ga focus december issue
DESCRIPTION
Associational MagazineTRANSCRIPT
Georgia FocusDecember 2010
Getting out of your box
Contents President’s message . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 2
GPPA Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Get Out Of Your Closet, Box, Studio . . . . . . . . . . 6 Mike Bentley, CPP, GSD Beach Portraits with the Browns . . . . . . . . 12
Everyone has to have Fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
It is not in my nature to sit in a rocking chair on the front porch . 19 Judy Jordan
About the cover: This month’s cover image was taken with a Canon 5dMkII near the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest just outside of Robbinsville, North Carolina. The shot was exposed for 2.5 seconds with a Canon 24-105 lens set at f/11. The camera was set at 50 ISO with shade set as the whitebal-ance. The lens was stacked with a circular polarizer and an ND4 (2stops) neutral density filter. The Raw file was processed using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional and was run through Topaz Simplify to get a painterly effect. If you would like to see your image on the cover Submit the image with a brief description and some technical information to me at [email protected].
President’s Message John Carney, GFD, GSD
“Don’t let someone’s opinion of you become your reality. If you do what is easy, your life will be hard...if you do what is hard your
life will be easy.
Sarah Pal-in spoke about hav-ing a clear
vision for the day. When you start out, be committed and stay away from criticism. Her father al-ways said “Don’t retreat, reload.”
John Smoltz said “You can be bitter or better.”
John Maxwell - “Live each day as if it were your last.” We all have a Bucket List, but how many of us have a Life List ? I highly recommend his books.
Have you ever wondered where you would be in your life a year from now? My wife, Mary Ann, and I have often had those thoughts. In just the past year we have had some chal-lenges and rewards in our lives. I like to look back and see how we grew from these experiences. Just this past week we chose to attend an all day seminar in Atlanta. How could we lose, it was only $5.00 each! The speaker list was fantastic and just what we need-ed. I thought I would share some of the key points from the Seize the Day seminar.
The first speaker was Les Brown and he was quite a show stopper. Some of his key points were:
Terry Bradshaw closed the semi-nar with good thoughts and lots of laughs. We can’t do anything with-out dealing with people, so we all need to get along. Remember, we accomplish nothing without being around people everyday.
So now I will close and put in my two cents worth! In 2010 Mary Ann and I lost a very close friend to cancer, closed our studio after 24 wonderful years and became grand-parents . I tried to hike 40 miles and only made 20 of it. I only stopped
out of concern for Tom McCollum’s health. LOL!!
My point in all of this rambling is that life goes on. We are who we are due to our experiences. Remember, someone always has it worse than you do!. John CarneyCarpe Diem
Please remember to take time to thank our sponsors. They make much of what we do in the Georgia Professional Photographers Associa-tion possible.
PWD LabsCanvas on Demand
Magnolia Frames
a painting, build a model or maybe even enter a beauty pageant. Whatever you do, find some-way to get away and defrag your brain. You de-serve it!
Help us to keep these pages full. Is there someone that you want to see an article from? Ask them to submit something. Better yet call a photographer you admire and interview them. Ask them the questions that you want to know the answers to. Then write it all down and sub-mit it as an article. Have an image you would like to see on our cover - send it to me. Include a short note about the image or better yet write an article about the creation of the image. We are always looking for content and after this is-sue there is another and then another . . . Sub-missions can be sent to [email protected].
Kevin A. Jiminez , M.Photog.Cr., GFD, GSD, CPP
Editor’s Notes We have a couple of articles this month that are not directed at the business of Portrait and Wedding photography. In this tightened economy it is perhaps even more important to try to get away from the every day stress of running a business. Whether you are simply going out and photographing something new or something for yourself or doing something completely unrelated to photography it is good to unwind. While most of us got here because we had a love for photography, running a busi-ness is a much more tedious task. It is unlikely that anyone has burned out of this profession because they just could not stand the thought of creating one more stunning image or one more treasured memory for a family to hang on their walls. More likely the burnout has been the re-sult of having to maintain cash flow and meet deadlines and the like. Remember to find some time to photograph something you don’t nor-mally go after like fall colors or sports or make
GPPACalendar
Imaging USAJanuary 16-18 San Antonio, TX www.ppa.com
SEPPA ConventionMarch 26-29 Atlanta, GA
NE Area MeetingDecember 13 Gary S. Chapman will speak about how he makes a living pro-ducing stock images for Getty Images. North Georgia Tech, Clarkesville, GA.
Georgia SchoolSeptember 11-16 North Georgia Techni-cal College Clarkesville, GA Instructors to be announced.
If you have any Events planned that you would like on the Calendar please submit those to the Editor.
GPPA Financial Statement is Available to members upon Request.
Membership Renewal time is upon us again.Your GPPA membership renewal is due by December 31, 2010. Watch
your mail for renewal invoice.
We Need Your PPA ID # !PPA State Affiliates are required to include PPA ID #’s with the state mem-bership roster when renewing their affiliation. This is how PPA determines our merit allotment for the year. If you are a PPA member, please be sure to include your PPA ID # on your GPPA renewal form. You can also email your PPA ID# to GPPA Executive Director, Tom McCollum, at gppaed@
bellsouth.net.
Getting Out Of Your Closet, Box, Studio . . . Mike Bentley
Dave Matthews lyrics So Much To Say - I say my hell is the closet I’m stuck inside, Can’t see the lightAnd my heaven is a nice house in the sky Got central heating and I’m alright Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Keepit locked up inside Don’t talk about it Talk about the weather...
For some reason it seems like the only time I use a camera is when I have a paying customer andnever for myself. This past month I had a fall fo-rum that I was supposed to at-tend in Tennesseeand thought I would use it as an opportu-nity to do a little nature pho-tography. Several months agoI read about some great waterfalls in Northeast Alabama and Ten-
nessee and I thought there was nobetter time to go than in the fall when I was going to be in the area anyway. The first thing I did wascontact some of my photography friends to see if they wanted to go along on a side trip to photograph
the waterfalls before I went to the meeting. Sometimes it is just good to get out of the studio and dosomething different to help re-charge yourself and bring back the excitement to what we do.
So who would you call? Where would you go? What would you do? Several years ago while I wasin Las Vegas at a John Hartman Bootcamp I met a couple photogra-phers from Geor-gia that I had neverseen before. I got out of my box, walked across the room and we all got to know each other. Johnchallenged everyone to form “Amoeba” groups when we got back home. What he suggested wasfinding 4 or 5 photographers in noncompeting markets and hold-ing meetings at each others studiosquarterly and share marketing and business ideas as well as problems. After we came back to Georgiawe started having meetings at each of our studios several times a year to share marketing ideasand run new ideas by each other. We tell each other the good, the bad and the ugly to help make eachother better at what we do and we all know we have each other’s back. We have shared happy times,
sad times and we all worry about the future together. They have be-come some of my best friends andI have photography, and John Hart-man to thank. This has led to many
road trips to places like LasVegas, New Orleans, St. Peters-burg, Nashville, weekends at the lake and well, you get the idea. Sowhen this trip came up you can guess who I called first. We all have ideas of places to go, mine seemto revolve around water and moun-tains, while some are pulled to-wards the beach and other places.This trip was one I had wanted to do, we will see what is next on our list.
So what is my point? My point is that sometimes I find myself at
the daily grind, getting up doingthe things we all do in this busi-ness to keep it going and then I get up the next day and do it all again.Sometimes, actually, a lot of the time, I forget what got me into this busi-ness. The love of the
c a m e r a ,the relationships I’ve developed and the feeling that I made a differ-ence in someone’s life by capturinga moment in time, even if the mo-ment was a waterfall on the side of the road. Get out and play,move your cheese, get out of your rut, box or whatever your stuck in. Walk across the room at thenext convention and make some friendships with other photogra-phers who you don’t already know or
reconnect with someone that you haven’t seen in years. Then RE-ALLY get out of your box and getto know someone from way out-side your area whether it is geo-graphical or professionally. There are
so many interest-ing people to meet and places to see, so much out there to inspire you to be better butyou have to be the one to make the first move!
More about Mike Bentley. In the late ‘70’s Mike got his
start in photography helping photo-graph weddings and working on the newspaper staff at Winder-Barrow High school. While in high school he worked to raise money to buy his first professional camera. After high school he went to photogra-phy school, North Georgia Tech, and after graduation went to work for several studios in the Atlanta area. Then he got a dream job at Sea Is-land and lived at St. Simons Island where he met Chance. Chance was
a photography student at East Ten-nessee State and came to work at Sea Island for the summer. Mike helped train Chance and by the end of the summer they were dating and best of friends. They got married the fol-lowing summer and a few years later they left Sea Island. They both quit their jobs, Chance 5 months preg-nant, and moved back to Mike’s hometown, Winder to open a pho-tography studio. Since 1990, Bentley Photography has been photograph-ing children, families and seniors in Northeast Georgia. While we always remember our traditional photog-raphy roots we realize that trends in portraiture are always changing and that we must stay abreast of the latest developments. That’s why we have spent the last 20 years creating a warm and inviting studio in which you have choices of fun, contempo-rary backgrounds or traditional por-traiture.
Mike became a Certified Professional Photographer in 1992 and will receive his Craftsman Degree in January. He also spent 6 years on the board of the GPPA and holds the Georgia Service Degree. I attended my first GPPA convention in 1978.
Looking for a new employee or some-one to fill in? Think about a student intern. Our students are required to do a minimum of 90 hours internship with professional photographers. They can spend an entire term (10 weeks) with you or just a day. That is up to you and the student. This is a great way to get your next employee. There is no limit to the number of in-ternships and you can take students on until you get one to hire. We would love you. The students work for you for free and will do whatever needs to be done. Many photogra-phers only have them observe while others let them shoot and process. That is all up to you. Please consider a North Georgia Tech student as an intern for your studio. Don’t delay - call us today!
Jeff Gulle, CPPPhotography InstructorNorth Georgia Technical [email protected](706) 754-7883
NGT Intern Program
The Southeast Area recently had a meeting at Tim and Michelle Brown’s studio in Saint Simon’s Island. Those who couldn’t make the meeting missed out on some great informa-tion and techniques. Tim and Mi-chelle are relative newcomers to the GPPA. They came to the Island from North Carolina about five years ago and have not looked back since. They have owned their own business, Tim Brown Photography, for about 5 years, and they seem to have their technique and business plan down pat. While Tim does the majority of the shooting, Michelle handles most of the retouch-
ing and design work. The meeting started with a little background as to how they moved from having a chimney sweep business to creating heirloom portraits for both local cli-ents and families trying to capture memories of their family vacations. Tim and Michelle credit their success in part to attending the PPA Student Management Services. Another big part of their success is the skill with which Tim is able to capture timeless images when working with a variety of subject matter. The majority of their images are created on location
including in their
Beach Portraits with the Browns
client’s homes. They work to achieve a portrait that has a very natural look and is lit predominately with ambi-ent light. The couple uses a variety of tools including scrims, on camera flash, and off camera lighting to en-hance the available light and give the most pleasing representation of their subject.After spending time going over their approach to the different facets of their business
including the ar-tistic and technical as-pects, it was time to go on location to the beach and watch Tim and Mi-chelle create some fam-ily images. The group was able to watch Tim and Michelle work with
the children to get them to feel com-fortable with him while at the same time they worked to maintain a good rapport with the parents. Tim was able to capture a variety of looks in-cluding some candid and semi-ac-tion shots of the children and create some classic portraits of the group. During the course of the session, Tim showed the way he uses each of the tools in his “lighting bag”. This included working with a scrim for subtractive lighting and the use of on camera fill, using only available light and using an off camera soft box as a main light while on the beach. Be sure to watch for other area meetings. They are FREE and you might learn something new!
On Sunday October 17 the South-west area held a meeting at Jill String-fellow Photography in Moultrie. Our featured speaker was Cindy Strick-land from Tallahassee, Florida. The meeting started with a look around the studio which is one to be envied. It is obvious that a lot of work has been put into making the most of the area around the studio. After look-ing around the studio it was time for some education.
Cindy started out with a brief in-troduction and a description of where her studio is. Her studio is located on the same property as her home on ten acres in a ru-ral area north of town. Cindy’s main influences have been San-dra Pearce, Bruce Evenson, Mar-tin Gudz, and Peggy McAteer. Cindy mainly photographs Families and Children and is currently work-ing on steering her business into sell-ing more painted images. She believes in keeping things sim-
ple from her lighting to her market-ing. For lighting Cindy always lights from the left as she was taught by one of her mentors. That lighting style started out being inspired by Bruce Evenson and evolved to a style sim-ilar to that of Tim Kelly. She keeps it fairly simple allowing her to con-centrate on her subjects rather than
equipment. Similarly her marketing is very simple. Cindy gets most of her clients via word of mouth. She does make wide use of social networking to communicate with her clients which can also dou-ble as marketing to their friends. She
Cindy Strickland“Everyone has to have fun”
believes that selling starts before the session and makes sure to build the experience while the session happen-ing. This starts by making sure that the client knows they are expected when they arrive and trying to con-nect with the children first and goes through to the end of the session. At the end of a ses-sion Cindy will say things like “Oh man, you are going to have a hard time making choices with the-ses. You are go-ing to have to clear some wall space for these.” Much like we all have a work flow with our imaging process Cindy uses a work flow on the office and produc-tion side of her business. She uses a database management system that gives her a check list for what to do with each session. These tasks have to be checked off when completed. The list includes tasks as simple as down load and edit images to the things many of us often forget like thank you notes to clients after ses-sions and orders. This helps her to
ensure that she is making her clients feel important to her.
Cindy’s number one rule is everyone has to have fun. You can see that this is also her approach to her business. She ended her presentation empha-sizing that people will forget what
you say, they will forget what you do, they will remember how you make them feel.
More about Cindy . . .
Cindy Strickland, a fifth-genera-tion Floridian, was raised in Sara-sota, Florida. She and her husband, Tim live in Tallahassee with their children; Ben and Tyler.
“A Moment Captured by Cindy Strickland,” opened in 1998 when Cindy combined her previous busi-ness experience and photographic
training. Her work quickly gained popularity among moms, who en-joyed the special look of her outdoor photography. Although she started her company using film, the business became fully-digital in 2002. Then, in 2004, Cindy expanded her busi-ness by adding her indoor studio. Al-though her concentration is on chil-dren, her professional portfolio also includes family portraits, maternity sessions, business portraits and brid-al portraits.
Education is extremely important to Cindy who is committed to her con-tinuing education. Through her com-mitment to the Tallahassee Profes-sional Photographers Guild (TPPG) and the Florida Professional Photog-raphers (FPP) Association, she con-tinues to expand her knowledge and share her information with other pro-fessionals. In 2008, she was named Photographer of the Year by TPPG and currently serves as President of the organization. She received her Florida Degree of Education in 2010.
Most recently, Cindy has been able to add her passion of painting to her studio line. Her artist statement ac-curately describes this newest addi-
tion. “For years, I painted with light in photography. Now, I also paint with color.Adding painting to my artistic ex-pression has allowed me to explore color and texture in a way that com-pliments my photography. Unlike in
the past, I can now create true paint-ings in a modern medium which al-lows me to share the images more ef-ficiently.
I love art, I love photography, and I am blessed to find a way to combine them for myself and for my clients.”
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September 18 , 2010 was an exciting day in my life, next to giving birth to my daughter and experiencing the birth of my two granddaughters, I would rank this day right up there with those special events. That beau-tiful fall evening at the Jabez Sanford Harden Performing Arts Center in Evans, Georgia I was crowned Ms. Senior Georgia Carolina 2010. In its 14th year, the pageant is known for recognizing mature women, who ex-hibit the qualities of elegance, digni-ty, respect, and grace of women that promote positive aging. Contestants are drawn from Georgia-Carolina better known as the Central Savan-nah River Area. Since I am from Lin-colnton, Georgia and sixty or older I qualified to enter the pageant.
This was something new on my buck-et list. I never participated in pag-eants as a young girl and this was an opportunity to show other women of all ages that us Baby Boomers still have a lot to offer and we still have what it’s got!
The late Ethel Barnhart, my mother-in-law, participated in this pageant and was crowned second runner up in 2002 at the age of 93. She made me promise her that when I became of age, that I would follow in her footsteps. Well, I dare not break my promise so I signed up in early Janu-ary. We began rehearsals in late July preparing for our opening number, a medley of Broadway tunes, practic-ing our evening gown walk, introduc-tion, talent, and our Life philosophy. One of the benefits was the bonding and sisterhood that came from this great experience.
It is not in my nature to sit in a rocking chair on the front porch
By Judy Jordan
Weeks of rehearsing my talent, danc-ing a ballroom routine of Waltz, Rum-ba and Charleston without a partner, I not only lost 8lbs but realized how difficult it is to dance without a part-ner leading you . Of course I named the routine “My Invisible Partner”. Since I was inspired by my mother-in-law the life philosophy became clear as to the direction I wanted go. She danced her last dance during the weekly Friday night dance at the re-tirement home where she lived alone up to the last three weeks of her life. Dancing has been a big part of my life as well and I pray that I might be blessed dancing the night away at that ripe old age of 93. My philoso-phy of life is as follows: “It is not in my nature to sit in a rocking chair on the front porch but rather to be the last one on the dance floor. “Prov-erbs 31:25-26 speaks of a ‘woman of noble character. She is clothed with strength and dignity: she can laugh at the days to come: she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue.’ “my hopeful desire is to emulate the enduring characteristics of this holy woman and inspire others to recognize that aging gracefully is a gift from God that we should all em-brace. “I pray that I will be a beacon
of light to others, giving them hope, strength, and a passion for the days that are to come. For it is through my endurance, my love of family, and my love of God that I am able to continue to dance to the tune of life, encourag-ing others to join me rather than sit the last one out.”
Saturday morning of the pageant we began interviewing with the seven judges. As I sat at the end of that ex-tremely long conference table I imag-ined how it might feel to be before a parole board. I left that interview feel-ing confident that I had not appeared too nervous and that I answered the questions to the best of my ability.
The evening began with our opening number followed by talent and eve-ning gown where our Life Philosophy was played as we walked before the audience and judges. Time seemed to stand still while we waited for the win-ners to be announced. First my name was called for talent and evening gown. I held my breath thanking God that all the hard work and effort had paid off and that if I was not blessed with the title I would be grateful for those two beautiful trophies. The sec-ond and first runner-ups were called
and then a long pause and the em-cee announced that contestant num-ber 6, Judy Jordan was the new 2010 Ms. Senior Georgia Carolina. Words can not explain how happy I was at that moment and how grateful to my mother-in-law that she encouraged me to follow in her footsteps. We all should be blessed with a wonderful loving role model and know that we all possess the ability to step out of our comfort zone and experience all that life has to offer. S o m e -t i m e s we tend to stay w i t h i n t ho s e safety zones but I encourage every-one to step out in faith and grab all that life has to offer no matter the circumstance, no matter the age, no matter your health, and give yourself permission to be all that you can be. God gave us all talents, gifts and de-sires so embrace that with which you have been blessed .
I want to thank Kevin Jiminez for photographing my portrait for this article .We as photographers need
to experience what it is like to be in front of the camera. As I sat before the camera I realized how difficult it is to smile on demand, pose in uncom-fortable positions, especially when you are older and parts don’t move as well as they once did. We bark orders and tell folks that if it feels funny it looks good. Where in the world did we come up with that silliness? As the session progressed I began to relax
and en-joy my-self and at times felt just like a queen. K e v i n
did a wonderful job making me feel glamorous and to tell the truth I had a wonderful time with all the aches and pains of posing and smiling un-til I could not smile anymore. As I viewed the images, like so many of us women, I felt the pain and horror of how I looked. Where did those wrin-kles around my eyes and the jowls on my jaw come from? What about those arms, where did those firm bi-ceps and triceps go? Thank goodness for Photoshop! This is the real world and we seldom like the way we look.
The camera can capture a moment in time but we as professionals need to capture the essence of the individu-als beauty so that the viewer may cel-ebrate all that aging gracefully has to offer. As I selected the images for this article, I realized just what God has blessed me with and that time really has been good to me. I celebrate with all women of that delicate age that we possess wisdom, strength, dignity and grace. I know time will march on and the outward appearance will change even more but I now know that I can face what time will bless me with.
Through this experience I look forward to the coming year and what it has to bring and realize that as a professional photographer we need to cele-brate all women entering into the age of elegance. It is our obligation to capture a wom-an’s true beauty and capture those moments in time for future generations that too will celebrate with us.
We often see things others do not see, remember that our loved ones think we are special and love the way we look. I myself see so much beau-ty in other women, especially those that are aging. We earn every one of those gray hairs, wrinkles and sag-ging parts. The media has preached the wrong image to all of us about what is beautiful. Fooie on the image of Hollywood.
Take time to see the real beauty in all women, not just the outward but the beauty with which time blesses us. We each bring an inner beauty to our spirit that erases all outward flaws.
