Although Albany is no Atlantic City, where the New Jersey Professional Photographers Association had its convention last year, the rich program that was the result of combining forces of both states’ organizations more than made up for the absence of our world center of taffy, boardwalk, casinos and sea foam. Moreover, the setting in the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, was ideal—and picture perfect (see below). The facility offers two indoor courtyards surrounded by charming architectural façades, with its meeting rooms off to the sides. One courtyard has its swimming pool; the other was perfect for our lunches. Service was excellent—staff seemed always ready to go out of their way to help.
The most powerful overall benefit of this convention was to provide seminars that literally put attendees on the cutting edge of communications, technology and marketing in our field, presented by the very people who are making them a reality. Friday morning, after Jaron Horrocks’ provocative session on using Graphic Authority’s hip drop-and-drag collages as marketing pieces, Vanessa Joy and Rob Adams absolutely blew me away with their presentation of “Photo Fusion.” Having no idea what this was when I sat down, I turned to my neighbor behind me to ask his opinion of the full-frame Canon 5D Mark II (with HD video) verses the much less expensive half-frame 50D. He was equally tempted by both cameras, but Vanessa and Rob’s presentation nailed the question, with the insight that the technology has preceded our photographic technique. Why did I need to pay extra for the 5D Mark II’s video? (I have a separate video camera.) The answer is Photo Fusion, or “Phvusion”—integrating subtle video into a still presentation. With so much image transmission on the computer screen, Vanessa and Joy have created a program that easily integrates stills and brief (6-8 second) videos (with special effects) in presentation documents—stand alone slide shows, Facebook, websites, and Animoto (see below). The idea is to compose the a still photograph, but capture video—so the bride in the classic portrait blinks; the water ripples, the toast glass is raised, etc. A novelty? Sure, but the technology is there (and has been in the consumer point-and-shoots for some time), but the moment is ripe for innovative photographers to give themselves a boost with it. I shared my fantasy with Rob of an actual wedding album with embedded video (not a flip book), and he said, “Give it ten years.”
After a delicious buffet lunch, which enabled us New Jerseyans to meet photographers from the far reaches of New York State (Thousand Islands, anyone?) Matthew Jordan Smith offered an inspiring talk on keeping our excitement hot, making our clients love us, dreaming big, and reading the right books (e.g. Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith). That afternoon offered a generous session by Kalen Henderson and Michael Barton called “Right Brain, Left Brain.” Henderson offered very practical advice to enhance studio profits (liking hiring a hairdresser for senior girls, or offering accordian books @ 3 for $15). Barton then took over, revealing secrets of making very cool images by overlaying subtle textures and pencil sketches (indigo.com/blog). That evening master NY photographer Ken Sklute shared his secrets for capturing his compelling scenics (“orange filter over flash for portrait fill at sunset”; “use a hat for a shutter for fireworks”) and presented a slide show of his work.
The weekend days started early, with three choices during the 7–8 am hour. While Dave Swoboda took a group around the covered outdoor settings of the magnificent Desmond Hotel, finding ideal places for portraiture; Eric Wessman gave a seminar on Lightroom, and background creator Laura Bautell gave the first of two talks on the creative use of muslin (“drape over chairs or other props”; "bunch up into ball jar rings for dramatic folds”). Starting Saturday multiple seminars were scheduled for the same hour, so attendees had to make difficult choices. In the next slot—2 1/2 hours—I regretfully foresook Dori Arnold’s seminar on photographing children and Al Audelman’s on Photoshop layers and ended up in the lecture by Michael and Tina Timmons rather vaguely titled “Making the Most of Your Photographic Talents.” It turned out to be an ideal choice for me: a step-by-step guide to sellings scenics and art pieces (“illustrative,” according to Print Competition lingo) to businesses and institutions. (Most of mine end up shelved in albums, that I admit to being a bit overeager to show to relatives.) The Timmons duo covered how to make the most banal Main Streets compete with Currier and Ives through the use of Nik, Lucis and Topaz software, thereby flattering the local business owners. They advised that ladies rest rooms are always in need of floral images (and men’s of car racing, etc.); and that we should leave no real estate office, hospital (& doctor’s office), hotel or golf club unvisited—virtually any business. The big companies change their art every six years or so. And Mike provided a needed guide to pricing—the profits are in volume here. We’re appealing less to vanity than to business needs.
The Trade Show finally opened at noon, and it was over twice as large as ours was last year in Atlantic City, featuring the usual suspects of album companies plus some newcomers touting tempting introductory specials, as well as three frame companies and three background companies! The most engaging of these was a hippyesque duo, Todd Rigione & Judi Looyenga (that's them in the photo, emerging from their backgrounds), from South Dakota who paint canvas backgrounds that turn out to be real abstract art pieces (madcamp.biz). I recommended to Judi that she apply to be in next year’s Outsider Art Fair in New York, and she answered my questions about background painting and invited me to do some with her at some point. This will finally bring out my yearning inner painter, I'm sure. I’ve already started searching for raw canvas. I also signed up for Animoto (finally!)—the hyperdynamic MTV-like slide show generator that is designed to make seniors weak in the knees. We’ll see.
Tthere was a modest room dedicated to New York State’s print competition. A visit there was instructive, since one saw excellent technique both in capture and in printing. I suppose it’s reassuring to know that the Pictorialism of the great age of Stieglitz and Kertesz (pre-World War I) is alive and well and in color in state print competitions—especially since Mike and Tina Timmons (see above) outlined so well how to make money with this aesthetic.
That afternoon Barry Rankin’s seminar on Classical Portraiture competed with Dan Burkholder’s on High Dyanmic Range, and I chose the latter, which was another eye-opener. HDR is much more complex than I thought, and Burkholder supplied essential tips covering, for example, alignment algorithms, Photomatix, and Melancholytron filters, and offering insights such as that HDR melds the best midtones from several images, while remarking in passing that cell phone photography is the “Holga of the 21st century.”
That night the main event was the New York organization’s theme party: “Cruising the Northeast on the Good ship Photo-pop.” The dress was a mixture of Hawaiian and Caribbean, with enough lais to go around. With roastbeef stations and circulating hors-d’oeuvres, there was a plenty of food and a cash bar. A DJ finally permitted the photographers to git down, rather than having to photograph the festivities—and we can shake our booties.
The future belongs to the cyberadept in this biz, so attendees fought hangovers to flock to Emily Schlipf’s 7 am Saturday morning seminar, “The Facebook Formula: Getting REAL Results.” Given that the average age of the membership must be over 50, Facebook is still a novelty to most of us, and I for one, can always use coaching. Schlimpf recommends putting virtually our whole professional life—in brief spurts, with images—on Facebook, “friending” every client at the time of booking; tagging the client with a status update 48 hours before the gig; tagging the client with a slideshow a week afterwards, and again with a more extensive one three weeks later. Discipline! The networking possibilities are huge, and we’re just leaving money on the table not doing it!
The last seminar I attended was the salty Steve Bedell’s no-nonsense route to success with seniors. Bedell is one of those small town photogs (from Dover, NuHampsha, as he spelled it on the screen) who has become the go-to guy for a whole region. Among the many valuable tips he offered was how to photograph outdoors without reflectors, even in direct sunlight (illuminate your subject with the light bouncing off something—a big rock, a building, anything—and shoot into the sun, if need be, hiding it behind the subject’s head); and how to structure your pricing with packages and incentives so the client is motivated to by more. He, like the rest of the speakers, was very generous with his advice and invited all participants to receive his blog posts. This is really the spirit of our organizations—generosity in helping each other, with the knowledge that there is plenty of business to go around.
I had to leave after that, regretfully missing that afternoon’s fare, but I had taken in enough information to enrich my techniques, boost my presentations and expand my business many times over, in addition to making many new friends and valuable contacts. Now to get back to work!
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