Chairman of the Board
Doug Peninger dpeninger@SEPPAonline.com
President
George Singleton gsingleton@SEPPAonline.com
1st Vice-President 2nd Vice-President Secretary-Treasurer Salon Exhibition Chair
Kevin Jiminez kjiminez@SEPPAonline.com Mary Fisk-Taylor mfisktaylor@SEPPAonline.com
Delaware
District of Columbia
***Anthony Maril Joe Tessmer
Florida
*** Sandra Pearce Kaye Newsome
Georgia
*** Spencer Smith Jason White
Janet Boschker jboschker@SEPPAonline.com Jessica Vogel jvogel@SEPPAonline.com
*** Paula Mignagna
Interim Executive Director 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 919.480.7110 Ad Sales & Business Manager Rick Gibbons ExecutiveDirector@SEPPAonline.com 866.982.4856
Maryland
Mississippi/Alabama
*** Michael Busada David Corry
*** Andrew Lamb Gil Brady
North Carolina
*** Bruce Williamson Janet Boschker
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 Acceptance o f a d v e r t i si n g d oe s n ot c a r r y w i th i t en dor se m e n t b y t h e p ub l i sh e r. Opi ni o ns expre sse d b y Sout h e r n Exp osure o r any 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 th easter n Pro fessi on a l P h ot ogr a p h e r s A ssoc ia t io n .
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
*** Jeannie Forehand Barbara White
*** Kevin Hurley Robert Holman
*** Pat Dodd Brentv Kepner
*** state president SEPPA representative
Delaware
Mississippi/Alabama
District of Columbia
North Carolina
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Florida
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Georgia
Tennessee
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Maryland
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www.delawarephotographers.com
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Did you have to do a school paper about Betsy Ross? You’ll want to include the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge.
Grab a jacket, it might be chilly...this month we’re heading up north to Delaware. It should be a lovely trip! In addition to being a SEPPA state, Delaware has the distinction of being the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787. It’s also the only state without any National Park System units such as national parks, seashores, historic sites, battlefields and monuments. Delaware is also home to Delmar, sort of. This city is partly in Delaware and partly in Maryland, another SEPPA state. The Maryland/Delaware boundary and the Mason-Dixon line divide Delmar. A double crown stone marker was erected in 1768 as the southern end of the only North-South portion of the Mason-Dixon line. Barratt’s Chapel in Frederica is where the Methodist Church of America was organized in 1784. (Who knew?) Did you have to do a grade school paper on Betsy Ross and the flag? Tradition has it that the first time her flag was flown was
at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. (You can find this on Route 4 in Newark.) Delaware is a small state, ranking 49th in the Union. It has 1982 square miles. It’s 96 miles long and varies from 9-35 miles in width. Now, if you’re in the holiday spirit, be mindful that the American holly is the official state tree. Did you know that it can reach heights of 60 fee with a trunk diameter that can be as large as 20 inches? In case you’re wondering how Delaware got its name---the state was named for Lord de la Warr. He was the first governor of Virginia. Photographically speaking, Delaware is small but mighty...you could fit all the state members on a charter bus going to iUSA in January. It’s time to bundle up and head for home. My toes are cold and I’ve forgotten to bring my gloves. Join us in November for another trip to a SEPPA state--can you say “road trip”?
My business is a “residential studio” in which I work and my wife, Jane Williams, and I live. Inspired by an expression of anxious hope by our daughter, Jen S. Richeson, this past spring, I took a new look at my space and photographic work from the past thirty years or so. In order to keep fresh new work in front of potential client eyes, I was storing away almost one hundred of my framed fine art photographs from the 1980s and 1970s. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was trying to break into the marketplace as a fine art photographer. During this period, I held several exhibitions in the Washington, DC area and in North Carolina. A major portion of my stored work included framed pieces and two portfolios of images from a USAF diplomatic mission to China in 1987. These were stored away in closets, behind furniture, in my no-longer used darkroom, and behind hanging backgrounds. I was confronted with the thoughts that this body of stored work took up space and being stored could not be sold. Plus, from an IRS perspective, because I had fully depreciated or expensed-out this work, it had no value. If the work had no value, what should I do with it? I decided the work did have intrinsic value. It may sound crazy to give the work away without receiving a dime and no ability to claim a charitable contribution, but that is what I have done.
was trying to raise funds for a new sound system and 2013 also happens to be my 40th anniversary of being a paid soloist/ choral section leader at the church. Among the things Jane and I planned to help celebrate this milestone, we decided to have an exhibition to help raise funds for the sound system. We called it the Westmoreland Sound System Benefit Exhibition. During the summer, volunteers hosted the open hours of the exhibition. We exhibited sixty framed pieces, twenty matted pieces, and the two portfolios which contained forty prints. If a visitor saw a print that he or she liked, they could make a suggested donation directly to the church. At the end of the exhibition, Jane and I gave the print as a gift from us to the individual who made the donation. This way the donation to the church was fully tax deductible. The exhibition was wonderfully successful. Some individuals gave more than the suggested amount. One individual in particular made a donation of $10,000. In all, inspired by the exhibition, the church received over $16,000 towards the new sound system. I now have space for new images. And I’m now thinking about what to do with all those competition prints lying around. Hmm?
George Singleton, M.Photog., Cr., CPP An opportunity to get this work into appre- SEPPA President 2013 – 2015 ciative homes presented itself--my church 25 September 2013
Lew Everling Cr. Photog., CPP www.leweverling.com
What project would you spend 1092 hours per year without billable time?
Do you ever find yourself saying “I just don’t have time for that” during a 24 hour period? Sometimes it just feels like time gets all out of sorts, becomes crazy hectic and simply out of control. The first 60 minutes and last 10 minutes can truly affect personal and professional performance in so many ways. How do you spend yours?
safe to say there is less than 10 minutes of good news going on.
So many times I hear the phrase “I don’t have time for that” and it can be related to many things: exercise, social media, marketing, family time--you name it--it may be something as simple as making a phone call to a friend or family member. (We all even know some negative Nellies too.)
Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of YESgoes into great detail on attitude! I highly suggest it--you know we can’t change the news or the weather but we sure can change our attitude and “try” to influence the attitude of those around us.
Now...I’m not saying that getting up to date on current events isn’t necessary, but total obsession with the news and weather doesn’t really give you a return on your investment.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the business of business--seminars for marketing, lighting and such but we usually Do you start your day early in the mornalways skip the programs on attitude and ing by turning on the tube to the latest news and world events for 90 minutes? focus on others around us before ourAnd then maybe again at noon, 5pm and selves. Spending 3 hours a day, 7 days a 11pm? That’s 180 minutes of total negaweek leads to a whole lot of time wasted! tivity! What project would you spend 1092 hours per year on without billable time? ReGranted, there might be 30 seconds of a member, you can’t change the weather “feel good” story followed by 8 total minutes on inaccurate weather but I think It’s so play the day you were dealt and real-
ize that Mother Nature is dealing THOSE cards and the forecasters are rarely accurate so just pop your nose outside and take a look. Why not start the day focusing on you, yes, YOU...that’s right...rather than give in to the energy vampires that steal the life out of you, take the first 10,20,30 minutes and give back to yourself, your health, mind, and attitude. Or...get totally CRAZY and give yourself an hour--an hour is only 4% of the day so now what’s your excuse? Here are a few suggestions for spending some time focusing on yourself: leave the TV off, shut down the iPad, throw out the phone, forget Facebook, and absolutely no email! Consider tuning out the world in the morning, and tuning into YOU! Choose your focus--personal or professional--the choice is yours. Focus on “you” each day with something new...I guarantee it will totally set your tone for a positive day. I’ll admit I’ve used the “I don’t have time for that” myself but I want to take just a moment to share a personal experience since my last article: Just a little over 2 weeks ago I put off calling my little brother in Indiana--not sure why but I’m sure I thought I was too busy and needed to get something done. About 7pm on a Tuesday night I get the
phone call that I hope no one ever gets: It was my mother, terribly upset--her frantic message was “your brother has been life-flighted via helicopter to Indianapolis-we aren’t sure if he’s going to be ok.” I’m pretty sure my heart stopped and all I could think about was wanting one more chance. My little brother had been hit by a car while riding his motorcycle literally 900 yards from home. His legs had been broken, one foot crushed, there were broken ribs, torn aorta and massive internal bleeding. And all I could think of was putting off the phone call because I didn’t have time. I wanted one more chance! Prayers were answered, he survived--there will be many surgeries, but at least he’s alive--! You know the old saying that tomorrow never comes is so true so take the time to reassess how you’re spending your days. I am a lucky guy...I just happened to get a second chance and so did my little brother.
“Small opportunities are often great enterprises...” ~Unknown
Victoria Kelly Cr. Photog., CPP, F.Ph.
i certainly didn’t ne plates with snowmen had plates with peng
Here’s a question for you: How often do you add or change to the products you offer your clients? I’m asking this because of a recent conversation I had with a photographer acquaintance I hadn’t seen in quite awhile. He was lamenting the realization that his phone wasn’t ringing anymore--blaming all his troubles on the DIY trend that seems to be taking hold of our industry. After chatting for 20 minutes or so I asked him what changes he had made to make his clients WANT to choose him for their imaging needs. He was astonished. “Why, I haven’t made any changes at all. Why should I? I’ve been creating beautiful portraits for 25 years. I just don’t understand why I should do anything differently than what I’ve been doing that has always worked for me in the past.” Change, no matter how good, is seldom
easy. It means we must crawl out of our comfort zone, try something new and sometimes the results, no matter how well we did our research, might not be what we wanted or expected. And so we try again. Do you ever shop at Target? You should pay attention to their seasonal merchandise, specifically their dinnerware. Several years ago, being awash in the holiday spirit I purchased the cutest plates and coordinating drinkware, placemats and other goodies for my holiday table. They were decorated with penguins and I just *had* to have them. Fast forward through the next year--I went to Target to purchase more penguin goodies...and they were gone! Penguins were OUT! Snowmen were IN! And the colors were different! And so I purchased more holiday dinnerware with snowmen. The moral of this story is that Target is deeply attuned to keeping new items in front of their customers to fuel a purchasing desire. I certainly didn’t NEED plates with snowmen...I had plates with penguins! But I did
eed n...i guins! indeed purchase new holiday dinnerware and gave my beloved penguins to Goodwill. What I learned from this is that I need to be offering something new/different/unusual to my clients every year in addition to the products they know they can always get. Since my primary market is high school seniors I’ve made it a point to start my senior marketing with at least one new “something” each year. And I try to make it something that other photographers in my area aren’t likely to offer. Does it work? You bet--you would be amazed how many seniors come through my door because of some cool, hip and trendy product I’m offering. So...here’s an idea for you--instead of being part of your own problem, be the catalyst for your own change going into 2014 and start planning your comeback. It might take awhile (perseverance is key here) but rest assured: the phone will start ringing again and you’ll be back to doing what you love--photography!
“ The Dury’s staff consists of actual photographers... ” Ever since I bought my first item from Dury’s almost 4 years ago, I have trusted no one else with all of my equipment needs. The Dury’s staff consists of actual photographers with a vast array of technical as well as performance knowledge and they are quick to help me find the right solutions for all of my shooting needs. A few months ago, it was time for me to upgrade cameras and the staff at Dury’s showed me the new Canon 5D Mark III. Simply put, the new Canon 5D Mark III is the best camera that I have shot with to date. I now have the capability to shoot at extremely high ISO’s with little or no noise as well as up to 6 frames per second with a very quiet shutter. Not to mention, the new autofocus system works flawlessly even in the most trying situations! This camera will make even the most discerning photographer very happy as the files that come out of the camera are simply breathtaking.
Jairaj - Kevin KJImages.com
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