Annual PPSNYS Convention :: April 1st, 2010
What an action packed weekend! So many great things to write about today! The annual Professional Photographer’s Society of New York State (PPSNYS) and the Professional Photographers Association of New Jersey (PPANJ) held their first ever joint convention and trade show in Albany, NY and it was amazing!
The convention was 4 action packed days of speakers, print competition and parties. All of these were a sight to behold. I am very interested in entering the PPA Print Competition next year, so I arrived on Thursday to watch the judging. It was educational and amazing to see so many extremely creative and superior quality images. I’ll have to do a whole BLOG post about print competition all on its own, since there is so much to it. All I can say is that it was exciting watching images score a 100, which rarely happens. It was also interesting seeing some images turn toward the judges that obviously had no right to be up there. There is one image that comes to mind that I actually gagged when it turned around. The most interesting aspect of watching the judging was listening to them explain why this particular print did not show even average quality and did not belong along side the other images when being displayed (if the image scores a 70 or higher, then they are hung in a gallery during the convention). The explanation was that they are trying to uphold a standard and showcase the best possible work.
As for the speakers, my favorites were Micheal Barton, Tammy & Tamar from London/Wolfe Photography and Story Wilkins. All of these photographers have extraordinary passion for photography and their clients. Each of them taps into the energy of their clients story to capture award winning photography. I am so lucky to know them as people and peers. During the convention, I volunteered to be Tammy & Tamar’s ‘speaker buddy’, being sure they had everything they needed, knew where to go and were set up for their program. I also got to introduce them. That was fun. These two are a blast and I was the reason they were speaking that day. Last year, I was the Program Chair for the Greater Rochester Professional Photographers (GRPP) and I brought them in for a 2 day workshop. We totally hit it off and so did their program, so PPSNYS slated them for this convention. They arrived on Friday afternoon, and so I entertained them in the GRPP hospitality suite for the weekend, along with Michael Barton and Dana Nordlund. They all became adopted GRPPsters.
Speaking of the GRPP Hospitality Suite… it was THE place to be! Seriously, I got in trouble for having too many people in our room and not bringing them to the actual convention party. But we were having SO much fun! And the fact that we had some speakers in our room made it even better. We were stealing people from all over and from other sections in the state. What was I supposed to do? I mean, why fight it? The best part of all was hearing from members at the end of the weekend that they were now SO excited to go to our monthly GRPP meetings because they will be seeing their friends! We sure did bond this weekend, and we had a great turnout. We have around 65 active members in GRPP and at least 30 were in attendance at the convention! This was the best turnout in years for our section and I feel like we are only on the way up.
Well, I have a million images from the weekend, but those will get posted later. Unfortunately I am in Boston for the weekend and forgot to bring my little media card reader! Lame, I know. Trust me though, the pictures will be worth the wait!
