

Quality. The color in the Fujicolor prints

was much truer to the original than were

the Kodak pearlescent metallics. The colors

were vivid but more natural, and without

the punch of a boost in yellow. The shadows

were not as dark as in the Mpix metallics,

and showed more detail. As the BWC rep

explained when I called, the Fujicolor Pearl

finish is recommended for portraits because

it’s truer to skin tones, while Kodak’s

metallic paper, which they also offer, is recom-

mended for landscapes and edgier images.

It only takes a modest budget and a little

time to be sure that a new product and its

provider will complement the rest of your

offerings and be an asset to your studio. Take

a look at the field and make your pick. �

‘‘’’

With such a bounty of eye-catchingspecialty products available from professional photo labs, you need a strategy for choosing both theproducts and the provider.

THE GOODS: LABS


56-58,60-LABS 3/13/08 11:38 AM Page 4

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61 mamiya zdback 3/12/08 9:08 AM Page 1

Last month I suggested that to produce opti-

mum image data in the shortest time you

should render images from raw data in

Lightroom, then use Photoshop’s powerful

selective tools to do the necessary retouching,

compositing and other non-global corrections.

Lightroom can also work with rendered

JPEGs, TIFFs and PSDs. There are both

advantages and disadvantages in applying

corrections to such files in Lightroom.

Suppose you processed 300 raw files from a

wedding in Lightroom, then worked hours

on the rendered images in Photoshop, doing

retouching, local corrections and perfecting

the files for your client. They love the work,

but decide they want one album in split-

toned grayscale and one in full color.

Because you did so much localized pixel

work in Photoshop, you’ll have to work with

the rendered images to accomplish that.

If you use Photoshop’s black-and-white

conversion tools, you have to open each image,

apply a color tint and save a new copy to

disk. Instead, you could import all the TIFFs

into Lightroom, make virtual copies of the

files, and convert just one color image to

black and white using the Split Toning controls

to apply the effect you desire (Figure 1).

Once you have a single black-and-white

conversion you like, you can copy and paste

the metadata instructions onto the other

299 images (Figure 2). It’s a lot faster than

doing it in Photoshop, and you can still alter

individual images as desired. The original

full-color TIFF files containing the retouch

work remain untouched. When you export

the toned variations, you’ll create new TIFFs

with the black-and-white instructions applied.

You could have done the conversion with

the raw files with less data loss, but because

you’d worked on the original color files in

Photoshop, that wouldn’t be the best solution.

For efficient workflow, it’s better to bring

the images back into Lightroom than to

manipulate the existing pixels in Photoshop,

then save new versions. In fact, if you plan to

print the images from Lightroom, you’d be

storing only the original pixel-based TIFFs;

the black-and-white versions would only be

generated as the data is being sent to a local

printer. You wouldn’t need to store two sets

of rendered image data, only the metadata

instructions for the black-and-white print work.

If you crop 100 of the 300 images in

Photoshop, the data you crop away is gone

forever after you save the document. If you

did the cropping in Lightroom, you’d only

build a set of crop instructions, not actually

cropping out data. You can print the image,

export the image, or change your mind

about the crop anytime you wish.

Making round trips between Lightroom

and Photoshop has advantages in speed,

flexibility and storage. Yet it’s important to

recognize the difference in image quality

that results from rendering data directly

from raw files, as opposed to applying edits

via metadata on rendered images.

When you edit a rendered image and

export it to Photoshop as a pixel-based

document, Lightroom makes a copy of the

THE GOODS SOLUTIONS BY ANDREW RODNEY

Save time and space by knowing when to use Adobe Lightroom, when to use Photoshop, and how to transport files between the two.

Figure 1: You can build a better black-and-white than the grayscale button delivers and save time. In Lightroom’sDevelop module, move the all the saturation sliders to -100 (make a preset). Use the HSL controls to alter thetonal relationships of the actual color data by sliding over the image using the direct select tool. Apply a split tone.(See http://lightroom-news.com/2007/08/24/tips-for-better-black-and-white-conversions/)

What’s the difference?


PART II

All im

ages © A

ndrew R

odney

62-64-rodney 3/12/08 4:37 PM Page 1

Figure 2: You can synchronize one B&W rendering to every image selected (above, grid view). Copy and paste only the grayscale and split toning editinginstructions made in Figure 1.

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Mamiya Sekor AF 28mm f4.5 D Aspherical for Mamiya 645AFD/AFD II

62-64-rodney 3/12/08 4:37 PM Page 2

original, converts the 16-bit data into its

internal color space (ProPhoto RGB), and

applies the edits. Then you have to choose

the resolution and color space you want on

the back-end (Figures 3 and 4). Lightroom

supports sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998) and

ProPhoto RGB. Keep this in mind because

it’s possible to end up in a different color

space than you started with, depending on

what you select in the export dialog.

Also note that camera-generated JPEGs

differ from other JPEGs in initial image

quality. Before any Photoshop editing,

camera JPEGs are just one generation from

the raw data. They generally show less damage

than a JPEG from another source that’s been

edited before it hits Lightroom. Global correc-

tions on camera JPEGs cause less damage and

process faster in Lightroom. If selective editing

is required, use Photoshop and save the docu-

ment as a TIFF rather than a JPEG. (More on

the benefits of doing so in an upcoming article.)

Lightroom also allows you to build any

number of iterations in different sizes without

having to resize the full-resolution file and

save another version. You can determine the

size you need when you export or print

though Lightroom’s Print, Slideshow or Web

modules. When you want to make an 8x10,

11x14 or 3x5 print in-house, you simply

define the size in a print template, and let

Lightroom send the resizing instructions to

your printer from the Print module.

Whether you’re working with a retouched,

high-res rendered image or the original raw

data, you can build any iteration from a single

data source. This saves tremendous hard drive

space and greatly simplifies image management.

As for its limitations, Lightroom can’t work

with layered documents and maintain them

after being edited in its environment. Lightroom

builds a flattened copy, so keep this in mind

if you plan round trips between Photoshop and

Lightroom and you have to maintain layers.

Lightroom will not edit CYMK or Lab

Color documents. I have little use for Lab

because Lightroom tools often provide all

the necessary functionality to render RGB

images, and CMYK documents are output-

ready (or they should be). By the time the

document is in CMYK, it should no longer

need editing in Lightroom.

Lightroom can’t import images with more

than 10,000 pixels in either dimension.

Hopefully future versions will allow users to

edit panoramas and other large images. �


THE GOODS

Figure 3: These options appear when you instructLightroom to allow you to edit an existing renderedimage in Photoshop CS3 (Photo > Edit in AdobePhotoshop CS3). If you want to edit an imagethat has Lightroom adjustments, select the topradio button, which builds a copy of the originalfirst, and if the file has layers, flattens it.

Figure 4: In the Export dialog, you can build a rendered image in one of three color spaces and selectthe bit depth and file size. Notice on the left in the dialog that I was able to create my own settingsand save them as user presets.

62-64-rodney 3/12/08 4:37 PM Page 3

65 ACI 3/12/08 9:09 AM Page 1


Feeling stuck, bored, burned out? Michael Gan and Leslie Artis-Ganrediscovered the joy of portraiture, and their workshops and programsaim to help you find the path to your artistic inspiration, too.

Joy RideIt's a pleasure to be creative for a living

rom excited newbie 30 years ago,

to-burned-out businessman and

now re-energized veteran, pro-

fessional photographer Michael Gan,

M.Photog.Cr., has cycled through enough

ups and downs to have gained a comfortable

wisdom. If his name sounds familiar, perhaps

you’ve seen it on the OurPPA online forum,

where Gan regularly comments and advises.

“A lot of people get into photography

because it’s a creative endeavor, then they

turn off that creativity,” says Gan who with

his wife, Leslie Artis-Gan, M.Photog.Cr., CPP,

owns Meritage House of Photography in

Pleasanton, Calif. The disconnect, says Gan,

happens when photographers “spend more

time copying what other photographers do

instead of creating a style all their own.” It’s

understandable, he says, that they’d try to do

something they know will sell in order to

make a living.

Both Gans are teaching photographers

how to recover their creativity. First, they

say, photographers need to grasp that they’re

artists, creative thinkers and inventors, not

simply picture takers. Inspired by Santa

Barbara photographer Joyce Wilson,

M.Photog.Cr., API, F-ASP, who teaches at

the Brooks Institute of Photography, the

Gans have begun to take a historical perspec-

tive of portraiture. “Somewhere along the

line, the art of portraiture disappeared,” says

Gan. “We’re trying to bring it back so that

the art and the client are one.”

Back in 1995, Gan realized that while he

was busy photographing weddings, babies,

seniors and other kinds of portraits, he was

FPORTRAITS By Stephanie Boozer

©Leslie Artis-Gan

66,68,70-Gan 3/12/08 4:38 PM Page 1

67 myphoto 3/12/08 9:10 AM Page 1

merely going through the motions. He was

concentrating on volume sales rather than

nurturing his self-expression. Conflicted and

feeling burned out, he took a break to refocus.

The following year he met Artis-Gan, then a

painter, who helped him rediscover his

creativity and find a new direction.

Drawing on his collegiate background in

photographic art history, Gan returned to

the studio hoping to revive the spirit of the

masters of black and white from the early

days, and rediscover the romance of platinum-

palladium printmaking. With Artis-Gan’s

experience in painting and his photographic

experience, the Gans opened Meritage

House of Photography, with the mission of

merging their talents in a perfect blend of

photographic acumen and creativity.

Not long after the opening, Artis-Gan’s

repetitive stress injuries from painting

dictated a switch from brush to camera. In

her first year of entering print competitions,

the Northern California Professional Pho-

tographers association named her a 2004

Photographer of the Year, and she received

an offer to teach in a night school program.

“I e-mailed enrolled students to find out

what they really wanted to learn,” she says.

“They all came back with the same question

—‘how do you get your inspiration?’ It had

seemed natural to me, but I realized I’d

spent years getting people’s hearts and

spirits into their paintings, and I had these

skills under my belt.”

Seeing a need, the Gans developed

workshops and speaking programs to help

photographers grapple with the basic

question of how to keep the joy alive. “We’re

not teaching f/stops and shutter speeds, or

Photoshop actions,” says Gan. “You really

need to go beyond what I call ‘the actions

mentality,’ which pigeonholes you. Take a

painter’s approach, where you see something

and draw it.”

The Gans find fulfillment in teaching,

PORTRAITS


©Michael Gan

66,68,70-Gan 3/12/08 4:38 PM Page 2

"SuccessWare helped me

become very profitable and create

a wonderful debt-free life for my

family through a business that

I dearly love. But in any business,

adversity can appear at any time.

The focus SuccessWare provides

gives me the insight to keep my

studio on track - even through

back-to-back hurricanes."Frank DonninoDonnino Galleria Portraits | Boynton Beach, FL

Read Frank’s story atsuccessware.net/success_stories.

©20

08D

onni

noG

alle

riaPo

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ts

SuccessWare is the only studiosoftware that manages your clients,prices your products, pays your bills,and helps you plan for more profit.All this…plus financial reports thatactually make sense!

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“Success depends on howyou react to adversity.”

successful photographers have a lot in common.creativity. passion. successware.

Carol Andrews, Sam Puc, Jason & Tammy Odom, Audrey Wancket, Mary Fisk, Jamie Hayes, Lori Nordstrom, Susan Michal, Jeff & Julia Woods, Jed & Vickie Taufer. Michael Redford, Sarah Petty

Frank teaching The Baby Plan at a workshop.

69 success 3/12/08 9:19 AM Page 1

and it stimulates their portrait business.

Averaging around $10,000 for a portrait

session, the Gans involve clients in the

creative process, finding out what’s important

to them, what feelings they want to convey to

viewers through the portrait. “The higher

you raise the bar on your own work, the

more you don’t have to worry about the

competition. If you create from your soul,

you will excel,” says Gan.

In classes, the Gans show photographers

how to tap into their background and

interests in developing a personal style of

their own, which will be the deciding factor

that sets them apart from everyone else.

“My best advice is to stay true to

yourself,” says Artis-Gan. “Turn off your

brain and listen for the whispers, because

nothing is obvious. Like Michelangelo, who

said he was simply setting the figure of

David free from the stone, you have to allow

your creativity to happen.” �

To view the Gans’ portfolio and find detailsabout their teaching schedule, visitwww.meritageonmain.com.

PORTRAITS

©Leslie Artis-Gan

©Michael Gan

66,68,70-Gan 3/12/08 4:38 PM Page 3

Set Yourself Apart.

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© 2007 Cherie S

teinberg Cote


Celebrity or not, every subject gets the special star treatment fromKerry Brett. From babies to adults, her portraits have a fresh, in-the-minute appeal, whether taken on the beach or in the studio.

Bold black and whitePortraitist Kerry Brett brands her distinctive style

erry Brett, M.Photog., CPP, giggles

recalling the first picture that made

her money and launched her

career in photography. It’s her

moxie she laughs about.

Her father, award-winning Boston Globe

photojournalist Bill Brett, was out on assign-

ment one night, when Brett, then 17 years

old, heard on his police scanner that a car

had just crashed into a house. She grabbed

her dad’s 35mm Nikon F3 camera, loaded a

roll of Tri-X black-and-white film, and headed

to the crash site. “I went under the police tape

and told the fire chief I was covering the story.

I got up on the fire truck, found a good angle

and fired away. Then I went home and called

the newspaper to tell them that I had Page

One.” To her father’s utter surprise, Kerry’s

picture did indeed land on the front page of

the next morning’s paper, and earned her $50.

Brett trailed her dad into the darkroom

and on his newspaper assignments from the

time she was 3 years old, breezily switching

between her Fisher-Price camera and her

dad’s Nikon. The senior Brett fostered a

passion in his daughter that drove her first

to photojournalism—she, too, worked for a

time at the Boston Globe—then into portrai-

ture. In 1997 she opened a studio in Hingham,

Mass., an affluent bedroom community on

the coast 15 miles southeast of Boston, and

specialized in black-and-white portraits.

“I created a recognizable style and then

branded it,” says Brett. “I felt strongly and

passionately about the look I created, but it

was kind of a gutsy move at the time because

KPORTRAITS By Lorna Gentry

All images ©Kerry Brett

72,74,76,78-79-kerrybrett 3/13/08 1:05 PM Page 1

I was afraid I would pigeonhole myself as a

black-and-white specialist,” thus scaring

away those who wanted color portraits. “The

flip side is that I have such a recognizable

style that people know my work.”

IN THE MOMENT

Brett is perhaps best known for beach portraits,

which began with a space dilemma in her first

studio. Subjects in tow, she bounded onto the

beach to photograph them with long lenses and

reflectors. “On the beach, I work like a photo-

journalist,” Brett explains. “I shoot fast and in

the moment so portable lights wouldn’t work.”

All Brett’s portraits have that in-the-

moment, fresh look. From babies to adults,

she connects with people in a way that opens

up their faces. Her creamy lighting gives a

richness to her portraits, and the contrast

between razor-sharp focus and soft black, gray

and white tones makes the subjects pop from

the background with an almost 3-D effect. At

first, Brett shot all her work on film and hand-

printed it. The diehard film fan didn’t convert

to digital until 2004, and it was a tough tran-

sition, she confesses. But now, says Brett, “I love

digital because of the instantaneous feedback.”

That’s especially helpful during celebrity

shoots for Improper Bostonian magazine,

where she’s been the staff photographer for

14 years. “I have such limited time with them,

and I have to respect their schedules,” says

Brett. Digital enables her to “know that I

have the money shot for the cover so that I

can then do something artistic for the

inside” photos. Digital has given her more

confidence, she confides.

When Brett photographs actors, athletes,

musicians and trendsetters for the monthly

magazine’s covers, she closes her studio to

the public and brings in wardrobe, hair and

makeup technicians, who set up stations

near the camera room. Brett works directly

with the magazine’s editor, art director and

photo editor, who watch the shoot progress

on monitors in an upstairs room.

The work is always exciting and challeng-

ing, she says, which is why she loves it. “It’s

so much pressure—I have less than 5 minutes

with some celebrities, and it gives me such

an adrenaline rush—there’s nothing like it.

The hardest thing is dealing with celebrities’

handlers or entourage, who are protective

and don’t trust anyone. I have to zone all

that out to create a good portrait.”

ATTRACTING TYPE A

Brett’s bread-and-butter customers are well-

educated working professionals who “tend

to be Type-A personalities,” she says. “They

PORTRAITS

“On the beach, I work like a photojournalist. I shoot fast and in the moment soportable lights wouldn’t work.”


75 salle 3/12/08 9:20 AM Page 1

want someone who has a good reputation

and they want perfection. For them it’s about

quality not quantity.” To attract this clientele,

Brett positions her studio in the public eye

as much as possible through advertising,

charity work and displays. “I love marketing

as much as I love photography. I don’t sit

around waiting for the phone to ring.”

She felt it was important as well to invest

in creating a studio that bespeaks profession-

alism and success. In a prime location near

Hingham Square, Brett bought a dilap-

idated, historic 1890 mercantile building in

2004 and turned it into a contemporary

studio (see “Urbane Antique,” Professional

Photographer, October 2007). The renovation

took more than a year, a slew of contractors,

and patient compliance with the Hingham

Historical Society’s exacting specs.

Brett’s investment in both the studio and

marketing has paid off handsomely. Her por-

traiture is highly sought after, as evidenced

by her calendar, which is continually booked

three months in advance. Brett shoots more

than 300 portraits a year, 120 of which are

taken on the beach. She relies on two DSLR

cameras to handle the workload, a Canon

EOS-1D Mark III and a Canon EOS-1Ds

Mark II. The lenses she most often uses are

a 70-200mm f/2.8, a 28-70mm f/2.8, a

300mm f/2.8, and a 20-35mm f/3.5. Her

memory card of choice is a high-speed

SanDisk. For studio lighting Brett uses Photo-

genic PowerLight 1250s with Larson Soff

Boxes. She uses Adobe Photoshop CS3 for

photo editing, and Adobe Lightroom for image

management, both running on four Power

Mac G5 computers. Two employees help her run

the studio, while Brett does all the shooting.

Brett would like to do a book on her celebrity

photography one day, but for now she’s enjoying

shooting portraits and watching history repeat

itself: her 4-year-old, Morgan, follows behind


PORTRAITS


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her camera, just as Brett followed her dad. “I

used to go with my dad and sit on the sidelines

of the Celtics games when I was little, where

he would photograph Larry Bird and all the

greats. Just recently I shot Celtics stars Kevin

Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, the new

Celtics dream team, for Improper Bostonian

magazine. I walked into the gym just moments

after they were photographed for the cover

of Sports Illustrated. I said, ‘I’m Kerry Brett

and I’m here to photograph Kevin Garnett.

‘Are you Bill Brett’s daughter?’ they asked. I

was so proud. It’s been amazing to mimic

his career. Dad and I have a bond because we

are both so passionate about photography.” �

To see more of Kerry Brett’s photography,visit www.brettphotography.com.

Lorna Gentry is a freelance writer in Atlanta.


PORTRAITS




80-81 bh 3/12/08 9:21 AM Page 1

80-81 bh 3/12/08 9:21 AM Page 2

hile on the

campaign trail

in Florida early

this year, Republican

presidential candidate

Mike Huckabee stopped

by the studio of Tim

Kelly, M.Photog.Cr., in

Lake Mary, a northern suburb of Orlando.

Kelly had only 10 minutes to photograph

the candidate for a magazine and less

than 1 minute of direct eye contact, thanks

to the phalanx of reporters squeezed into

the camera room, peppering Huckabee

with questions. Kelly got the cover shot,

no sweat.

The name Tim Kelly has become

synonymous with portraiture. That’s the

only kind of photography he’s done for the

last 18 years, after 20 years of shooting

Starting out with a multi-faceted business gave Tim Kelly experienceand insight that enhance his portraiture. Always growing artistically,he’s added digital painting to his lineup, and clients love it.

Classic beautyPortraitist Tim Kelly shares the secrets of his success

By Lorna GentryPORTRAITS

Weverything from weddings to commercial

work. It’s what suits Kelly’s sensibility best.

In the 1980s, Kelly’s handsomely lit

commercial work earned him an impres-

sive $175 an hour. Orlandoans with fam-

ilies began asking for portraits, too. His

competition charged $75 sitting fees, an

untenable amount to a man earning

commercial rates. Kelly asked $250 per

session, unsure anyone would be willing to

pay that much. But the high price boosted

the perceived value of his work, and clients

multiplied. By the early 1990s, he was a

full-time portraitist.

Now Kelly’s creation fees range from $500

All images ©Tim Kelly

82-85-kelly 3/13/08 11:41 AM Page 1

to $1,500, which covers only his time behind

the camera. Finished portraits run $8,000

to $15,000. A custom-designed, perfect-

bound, leather photo album with 24 to 30

pages from a single session sells for $4,000 to

$8,000. In 2007 Kelly did about 175 sittings,

nearly half the number of previous years. He

attributes the decline to the weak economy.

But his clientele is affluent enough to

stave off cutbacks on essentials, like pictures

of their children. “Our clients are established

families with two to three children ranging

in age from 4 or 5 all the way to college age,”

Kelly says in a soft, relaxed tone. Though

many of his clients live near the studio,

some live to the south and southwest of

Orlando and will drive 45 minutes to get

there and not think twice about it.

Such customer loyalty comes from an

appreciation of Kelly’s classic approach to

portraiture. The poses look natural, yet the

subjects are sculpted by luscious lighting;

“It’s product lighting for people,” he laughs.

When he was doing commercial work, Kelly

devised a way to wrap light around the sub-

ject to delineate it from the background. “I

use two to three boxes on one side and reflec-

tors on the other, which gives the effect of

north light coming through a window,” he

says. “Multiple light sources enable me to

correct skin, hair or background tone to be

exactly the value I want.” In the studio Kelly

uses Photogenic monolights on a rail system

with Larson Soff Boxes.

His favorite camera is the Canon EOS

5D with Canon L-series lenses, most often a

70-200mm EF f/2.8. Kelly also has a

medium-format camera with a 33-

megapixel Leaf Aptus digital back in the

camera room “just to impress clients,” he

says. “If I do a big group, I’ll definitely use it

because the fidelity is awesome. For routine

portraits it’s overkill. I’ll probably get the


“We stress quality. To keep perceivedvalue high, we tell our customersdelivery takes four to six weeks. Theycome back in a week to see the images,which gives me an opportunity to edit and retouch my favorites. ”

82-85-kelly 3/12/08 4:43 PM Page 2


new Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, but I don’t

know,” he says, his voice trailing off. “The 5D

was such a homerun. Everything I shoot

with it I love. And I can make any size print

from it that I want, so what else do I need?”

Kelly feels digital photography gives him

a greater range of artistic expression than

film did. “I used to paint oil on canvas years

ago, but it took many weeks. About six years

ago I started working with Corel Painter,

taking classes every year, but not selling

anything. Two years ago, after my fifth class

on Painter, I decided I was going to make it

work. I began to create a painting every

week, even if no one bought it. I did two

paintings during that class on my customers’

portraits. I invited my clients to come see

them. They didn’t ask when they could

come, they asked if they could buy them,

sight unseen. Within 24 hours, I sold them

both for a lot of money.”

Now Kelly does one painting a week for

his Modern Masterpiece series, and nearly

every one sells. Although it’s time-consuming

—three to 10 hours—he says he loves the

process. Last year he was inducted to the

International Society of Portrait Painters.

He outputs the digital paintings on canvas

and adds form-following brushwork. “The

heavy hand-brushed lacquer gives the brush

strokes a 3D look, further deceiving the eye.”

Tim Kelly portraits are also available in

unpainted color and black and white.

About 60 percent of his portraits are of

children, 20 percent families. The remainder

is divided among seniors, business, com-

mercial and illustrated portraits. “When I do

a family, I do a complete study with all the

breakouts of various poses, lighting and

interpretations. They will always have more

choices than they can afford to buy. I know

PORTRAITS

82-85-kelly 3/12/08 4:44 PM Page 3

I’m not going to see them again for a couple

of years, so I do as much as I can as quickly

as I can,” says Kelly.

“From one visit I typically sell a large por-

trait, secondary and gift portraits, and a

family album.” Kelly designs the albums as

he likes, without an order, to see if the client

will like it. “I use Capri albums because I can

do panoramic layouts spread across 10x20-

inch pages, or put one to a dozen pictures

on a spread. … I take imagination out of the

equation by showing them what I can do

and I sell it.”

Kelly purposefully elongates delivery

time. “We stress quality,” he says. “To keep

perceived value high, we tell our customers

delivery takes four to six weeks. They come

back in a week to see the images, which

gives me an opportunity to edit and retouch

my favorites. Instead of seeing the 200

frames I shot, they see the 30 polished

ones I love.”

Tiger Woods, who lives nearby, and his

wife, Elin, welcomed a baby girl last

summer. Might Kelly do their family

portrait? Kelly chuckles. “I was scheduled to

photograph Tiger Woods in 1997 when he

won his first Masters Green Jacket. I’ve

done other Green Jacket portraits for

Augusta National Golf Club. But his plane

was late and I was young and impatient

so I didn’t wait. I should have, but who

was to know?” �

To see more of Tim Kelly’s work, visit hisWeb site, www.timkellyportraits.com.

Lorna Gentry is a freelance writer in Atlanta.


82-85-kelly 3/13/08 11:42 AM Page 4

designing Allison & Jeff Rodgers

bring ad agency service to

studio clients

BY JEFF KENT

duo

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:45 PM Page 1

All images ©Allison Rodgers Photography

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:46 PM Page 2

Now with a portrait and wedding studio of

their own, Allison Rodgers Photography in

Olive Branch, Miss., they have successfully

adapted the ad agency model to retail

photography, with Allison as the

photographer, Jeff as the art director.

“We want to offer each client a solution,

as if we’re dealing with a client in an ad

agency,” says Allison. “When clients come in,

our first conversation is about their needs. I

ask a thousand questions about who they

are and what they’re looking for. Everything

we do is designed to make the process easy

for our clients. From our first consultation, I

(continued on p. 91)

hen Allison and Jeff Rodgers left their jobs asart directors for a Memphis ad agency, they hada specific goal in mind. For several years, the creatives-on-demand worked

with a variety of clients to produce projects for print, TV and online media.

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:46 PM Page 3

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:47 PM Page 4

CREATING A DESIGNER SESSION

BY ALLISON RODGERS

At Allison Rodgers Photography our tagline is “let us tellyour story,” because every client that walks through our dooris a little different from the next.

During my consultation appointments, my goal is to findout what makes my client different. It doesn’t matterwhether I’m shooting a newborn or a family. I want to findsomething I can focus on to make the session truly aboutthem. I ask tons of open questions, such as: How would youdefine your style as a family—casual, frazzled orsophisticated? What rooms do you spend most of your timein? What colors and textures are in those rooms? What doyou wear on the weekends?

I always love to see images of my client’s home. I ask theclient to send a few shots of each room so that we can keepthem on file to help in the final size and placement of our images.

Once I have a good feel for the client’s style andpersonality, I explain that I always want to plan my imagedesign for rooms that they live in on a daily basis, like theliving room, kitchen, hallway, entryway and children’sbedrooms. I talk about designing something customized forcertain spaces, usually for at least two different rooms.

I also help them understand that I’m going to createsomething unique. They are there to make an investment, so Iam going to create something for them to invest in.

Before the session ever takes place, I have a good idea ofwhat we’re going to do with the images. We plan sessionclothing to match the specific rooms in which the clientsplan to display the images. I even ask for measurements ofwalls and furniture so that I can design something for acertain spot in their home.

By doing all of this preparation in the first meeting, I’vealready sold the client on my ideas before the session takesplace. They get excited about the session. All they have todo is show up and let us do the rest.

When it’s time to order, the client has a multiple-choicelist of tailored options. We use all of their favorite images inour product mock-ups. They know the items will fit theirstyle. They know they will match their home. Even better,they know where to hang them and that they’re going to fitthe spaces perfectly.

Taking the time to get to know the client in the beginning

means that we can better tell their story, and give them products

that they absolutely need. What more could they ask for?

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:49 PM Page 5

(continued from p. 88)

send them away with homework. I want to

see the color palette of their house, the

layout, the style. We look into all of these

elements so that we can provide a solution

that fits them. Everything is tailored.”

The Rodgers continue to enjoy the collab-

orative structure of the ad agency in their

studio. They oversee two junior designers,

who work on product creation, album layouts

and image processing. “The designers become

extensions of us, like extra hands,” says Jeff.

“I’ll come in and tweak things here and

there. Collaboration allows us to produce

more work in a timely manner while

maintaining a consistent artistic direction.”

For each client, the design process begins

with the initial consultation, during which

Allison and the client discuss where the

images will be displayed and how they are to

fit into the overall decorating scheme. The

process continues through the session and

into the sales presentation. It’s a matter of

paring down options to focus on the must-

haves, rather than selling every product and

service to every client.

“People just get overwhelmed,” says Allison.

“They come in and think they want to buy

everything. I’m honest with them and try to

focus on certain things they need and will

enjoy. That’s so important. It helps me when

I shoot to have a plan. I’m shooting to create

an image for a specific place in their home.”

“It’s hard for people to have creative vision

when it comes to abstract things like photo-

graphic art,” adds Jeff. “They need to be

presented those options. We don’t sell a

vague idea of an image that will go somewhere,

it’s artwork to fit into a specific place.”

Since opening the business in the fall of

2003, Allison and Jeff have enlarged the

studio three times, and nearly doubled their

gross revenue every year. They’ve accomplished

this, in part, through managerial accounting

guidance from PPA’s Studio Management

Services (SMS). With help from SMS account-

ants, the Rodgers have set up a system that

allows them to know exactly where they

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:47 PM Page 6

“When clientscome in, our firstconversation isabout their needs. I ask a thousandquestions aboutwho they are and what they’relooking for.Everything we do is designed to make theprocess easy for our clients.”

86-93-rodgers 3/12/08 4:48 PM Page 7

stand financially at all times. They are aware

of their cost of sales, session numbers, sales

averages, total income and net profit.

In 2006, the average sale on 310 sessions

was $686. In 2007, 256 sessions yielded an

average of $1,656. The Rodgers have been

able to dramatically increase revenue without

increasing prices by limiting the focus of

each session to concentrate on creating specific

images. Clients are actually inclined to pur-

chase more because the options are tailored

to their situation. “It’s all about helping people

understand what they need,” says Allison. “If

you provide someone something specific—

for example, a custom-designed gallery wrap

to go in a designated space in a living

room—they’re likely to buy it.”

The Rodgers are always mindful that

they’re running a family-owned photography

business, and never lose sight of traditional

principles. They build relationships with

their clients and are active in the community.

They give perks to loyal customers. They

consult on decorating decisions and offer

suggestions for future photographic art. They

console clients who lose a loved one and

donate images to the family. Such personal

touches endear the Rodgers to their clients.

“We want to give something back to our

clients, our community and to other

photographers,” says Jeff. “Sure, we want to

make enough money to live comfortably, but

we’re not in this to be millionaires.”

“That’s right,” agrees Allison. “We want to

tell our clients’ stories. We want to offer our

creative vision. This is such an important

business to be in. It’s such a privilege when

you think about it.” �

For more information on Allison RodgersPhotography, visit www.allisonrodgers.com.

GO FROM RAGS TO RICHES

PPA Webinar spotlights four real-world financial success stories inApril. Learn how to transform yourstudio’s bottom line not withgimmicks, just know-how.

Interested in learning more about how

the Rodgers have repeatedly doubled

revenues without raising prices? On

April 21, from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern

Time, Allison and Jeff join the owners of

three other high-performing studios for

a PPA Webinar on studio business

success. “2007 Financial Success

Stories” also includes Ryan and Carrie

Phillips of Click Portrait Studio/Ryan

Phillips Photography, a portrait and

wedding outfit in Thousand Oaks, Calif.;

wedding, portrait and commercial

photographers Jeff and Carolle Dachowski

of Dachowski Photography in Manchester,

N.H.; and Todd and Jaime Reichman, the

wedding, portrait and senior

photography specialists of Reichman

Photographic Artists in Dunlap, Ill.

The pros will discuss how they’ve

managed to accomplish such feats as

tripling net profits, dramatically

increasing sales averages, creating

financial security for their businesses,

and regaining their personal lives in the

process. PPA chief financial officer and

Studio Management Services (SMS)

guru Scott Kurkian will moderate the

Webinar. “2007 Financial Success

Stories” is part of the popular online

educational series sponsored by SMS.

Cost for the April 21 Webinar is $49

for PPA members and $249 for

nonmembers. For more information,

visit www.ppa.com and click on the

Events section.

86-93-rodgers 3/13/08 1:10 PM Page 8

©Jerry Ghionis

94-100,102,104-diamonds 3/12/08 4:51 PM Page 1

Brilliant

©Jim Frieze

A glittering gallery by theDiamond Photographers of the Year

COMPILED BY JEFF KENT

94-100,102,104-diamonds 3/12/08 4:52 PM Page 2


t’s no small accomplishment to land multiple prints in the PPA

Loan Collection via the PPA International Print Competition, one of

the largest, most stringently judged photography competitions in

the world. With some 5,000 entries, the Loan Collection comprises

only a few hundred photographs, the best of the best. Those who

merit multiple Loan inclusions earn a special distinction. With four

images in the collection, photographers reach the Diamond level,

the highest, in one of three categories: Artist of the Year, Electronic

Imager of the Year and Photographer of the Year. On the following

pages, we pay tribute to the 2007 Diamond image-makers, and

display a selection of the images that put them on the top tier.

JIM FRIEZEJim Frieze, M.Photog.Cr., of Jim Frieze Photography in Columbus, Neb.,has been a professional photographer for more than 45 years. He brings aclean, fresh approach to contemporary wedding photography, as well asfamily, senior and child portraiture. www.jimfriezephotography.com

“HER DADDY’S WORST NIGHTMARE” The subject, Eric, frequently changes his look in the course of a year. Heworks in Frieze’s studio, so the photographer sees the alterations firsthand.This portrait encapsulates one of the looks in Eric’s diverse repertoire.

Frieze desaturated the image in Photoshop, then adjusted the densityand contrast before stretching the background. “I always capture myimages in color,” says Frieze. “I can change and adjust to whatever Ichoose, and I find the contrast and density of the images to be so muchmore enjoyable.”

CAMERA: Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro LENS: 28-75mm Tamron SP AF f/2.8 XR Di LD AsphericalLIGHTS: Main—Photogenic PowerLight modified by a 22x28-inch Larson SoffBox; background—Photogenic PowerLight; fill—5-foot Larson silver reflectorSHUTTER SPEED: 1/125 secondAPERTURE: f/9.5ISO: 100SOFTWARE: Adobe Photoshop CS

“STRONG FOUNDATION” Image on page 95.The father of the child in this photo has been going to Jim FriezePhotography for portraits since he was a young boy. When he adopted achild, Frieze invited him to the studio to do a father-son portrait session.When Frieze captured this image of the sleeping child, he knew “StrongFoundation” summed up the story.

“The challenges we encountered during the session included gettingthe little tyke to go to sleep and stay asleep,” says Frieze. “But the mosthumorous was the tiny bladder of this youngster. With each new pose hebaptized his father—over and over again!”

In post-production, Frieze de-saturated the image in Photoshop, adjustedthe density and contrast and stretched the background. He applied astroke line and black canvas for the presentation.

CAMERA: Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro LENS: 28-75mm Tamron SP AF f/2.8 XR Di LD AsphericalLIGHTS: Main—Photogenic PowerLight modified by a 22x28-inch Larson SoffBox; background—Photogenic PowerLight; fill—5-foot Larson silver reflectorSHUTTER SPEED: 1/125 secondAPERTURE: f/9.5ISO: 100SOFTWARE: Adobe Photoshop CS

©Jim Frieze

94-100,102,104-diamonds 3/12/08 4:52 PM Page 3

JERRY GHIONISJerry Ghionis operates Jerry Ghionis Photography, a new boutique addition to his 10-year-old company, XSiGHTPhotography & Video. The Melbourne, Australia, photographer specializes in weddings, portraits and fashion. He travels three to four months a year pursuing his photographic passions. www.jerryghionis.com

“NATHAN & VANESSA” (ALBUM) Image below.“I set out to create the simplest album I have ever produced,” says Ghionis. “I focused on showcasing the photographyand not the design, which I believe is what an effective album should do. There were so many powerful images from thiswedding, but I ruthlessly featured one-image page designs among multiple image designs. It’s all about the wow.”

When digitally projected, the album displays vertically like a folding calendar. The printed album is 20x13.3 inches,printed on Kodak metallic paper by Edge Photo Imaging, and produced by Seldex Artistic Albums.

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENSES: 70-200mm Canon EF f/2.8L IS USM and EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

“HADDEN & REBECCA” (ALBUM) Image on page 94.A mix of flush-mount and matted pages, this album is 11x14 inches with a simple, clean design. “I only had about 15 minutes of location time with the bride and groom, so I concentrated on producing fewerimages and making each one count,” remembers Ghionis. “The images of the long, tall grass are among my all-time favorite sequences. This album includes many elements, including storytelling, glamour, candor, emotionand a big measure of soul.”

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENSES: 70-200mm Canon EF f/2.8L IS USM and EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

©Jerry Ghionis


94-100,102,104-diamonds 3/12/08 4:52 PM Page 4

©Tomas Muñoz

©Tom

as Muñoz

TOMAS MUÑOZCalling on a rich tradition that began in Cuba in 1909,Muñoz Photography has grown into one of Florida’smost popular studios. The emerging generation ofMuñoz photographers is led by Tom Muñoz,M.Photog.Cr., CPP, who does a mix of weddings,portraits and pet photography out of the studio’s WestPalm Beach and Fort Lauderdale locations.www.munozphoto.net

“VINTAGE GRACE”This classically composed bridal portrait comes from atraditional Indian wedding. The bride had worn theIndian sari and lehnga during earlier stages of the event,but she changed into her white wedding gown for thisphoto session at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Fla.

“I put the bride on a staircase that leads to themain lobby of the hotel,” says Muñoz. “I used thebeautiful light coming from a window to light herprofile. The bride wanted me to photograph the blendof cultures represented in her wedding day. She wasecstatic over this formal bridal portrait.”

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENS: 24-70mm Canon EF f/2.8L USMSHUTTER SPEED: 1/125 secondAPERTURE: f/5.6ISO: 200

KASSY & TOBY“The bride and groom are a young, fun couple, whoenjoyed every minute of their wedding,” says Muñoz. “I started the day with the bride and her family at theBreakers Hotel in Palm Beach. The hair and make-upteam ran late with the bridesmaids, and I was pressedfor time during the portraits. Once I finished, the girlspractically ran toward the limo. I captured this momentas they realized that they were minutes away from thestart of the ceremony, as they looked at one other within an adrenaline rush.”

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENS: 24-70mm Canon EF f/2.8L USMSHUTTER SPEED: 1/125 secondAPERTURE: f/5.6ISO: 200

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SAM GRAY PORTRAITSIn business since the late 1960s, Sam GrayPortraits of Raleigh, N.C., focuses on childrenand families, with an increasing number ofwomen and executive portraits. Proprietor SamGray, M.Photog.Cr., provides his longtimeclientele traditional fine-art photography in avariety of formats and media. He attainedDiamond status this year with his firstcompetition entries in 11 years.www.samgrayportraits.com

“THE SHEEP KNOW HIS VOICE”“I captured the shepherd when I was with somefriends on a photographic safari in northern Italylooking into the Swiss Alps,” remembers Gray. “Iwanted to compose the image as quickly aspossible because I knew the scene would changeany minute. The first thing I did was get a wideangle showing the mountains and clouds, withthe shepherd talking to his dog.”Gray used Photoshop to make severaladjustments, clean up distractions in thebackground, and enhance the clouds and fog tolook like it was morning. He also moved theshepherd to improve the overall composition.

CAMERA: Kodak DCS Pro SLR/nLENS: 80-200mm Nikkor f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S VRZoom and 35-70mm f/2.8D AF ZoomSHUTTER SPEED: 1/180 secondAPERTURE: f/6.7 ISO: 200SOFTWARE: Adobe Photoshop


©Sam Gray Portraits

©Sam Gray Portraits

“ROLLING HILLS”Gray initiated this project for a competition judged by the curator of contemporary art at the North Carolina Museumof Art. “Although this [competition] was out of my comfort zone, I wanted to be in front of this judge,” says Gray.Looking over some old travel images, Gray found a photograph that he’d captured in the hill town of Corniglia, Italy.Using the palette knife tool in Corel Painter, he digitally painted the entire image and intensified the colors for impact.Then he cropped it for a 30x70-inch composition before printing the image on canvas. The art piece was one of 20out of 300 chosen for the show. It now hangs in his studio gallery and is finished with rich impasto oil paints.

CAMERA: Kodak DCS Pro SLR/nLENS: 70-200mm Nikkor f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom and 35-70mm f/2.8D AF ZoomSHUTTER SPEED: 1/750 secondAPERTURE: f/6.7 ISO: 160COMPUTER: Mac G4 17-inch notebook with Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet SOFTWARE: Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter

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STEVEN AHRENSA second-generation photographer who hasbeen photographing professionally for 27years, Steve Ahrens, M.Photog.Cr., runsAhrens Photography in Fond du Lac, Wis.Technically adept and traditional minded,Ahrens specializes in classic portraits ofseniors, children and families.www.theahrensimage.com

“JOE”“I had owned the hat for years and waslooking for just the right background andsubject to photograph with it,” saysAhrens. “Then I needed something for thesubject to wear. We made an ethnic outfitfor him, but it just didn’t look right. At thelast minute I visited the local Goodwillstore and found this T-shirt for $2.” Again,lighting proved to be a challenge. Ahrensused north light and reflectors toilluminate the subject to appear to be litby the moon and the spectral highlights onthe water.

CAMERA: Cannon EOS 5DLENS: 70-200mm Canon f/2.8L IS USMLIGHTS: Natural light and reflectorsSHUTTER SPEED: 1/60 secondAPERTURE: f/5.6ISO: 100

©Steven Ahrens

©Steven Ahrens

“A SHOULDER TO LEAN ON”“Will's parents wanted me to recreate a pose I had done of their older son,” says Ahrens. “After I’dgotten the image they were looking for, Will's father picked him up and held him, and that is themoment in this image.” Ahrens appreciates the special feeling that comes through when a child feelssecure. “Children feel safe and comforted when held by their parents. Will’s father served as a prop,which led to the perfect title.” This image also received an ASB Regional Medallion Award.

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENS: 70-200mm Canon f/2.8L IS USMLIGHTS: Natural light and reflectorsSHUTTER SPEED: 1/60 secondAPERTURE: f/5.6ISO: 100


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JO BURKHARDTJo Burkhardt, M.Artist.MEI, runs PhotographicArt by Jo in Sarasota, Fla. She does artisticimage enhancements of both new and oldimages. This is the third consecutive year thatshe has reached Diamond status as an ElectronicImager of the Year.

“GONE FISHIN’”Burkhardt adapted this image from a photographby Brian Shindle of Creative MomentsPhotography in Westerville, Ohio. She usedAdobe Photoshop to eliminate the house andbackground before painting in a new scene foraesthetic balance. “The biggest challenge wasremoving a large home from the original workand envisioning a completely differentbackground in the process,” says Burkhardt.

SOFTWARE: Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter

“HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS”“The artistic intent was to start with a clutteredimage and transform it into a beautiful scene,”says Burkhardt. The original image was especiallyfun for Burkhardt because the yard required adigital clean-up before she could begin to focuson transforming the house and background. Sheremoved all the clutter in Adobe Photoshopbefore pulling up Corel Painter to paint the winterscene.

CAMERA: Fujifilm QuickSnap Flash 35mm SingleUse cameraFILM: 35mm Fujifilm 400 speed filmSOFTWARE: Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter


©Jo Burkhardt

©Jo Burkhardt

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©Juli Cialone

JULI CIALONEJuli Cialone, M.Photog., proprietor of Cialone Photography in Rochester, N.Y., has been in business for 10 years, working primarily with portrait and weddingclients. Her specialties are environmental portraits, portrait albums and photojournalistic images. www.cialonephoto.com

“JENNIFER AND MICHAEL” (ALBUM) Aiming for “urban and sexy,” Cialone created this image on location. Her first challenge was to get the couple comfortable, so she started the session with a fewdrinks at a bar. Her next challenge was to keep onlookers from interfering, which turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. “An ogling passerby actuallywalked into a pole because he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going!” she recalls. In post-production, Cialone retouched the image with Nik Color EfexPro and Kubota Artistic Tools. She designed and laid out the album with Yervant Page Gallery software.

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENSES: 85mm Canon f/1.2L II USM and 15mm Canon EF f/2.8 fisheyeLIGHTS: Photogenic PowerLights


“PUPPY AND THE BABY BOOK” (ALBUM)“I was going for something fun and silly but alsovery clean,” says Cialone. “It was a little challengingkeeping a puppy and a 1-year-old happy simulta-neously—not to mention getting expressions.”Cialone created the image with a fisheye lens whileshooting the subjects against a seamless whitebackground. Everything went smoothly until bothsubjects wet the floor. Cialone retouched the imageswith Nik Color Efex Pro and Kubota Artistic Tools.She designed the album layout freehand.

CAMERA: Canon EOS 5DLENSES: 85mm Canon f/1.2L II USM and 15mmCanon EF f/2.8 fisheyeLIGHTS: Photogenic PowerLightsSOFTWARE: Nik Color Efex Pro and KubotaArtistic Tools

©Juli Cialone

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Current EventsMay 18-20S: PP of Louisiana, Marksville, La.; DaynaPonthieu, 318-359-6633; www.ppla.net

May 18-23W: Imaging Workshops, Mountain Summit,Breckenridge, Colo.; Jeff Johnson, 303-921-4454;[email protected]; www.coloradoworkshops.com

June 1-2S: PP of South Carolina summer mini-seminar,Columbia.S.C.; Jeanne Richardson; 843-527-2071;[email protected]; www.ppofsc.com

June 15-17S: PP of Oregon, Mt. Bachelor Resort, Bend,Ore.; Arlene Welsh, 800-370-5657; [email protected]; www.pporegon.com

June 16S: PP of Massachusetts; Steve Meier, [email protected]; www.ppam.com

June 22-23S: Kentucky PPA; Embassy Suites, Lexington, Ky.; Randy Fraley, 606-928-5333;[email protected]; www.kyppa.com

June 22-24S: PP of North Dakota, Northern Light Seminar,Doublewood Inn, Bismarck, N.D.; Poppy Mills,701-222-3040; [email protected]

June 22-25S: Texas PPA, YO Ranch Resort, Kerrville, Texas;Doug Box; 979-272-5200; [email protected];www.tppa.org

August 2-5C: PP of Louisiana, New Orleans, La.; DaynaPonthieu, 318-359-6633; www.ppla.net

August 15C: Tennessee PPA, Marriott Cool Springs, Frankin,Tenn.; Ernie K. Johnson, 615-509-5737;[email protected]; tnppa.com

September 12-15C: PP of Oklahoma, Radisson Hotel, Tulsa, Okla.;Ted Newlin, [email protected]; www.ppok.org

September 13-16C: PPA of New England, Radisson HotelNashua, N.H.; Roland Laramie, P.O. Box 316,Willimantic, CT 06226; [email protected]

September 13-17C: Georgia PPA, Athens, Ga.; Tom McCollum;770-972-8552; [email protected];www.gppa.com

October 3-7C: Southwest PPA, Sheraton Arlington Hotel, Arlington, Texas; Michael Scalf, Sr., Box 1779, Blanchard, OK 73010-1770; 405-485-3838; [email protected];www.swppa.com

October 5-6S: Kentucky PPA; Hyatt Regency, Lexington, Ky.; Randy Fraley, 606-928-5333; [email protected];www.kyppa.com

October 12-13C: PP of Colorado, Denver, Colo.; Jeff Johnson;303-921-4454; [email protected];www.ppcolorado.com

October 18-21C: APPI, Decatur Conference Center, Decatur,Ill.; Jill Sanders, 309-697-9015;[email protected]

October 20S: PP of Massachusetts; Steve Meier, [email protected]; www.ppam.com

October 20-21C: Wisconsin PPA, The Osthoff Resort, Elkhart Lake, Wis.; Mary Gueller; 920-753-5302; Jim Buivid; 262-377-5118; Deb Wiltsey, 866-382-9772; wppa-online.com

October 26-27C: PP of Iowa, Airport Holiday Inn, DesMoines, Iowa; Chris Brinkopf, P.O. Box 108,Sumner, IA 50674; 563-578-1126;[email protected]

October 26-28S: Northern Light/Minnesota PPA; Nicole Bugnacki, 763-390-6272;[email protected]

November 2S: PP of Louisiana, Northern Exposure,Shreveport, La.; Dayna Ponthieu,318-359-6633; www.ppla.net

November 9-10C: PP of Ohio, Hilton Easton, Columbus, Ohio;Carol Worthington, [email protected]


calendarSubmit your organization’s convention, work-shop, seminar or exhibition dates to ProfessionalPhotographer at least six months in advance.Editors reserve the right to select events to beannounced on these pages, and to determinewhen announcements will appear. Editors arenot responsible for conflicting or incorrect dates.For readers’ convenience, each event is identi-fied by a code preceding its name: C=Convention,W=Workshop, S=Seminar, C/E=Approved PPAContinuing Education Seminar, E=Exhibit. Sendall Calendar of Events additions or correctionsto: Sandra Lang, Professional Photographer,229 Peachtree St., NE, Suite 2200, Atlanta, GA30303; FAX: 404-614-6404; [email protected].

PPA EVENTS

Professional Photographers of America (PPA)has a proud tradition of providing its memberswith outstanding educational opportunitiesthrough its annual events, PPA-Merited classesand its PPA Affiliate School Network. Don’tmiss out on the vital knowledge you’ll gain atthese events! For information on PPA events,call 800-786-6277 or visit www.ppa.com.

June 6117th Annual International PrintCompetition Deadline for Entries

July 22-23Judges Workshop, Daytona Beach

April 7Super Monday

October 9-18PPA Fall Cruise

January 11-13, 2009Imaging USA, Phoenix

January 10-12, 2010Imaging USA, Nashville

Certification ExamFor a complete list of exam dates, go towww.ppa.com and click on Certification.

Image Review

Online submission:May 9, August 8, & October 10

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Future EventsJanuary 31 - February 3, 2009C: PP of Iowa, Airport Holiday Inn, DesMoines, Iowa; Chris Brinkopf, P.O. Box 108,Sumner, IA 50674; 563-578-1126;[email protected]

February 6-10, 2009C: PP of South Carolina, Myrtle Beach. S.C.;Wilber Jeffcoat; wilber@jeffcoatphotography;www.ppofsc.com

February 20-23, 2009C: PP of Oregon, Embassy Suites Hotel,PDX, Portland, Ore.; Arlene Welsh, 800-370-5657; [email protected]; www.pporegon.com

February 20-23, 2009C: PP of Massachusetts, Steve Meier; 781-829-4282; [email protected];www.ppam.com

February 20-25, 2009C: Virginia PPA, Renaissance Hotel,Portsmouth, Va.; William Garrett, 434-836-2751; [email protected]

February 26-March 4, 2009C: PP of North Carolina; Sheraton ImperialHotel, Durham, N.C.; Loretta Byrd, 888-404-7762; [email protected];www.ppofnc.com

February 27-March 3, 2009C: Wisconsin PPA, Marriott ConferenceCenter, Madison, Wis.; DonnaSwiecichowski, 920-822-1200; Paul Tishim,715-384-5454; Deb Wiltsey, 866-382-9772; wppa-online.com

March 15-18, 2009C: Mid-America Regional, DecaturConference Center, Decatur, Ill.; Jill Sanders,309-697-9015; [email protected]

March 28-31, 2009C: Heart of America, KCI Expo Center,Kansas City, Mo.; Stephen Harvey, 620-624-4102; [email protected];www.hoappa.com

April 3-8, 2009C: Minnesota PPA; Joanie Ford, 763-560-7783; [email protected];mnppa.com

April 4-8, 2009C: Northern Light, Minnesota, Jeff Fifield,218-722-377; [email protected]; NicoleBugnacki, P.O. Box 567 Ironton, Minn.;56455; 763-390-6272

April 25-28, 2009C: SEPPA, Athens, Ga.; TomMcCollum; 770-972-8552; [email protected];www.4seppa.com

August 8-12, 2009C: Tennessee PPA, Marriott Cool Springs,Frankin, Tenn.; Ernie K. Johnson; 615-509-5737; [email protected];tnppa.com

October 18-21C: APPI, Decatur Conference Center,Decatur, Ill.; Jill Sanders, 309-697-9015;[email protected]

November 1-2, 2009S: PP of Iowa, Airport Holiday Inn, DesMoines, Iowa; Chris Brinkopf; 563-578-1126;[email protected]; www.ppiowa.com

February 6-9, 2010C: PPof Iowa, Airport Holiday Inn, DesMoines, Iowa; Chris Brinkopf, 563-578-1126; iowatelecom.net; www.ppiowa.com

February 26-March2, 2010C: Wisconsin PPA, Radison Hotel, GreenBay, Wis.; Donna Swiecichowski, 920-822-1200; Paul Tishim, 715-384-5454; Deb Wiltsey, 866-382-9772; wppa-online.com

April 10-13, 2010C: Heart of America, KCI Expo Center,Kansas City, Mo.; Stephen Harvey, 620-624-4102; [email protected]; www.hoappa.com

November 14-15, 2010C: PP of Ohio, Hilton Easton, Columbus, Ohio; Carol Worthington,[email protected]

March 4-9, 2011C: PP of North Carolina, Sheraton ImperialHotel, Durham, N.C.; Loretta Byrd, 888-404-7762; [email protected];www.ppofnc.com

April 2-5, 2011C: Heart of America, KCI Expo Center,Kansas City, Mo.; Stephen Harvey, 620-624-4102; [email protected];www.hoappa.com

Send all Calendar of Events additions or corrections to: Sandra Lang, ProfessionalPhotographer, 229 Peachtree St., NE, Suite 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303; FAX: 404-614-6404; [email protected]


PPA-ApprovedContinuing Education Seminars

PPA members receive both merits and the best-published prices.

May-DecemberC/E: Hands on Photography Classes;Quinn Hancock; 785-883-4166; [email protected]

Extreme Portraiture: Wedding Edition;Batavia, Ill.; 630-761-2990; 815-436-0422

May 1-2C/E: Extreme Portraiture: Wedding Edition;Batavia, Ill.; 630-761-2990; 815-436-0422

May 5-9C/E: From Traditional to Digital; JeremySutton, San Francisco, Calif.; 415-626-3971;www.jeremysutton.com

May 14C/E: “The Art of Children” with MaryMortensen; Rockford, Ill.; Wendy Veugeler;815-356-1231; [email protected]

June 9-11C/E: Camp Howe, North Platte, Neb.; 308-534-7909; www.photographicimages1.com

July 12-18C/E: Copan Honduras Study AbroadExcursion with Paul Wingler, Suzette Allen &Jon Yoshinaga; 800-483-6208; [email protected];www.suzetteallen.com/copan

August 1-4C/E: Oxford Painter Workshop; JeremySutton, San Francisco, Calif.; 415-626-3971;www.jeremysutton.com

August 13C/E: “Making Digital Photography Easy,Predictable & Fun” with Robert D. Lloyd,Malta, Ill.; Wend Weugeler; 815-356-1231;[email protected]

September 12-17C/E: Great Gatsby Impressionist Workshop;Jeremy Sutton, San Francisco, Calif.; 415-626-3971; www.jeremysutton.com

October 20-23C/E: Painter Creativity; Jeremy Sutton, SanFrancisco, Calif.; 415-626-3971; www.jeremysutton.com

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PPA members receive both merits and the best-published prices.

May 4-9Georgia School, N. Georgia Tech,Clarksville, Ga.; Tom McCollum, 888-272-3711; [email protected]; www.gppa.com

May 4-9MARS (Mid-Atlantic Regional School),Grand Hotel, Cape May, N.J.; AdeleBastinck, 888-267-6277;[email protected]; www.marsschool.com

May 6-9 and May 11-14Wisconsin Professional Photographers School,UW Stevens Point-Treehaven, Tomahawk,Wis.; Phil Ziesemer, 715-536-4540,[email protected]; www.wiprophotoschool.org

May 18-22Florida School of Photography, Daytona BeachCommunity College, Daytona Beach, Fla.; TeriCrownover; [email protected]; 800-330-0532;Marybeth Jackson-Hamberger, [email protected]; www.fppfloridaschool.com

May 18-22Imaging Workshops of Colorado, Brecken-ridge, Colo.; Jeff Johnson, 303-921-4454;[email protected]; www.coloradoworkshops.com

June 1-5Kansas Professional Photographer School, BethelCollege, Newton, Kan.; Ron Clevenger, 785-242-7710, [email protected]; www.kpps.com

June 1-5Mid-America Institute of ProfessionalPhotography, University of Northern Iowa,Cedar Falls, Iowa; Charles Lee, 641-799-8957; [email protected]; www.maipp.com; AlDeWild, [email protected]

June 8-12Illinois Workshops, Grafton, Ill.; Bret Wade,217-245-5418; [email protected];www.ilworkshops.com

June 8-13Great Lakes Institute of Photography,Northwestern College, Traverse City, Mich.;Greg Ockerman, 313-318-4327; [email protected]; www.glip.org

June 15-20West Coast School, University of San Diego,San Diego, Calif.; Kip Cothran, 951-696-9706;[email protected]; www.prophotoca.com

June 22-26PP Oklahoma School, St. Gregory’sUniversity, Shawnee, Okla.; Glenn Cope,580-628-6438; [email protected];www.ppok.org/school.html

June 23-25Golden Gate School of Professional Photog-raphy, Mills College, Oakland, Calif.; Julie Olson,650-548-0889; [email protected]; www.goldengateschool.com

July 13-17Image Explorations, Shawnigan Lake, BritishColumbia; Don MacGregor, 604-731-7225;[email protected]; www.imageexplorations.ca/

July 20-25PPSNY Photo Workshop, Hobart/WilliamSmith Colleges, Geneva, N.Y.; LindaHutchings, 607-733-6563; [email protected]; www.ppsnysworkshop.com

August 4-7Long Island Photo Workshop, Sheraton Hotel,Smithtown, Long Island, N.Y.; Jerry Small,516-221-4058; [email protected]; www.liphotoworkshop.com

August 10-14East Coast School, Sheraton Imperial Hotel,Raleigh, N.C.; Janet Boschker, 704-567-0775; [email protected];www.eastcoastschool.com

Send all additions or corrections to: Marisa Pitts, [email protected].

2008 PPA-AFFILIATED SCHOOLS

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Two of theMany Faces

of PPAy

PPA gives us THE BUSINESS FOCUS.

When starting out, Geoff was just fine-tuning his personal photography. But when we decide to do something, we put everything we have into it. PPA offered a lot of education—both business and photographic—and we used it all. We researched the best wedding photographers, where they were teaching (most at PPA and affiliate schools), and took 5-6 weeklong classes in the first year.

Now, we have the financial and creative freedom to expand our photography even more.

Geoff & Lara WhiteProfessional Photographers

PPA Members since 2003

Professional Photographers of America | 800.786.6277 | [email protected] | www.ppa.com

© Kelvin Leung, Geoff White Photography

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEDennis Craft, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API, F-ASP

2008-2009 PPA President

news from the world’s largest professional photography association | Professional Photographers of America | www.ppa.com

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As we come into spring, I hope that you were able to renew yourself and your studio and prepare for another busy photographic season. I always look forward to this time of year after the conventions and seminars that renew my passion for photography…and my friendships.

One of my passions is competition, which I have used as a learning tool for over twenty years. I still remember the first time I entered four prints in the Professional Photographers of Michigan print competition: I was so happy to receive two red ribbons and two yellow ribbons…without any thrown out! Each year I am inspired

by the creativity and quality of others’ works and am committed to create my own best image. At Michigan’s competition some new photographers did very well alongside the “veterans.” One of those veterans was well-known lecturer and mentor Barry Rankin. Barry received the Photographer of the Year for PPM — congratulations Barry! I hope everyone is planning on entering PPA’s International Print Competition (June 6, 2008). Let’s get our images ready and make this International Judging the biggest ever.

Speaking of international, I will be representing PPA this month in Korea. This is the fifth year that PPA has held

an Asian Pacific Affiliated Judging at Professional Photographers of Korea’s convention (at Seoul’s COEX Center). It has been nice to see the benefits of this relationship each year, as we present the Master of Photography degrees to PPA members from this region.

Thank you again for allowing me to share this time with you. And start working on those competition prints!

Dennis Craft, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API, F-ASP2008-2009 PPA President

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© Dennis Craft

© Dennis Craft

© Dennis Craft© Dennis Craft

FRIENDS MET ALONG THE WAYThis month I would like to introduce you to three people who taught me about photography. When I bought my studio in Marshall, Michigan in 1979, I had no real training in photography. In fact, I had only owned a 35mm camera for a few years.

Taking the advice of a lab rep, I started attending our local PPA affiliate in Michigan (Triangle). After a couple years, I knew I was in over my head. So I paid attention to the others who attended, soon identifying three photographers I admired for their businesses, friendship, and photography. One you might know: Ron Nichols, current Vice President of PPA. The other two might be new to many outside Michigan: Rod Gleason and Duaine Brenner. To these three I owe most of my success.

At one Triangle meeting, I suggested that we start a focus group and meet

once a month for breakfast. I lived about an hour away from them, so I offered to do most of the driving. I’m sure it didn’t take them long to realize my real reason for the group, as I brought stacks of proofs each month for them to critique…but they were very patient. They introduced me to many photographic fundamentals over pancakes and eggs.

Ron, Rod, and Duaine became my first mentors within this profession—a gift I will never be able to repay. Never did they make me feel inferior or stupid for asking hundreds of questions.

When you read this, I hope you call or e-mail the person who was your first mentor. Chances are, they might not realize the influence they had on your life. From the bottom of my heart, thanks Ron, Rod and Duaine. Thanks for everything you did for me.

2007 AN-NE MARKETING AWARDSPOTLIGHT: PAUL OWENby Angie Wijesinghe, PPA Marketing Specialist


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“It all comes down to customer service.”

That was Paul Owen’s description of his marketing process. Ironically, Owen, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, winner of the 2007 AN-NE Marketing Award for Best Use of Multimedia (and many other photography awards), does little active marketing himself. But that’s because his commitment to service has transformed into a behind-the-scenes marketing approach. Simply put, he helps the people who know the people.

“The majority of my marketing is done by high-end vendors and other photographers who refer me,” says Owen. “After all, I love top-notch service (I figure my ideal clients would, too), so I try to surround myself with those types of vendors. It’s my biggest success.”

Easier said than done? Not according to Owen. Think of the different locations you photograph…for weddings, portraits, and other events. Most could use promotional images, and Owen realized this

starting out. Referred to a wedding by a friend, he photographed the event at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Later, he returned to the museum with a fully designed album highlighting the building itself during the wedding. That album resulted in many museum events booking his photographic services.

“As photographers, we’re powerful because we can provide those promotional images. However, you can’t just give a venue photos,” Owen stresses. “You need to ensure that your presentation is the best. Give an album or DVD, something you know they will show their clients so you get a return. You can’t put a price tag on that kind of marketing.”

This need for prestigious presentation was the basis for Owen’s competition-winning DVD. He already used DVDs for clients who couldn’t meet with him in person—sort of a long-distance portfolio. As the Milwaukee Museum had many out-of-town clients, Owen

“Never stop learning.” It’s Doug Box’s motto (really…it’s how he signs his letters), and he certainly lives up to that statement.

Doug was always learning different nuances in photography and business...even if it happened in ways one might not expect. As a teenager, he hung out at the K-mart camera department. Then he worked

in the yearbook staff, where he sold his first photo (to the fraternity he photographed dressed in old-time clothes). “I was rich with that $3.50,” chuckles Doug. He even bought a daycare center, and “cleaned up the Jell-o and peanut butter to take photos in the lunchroom,” he remembers. “After all, I had a built-in clientele!” It might sound odd, but it worked—enough to grow into a profitable photography business he could sell.

Despite his own success, he still idolizes one moment with Don Blair during a Texas School class. He had to leave early to shoot a portrait,

and he went up to Don (who was teaching a class probably too advanced for Doug at the time). “I only have one strobe and an old piece of carpet for a background. What can I do?” he asked Don. With a serious look, Don replied,

“Son, keep it close to the camera.”

Why is that so meaningful? Well, Don could have easily discounted him as not being professional or important enough to answer. Instead, he encouraged the young Doug Box. “He became my mentor,” remembers Doug. “I wanted to be like him as a person, an instructor, and a photographer.”

© Anne Radtke of the Milwaukee Art Museum

BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHTDoug Box, M.Photog.Cr., API

PPA Member since: 1979

Location: CALDWELL, TX


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made them a DVD, too. But he didn’t just paste up a slideshow of images. Thanks to the help of close friend and photographer Jim Buivid of Grafton, Wis., Owen dove into the Apple Motion program to create a smoother, DVD-quality look.

It wasn’t just the technical quality of the promotional DVD that secured his rst-place spot in the AN-NE Marketing Awards. Owen also knew which images would be most helpful to the museum.

“With vendors,” he says, “you need to highlight their place (their venue)…not just the room in which the event is held. Find the details that set them apart from other venues and highlight those areas.” For instance, Owen even photographed the museum staff—“the nicest staff I’ve ever worked with, especially at a prestigious venue.”

Only later did that gift to the museum become his AN-NE competition entry, mainly because he wanted to see what the judges had to say. He wanted to ensure that the DVD’s marketing message came through the way he intended. And it overwhelmingly did.

Owen’s DVD symbolizes his belief in the necessity of service and presentation in marketing. “Your demeanor is crucial to getting your foot in the door. Be positive, not too pushy, and friendly…a friendly approach is the most powerful for vendors and clients alike,” he says. “Just nd out what you can do to help others; it will come back to you tenfold.”

For example, he once took photographs of his son’s football game. Afterwards, he put 4x6s in a plastic bag with his business cards, leaving them for the families. He ended up getting

a substantial family portrait booking from that kind act. This “help them to help yourself” philosophy has certainly worked for Owen in his past 20-some years of photography.

Sample the end result of that philosophy—his entry—at www.PaulOwenPhotography.com, where you can also see his many awards. But above all, take his advice and consider helping businesses around you. Such shadow marketing can take you far.

Paul OwenPaul Owen Photograph, LLCNew Berlin, Wis.www.PaulOwenPhotography.com

The annual AN-NE Marketing Awards competition recognizes outstanding ingenuity and effectiveness in real-world marketing endeavors. Named in honor of Ann Monteith and Marvel Nelson,

both marketing gurus and past PPA Presidents, the competition is open to PPA members only.

The rules and entry form for the 2008 competition are online now. More information is at the Competition & Awards page on www.ppa.com. Don’t miss the June 27, 2008 postmark deadline.

Doug still touts the need for all to keep learning—as evidenced by his motto above. What he most enjoys is teaching basics to new photographers. “They’re like sponges…it’s fun to help them soak up good, solid education.”

That kind of education is what he believes is needed today. After all, with digital it’s easy to use the back of the camera as your guide, skipping the basics of good photography. And with those basics goes hands-on interaction. Doug sees that kind of personal touch as necessary to really learning and connecting with the industry. “You can learn a lot from blogs and the Internet,”

he says, “but it’s like wearing blinders.” Where can you receive such hands-on interaction? Doug strongly believes that PPA and its afliated organizations are the places. “I want our associations to be strong because I know how important they were — and are — to me,” he emphasizes.

Always find out what you can do to help others; it will come back to you tenfold. — Paul Owen

AFFILIATE SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT


PP

AN

ews

& N

otes

TODAY

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The photographic community, family and friends will miss Henry Froehlich, one of the true pioneers and leaders of the photographic industry in the 20th Century. He died peacefully on January 24, 2008, at the age of 85. He is survived by Marian, his wife of 57 years, his two children, grandchildren, and great-granddaughter.

Born in 1922, he experienced the difficult life Jewish families had in Nazi Germany, including having his father taken to a concentration camp. Then, in 1940, he entered the United States. His first job in the photo business was as an assembler of “bank lights.” But Henry was among the first to recognize the potential in Japanese photographic products. He founded Konica Camera Company in Philadelphia in 1951, having acquired the sole U.S. distribution rights for Konica cameras. His company then merged with Berkey Photo (1962). Next, he founded the Froehlich FotoVideo Corporation, pioneering the concept of film-to-tape transfer, and developing equipment systems to perform this service within the retail environment of camera stores and minilabs. In 1987, when the exclusive distribution rights for Mamiya Medium Format cameras and Toyo Large Format cameras

became available, he and partners started Mamiya America Corporation (MAC). They soon made these products the market leaders. As the years went by, their name was modified to MAC Group, with more lines added to the product offerings.

Henry’s interest in photography was also deeply personal. He formed many long-term relationships with retailers, photographers and other industry members. He was an advocate of The International Center of Photography, strongly believing in its principles. Above all, Henry’s vision never wavered: “Our mission is to supply professional photographers and the educational community with the tools they need to create an image.” That, and his credo to “under promise, and over deliver” serves as a model for his associates to follow.

IN MEMORY… HENRY FROELICH

KANSAS PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS SCHOOLJune 1 - 5, 2008Bethel College, Newton, KansasContact: Ron Clevenger; [email protected]; 785-242-7710 Web site: www.kpps.com Tuition:All-Week Class - $570 or $495 with early enrollment* (Choose one of the all-week classes)

Segment I or II - $370 or $295 with early enrollment* (Choose a class in Segment I or II)

*To qualify for early discount, registrations must be postmarked by April 30, 2008.

Course information:All Week (June 1 – 5):Mastering Wedding Success - Michael & Pam AyersSeniors: Artistic Elements of Portraiture - Carl Caylor The Big Bang Theory of Digital - Jeff Locklear & Bentley Skeie

Segment 1 (June 1 – 3):Getting Started with Painter: Painter Essentials 4 - John Derry Basic Studio Portraiture - Charlie Rees Beginning Photoshop - Fred Taylor & Steve AttigBackground Painting Plus - Susan Treft Children’s Portraiture - Michael & Kathleen Bishop Basic Wedding Photography - Don & Joyce Brent

Segment 2 (June 3 – 5):Painter X: Beyond the Basics - John Derry Basic Studio Portraiture - Charlie ReesIntermediate Photoshop - Fred Taylor Advanced Photoshop - Steve Attig Background Painting Plus - Susan Treft Introduction to the Complete Digital Studio - Stan ReimerBasic Environmental Portraiture - T. Michael Stanley

GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHYJune 8 – 13, 2008 | Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City, MichiganContact: Gregory Ockerman (Registrar); 313-318-4327Web site: www.glip.org

Course information:Join us for fantastic instruction (intermediate to advanced) on Grand Traverse Bay, mixed with a fantastic theme party and great camaraderie between staff, instructors, and students: a fantastic learning and growing experience. Instructors include Greg Stangl, Michael & Tina Timmons, Lou Szoke, Brian Cox, Andre Constantini, Cheri McCallum, Kalen Henderson, Al Audleman, Betty Huth, Ed Booth, David Deutsch, James Churchill, and Bob Guliani.

HENRY FROELICH1922 - 2008

WHERE THE PROS GO FOR THE BEST IN REPRODUCTION SERVICESLabTab


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3D LightMaster (www.3dlightmaster.com) . . . . . . . 122Adorama (www.adorama.com). . . . . . . . . 103, 105, 107Advanced Photographic Solutions

(www.advancedphoto.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Albums Inc. (www.albums inc.com) . . . . . . . . . . 50-51AlbumX/Renaissance Albums

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Contemporary Photography/J. Hartman(www.jhartman.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

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National Direct Marketing Services (www.ndmservices.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

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Publisher not responsible for errors & omissions

PROFESSIONAL

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Buyer’sGallery

THIS SECTION IS

THE MONTHLY

RESOURCE

PHOTOGRAPHERS

USE TO FIND

THE PRODUCTS

THEY NEED. PUT

YOUR MESSAGE

PROMINENTLY

IN FRONT OF

INDUSTRY PROS

AND START

TURNING

BROWSERS

INTO BUYERS.


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ProductMallSOMETHING HERE YOU NEED...


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ACCOUNTING

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BACKGROUNDS

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PRESENTATION BOXES

BOXES—FREE SAMPLE PRESENTATION BOX—FROMTHE ORIGINAL BLACK BOX MANUFACTURE—Fastdelivery, Finest quality 4"x5", 5"x5", 4"x6", 8"x10",11"x14", 16"x20", 20"x24". AUFENGER BOX, 4800 COLLEYAVENUE, NORFOLK, VIRGINIA 23508; 757-440-1147(phone); 757-440-1149 (fax); 888-440-1146 (toll free).www.aufengerbox.com

PRESENTATION BOXES available for immediate shipment;19 sizes—4 stock colors. For FREE catalog & samples call800-969-2697 or fax request 800-861-4528. BUYDIRECT AND SAVE. NPD Box Company, 3000 QuigleyRoad, Cleveland, OH 44113. www.NPDBox.com

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RETOUCHING

WHEN YOUR NAME is on the line, nothing but the best will ever do. Our retouchers know what you need: fastservice, a retouch that looks like the photo was neveraltered and the lowest prices in the industry. If you demandthe best log onto www.retouchup.com and your first 10retouches are free just to prove our claims—the best—thefastest and the least expensive or call 888-700-3686.

SALES AIDS

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CREATIVE FRAMES…Designed frames for the professionalwedding, portrait and school photographers. Our framesare manufactured here in the USA. Visit us atWWW.CREATIVEFRAME.COM to see our full line.

5000 POSTCARDS $149 UV Coated5,000 Business cards for $60.00

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STUDIO FOR SALE

FULL SERVICE Studio with Great Reputation in CharmingMid-South Town with Major University and Large Trade Area.30-Year-Old Business—Only Studio in Town. GreatOpportunity—Owners Retiring and Will Assist in Transition.$125,000 Studio Real Estate Available. To obtain further infor-mation, please reply to :[email protected] and refer to ad #107.

QUAINT PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO in Sterling, Coloradofor lease or sale. This studio is very unique and is located onprime main street property. Sterling, Colorado is located innortheast Colorado approximately 125 miles east of Denver.The community consists of 13,000 people and is a smaller,friendly town. The property sits on 5 lots totaling 15,000square feet. The large studio has been totally remodeled andis 3,000 square feet with all studio lighting, props,backgrounds, etc. There is an adjoining 2,000 square footbuilding that is equipped with scenery and props also. Thebackyard has extensive landscaping including a barn, pier,gazebo, pond, bridge, waterfall, and various settings. This isa great opportunity for the right person and this communityis in great need of a talented photographer. Please call 970-522-7408 for more information. Serious inquiries only.

STUDIO ESTABLISHED in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,area for over 20 years, with a great image and a very largeclient base. Owner is PPA Certified, Master Photographer& Photographic Craftsman. Wants to slow down. Will trainand is willing to work for new owner to maintain continuityduring transition. For information call 724-789-7371.

WESTERN COLORADO—just hours from national parks.40 year-old established studio plus client list. Amazingoutdoor photo park. Thriving economy in this sunnycollege town of 150,000 - a great opportunity. Owner willassist your transition. Call 970-596-1975.

HOME/ STUDIO FOR SALE. Three bedroom Cape Codwith 20 x 30 x 10h addition, with full bath and basementon corner lot. (Perfect for home studio) Busy street, separateoffice entrance, parking in front and side of house. Fiveminutes to I-95, fifteen minutes to Philadelphia,Pennsylvania and/or Wilmington Delaware. Retired, asking$ 295,000. Phone 610-859-8596 Cell 610-505-4018.

FANTASY STUDIO FOR RENT. Not ready to buy, wantingto relocate and test an area? This is a studio unlike anyother. Now you can afford to be the best with minimaloutlay. Complete with lights, wardrobe, props and 5000sq.ft. of movie set backgrounds. Unlimited creativity andan exceptional opportunity to be the best you can be.Colorado Springs, Colorado, is waiting for you. www.ljm-photography.com; 719.593.2424.

STUDIOS WANTED

COLUMBUS CAMERA GROUP, INC. buys whole studiosor any part including cameras, film, darkroom, long roll,lighting, and misc. No quantities too small. Call 800-325-7664. Ask for Eric.

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115-129-gallery 3/12/08 9:36 AM Page 15


ursuing meaningful projects isn’t

easy for photographers. Anyone

who’s ever tried knows the diffi-

culty of attaining funding and finding

willing publishers and outlets for promotion,

let alone the tribulations of accomplishing

the project itself.

The Blue Earth Alliance in Seattle assists

photographers in realizing their projects.

Founded in 1996 by photographers Phil Borges

and Natalie Fobes, Blue Earth is a 501(c)3

nonprofit organization dedicated to educat-

ing the public through photography. Its mis-

sion is to alleviate the problems of endan-

gered cultures and threatened environments

by promoting photographic storytelling.

“The Blue Earth Alliance has a dual focus

of project support and education,” explains

board of directors president Larry Ockene.

“On the support side, we help photographers

plan and execute their projects. Among other

things, we help them find sources of grant

funding, and we have a grant writer on staff

who can help with proposals. We help locate

distribution channels and publishers. We also

set up mentorships and connections to help

photographers advance their projects. On the

education side, we’re putting together a series

of educational programs that are designed

to help photographers conceive, organize,

fund and produce documentary projects.”

Blue Earth provides one annual grant of

$3,000, but no other direct funding. However,

the organization offers its 501(c)3 structure as

a vehicle for fundraising. Many sponsors are

leery of donating money directly to individual

photographers, so Blue Earth accepts donations

on the projects’ behalf and transfers the

funds for specific projects.

Blue Earth sponsorship is open to all

photographers with the vision and technical

expertise to pull off a significant documentary

project. At present, the organization is assisting

30 projects, the most it’s ever supported

simultaneously. Project photographers have

raised more than $1 million through BEA

and $4-6 million from outside sources.

Projects have addressed such problems as

malaria, HIV/AIDS, the aftermath of the

Bosnian war, environmental injustice in Texas,

the plight of truck farmers in the Deep South

and global warming. So far, 11 Blue Earth

projects have culminated with books, includ-

ing Art Wolfe’s “The Living Wild,” and Rebecca

Norris Webb’s “The Glass Between Us.”

Those interested in getting involved can

become members of the Blue Earth Alliance.

Donations are accepted for Blue Earth as a

whole or for specific projects sponsored by

BEA. Blue Earth is also looking for experi-

enced, well-connected people for its advisory

board, as well as volunteers for other posi-

tions. In particular, the group needs people

with the skills to help others facilitate their

projects—legal knowledge, project manage-

ment experience, connections with PR out-

lets, publishers and galleries. �

To learn more about the Blue Earth Alliance,visit www.blueearth.org where you candownload “Shooting from the Heart,” BEA’sresource manual designed to help photogra-phers develop their personal projects.

Images wield the power to effect change. In this monthly feature, Professional Photographer spotlights professional photographers using their talents to make a difference through charitable work.

Share your good works experience with us by e-mailing Cameron Bishopp at [email protected]

good works |©Jeffrey Sauger

From heart to actionHELPING PHOTOGRAPHERS FOLLOW THEIR VISION

P

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C3 h&h 3/12/08 9:26 AM Page 1

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