March newsletter 2014

INSPIRED MARCH 2014

by napcp

Featuring

Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai Photography

The LATEST INSIDE A Look at Animoto Pro + Giveaway Details

Industry News & Announcements, Workshops, Updatesand much more!

N AT I O N A L A S S O C I AT I O N O F P R O F E S S I O N A L C H I L D P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Hello friends!

March has finally arrived – and that means spring is on the horizon! We’re

all ready to bid farewell to the freezing temperatures, slush, snow and overall polar vortex that has been this winter. We’re looking forward to getting outside in the beautiful weather, enjoying alfresco activities and capturing some sun-kissed shots along the way.

The spotlight shines this month on the lovely Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai. A self-

proclaimed “dinosaur” - meaning that she works only in black and white film and primarily with older cameras - Cheryl splits her time between photography and singing in her band (yes, really!). She loves Cocoa Puffs and red wine, but never at the same time. As one of the most enthusiastic educators in the industry, you can often find her teaching independent workshops. Talented, soulful and just an allaround cool person, we’re so excited she’s our member spotlight!

Stay tuned for the results of the NAPCP 2014 International Image Competi-

tion in early April - we had some truly remarkable entries! The judges have been hard at work and will soon be wrapping up the scoring process.

The grass is always greener come spring…. so get ready, those sunny days

are right around the corner!

Sincerely

The NAPCP Team

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Newsletter March 2014

TA BLE O F CON TE N TS Pg. 3 .......................................Image Competition Pg. 4 ................................News & Announcements

Pg. 5.Featured Photographer: Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai

Pg. 19 ..................................Camera Bag Essentials Pg. 21 ............................................Video Resources Pg. 22 ................................. Apply For Membership

NAPCP

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COMPETITION UPDATE

The February 2014 NAPCP International Image Competition closed last month and we are finalizing the scores and preparing to announce our lovely winners in the coming weeks. The purpose of NAPCP’s Image Competitions is to recognize the accomplishments and creative excellence of our members, rewarding their talent with medallions, priority listing on our directory, vendor endorsements, member points, titles and professional recognition.

Thank you to everyone who submitted!

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Newsletter March 2013

N E W S & ANN OU N CE ME N TS Facebook Community We hope that everyone will continue to partake in our NAPCP Facebook Community page! Join now and get involved with the latest discussions, trending topics, news and updates, and much more! Click here to request to join today!

Vendor Download Page Several of our amazing vendors have contributed FREE downloads exclusively for NAPCP members. These downloads include template designs, educational videos, and much more! We will be adding new downloads every month so make sure to check it out periodically! To view all of our fabulour downloads simply click on the "Resources" tab and select "Vendor Downloads."

NAPCP

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Images by Cher yl Jacobs Nicolai of Cher yl Jacobs Nicolai Photography

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER CHERYL JACOBS NICOLAI

NAPCP

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A

dedicated film shooter and lover of vintage cam-

eras, Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai epitomizes the “soulful” photographer. She is known for her incredible workshops, which have been praised and followed since she taught her first one outside London in 2005. Since then, she has instructed hundreds of photographers, and her work has been featured by the Analog Photography User Group (apug.org), Kodak’s ProPass Magazine and Black and White Photography Magazine. Turn the page to learn how Cheryl balances her time between photography and singing. (Yes, singing! She’s in a band – so cool, right?)

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Tell us your story. How you started and how your photography, brand, and business transformed over the last few years?

Like so many, I started photography when my kids were very young, and grew along with them. I had my first solo gallery show before I opened my portrait business, and have always been glad I did. It forced me to know myself, my style, and my message before accepting money to create an image. My work has changed as my children have grown up, from working primarily with young children, to working with teens and adults. I think we naturally learn to relate to people who are the same age as are kids, so they've been a great source of learning for me. I love photographing people of every age.

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Newsletter March 2014

We love that your medium of choice is film. Tell us why you decided to go that route and how it's affected your business.

Film wasn't really a choice; I started with it when digital wasn't so prevalent, loved it, and never felt the need or desire to change. I love the organic feel of creating negatives with my own hands, of creating a physical thing in my camera, of pulling film out of a tank of chemicals. Working with film forced me to learn discipline, to really understand technique with dollar signs attached; I couldn't afford to make the same mistakes over and over. It made me learn pre-visualization and anticipation, which I think are two skills that are becoming rare these days.

NAPCP

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What is one business lesson you wish you learned a long time ago?

I would have hired a business manager right off the bat! People who are as right-brained and free-thinking as I am are rarely the ones you wanted organizing your business and running your finances. Best to leave that to the people who are good at it.

What is the best advice you can pass along to newer photographers to help them develop a better critical eye on their own work? You cannot effectively assess your own work without first figuring out who you are and what story you want to tell. Everything should support that story; if it doesn't add, it probably takes away. It all starts with looking inward and figuring out what moves you and how you want to convey that.

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Newsletter March 2014

Your style is very unique and raw, yet spontaneous and natural. Can you tell us how you approach your sessions and capture your subjects so beautifully? I've always made it my mission to approach my subjects with the goal to develop a common ground, to find something deeply meaningful that we have in common. That's the same whether that subject is two years old or ninety. The session has to be its own reward; I want the subject to want to make a portrait with me, to collaborate to say something significant about each of us in a single frame. Above all, I want them to leave a session feeling valued and understood.

How has your business changed over the last few years? Tell us your daily schedule and how you manage to make it all work!

I am a juggler. I make my living with a combination of commissioned photography, art print sales, teaching, mentoring, writing, and three different musical projects. It's a crazy schedule along with raising teenagers as a single mom, but I love my nutty life and the strange opportunities it presents.

Where do you see your life 5 years from now?

I have no idea whatsoever. I had my kids very young, so it will my first real chance to do whatever I want, as my kids will all be graduated from high school and gone. Travel? Write? Focus on music? Move abroad? I don't know. It's exciting.

To see more of Cheryl's work, please visit her site here!

Thank you so much Cheryl!

NAPCP

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1) Bronica SQ-Ai with 80mm 2.8 lens and a new 110 mm f/4 macro that I just picked up and haven't played with yet 2) Holga 120N toy camera 3) 1929 Agfa folding 6x9 camera, which is my point and shoot 4) 1930's Leica 35mm camera 5) Cheapie little Polaris handheld meter 6) Bag of various sizes and varieties of film

TH

A ME R A B E C AG

ESSENTIALS TH

AG E C AME RA B

WITH CHERYL JACOBS NICOLAI

7) A plastic ziploc bag that I sometimes shoot through for a bit of artistic blur 8) My infamous Sh!t filter (a yellow filter smudged with dirt, chapstick, vaseline, whatever is on hand) for diffusing images 9) Various assortment of chapstick, lip gloss, rubber bands, tape, paper clips, hair ties, and spare change for meters

As many of you know, Animoto brings our industry a video creation service (online AND mobile) that makes it easy and fun for us to create and share extraordinary videos using own own photography, video, words and music. With Animoto Pro, enjoy pro-exclusive styles designed with top photographers like Tamera Lackey and Kelly Brown. They also boast a Triple Scoop Music library of over 1000+ songs!

You'll also love video quality at 720p and 1080p!

NAPCP is thrilled to host an exclusive Giveaway with Animoto for One Free Year of Animoto Pro! Be sure to check back for full details on the NAPCP blog tomorrow!

WORK SH O PS Start Submitting Now! NAPCP’s July 2012 International Image Competition opened on Monday! The purpose of NAPCP’s Image Competitions is to recognize the accomplishments and creative excellence of our members, rewarding their talent with medallions, priority listing on our directory, vendor endorsements, member points, titles and professional recognition. Members each receive a total of 2 Competition Credits per Competition with their Membership. Details are online!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words … and yours may be featured in our next press release. For the past two International Image Competitions, the winners announcement highlighted the names of the competition winners and received great exposure – collecting thousands of views, postings to other websites, and search index hits. Wouldn’t you like to see your name and photo sent over the wire too?

Members, you can start submitting your best images here!

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(c) Dana Pugh Photography

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