Southern Exposure September 2011

Mary Fisk Taylor My Family Portrait Janet Boschker Summer at the Beach Victoria Kelly My Summer Vacation Kevin Newsome Available Light

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.

Michael Potthast Ruby

Patty Hallman En Pointe

Tammy Griffin Vincent MonaLisa Child

Christine Reynolds The Artist

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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 ***Donna Campiz Kaye Newsome

Georgia

***Sally Jackson Spencer Smith

Maryland

***Vanessa Ard David Corry

Mississippi/Alabama

***Patti Ford 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

Article & Ad Submission 5th of each month On-Line Publication 1st of each month

Virginia

SEPPA

2712 Marcia Drive Lawrenceville, GA 30044 888-272-3711 www.4seppa.com Acceptance of advertising does not carry with it endorsement by the publisher. Opinions expressed by Southern Exposure or any of its authors does not neccesarily reflect the positions of the Southeastern Professional Photographers Association.

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***Karen Goforth Janet Boschker

West Virginia

***Clark Berry Greg Martin ***Mac Brown Barbara White ***Sharon Younce Robert Holman ***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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Doug Peninger: SEPPA President ncdoug01@triadbiz.rr.com

New Family Members

For the month of September, I wanted to revisit a grade school exercise. I challenged our talented team of writers to share with you what their favorite memory from the past summer may have been. As always, you never know what you might get. I must say, it was great to visit those memories through words and images.

So what is my favorite memory of the summer of 2011? This is an easy answer. Perhaps it really is two events, though they, in all reality, combine into one thought. Allow me to illustrate. In late January, sadness arrived at my home with the loss of a cherished family pet. Della, a beloved german-shepherd/chow-chow mix, passed away after a long life of love and affection. She gave everything she could to illuminate love in the way that only a dog can share. I still miss her night time kisses and our walks down to granny’s house every night, even if it did always terrorize her cat.

Being an animal lover is tough thing. When you know you are about to lose one, you have to decide if another will be in your future. For me, it was no question. Thus, the memory I wish to share. On May 29, a new chow-chow arrived from the breeder in Texas. It was love at first sight as she turned the corner at the cargo counter in Charlotte. Her tail was wagging and we immediately bonded. She was 11 weeks old. I’ll never forget taking her into the grassy field next to the cargo counter so she could run and stretch and play before the hour long drive home.

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In early August, when Brennan was about to be 20 weeks old, you guessed it, a companion puppy arrived. Bailey, or should I say Butter-Ball, arrived from the same breeder, different parents, and our new family was complete. They instantly bonded and playtime has been amazing. These new puppies have taught me much in a short amount of time. They have taught me that even though I still remember and mourn the loss of Della, they understand me. They give love that is unconditional. They appear in the room and just look at you with those deep eyes and want to be petted. I am fortunate to have them in my life.

As you go about your life, take a moment and share unconditional love with someone. You will be the one who is blessed for it.

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SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SEPTEMBER 2011

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Victoria Kelly My Summer Break Mary Fisk-Taylor

My Family Portrait

Kevin Newsome Available Light

Janet Boschker Summer at the Beach

Shop 14 15 18 21

Millers Michel Company Academy Productions White House Custom Color

Attend

“Riding in the Rain”

by Stephanie Garr Adams

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West Virginia Georgia School Georgia Convention PPNC (North Carolina)

PPMA (Mississippi/Alabama) IMAGING USA 5

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Victoria Kelly

contact: vkelly@victoriakellyphotography.com

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Mary Fisk-Taylor

mary@hayesandfisk.com Twitter @maryfisktaylor

For this edition of the SEPPA magazine I was asked to chat about my favorite summer portrait, portrait session or portrait experience. I have truly thought about this in my typical obsessive-compulsive fashion a lot, and hundreds of images have gone through my visual memory. I thought about all of the amazing children, families and high school seniors we have worked with over the past few months. I remember a few of the weddings that we celebrated this summer. I have lots and lots of images I adore. Lots of portraits that warm my heart because of the beauty or the client’s heartfelt reaction to our capture of their milestones. Yes, I have lots of great portrait memories from this summer.

However, I kept going back to my family portrait image that was actually taken last summer. That for me is my absolute favorite summer time portrait.

It is my husband of 17 years, my then 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son plus me. We are standing in typical Hayes & Fisk (not to be confused with the typical Hanson Fong) “look away� pose.

This pose is by far the most attractive and slimming for my family. We are all stacked together in a great triangle fashion and everyone is blocking mom. Perfect picture!

However, we are on really sharp, pointy and slippery rocks on a gorgeous coastline in Maui, Hawaii. We are standing there looking away with really tight grins on our faces and sweat dripping from our brows. Daryl is probably pinching Jax a little too tight in order to keep him in check and Alex is so angry with me because she absolutely hated that dress I made her wear. Mean Mom, that is I. Miserable at that moment that was us.

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I stand properly poised on the rocks. Gripping on for dear life and praying that Jamie Hayes (my business partner and family portrait photographer) will please, please, please capture my wonderful family in this magical place. Honestly, I did not believe for one minute that it could/would happen. It was quite honestly a painful experience.

Now that I have painted a rather dismal picture of my picture (insert clever pun here!) I want to share what happened after we got off the rocks. When I sat down and Jamie shared the images with me, and I looked at my beautiful family in that magical place I really did fall in love. I fell in love with the image, my family and that captured memory. It was a truly wonderful experience. I forgot about the yelling, crying and eternal pleading that had occurred out there on the beach.

grins and sweat dripping

I tell them about the slime and the sweat and even the under my breath curse words. And then I show them the portrait. And then they get it. They understand that it is not all perfection. Pictures do lie sometimes, it takes a little bit of work to get that perfect portrait but the destination is worth the journey.

During the portrait session I will again remind them that I truly get it, I understand that they are frustrated, defeated, hot, angry, whatever, but it will all be worth it in the long run. I think that my family portrait experience, actually I know that my family portrait experience, made me a more empathetic and sympathetic photographer. I take the time to recognize their despair or frustration and help them understand it is perfectly normal, expected and okay to be a little anxious about this part. I know that when they get into that sales room and they look at their images they will forget all about this and fall in love with these memories.

And, it occurred to me, WOW, this is how my clients feel. They feel the agony and the ecstasy of it all. It was truly a learning experience for me on so many levels. Now when I am consulting with my clients and discussing their family portrait session, etc. I talk to them about my family portrait.

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Kevin Newsome

Available AVAILABLE LIGHT LIGHT 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, Available Light.

(Click on the title, Available Light, and you will be linked to the video.

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Janet Boschker

How I Spent

What I look forward to every summer is quite simple – the beach. I love spending lazy days watching the waves crash, feeling the breeze, reading a good book… there’s just nothing like it. And once you’ve stayed at an oceanfront house, there is just no other way to go. Early in my career I decided that beach photography would be the way I would make oceanfront summers an ongoing part of my life. I figured if I could book a few sessions, that would pay for it and my only interest was to break even – it was a no brainer – get up at sunrise, do a session and take the rest of the day off! It’s been great, and more profitable than I had imagined.

This year, for something different, I decided to invite a few of my photography buddies from around the country to come and share a house with me. Mostly it was for fun and fellowship, but knowing how we photonerds are, I knew we would go out shooting together. I emailed them a couple weeks ahead and said –“If there’s anything in particular you’d like to do while you are here, let me know and I will try and make it happen”. Of course, there’s always a “Type A” in the crowd and sure enough… “what I’d really love is to get a beautiful girl in a flowing white outfit at sunrise……” REALLY? That kind of sounded like work…..

On the first day as we headed out to the beach, we passed a group of teenage girls… I elbowed Joan and said “there’s your girls!”. Sure enough, she took the bait and asked them if they’d like to model for us….. pointed out the house where we were staying and told them to meet us that evening to make a plan. Guess what? They DID!!

www.northlightphotography.com jbnlight@aol.com

Of course they had nothing but bathing suits and beach clothes – that wouldn’t work for Joan, so off we went to the Charleston City Market to find some suitable dresses for the girls to wear – many dollars later we had clothing. The next morning the girls were there with their moms in tow – the moms were not too sure about us, but we all became fast friends. We showed them the dresses, they put them on and off we went. It was a blast! The girls kept their bathing suits on under the dresses, so we could change and play and since they were our dresses, we could have them go in the water with no worries about ruining their clothes. At the end of the session, we did some girlfriends shots, which was a huge hit with the girls and all of a sudden it occurred to me…. How many high school friends go to the beach together? How cool would it be to promote a friends at the beach session for my clients that have beach homes? Why hadn’t I thought of that before?

The moral of the story is – be open to experimenting, do something for nothing sometimes so you can just play – we have been exposed to so many things over the years that we may never have done. Ideas that are in the back of our minds just waiting for a chance to surface and bring a whole new perspective to our work.

Next year, I’ll be using the images we took as a summer promotion for rising high school seniors…….. I’m thinking this could be big!

Olis Garber Undergrowth Blush

Joseph Tessmer Green Prickles

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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

Gail Abramo Nature’s Renewal

Joe Campanellie Bathed in Light

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