May meeting notes May's meeting took place at Bob Harper's studio in Hampton and the speaker was Tidewater's own Becky Clark! Becky spoke about the beautiful kaleidoscope images she has been creating in recent years and with which she has been finding great success in print competition. Attendees were given a live demonstration of how she chooses images and then puts them together in Photoshop to achieve the final product.
June Event and Meeting The Tidewater District has a very exciting educational opportunity lined up for June! Jamie Hays and Mary FiskTaylor will be presenting their program, "The Best of Both Worlds" at Kaiser Custom Images, 401 Waters Rd in Chesapeake on June 22nd. Do not miss this chance to spend time and learn from two Master Photographers and amazing
business instructors. Jamie and Mary share the best of both worlds with lighting and posing instruction, extensive marketing and sales information with a dash of fellowship and lots of fun. Jamie and Mary own and operate two extremely successful photography studios in their market area of Richmond, Virginia. Their small home studio specializes in high-end wall portrait installations and custom designed weddings and their newer addition is a higher volume high school senior and boutique event business. They gross well over one million dollars a year in professional photography and are very proud of the sustainable and profitable brands that they have built in their market area. Highlights of this program will include building a camera room in a very small place, posing and lighting for environmental as well as studio portraiture, low cost but very high impact marketing plans and great sales techniques for all types of studios. Whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out in
the professional photography industry this will be a day of priceless knowledge and information. The program will run from 9am-4pm and then we will have our usual meeting that evening. Cost is $35 for non-members and $10 for members. Jamie and Mary attribute the success of their studio to their sound management and business skills combined with their love and passion for photography. Their commitment to creating priceless portraits and wedding albums has earned them an extremely loyal clientele as well as a sterling reputation in the state of Virginia. Their business savvy and creative marketing concepts have enabled them to establish an extremely profitable and fulfilling portrait and wedding gallery. They have also expanded their business by opening a secondary studio that specializes in both boutique events and high school senior portraits. Mary and Jamie currently gross well over $1,000,000 in their photography studios. As PPA Approved Business Instructors, Jamie and Mary offer informative and motivational programs to all of their students. They have both participated in several state, regional, national and international conferences giving both fullday and weeklong classes. As affiliate jurors they have had the pleasure to judge several international print competitions including Korea and the Philippines. They are both proud many members of several professional photography organizations, including: Professional Photographers of America (PPA), Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI), Virginia Professional Photographers Association (VPPA), and Society of XXV. Jamie has been honored with many awards on both state and national levels.
His most recent achievements include the Kodak Gallery Elite Award of Excellence, numerous Kodak Gallery Awards of Excellence, PPA Traveling Loan collections, SEPPA Distinguished Awards, Best Wedding Albums VPPA, Best of Category, Fuji Masterpiece Awards and the VPPA Grand Award (Highest Print Case) several times. Mary entered national, state and regional competition for the first time in 2000 and received six blue ribbons. Her wedding album received the second highest score at SEPPA, Best Wedding Album VPPA, Fuji Masterpiece Awards, PPA Traveling Loan Collection, Disney Epcot Collection, and PPA General Collection. More recently, Mary has been awarded several Kodak Gallery Awards of Excellence, Fuji Masterpiece Awards, PPA Loan Collection prints and many VPPA Court of Honors for her Wedding and Portrait entries. Mary has won Photographer of the Year for the VPPA and presented the prestigious Virginia Award as well as the PPA Charities Legacy Award. Mary was also named Top 40 under 40 in Virginia and recognized for her business leadership as well as her charity and volunteerism. In July we will have our annual summer social; details coming soon! Summer Seminar registration is now open! The seminar will take place August 30th-September 1st in Fredericksburg. See the flyer below for more details! And be sure to register for Sandra Pearce's two-day workshop after the seminar, "Learning to Paint in Photoshop." Go to www.vppa.org to register for the seminar and to register for Sandra's class go to http://www.vppa.org/sandra-pearce-2-day-workshop?load/access (Access code for both is VirginiaPPA). Sandra's class is currently open to VPPA members only but will open up to non-members after the end of June. It is limited to 20 people!
Chapter Officers GOVERNOR Erin L. Clark, CPP, M.Photog., AFP images@enephoto.com (757) 472-2955 LT. GOVERNOR Bob Harper, CPP, AFP bob@bobharperphotography.com (757) 325-8300 TREASURER Steven Radcliffe
slrimagery@gmail.com SECRETARY Anne Companion, CPP info@annecompanionphotography.com (757) 630-5860