VPPA Blue Ridge Newsletter November 2013
In This Issue 路 From the Governor 路 From the Lt. Governor 路 Upcoming Events 路 Quick Links
From the Governor Hello Blue Ridge! I hope you are having a busy fall season! It's hard to believe that my term as governor is ending. The year has passed quickly, as they seem to do the older I get! Serving as governor has been a great experience and has deepened my belief that when you give, you receive so much more in return. Ever since I was a new member, I have been amazed at the level of help and support that each member statewide is willing to give, and this year is no exception.
Blue Ridge Board
I have met so many new people this year as Governor, and have made new friends from those who before were just acquaintances. I encourage each of you to consider becoming an officer. I leave you in very capable and eager hands with our incoming slate of officers, Michael Corbin (Governor), Jen Chaconas (Lt. Governor), and Michael Sink (Secretary). And you aren't getting rid of me all together, since I will be Treasurer. Governor Sharon Davidson, CPP Email Sharon
To Michael Corbin and Lisa Akers, I want to say THANK YOU for doing such a great job and always being willing to help. Lisa, I know your work often goes unnoticed, but we all appreciate it so much. Since this is my last article as Governor, I wanted to leave you with something to think about. I used to teach Small Business Management at a local college and I had a little exercise I would get my students to do. I would ask for a volunteer to read it out loud immediately, without thinking about it, and everyone else to do so in their heads. Here it is below and I want you to just start reading.
Lt. Governor, Michael Corbin
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The pweor of the hmuan mnid is phaonmneal. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch taem at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Such a cdonition is arppoiately cllaed Typoglycemia. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and yuo awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt. You were able to read it right? So how can we apply this to our personal and business lives? One thing I find myself doing more and more, is the never-
ending pursuit of perfection. The bad thing about it is that logically I know it is unattainable, but I do it anyway and it drives me crazy! As professional photographers, we know what it takes to create a great image. We think about lighting, posing, expression, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc. I work to achieve perfection in those things at every session, but sometimes, everything doesn't come together and that bothers me. I obsess over everything that isn't right, and what I seem unable to see are the things that are right. Secretary, Lisa Akers Email Lisa
Quick Links VPPA PPA
Our clients don't know that the posing could of been better, or the aperture was off a half a stop, and frankly, they don't care! All they know, is that they love the images and think that we captured their child or their wedding day exactly as they hoped. When your client tells you that they love the images and how excited they are, that this all that matters at the end of the day. And this applies to everything in both our business and personal lives. As long as we are doing our best and trying to learn to do better, good is good enough. Perfection is not required. I am going to continue to try to give myself a break and I hope you will too. Disclaimer: Even though the exercise above proves that correct spelling is unnecessary to get your point across, spelling errors will always be unacceptable to me!! I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season! Thank you for allowing me the privilege of serving as Governor. I look forward to seeing each of you in 2014! Best wishes, Sharon
From the Lt. Governor Sunday, October 20th saw 8 VPPA members and 2 guests at incoming Lt. Governor Jen Chaconas's studio in Wirtz for a wide-ranging all-afternoon workshop with Gordon Kreplin. Gordon took us afield with models and his on-location lighting kit. I don't know about your area, but in my area "natural light" photography is all the rage, and Gordon demonstrated ways of improving on that natural light in ways that make a stunning difference in the look of your photography, that will make it stand out from the competition, and justify clients coming to you instead of that guy down the road, while yet retaining the simplicity and style that has made "natural light" popular. If you missed this one, you missed a good one. Gordon was kind enough to mention us (and, separately, Northern District) on his blog-check it out! http://www.ascencionphotography.com/
The November meeting program is going to be at Ellen Martin's studio near Lexington. Ellen has operated a studio in Lexington since 1997. Unlike many VPPA members, Ellen photographs things that do not move! She specializes in photographing works of art for artists and museums. In the late 90's Ellen photographed over 300 pieces of porcelain for the now
internationally acclaimed catalogue of Chinese Export Porcelain for the Reeves Center at W&L University. Since then she has photographed many, many paintings, maps, and objects for W&L, VMI and the Virginia Historical Society. Her studio clients include painters, sculptors, jewelers, potters, glass makers, wood workers, weavers, etc. She also works out of the studio photographing renovated homes for a construction company. Ellen's set up is not overly elaborate. She will demonstrate lighting techniques with White Lightning lights, various paper backgrounds on an auto-pole system, which, by the way, is easy for a one-person studio owner to handle. Ellen uses bounce cards, snoots, and black cloth or whatever it takes to add or remove light to get the images. The days of color slides have passed, and taking the photo digitally has allowed more creativity with the 3-D pieces, with many more views taken quickly. Photographing works of art under glass causes anguish for most artists. Ellen will show us how to do that successfully. Ellen's studio is a beautiful place in the woods, but to find it, you'll need directions. She's promised coffee and dessert, but to get those directions, you'll have to RSVP to her new email martinphoto@centurylink.net or call her at 540-464-5687. The time is 6:30 PM on Monday, November 18th. And while we're looking at dates, save Monday, December 9th for the annual Christmas dinner at 419 West in Roanoke. We've been there before, the food off the menu is good, and we'll have a large-screen TV on which I'd like to show each other our work this past year. I have a few photos from some of our meetings this year, some of my own to show you, and I want YOURS to include in the show. We have some wicked good shooters in the Blue Ridge, and I want to brag on YOUR work. So I'd like for each of you to send me 8-12 jpegs for inclusion. I'll warn you now, if you don't, you're going to see my shots from our vacation in Italy, Greece, and Turkey, and I can put up a lot of those. So help me out here, won't you? Please, send me jpegs at 5-8 quality, 1024 pixels on the long side. Email 'em to Michael@expressions-photographics.com, and also let me know you are joining us on December 9th. Michael
If you have any suggestions or if you have an article you would like to be published in the newsletter, please email Lisa Akers (lisacakers@yahoo.com).