Maryland's only Professional Trade Association Committed to the Artistic, Technical, Personal, and Business
Success of the Professional Photographer
Our 2020 Convention is lovingly dedicated to member Jason Turner, who passed away in 2019.
Convention is Included with MDPPA Membership!*
*Gary Box is an additional fee as a pre-convention class.
Programming takes place at Oliver's Carriage House, 5410 Leaf Treader Way, Columbia MD
PPA Continuing Education Merits are available for PPA member attendees!!
Attend Gary Box's PPA CE merit class: +1 PPA merit
And/or attend 6.5 hours of convention: +1 PPA merit
For the Convention Classes Thursday night/Friday/Saturday, one merit for attending 6.5 hours of class time. For example, attend Sandra Pearce's full day "Painting with Photoshop" and receive a merit, or attend any cumulative 6.5 hours of other classes from Thursday evening and Friday!
HOTEL INFORMATION
Overnight accommodations are offered at the Sheraton, Town Center Hotel, Columbia, for $85/night! (to see the hotel, go to www.sheratoncolumbia.com) While our room block has ended, good rates may still be available online.
LUNCH OPTIONS THURSDAY, FRIDAY, and SATURDAY
We will be pre-ordering box lunches from Panera Bread (similar to 2019 Convention) for three days of the Convention! If you would like to order lunch, select your lunch preference and pre-pay during registration or request to add on before midnight January 27th, 2020. For lunches, register HERE
Boxed Salads are accompanied by a French Baguette
• Southwest Chile Lime Ranch with Chicken (670 Cals/ea)
•Green Goddess Chicken Cobb Salad Boxed Lunch (550 Cals/ea)
•Modern Greek Salad with Quinoa Boxed Lunch (550 Cals/ea)
•Fuji Apple Chicken Salad Boxed Lunch (570 Cals/ea)
•Spicy Thai Salad with Chicken Boxed Lunch (490 Cals/ea)
•Caesar Salad with Chicken Boxed Lunch (450 Cals/ea)
•Asian Sesame Salad with Chicken Boxed Lunch (410 Cals/ea)
•Southwest Chile Lime Ranch Salad Boxed Lunch (750 Cals/ea)
•Caesar Salad Boxed Lunch (320 Cals/ea)
•Greek Salad Boxed Lunch (400 Cals/ea)
•Seasonal Greens Salad Boxed Lunch (190 Cals/ea)
Boxed Sandwiches are accompanied by Chips, a Cookie, and a Pickle.
•Steak & Arugula Boxed Lunch (470 Cals/ea)
•Roasted Turkey & Avocado BLT Boxed Lunch (680 Cals/ea)
•Bacon Turkey Bravo® Boxed Lunch (620 Cals/ea)
•Napa Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich Boxed Lunch (620 Cals/ea)
•Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich Boxed Lunch (440 Cals/ea)
•Turkey Breast Sandwich Boxed Lunch (430 Cals/ea)
•Sierra Turkey Sandwich Boxed Lunch (710 Cals/ea)
•Heritage Ham & Swiss Boxed Lunch (600 Cals/ea)
For lunches, register HERE
Updates to lunch orders can be made on or before January 28th, 2020 by contacting Anne Looney at annekelleystudio@comcast.net.
Questions?
Convention: contact Danny Douglas/Convention Chair, danny@dannydouglas.com
Banquet: contact Tammy Thompson/Social Event Chair, tammy@contact@passionateportraitsweb.com
Registration: contact Anne Looney/President, annekelleystudio@comcast.net
Membership: contact Bruce Press/Membership Chair, membership@marylandppa.com
Print Competition: contact Christina Martin, co-Print Chair, printcomp@marylandppa.com
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Tuesday, January 28th
CPP Exam - 1pm
To sign up for this exam, please do so directly through PPA.com following deadlines set by PPA. Registration closes one week before the exam. Use this LINK to get information about declaring your candidacy and taking the CPP exam. With questions, please contact MDPPA member Chris Paulis, our CPP Liasion: chris@chrisPphoto.com.
Print Drop Off - 4:30-6:00pm
If submitting Physical prints in the Annual Print Competition, they must be dropped off between 4:30 and 6:00pm on January 28th, 2020 at the Carriage House.
Wednesday, January 29th | 9:00am-4:00pm
Annual Print Competition
Free to Attend!
Sit in and watch the judging quietly downstairs, or go upstairs to attend the viewing party, where you can watch and hear the judging, chat about the process, or just relax and have a snack!
Our 2020 Annual Print Competition judges are: Sandra Pearce, Pete Rezac, Bryan Welsh, Joan Genest (Jury Chair), Ivan Domazet, and Barbi Barnum
To enter prints in the competition, please see our print competition page for instructions and details! If submitting Physical prints, they must be dropped off between 4:30 and 6:00pm on January 28th, 2020 at the Carriage House.
(Early Deadline has passed) 1/15/20 at 11pm
Late Deadline: 1/22/20 at 11pm
All entries must be made on printcompetition.com, for both printed or digital entries.
See our print competition page for the Annual Print Competition rules.
Thursday, January 30th | 9:30am-5:30pm
Gary Box, M.Photog.,Cr., CPP
$99 for Members and Affiliates/$149 for Guests
The Rebirth of FundamentalsTwo factors that can help make every photographer more successful, great lighting and great selling. Lighting does not have to be hard. Gary will show some simple to understand approaches to getting great lighting in studio and outdoors. Including balancing ambient light with off camera flash for a natural non-flashy look. He will also outline the tools he uses to make the job faster and easier. Part two of his program is about getting better sales through in person selling. The right approach, the right pricing strategies and the right things to say. He will review the selling techniques he uses to average over $3000 per senior.
Gary is Sponsored by ACI - American Color Imaging
Gary Box has been a full time professional photographer for 30 years in Sapulpa OK, near Tulsa. Gary has run the scope of different business models from higher volume (1100 sessions a year) to medium volume and now lower volume (200 sessions a year) higher dollar. Currently averaging over $3000 on seniors. He has dedicated a great deal of time helping photographers grow their businesses and better their craft over the past 25 years. He holds the Master and Craftsman degrees from PPA. He also is a Certified Professional Photographer and has helped serve on the national CPP board. Gary has taught and lectured to professionals all across the country for over 20 years and is know for his was to understand teaching style.
Thursday, January 30th | 6:30pm-9:30pm
Bryan Welsh, M. Photog., Cr. CPP, API, Fellow-Oregon
This is a Complimentary Class for All Attendees!
The Craft of Photography and the Twelve Elements of Competition
Make them a part of your everyday photography, business, and life. Using the Twelve Elements of a Merit Print as a guide, Bryan will show how you can use the principles of Image Competition to become a better photographer & businessperson. Learn to make everything you do merit worthy. Applying the 12 elements to every part of your work will help you see your photography and your business in a whole new way. Bryan will mix in some proven marketing systems that will align you with your target market and your ideal customer. This program will unlock a new way to apply the elements. Each of the elements will be broken down and overload onto aspects of your photography, business, and life.
Bryan is sponsored by McKenna Lab
Bryan Welsh, a second-generation photographer, is recognized for his creative stylized journalistic photography to both his clients and peers. Bryan has taught at the Professional Photographers of America national convention IUSA, PPA Super One Days and to State and Local PPA photography affiliates across the country. He is an approved juror with the Oregon Professional Photographers Association and has taught classes on image competition as well. Bryan takes pride in helping aspiring photographers and enjoys following their successes in competition.He has received numerous merits and awards in image competitions on both a local and national level that include -PPA Loan Collections, Fuji MASTERPIECE Awards and Kodak Gallery Awards. His images and articles have appeared in Studio Photography and Professional Photographer magazine(s) as well as used in Nikon's National advertising.Bryan has the Maters of Photography & Photographic Craftsman Degree from Professional Photographers of America (Cr. Photog.), is a CertifiedProfessional Photographer (CPP), has the Fellow of Photography Degree from the Oregon Professional Photographers Association and is a member of the American Society of Photographers (ASP). Bryan also holds the status of an Approved Photographic Instructor(API) from PPA and has over 100 speaking merits. (EDU100)Bryan is a Past President of the Oregon Professional Photographers Association and the elected PPA Councilor for the State of Oregon.
Friday, January 31st | 9:30am-4:30pm
Pete Rezac, M.Photog.,Cr., CPP
Free to Members/$79 for Guests, or attend both Friday Classes for $129
Family Portraits - A Plan for Success
During this workshop/presentation, Pete will discuss his proven plan for successful family portraits that will allow you to work more efficiently, provide a better experience for the client, and most importantly remove the post session let down of minimal sales. Pete will go into why the pre-session consultation is key to successful portrait sales families or otherwise. He will teach how he uses a consultative approach to family portraits, what questions he asks clients, how he listens to the answers the clients provide to him. How to find out what a client’s budget is and to work with it and stretch it a bit. Discussing wardrobe, locations, and a photography plan. Imagine selling the wall portrait before making a single frame! Next Pete will discuss locations on what he looks for, how he reinforces to the clients what could be important factors in choosing a location for their portrait and most importantly how the focus of a location is still secondary to the most important element of the family portrait –THE FAMILY. Pete will demonstrate proven lighting and posing techniques that will flatter a wide range of subjects and show relationship and connection amongst all members of the family. He will cover what lenses work well and the compositions that lend themselves to wall portraiture. He’ll show you tools he’s built to aid him as the sole photographer on his family assignments and how other photographers have utilized these same tools to help their one-man operations as well. Pete will show how using tools like Pro-Select helps clients to visualize the portrait they’ve selected on their walls and how it can also provide opportunities for additional portraits in other areas of the home or office. Finally, Pete will explain why working with other businesses, like a frame shop, will increase your sales numbers along with adding additional marketing people in your court promoting your brand.
Pete is sponsored by Bay Photo Lab
Pete Rezac, a portrait photographer based in Reno, Nevada, still chooses to work with medium and large format cameras and film in creating his fine art portraiture because of the tactile process it provides him in creating his work, along with the rich tones and high fidelity of the photographs that come from these tools. Seeking an authentic look to his children character portraits, Pete was inspired to create timeless portraits showing children at their best. This work has earned him numerous accolades from the photographic community. Pete holds the Master of Photography, Photographic Craftsman, and Certified Professional Photographer degrees from the Professional Photographers of America, along with the Professional Photographers of California Master Photographer and Service Medallions. He is also a PPA approved Certified Professional Photographer Exam Preparation class instructor and active educator teaching and mentoring other professional photographers throughout the United States. Pete is also a Professional Photographers of America International Photographic Competition Approved Juror. Pete also proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Professional Photographers of America and on the Board of Directors for the Professional Photographers of California as it’s current president. Pete supports Operation Smile as an international charity by holding a Celebration of Smiles Day fundraiser to raise funds for Operation Smiles efforts. He and his orthodontic partners were top donors in the country in 2017, 2016, and 2015 for PPA Charities. Additionally, one of Pete’s images earned Best of Show for the Celebration of Smiles 2015 national event.
Accomplishments:
International Photographic Competition Silver Medalist - 2018
International Photographic Competition Gold Medalist - 2017, 2014
International Photographic Competition Platinum Medalist - 2016, 2015
PPA Western District Children’s Portrait 1st Place - 2017
PPA Western District Children’s Portrait 3rd Place - 2015
Grand Imaging Top 10 finalist Children’s Category - 2015
California Studio Portrait Photographer of the Year - 2018
California Children’s Photographer of the Year - 2017, 2015
California Certified Professional Photographer of the Year - 2017, 2015
California Top 10 - 2018, 2017, 2015
Kodak Gallery Award Western States District - 2012
PPA Charities Celebration of Smiles Day Top Donor - 2017, 2016, and 2015
PPA Charities Celebration of Smiles Day Best in Show Portrait - 2015
PPA Charities Image Impact Award - 2016
As of April 2018 has funded 98 Operation Smile Surgeries through PPA Charities
Friday, January 31st | 6:00pm-8:30pm
Jerry and Lori Keefer
Free to Members/$79 for Guests, or attend both Friday Classes for $129
Light Painting Process and Sales: Angles and Lights and Cars, OH MY!
Light Painting is an artform that can attract high end clients and/or increase sales for photographers. Jerry & Lori will explain how they have used this unique form of photography to attract clients around the globe. They will discuss the steps of creation, the process, the gear, and how they use it all to create the ultimate client experience. www.keeferphotography.com
Husband & wife duo, Jerry & Lori, created their business, Keefer Photography, in 2015 with the purpose of telling stories and preserving history while making money to finance their love of making memories with their own family. Their strong family values and passion for preserving the stories for future generations have gained them recognition around the globe. Their love of storytelling and creating has been constant for both since childhood. Jerry’s love of cars and his quest to create something that will preserve the history of all things automotive, combined with his professional photography and proprietary techniques developed over many years, allows him to create art that can intertwine the story of both car and collector in an heirloom to pass down to future generations. In essence, capturing the story and history that can withstand the life span of the automobile itself.
EVENING SOCIAL - Friday night after the Keefer's Program!
Saturday, February 1st | 9:30am-4:30pm
Sandra Pearce, M.Photog.,M.Artist,CR,CPP
Free to Members/$99 for Affiliates/$129 for Guests
Painting With Photoshop
Painting in Photoshop is an alternative for you to paint beautiful art pieces rather than attempting to learn a new program. Photoshop is usually where we feel comfortable and familiar with the tools. The learning curve is drastically decreased. Sandra's presentation will cover the airbrush for painting, the mixer brush and how it works, different modes to paint with, extracting for painting and the financial aspects of adding an art line.
www.SandraPearcePhotography.com
Sandra is sponsored by Millers Photo Lab
Sandra Pearce is one of the most sought out digital artists in the photographic industry today. She is a Master Artist, Master Photographer, Craftsman and CPP. She is an Image Excellence and Image Excellence Bar Recipient. Sandra has had the opportunity to speak to thousands of professional photographers across the country from guild level programs to state and national conventions. Her experience in digital imaging has set her apart in competition and she has been awarded Artist of the Year by the Florida Professional Photographers numerous years, Canon Par Excellence 2015, 2016, 2017, Kodak Awards, Fuji Awards and other awards through the years. Sandra has been in the top ten for GIA awards many times since its inception in 2010. Sandra won the GIA Award for 1st place in the Art Category in 2010, 2016, and 2018 at the Imaging Awards. She has been a diamond photographer for four years. She is an IPC Juror.
Annual Awards Banquet, Saturday, February 1st, 6:30pm-10:30pmJoin us for a special evening with your colleagues at Matthews 1600 in Catonsville. Join us in your own style of Cocktail Attire!
