Southern Exposure February 2015

Chairman of the Board

Doug Peninger dpeninger@SEPPAonline.com

President

George Singleton gsingleton@SEPPAonline.com

1st Vice-President

Kevin Jiminez kjiminez@SEPPAonline.com

2nd Vice-President

Mary Fisk-Taylor mfisktaylor@SEPPAonline.com

Secretary-Treasurer

District of Columbia

Florida

Janet Boschker jboschker@SEPPAonline.com

Salon Exhibition Chair Executive Director

Delaware

Jessica Vogel jvogel@SEPPAonline.com

Georgia

*** Jim Hill

***Anthony Maril Joe Tessmer

*** Jackson Koontz Kaye Newsome

*** Spencer Smith Jason White

Rick Gibbons ExecutiveDirector@SEPPAonline.com

S out he r n E x p o su re

Souther n Exposure magazine is an online publication of SEPPA and is published monthly.

Editor V ictoria Kelly vkelly@SEPPAonline.com 919.818.0726 Ad Sales & Business Manager Rick Gibbons ExecutiveDirector@SEPPAonline.com 866.982.4856

Maryland

Mississippi/Alabama

*** Lidia Miller Steve Clark

*** Shauna Denney Gil Brady

North Carolina

*** Ellis Williamson Rose Mary Cheek

South Carolina

*** Patty Hallman Gregg Martin

Article & Ad Submissions 5th of every month OnLine Publication 20th of each month SEPPA 3710 North Main Street High Point, NC 27265 866.982.4856 Acceptan ce o f a d v e r t i si n g d oe s n ot c a r r y wi th i t en dor se m e n t b y t h e p ub l i sh e r.

Opi n i o ns expre sse d b y Sout h e r n Exp osure o r an y o f i ts aut h or s d oe s n ot n e c e ssa r i l y refl ect t h e p osi t i on s of t h e Sou theaster n Pro fessi on a l P h ot og r a p h e r s A ssoc ia t io n .

Asso ci ati on f i n a n c i a l i n f or m a t i on avai la b l e up on re q ue st .

Tennessee

Virginia

West Virginia

*** Jeannie Forehand Barbara White

*** Jim Carpenter Robert Holman

*** Pat Dodd Brent Kepner

*** state president SEPPA representative

Delaware

Mississippi/Alabama

District of Columbia

North Carolina

www.ppsgw.org

www.ppofnc.com

Florida

South Carolina

www.fpponline.org

www.ppofsc.com

Georgia

Tennessee

www.gppa.com

www.tnppa.com

Maryland

Virginia

www.delawarephotographers.com

www.marylandppa.com

SEPPA is a regional affiliate of the Professional Photographers of America and hosts an annual District Image Judging.

To learn more about PPA, click HERE.

www.ppma.net

www.vppa.org

West Virginia www.ppwv.org

Be one of the first twenty-five to register and fine THIS TICKET in your packet!

VIP seating at all reguar programming events for FLASH2015!

FIRST DAY

gallery

“Leaf Me Alone” Christine Walsh-Newton

“Old Point Light” Don Gardner

“Swirls” Lisa Hill

Texture Study - Lichen on Wood Victoria Kelly

First Day Fun Anne Companion

“The Homecoming” Ashley Fetner

“Who You Lookin’ At?” Joe Campanellie

“Phinizy Swamp” Katie Jiminez

Volunteer...

Christine Walsh-Newton, M. Photog., Cr., CPP I believe 100% that membership in a professional organization is vital to today's photographer.

Belonging to an organization is a way to network, get educated and just recharge your batteries. I usually come away from conventions and meetings with a renewed sense of hope for myself and my business.

I am empowered through education and fraternity.

One of the organizations I belong to is the Professional Photographers of Ohio (PPO), which is probably fairly similar to many other state-level organizations. I joined

them in 2009, volunteered in 2010, was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Trustees in 2011 and a second threeyear term in 2014.

So, officially, they're stuck with me through 2017, but the reality of it is - I'll be around for a long time.

As long as they'll let me.

I have found my home in the PPO and I think a lot of photographers would be well-served to find themselves a similar group.

Since you only get out of something what you put into it, I highly suggest that you

Christine Walsh-Newton, cont’d...

also volunteer. Don't just pay your dues and sit in a chair. Meet somebody, help pass out goody bags, put white gloves on and help in the print room, run to the supply room and grab a cord for the AV guy so he doesn't have to run down that long hallway for the 17th time this hour.

Do something. Do anything.

But don't do it all.

And here's where I'm going to stop with the "rah! rah!" and get serious. Before you agree to volunteer for anything, take a realistic look at the time you have available to do that.

We want you to be effective and have your volunteer experience be a positive one. If you over-commit or burn out because of it, well, that's no good for anyone.

And when I say "don't do it all," I mean that. Take the time YOU need to take to go to classes and other educational opportunities that you are helping organize.

Don't always work behind the scenes find a good balance that will ensure you remain not only a member, but a happy one. I love it when I see someone offer a lot of time and energy to help out, but in the back of my mind, I wonder if they might not be facing burn-out if they keep it up at that pace.

So, be realistic about the time and energy that you do have available. Do not over-commit - but please commit what you can and still maintain a healthy balance. We don't want our volunteers to become tired and bitter like the lunch lady that whapped down a pile of beige glop

on our trays in the middle school cafeteria. Day. After. Day. This is the time of year when organizations are doing their yearly revamp. Annual Conventions are just around the corner and serve, in part, to signify a change in leadership. This is when the past year's board of directors are finished, there's a little chair shuffling, the executive board moves up a seat and some new faces appear. Sometimes those are appointed and sometimes those are elected. No matter how they end up there, it's part of a process.

And sometimes that process is tough.

Sometimes we have more seats than people to fill them. I'm sure out there, one of you is just waiting to be asked to take on a larger role in your organization.

I'd like to encourage you to just take that step and reach out. Tell us you'd like to be involved. Send us an email, whisper in someone's ear.

If you'd really like to be involved in some part that seems already under control - don't worry - go ahead and mention it we can always use more members on our team and maybe we're just really good at acting like we've got it under control ;) There are basically three levels of volunteer involvement in an organization. For the sake of needing to call them something, we will go with casual, committed and vested: 1. Casual A casual volunteer is someone who has a little bit of time here and there to help out, but just can't commit to a deeper level. If

Christine Walsh-Newton, cont’d...

this is you, then sometimes it's best to just show up at a convention, find the largest group of people that look like they know what they're doing (ok, not the ones in the bar) and say "hey, I"m here to help!" - we will totally take advantage of your willingness to help on that basis.

This kind of volunteering is fun, spontaneous and much needed, especially when we are in the middle of an event and need some extra hands. And we really do need them!

If this is you - stop off at the registration desk and let the folks that do the paperwork know you are available. You might need to come back when things aren't crazy busy, but if you are serious about helping - you will be given that opportunity.

2. Committed There are a large number of mid-level volunteer opportunities, as well, some that require just a little bit extra work. Some require a little more than that.

Maybe you'd like to work on a committee or be a committee chair, even.

We have at least a dozen committees or small sub-groups at my state and I'm betting other organizations have them as well. These are the positions that are really handy for someone with special skills.

Sometimes what you did in your pre-photography days are skills that would be helpful to your organization.

It's probably not a surprise to anyone that in my previous career as a quality specialist I wrote. I wrote a lot.

I was in charge of policies and procedures for nearly twelve years, which made me a perfect candidate to work as the By-laws Chair. You see what I mean? I'm sure you have a skill that would be very helpful to a committee or chairperson in a similar way.

And don't think you have to have some super hero skill, either. Sometimes just the ability to drive to the airport and pick up a speaker or judge is helpful. Or maybe you have a knack for planning events - or maybe you've had your ear to the ground and know exactly the kind of speakers that we need to contact to thrill our members who are wedding photographers.

The needs are varied and sometimes surprising - so let us know what you feel your best talent is.

This level of volunteering is sometimes the part that's overlooked. Why? Because a lot of these folks work behind the scenes.

Quietly and unassumingly they do their jobs in a way that provides a backbone for the organization.

These aren't the folks running the show, not the ones you see behind podiums or winning trophies or carrying microphones.

They're a little bit behind the scenes, so their work is not as obvious to someone looking in - but to those of us looking out - we know they're there - and we appreciate the heck out of them. They help make our organization look good. Very good.

3. Vested If you want to become involved on a deeper level, perhaps you're interested in becoming a member of a board of directors/trustees - these are positions with a fair

Christine Walsh-Newton, cont’d...

amount of responsibility and time commitment - find out the meeting and event schedule, first. More than likely you're going to be expected to attend a number of board meetings and conventions.

These are generally unpaid positions, so travel and accommodations will be at your own expense. Additionally, there's going to be work required of you in between those meetings and events.

Many hours of work go on behind the scenes in order to organize and host conventions and other member benefits.

There's no magic staff behind the scenes YOU are the staff.

This is the time to seriously consider the time and resources you have available to be involved at this level.

But don't let this scare you off. You need to be realistic about the commitment, but I can testify that this level of service to your organization will come back to you ten-fold.

Now, bvecause this article is nearing bedtime story status in length - when you have a moment read HERE about my own personal experience with the PPO and how it has been instrumental in my growth as a photographer.

So, think about it and let me know, let someone know, that you'd like to step it up a bit and be more than a member.

We're gonna have an awesome time ;)

Be one of the first twenty-five registered and see THIS TICKET in your packet!

VIP preferred seating at ALL regular programming

YOU BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR CLIENTS. THIS YEAR, GET A WEBSITE THAT REPRESENTS THE BEST OF YOU.

SPECIAL DEAL FOR SEPPA MEMBERS

USE THE PROMO CODE HOLIDAY AND TAKE 50% OFF THE SETUP FEE FOR A NEW PHOTOBIZ WEBSITE, ONLINE STORE, OR BLOG SITE.

Save the Date May 1-5, 2015

Special Prices for Ann Monteith’s “Get Down To Business!” Workshop May 1 / 2 — Charlotte (FLASH2015 Pre-conference)

As a SEPPA and/or PPA member, you are entitled to a deduction of $50 off the regular workshop price of $249.

Plus, if you take advantage of the $50 early registration credit, which ends on April 1, you will pay only $149!

Since Ann Monteith debuted this workshop in 2013, she has received rave reviews from attendees . . . not only for her ability to demystify the mechanics of running a profitable business, but also for the marketing and management resources provided for each student to take home and use.

Designed to cut years off your learning curve, the workshop content tackles the key issues that form the framework for success in professional photography.

It covers six elements that photographers must understand if they are to manage a successful business: Finances, Products, Workflow, Branding, Pricing, and Sales, with special attention paid to creating management systems that can stabilize business in good times and bad.

Among the key takeaways from this workshop are multiple ways to handle clients who expect to receive your digital files.

To register for this pre-con class, visit www.annsworkshop.com and use the code “SEPPA2015� for the $50 discount.

REVIEW: Galaxy Pro Tab 12.2 Victoria Kelly If you’ve been following me at all over the last several years you know quite a bit about me: I like shiny things, I’m always interested in new gadgets and I prefer milk chocolate to dark.

You probably also know that I’m quite entrenched in the Apple eco-sphere but lately I’ve been broadening my horizons and dipping my toes into the Android world.

Here’s the backstory: one of the many hats I wear is working with PPA affiliate school directors in assisting them with the planning of the school booth at iUSA. In years past we’ve raffled off TVs, iPads and other items but this year the directors wanted to focus on the value of education.

I always create a “big book of schools”

that lists all the affiliate schools, their dates, their instructors and so on.

This year I decided we were going to go paperless and have all of that information readily accessible on a something.

I started looking at TVs right around Christmas and felt like I was in a “Three Bears” flashback—everything I looked at was either too big, too small or just not right.

As luck would have it, a flyer came across my desk from one of the big box stores and on the front page was a picture of the Samsung Galaxy Pro 12.2 tablet.

The price was right…and it had all the features I was looking for: internet connectivity, large screen, a bazillion apps from Google Play and I began to plan when I could go see one to check it out.

From the minute I picked it up, you guessed it, I was hooked. The Pro has a 12.2” screen with 2560x1600 resolution.

It runs on the Android operating system (which is up to KitKat now, a big improvement over the last couple of operating systems in my opinion) and let me just mention it has cloud integration so it will sync with all my other Android gadgets.

It comes with 32Gb internal storage plus a Micro SD slot. Since we all know size DOES matter I purchased a 64Gb Micro SD card to hold images, media and such.

It also comes with a quad-core processor…it is amazingly fast and multi-tasking is a breeze because you can use up to four apps side by side.

Let me also mention that it runs Office beautifully…not some “poser” Office, but the Microsoft one…Powerpoint, Excel and Word. And OneDrive. And OneNote.

Now, let me tell you how I used it at iUSA:

via Formstack.)

The issue for me was ease of use: a lot of school directors who were working a shift in the booth were Apple users. The tablet HAD to be easy/intuitive for everyone to use.

I also loaded a few of MY favorite apps that are cross-platform: Evernote, Office (of course!) and CamCard for the business cards that would inevitably get left in the booth.

I also had a few videos from some of the schools queued up and ready to go should anyone have a need to see. Let me just say that the resolution on this tablet is “hold-your-breath-it’s-gorgeous” and images and videos are just marvelous.

So…how did it perform? Beautifully. Since the tablet is WiFi only, I tethered to either my Apple iPhone 6Plus or my AT&T Netgear mobile hotspot. I had no problems getting online to check email (or Facebook!) and no dropped connections.

I made my “big book of schools” like I usually do and made it a PDF which I loaded into Dropbox.

The bookmarks via Chrome worked flawlessly.

I used “Chrome” to create bookmarks for each of the affiliate schools and had them ready to go with the touch of a finger.

Let me also mention that I had each school director’s contact info in my contacts which I could send via vCard to someone’s smartphone.

I used “Formstack” (free, but also subscription-based) to collect information to send to directors from prospects who had specific questions. (Just to make things a little easier, I also purchased the Bluetooth keyboard that is a companion for this tablet. I wanted prospects to be able to key in their email addresses quickly and easily

The upside? I’m now using the tablet to run Rotary meetings with my weekly agenda via Word and the spreadsheets from our recent fundraiser are so easy to view using Excel.

All in all, I’d say Samsung knocked it out of the park with this one!

www.SEPPAonline.com

Cye Gray Scott Garlock Shooting Safari, Saturday, May 2, 9-4

Your FLASH2015 experience is about to get AMAZING! Join Cye Gray and Scott Garlock for the FLASH2015 shooting safari on Saturday, May 2nd.

Cye and Scott have put together a safari of 15 historic properties in and around Charlotte--you’ll want to bring your camera, tripod and favorite lens(es) for this trip!

Registrations for this pre-con are limited; SIGN UP NOW to reserve your seat.

The group will be split into 2---Cye and Scott will each take a group and cover as many properties as they can in the time allocated.

The good news? Cye and Scott invite you to submit UP TO 3 of your favorite images from the day to be loaded into a rolling slideshow displayed in the lobby of the Sheraton downtown Charlotte.

Still not convinced? WATCH THIS!