Mary Fisk Taylor Paws for the Cause Janet Boschker New Trick in New Economy Kevin Newsome State of the Industry
GALLERY GALLERY
Each month, Southern Exposure magazine will feature images from the annual affiliated judging. All images in the “Gallery� scored 80 or higher and have earned a credit toward the SEPPA degree (SPF). Loan collection images earn one additional credit.
Stephanie Garr Adams Winter Pasture
David Huntsman Winter Storm
Barbara Yonts Country Winter Jim Carpenter The Prudent Pruner
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Chairman of the Board
Mary Alice Ross maryaliceross@gmail.com
Delaware
President
Doug Peninger ncdoug01@triadbiz.rr.com
District of Columbia
1st Vice-President
George Singleton george.singleton6@verizon.net
2nd Vice-President
Anthony Rumley anthony@anthonyrumley.com
Secretary/Treasurer
Kevin Jiminez kevinjiminez@aol.com
Salon Exhibition Chair
Jessica Vogel jvogel@shelbywireless.net
Executive Director
Thomas McCollum seppa@comcast.net
***Don Engler Peggy Parkinson
Florida
***Bob Blanken Joe Tessmer ***Dana Lunden Kaye Newsome
Georgia
***Sally Jackson Spencer Smith
Maryland
***Vanessa Ard David Corry
Mississippi/Alabama
***Darrell Ivy Gil Brady
Southern Exposure Southern Exposure magazine is an online publication of SEPPA and is published monthly.
North Carolina
Editor Doug Peninger NCDOUG01@triadbiz.rr.com 336-883-7104
South Carolina
Ad Sales & Business Manager Thomas McCollum seppa@comcast.net 888-272-3711
Tennessee
***Eddie Lambert Barbara White
Virginia
***Sharon Younce Robert Holman
Article & Ad Submission 5th of each month On-Line Publication 1st of each month
SEPPA
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***Karen Goforth Janet Boschker
West Virginia
***Clark Berry Greg Martin
***Brent Kepner Christie Kepner ***state president representative
Additional information of state events within the SEPPA Affiliate can be found using the state links below. Please view their websites by clicking on the web address and you will be re-directed. Delaware www.delawarephotographers.com
District of Columbia www.ppsgw.org
Mississippi/Alabama www.ppma.net
North Carolina www.ppofnc.com
South Carolina
Florida
www.ppofsc.com
www.fpponline.org
Georgia
www.gppa.com
Maryland www.marylandppa.com
SEPPA is a regional affiliate of Professional Photographers of America and hosts an annual District Image Judging. To learn more about PPA, click the PPA Logo.
Tennessee www.tnppa.com
Virginia
www.vppa.org
West Virginia www.ppwv.org
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Man’s Best Friend Here we are, in the hot, steamy month of August. Are we melting yet? For me, I am reminded that in about four weeks, at the first of September, the weather will break and we will enter into a cooler season. While we are in the “dog days,” I thought it might be fun to hear from our writers about their approach to dogs. Each writer came up with something completely original. I had no clue where any of this might go, but, I will admit, when some of the images came in, I just smiled and enjoyed. I hope you will as well. Dogs can mean so much to those of us who own them. On cold nights, they are great cuddlers. On walks in the park, they are a source of great pride when everyone wants to pet them. When you arrive at home, they are always there to greet you with a wagging tail, a kiss or two and unconditional love. We can learn a lot from our dogs. I think as lucky as we may think they are to have us, perhaps, at least for me, the opposite is true. I am fortunate to get to share in their life and experience their adventures and am all the richer for it! To all the paw lovers, this one is for you.
The SEPPA Board of Governors, at the 2010 meeting in Franklin, TN, approved the all new SEPPA Degree Program. The Southeastern Photographic Fellowship is now a reality! You can earn your new SPF Degree in two categories. The orange ribbon is earned with a concentration in print credits, the purple ribbon with a concentration in service to the organzation. The requirements for both options are completed with education and/or service credits. You may also achieve both Degrees, signafied by a purple and orange ribbon. SEPPA will post the Credit Chart and submission forms at a later date. Be sure to check back. All events, beginning April 1, 2010 will be eligible to submit for credit.
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SOUTHERN EXPOSURE AUGUST 2011
Attend 8 9 13 17
10 14 16
Georgia - GPPA PPA Tour
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Virginia - VPPA
Florida Convention
Shop 6 7 12 16
Learn
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Janet Boschker New Trick in New Economy Mary Fisk-Taylor
Paws for the Cause
Kevin Newsome
State of the Industry
Jamie Hayes
Five Star Diamond Dogs
Cover Artist
Michael Potthast
Victoria Kelly
A Treasured Part of Our Lives
PhotoFlex Michel Company Millers Lab Academy Productions
“Skin and Bones” by Heather Smith 5
Janet Boschker
www.northlightphotography.com jbnlight@aol.com
I took a class last year with Michael and Tina Timmons – as many of you know, they have a different approach to making money in photography – corporate wall décor. I am just like everyone else – even though I make my living photographing babies, small children and their families, weddings and debutante balls, I just love to take pictures when I travel and fantasize about using my travel images for income at some point. Michael and Tina have done it, why couldn’t I? Last summer I accepted a job to photograph all the doctors for the Carolina Veterinarian Specialists (they have two locations in Charlotte, so about three dozen headshots on location. Normally I would have referred the job to someone else, but in today’s economy, I turn nothing away). I walked into the veterinarian hospital and the first thing I saw in the lobby was a few faded Norman Rockwell knock off posters of kids with their dogs at the vets. Hmmmm……. If I was Tina Timmons, I would just say “wow, looks like you need some help with your wall décor”. So I gathered up some courage and when the marketing person came out to meet me and show me where to set up, I blurted “Wow, that wall décor looks a little dated, looks like you could use a bit of a facelift!” I immediately worried that I had offended her, but she looked at me and answered “ Yeah, it’s pretty bad, but we just don’t have a budget for that - but there is a new hospital that’s opening next spring in Matthews, if you are interested, I’ll pass that along to the hospital manager”. WOW – that was easy!
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When I went to set up at the next location, I took a few 11x14 B&W prints of dogs I had in my files and asked her if she would pass them along to the manager… she did and the next thing I knew, we were planning a day in the park where the doctors and vet techs brought their dogs out for a group photo shoot! Now, just to be clear, my goals were to photograph the pets, then have an opportunity to sell to the owners, as well as recoup my costs in printing plus a margin of profit for my time for the wall decor. They agreed to give my cards out to their clients and let me post an artist statement to promote pet photography for the studio. They liked the idea of canvas wraps, which I had heard were not that difficult to do with a kit from Lexjet – so I thought, well if Don Emmerich can do it, so can I…. It all worked out great, I went to see the space and it was gorgeous. I recommended that we go with 12 sepia canvas 20x20’s to compliment the earth tone colors in the lobby. As the time got near for the opening of the hospital, they called and asked if I could come up with some ideas for other areas. So, I suggested Black and White matted images for outside each treatment room and a couple larger color canvases for the feline waiting area. Then I showed them a painting I had worked up of one of the dogs in a car. They fell in love with it so another large canvas was ordered of that. In all, 34 pieces hung in that hospital ranging from 8x10 to 24x36, a nice chunk of change for the first quarter of the year! When I went to hang the images, I was blown away by what I had put together – the project was finished in early April, in time for the grand opening. They invited 400 veterinarians and their staff to visit the new state of the art facility. The result? I am now working with the other 2 Charlotte hospitals to update their lobbies! This is such a new venture for me, but I have to say, without having studied with the Timmons, I would not have had that seed planted to be open to the opportunity of decorating on that scale. Another reason to continue to invest in the education provided by the PPA Affiliate Schools. There is one near you. Make a plan and make things happen! 11
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As many of you may know and understand charitable marketing can be a great way to promote your business in your local communities and add revenue to your bottom line. We have many charitable marketing partnerships at our studios but one of our VERY favorites and, quite frankly, most profitable is our pet promotions that we make available to our communities each year.
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Several years ago, eleven to be exact, we decided to partner with our local SPCA chapter. We chose this charity because of our love of animals, their mission statement and ideals. Our SPCA does several community benefits throughout the year including live/silent auctions, progressive wine dinners in the finer neighborhoods and the Annual Fur Ball at our only five-star/five diamond hotel in Richmond, Virginia. So, the great news is many of our clients were very active with this particular charity and it not only allowed us to contribute to a great cause but put us out there as a major donor for all of our clients and future clients to see. I must be very clear and forthright with you when I discuss charitable marketing. When I talk about a venture into any charitable MARKETING campaign it is for both charity sake and studio sake. Meaning I do expect my business to benefit along with the charity. If I want to personally or professionally donate to a charity then that is a personal or business decision that we make. I do this with no strings attached and gladly give up dollars to support something I believe in. However, when I am looking for a great campaign that will generate new clientele and perhaps revenue into my studio that is marketing. If I can include a great charity in this and they can also financially benefit then even better.
What makes them so successful is the charity, in our case the SPCA, is totally on board with this. They send out emails, tweets, special facebook messages and even hard copy invitations to their top donors. Why do they work so hard for us? How do I get one of our community’s top charities to market for us? Because we give back the entire $59.00 session fee to them! They stand to benefit greatly and they know that every four-legged creature that gets in front of our lens means a donation for them. Plus, their inner circle of donors feels very special to be invited to participate in such a great promotion. They also recognize the “deal” and value in both the session and complimentary portrait and they get to donate to one of their favorite Richmond charities. The great news for us is we always spend the time in the camera room creating some more traditional “portrait” style images of the animals. We make sure that if this client is interested in a larger image or perhaps even a portrait that they will have a perfectly tailored image to purchase. Then we spend the last 12 to 15 minutes of the session having fun with the animal and creating more unscripted images that the pet owner will hopefully fall in love with. These images are usually offered or suggested to the client for fun pet panels, note cards, gallery wraps or even metal collages. These types of art images can and do make a great statement in the client’s home. So have fun with this! Don’t be afraid to make money and profit from your efforts! And, be kind.
One of our favorite campaigns, the studio and the SPCA, is once a year we invite their top donors to come to our studio for a pet portrait session. This session fee is greatly reduced and we even offer a complimentary 5x7 portrait with the price. So, for example we lower our normal creation fee to $59.00 and the 5x7 is included with the session. Since our 5x7 portraits are normally $125.00 this is a great deal for their donor list and we have booked anywhere from 35 to 100 sessions from this yearly campaign. We do not do these all in one day and we actually allow them a 30 minute session time and 30 minute order appointment on that day or another time in the near future. We always run this promotion in the first quarter of the year since that is our slowest time when we need to generate both income and appointments. We offer small Pet Collections that are incentive priced and try to have fun with each and every one of these sessions.
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Kevin Newsome
INDUSTRY INDUSTRY The State of the
Major news networks and magazines have editorial features. SEPPA is lucky to have our very own Kevin Newsome. Kevin is featured each month as he shares his latest rant. Some things may hit home, some may be surprisingly poingnant. When it’s all said and done, it’s just Kevin’s opinion and he thought he should share it. We, at Southern Exposure, hope you will enjoy this month’s installment of “A Few Moment’s With....” This month, State of the Industry. (Click on the title, State of the Industry, and you will be linked to the video.
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There is nothing like Richmond in the summertime, air so thick you could cut it with a knife. All the more reason to shoot indoors! In creating this years save the date and invitation for one of our SPCA shelters I though we should amp this one up a bit. I wanted to have the invitations showcase the new renovations of our only 5 star 5 diamond hotel ‘s restaurant -The Lemaire at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va. A great spot for happy hour with the most amazing food and drink creations. As well as the most lavish pet friendly hotel in the city.
Here’s how I shot it: Of course the best angle was in the tightest space. I wanted to leave ample space at the top for the logo and wording from the art department. This required me to light the back wall evenly from top to bottom. ( Later I darkened the top edges because it was too light with the logo. For this technique I bounced one light off of the ceiling with a standard zoom reflector allowing me to focus and feather the light across the entire area, I matched the intensity of this light to the main guaranteeing that they would both be the same f/stop.
Next I placed 2- 9x24 inch Larson soff strips to accent the side ways glances that I would have the dogs do to make it look as if they were actually having a real conversation. I rounded out the lighting set up using a 3x4 Larson soff box as the main light. Because it is a medium size it was relatively close to the subjects, due to the limited space of the area I choose. I used a tripod instead of handholding the camera because I had shot the terriers for the past 3 years and they can be a bit challenging to photograph. That way if I needed I could swap out heads for bodies. As it turned out I needed to swap out the dog on the left. When Windsor went for the cocktail I shot as rapidly as the camera and strobe’s limits. Since I didn’t move the camera or any of its settings, the new feature align layers feature in Photoshop CS5, yes I said that I “worked on it in Photoshop,” made it effortless and fast.
Equipment EQ Camera: Canon 1DS Mark III Lens: Canon 24-105mm Exposure: 1/100 sec @ f/16, ISO 250 Lighting:4 Profoto Compact 600 strobes Light Modifiers: Larson 3x4 Soff Box, and 2-9x24 Soff Strips
Hayes & Fisk: The Art of Photography 804-740-9307 www.hayesandfisk.com jamie@hayesandfisk.com
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As a little boy, his favorite thing to do was to spend time with his Dad, a bigger-than-life role model who happened to be a photographer. Backthen, Mike sometimes didn’t even have film in the camera he was using to “shoot” subjects alongside his father. Little did they know that what originally started as just a way to spend time with his hero would help Mike Potthast determine the successful career path that he is on today. Mike Potthast, the owner of Potthast Studios in Winter Haven is one of the most respected and talented photographers in the area. “I grew up in the photography business. A camera was always easy to get a hold of and my dad always welcomed my company on his shoots,” he said. “It gave me a chance to play the part of photographer and watch him work.” After graduating from Winter Haven High, Mike attended Daytona State College’s School of Photography, one of the best of its kind in the country. “When it came time for college, I bought him a new camera because you go to school with the best equipment,” William said. “His work came along beautifully there.” So beautifully that Mike finds himself today in big demand with a wide variety of clients and several different areas of photography. From studio portraits to commercial video to magazine covers to stock photography; Mike seems to be a natural at making images breathtaking, award winning and unforgettable.
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About the Art Poised to Win was created for a local Veterinary hospital lobby display. The subject was a greyhound rescue that became a blood donor for the hospital. “Sly” died about a year ago. The image was shot in studio on a Hasselblad H1 with a Phase One p21+ digital back. Lighting was handled with photogenic powerlights and a variety of Larson soft Strips.
Note: Images chosen for the cover of Southern Exposure are first place, distinguished or other award winners from the annual affiliated judging.
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Victoria Kelly
Zoe came into our lives as my boys and I were reshaping our definition of family...they were shuttling back and forth between their dad’s house and mine, and I decided that a new family member just might be the glue to transition us to our new normal. I had in my mind that a small dog would be perfect for us...the boys were 7 and 5 and we had gone into an apartment temporarily while I tried to figure out how to juggle work, school and (mostly) full-time parenthood. I’d been checking the newspaper for several weeks looking for a miniature dachshund and was finally rewarded: a breeder on the NC coast had one last puppy available. I made arrangements to do a “go-see” just after our 2001 PPNC convention was over. The kids were with their dad and I didn’t want to get their hopes up that a new “somebody” would soon be living with us. I patted myself on the back for thinking ahead... just in case the little dog and I hit it off I had a small kennel, a various assortment of doggie toys and a blanket tucked into my car as I set out for the eastern shore. When I first met Zoe she was playing in the breeder’s backyard with other dachshunds in the kennel. She was tiny--barely 2 pounds--but was full of energy and totally convinced she was a big dog. I was hooked. I put her into the kennel for the ride home, and before we got out of the breeder’s driveway she was howling at the top of her (obviously) welldeveloped lungs. I took her out of the kennel and put her on my shoulder...and there she stayed, with her cold button nose tucked into the collar of my shirt, for the next 168 miles. 22
She made it clear from that first night that she had no intention of sleeping alone. Ever. And so through all the years of her life she never did. She would bounce from bed to bed, looking for someone to snuggle with. When she got too warm under the covers next to my feet, she’d leave me and go find one of the boys to hang out with. We all adored her--and learned early on that dachshunds are notoriously difficult to housetrain and will bark at just about anything. She was a wonderful companion to me when the boys were with their dad... it was as though she understood that I needed her unconditional love when I was by myself. She learned how to play fetch, had a favorite squeaky toy and would hide random items like chew toys, a dropped PopTart or a dirty sock under my pillow. When I remarried and my husband and I were blending families, there was dog blending as well. Mark had an Australian cattlehound that liked to herd things and Zoe, of course, all 9 pounds of her, didn’t much care to be herded. It was a little tense for the first few months but Zoe held her ground and convinced Ellie that she wasn’t a cow and that life would carry on just fine with 2 dogs in the household.
For 10 wonderful years Zoe was part of our lives... she didn’t like to go out in the rain, loved snow and never met a lap she didn’t like. She played tug of war with the boys, slept with them, and always met them at the door when they came home from wherever they had been. We put Zoe down on a hot summer day in July. Before her last visit to the vet, I crawled into my bed and held her, remembering our first nights all those years ago when a tiny little dog had made me hers. The boys and I took her on her last car ride and when the vet came to take her off to a gentle sleep, we all 3 stood in the exam room and cried, each of us caught up in the anguish of losing a loved one. And so our beloved Zoe rests, buried in a patch of ivy, in our backyard just beyond the juniper that always seemed to call her name when she was outside. Our lives are forever richer for having the little black dog with the floppy ears as part of our family. Victoria’s note: Zoe sustained a severe back injury while playing with Ellie and Bear. The vet had hoped that total confinement and medications would give her enough time to start the healing process but that was not the case. On her last day, Zoe couldn’t walk and refused to eat. We chose not to prolong her pain.
Bert Pasquale Comfortable
Julie Hughes Veiled Beauty
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GALLERY
Each month, Southern Exposure magazine will feature images from the annual affiliated judging. All images in the “Gallery” scored 80 or higher and have earned a credit toward the SEPPA degree (SPF). Loan collection images earn one additional credit.
GALLERY
Wolfgang Jasper Soul Seduction
Stan Jones Wind Swept
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