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  Megan Murray’s  all day workshop “Business Bootcamp” was chock full of great information. She started the day by discussing the importance of setting goals for your business and checking in on them to see where you are and how it is going, either monthly, quarterly or semi-annually. She shared about SMART Goals and talked about how important it is to not always set goals that are easily attainable, we need to think bigger and work towards bigger goals in order to grow our businesses. Then having a little celebration when we do accomplish a goal even if it is just going out to dinner or buying something you wanted.

   

  She also covered pricing strategies, the different types of packages, creating a good strong client workflow and tweaking it when you see that something isn’t working well. We covered the in person sales flow as well as how to raise your average sales through different strategies such as:

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• ·      Educating the Client
• ·      Adding Value
• ·      Adding Variety
• ·      Guiding the Client
• ·      Upselling and Down Selling

Marketing was another area discussed and the importance and ways to bring in new clients, Leads and return clients. Branding, SEO, Blogging and Community Marketing are all ways of doing this. Creating a Marketing calendar to help you is a great way to see what you are doing and to keep up with and plan your events or advertising.

This workshop was very informative and really got you thinking and planning for the future, I highly recommend her workshop and I just really enjoyed everyone in the class and all of their input and participation.

Review by Alison Montgomery

Thersa Couch’s full-day workshop, Smart Goals for 2021, was very informative and inspiring.  The participants completed specific personal and professional plans and goals for the future using the SMART system. 

The morning session covered the importance of a clear vision and goal setting and how it affects a business. Participants were encouraged to dream big when planning and goal setting to push themselves to achieve more by broadening their current scope of thinking.  Some realized that plans were more attainable than they previously believed when thinking outside of the box.  Everyone was encouraged to look back on 2020 to identify what worked, what did not and how that can advice us now while setting goals for 2021.

The afternoon session covered how to be SMART when setting goals. Participants worked on defining their own purpose and mission in life.  After analyzing the past year and thinking through possible goals for the future, participants worked to set realistic intentions and SMART goals.  Goals discussed included Print Competitions and attaining a CPP certification.  Both personal and professional goals were set that would guide the participants to success in 2021.

Next participants were shown how to help keep goals on track.  Thersa discussed different ways to be held accountable for goals as well as how to find help and support.  Some methods discussed including books, coaches, groups, partners, white board, vision board, and goal setting web apps. Thersa showed us how she uses the web app Asana for her goals. 

    

It was wonderful to have goals reviewed, critiqued, and expanded on by Thersa.  Some participants had invaluable expertise in different areas and because it was such an interactive class they were able to share that with the other participants. The participants were very open and supportive of each other’s goals which made it a pleasure to be in the workshop.  The participants finished this workshop with realistic concrete SMART goals and knowledge on how to stay motivated and find support to reach their goals in the future. 

Review by Patty Okelberry

This Tuesday, January 26, 2020, 7 PM our print competition will be hosted live on printcompetition.com.  You may want to log on early to ensure you can view the images.  How to watch PPGH print competition, please go to printcompetition.com.  You do not need a paid membership to view the competition live.   Click on Game Day Apps

Click on Game Day

Use the down arrow to choose PPGH.  Click on GO.

You will now be on the screen to view the images when the competition goes live. There are 3 tabs at the top.  You will be on the first tab Current Image.  Click on the third tab Live Audio and it will connect you to audio via Zoom.  When connected to Audio click on first tab Current Image again. If you have any questions, please email Kathy Kinser at kkinser@windstream.net or call at 832-820-9936.

     The Celebration of Life ceremony for Maydrick (Major) Arnaud, has been scheduled for Saturday, February 6,2021 at 1:30.  It will be at First United Methodist Church, Pasadena. 1062 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas 77504. There will be a Facebook Live session also. The preference of the family is to send a contribution to The Society of St. Stephens Food Pantry at FUMC in lieu of flowers. 

    Major was a wonderful asset to the Professional Photographers Guild of Houston.  He was President of PPGH in 2004 and 2008, served as webmaster for many years and had numerous other valuable contributions. 

   Major was working in the photographic/web industry for more than three decades. Major designed his first website back in 1994 as a way to display his image galleries for prospective clients. This made Major one of the first photographers in the greater Houston, Texas area to have a website. Soon after , other photographers asked Major to help them create their own website. With this, a new company was formed, Major Websites.  Over the past few decades, Major designed and redesigned many websites not just for the photographic community but for many other industries as well.  He became an international speaker in 2006. Major was also able to host podcasts called MajorWebcasts.

      He will be missed by his family and photography friends.  His family would welcome any Guild members who would like to attend his Celebration of Life on Saturday, February 6^th.

It is with great sadness that I am posting to tell you about the passing of Major Arnaud at 3 am this morning. His pancreatic and liver cancers were very advanced.  The family plans to have a Celebration of Life in late January.

Major was a real asset to the Professional Photographers Guild of Houston.  He was President of PPGH in 2004 and 2008, served as webmaster for many years and made numerous other valuable contributions.   

We will notify you via email, Members Only Facebook and on this Viewfinder blog when Major’s Celebration of Life is announced and hope many of you will attend.

Kathy Kinser

President, PPGH

      The much anticipated year of 2021 is about to begin. I'm sure everyone is ready to close the door on this crazy Covid year and move forward into a hopeful future.  

      Before describing the many events that are planned for our PPGH 2021 year, let's take a moment to congratulate ourselves on the many new things that we have learned in the year 2020. Let's realize that because we are photographers, we are flexible and have learned to adapt to changing situations. After all, how many times did you get to a session and the customer made a change or that silly trigger wasn't working? So how did we adapt to all these changes of social distancing? 

   We learned how to 'zoom'. Under the fabulous leadership of our Covid president , Kathy Kinser, and our 2020 board, we were able to continue with our monthly educational speakers.  During our zoom meetings, we consoled, congratulated, inspired and learned together. On a separate night of each month, our web master, Duane Blocker helped us continue with our print competition. Our members tuned in to hear their critiques and to perfect their images. Consequently, we had many members awarded merits and loans in the International Print Competition (IPC). And here are our winners:

•  Frances Aileen Harding
  
• Teri Whittaker
  
• Karen Butts
• Armando Chacon
• Michael Reiland
• Maryanne Keeling
• Cornell McGhee
• Sabrina Casas
• Tara Flannery

You can see all of their images on 'The International Photographic Competition Gallery' of the PPA.com web site. 

And now let's look at the upcoming events for the first quarter of 2021. We have so much to look forward to.

•    The registration for Texas School is Jan 4 at 11:00 pm.
  
•    Imaging USA will be presented virtually beginning with Pre-con classes on Jan. 14
  
•   Our January 12th speaker, Nick Tsakaris will give us a virtual presentation on       Lightroom and the updates to Photoshop 2021. Please note, we'll be compensating our Zoom speakers, so it will be necessary to charge our members $10 for access to Zoom presentations. $15 for non-members
•    We have a head shot social planned at the studio of Leslie Cervantez on February 21. 
  

       As we click and snap our way into 2021, here's to hoping we have a little normalcy into our lives and need only one planner for the entire year.  Let's forget having to photograph  our clients from a distance, on their porches, and wrapped in hot masks. Let's hope that we can once again see each other's faces in person, and visit our client's in the intimacy of their homes and work spaces. I'm looking forward to seeing our old members, and meeting new members as soon as possible. and , finally let's make 2021 a year of rebirth to our 71 year old organization!

"Hope," the poet Emily Dickinson wrote, "is the thing with feathers."

Written by , Laura Mansur Guerra

        Underwater photography can be fun but challenging and it can take a lot of work to create a fabulous work of art. Although the basic technique may be similar, no two sessions are the same. But that's why I love it! Whether it be sports artists, beauty queens, mermaids, designer gowns, families, children in costumes, maternity, or even wedding dresses, each underwater session has its own unique set of circumstances. Many of my clients have seen underwater images before they come in and I will tell them that we can create the look and feel they want but I'm careful to tell them that we cannot create an exact image of one they've seen. One reason is the unpredictability of photographing in the water and the other reason is that I prefer to create a vision of my own. To achieve results that please the client as well as my own artistic vision, I'll make a list of thoughts and ideas ahead ofttimes and well often draw a thumbnail sketch of the concept I'm trying to achieve. Still, there will be elements that are planned as well as others that are unplanned. Again, that is what makes it fun and challenging.

               There is something about photographing underwater that makes me feel free whether I'm on the bottom of the pool or floating on top of the water. My artistic vision is clear, and I see images fly through my mind. After the session I download the RAW images to Lightroom and do a quick color correction and a few adjustments, then I bring the image into Photoshop where I create the art. It's magic for me to photograph and then create the image and watch it come to life. The best reward is when the client receives the image and just love it and has something to cherish always as was the case in my image, "My Baby Girl My Love". This was her third(and last) baby and she wanted something special to remember this time in their lives. 

       I traditionally photograph  everything in the water, although sometimes I need an element that I cannot  put into the pool, such as a brick wall.  I used the brick wall in  my image 'Resistance', (this image went Loan at Imaging 2019). I do have a story in mind when I am creating whether it be for myself or a client. This image was created for Fashion Designer Alantude (Alan Gonzales) and hug in his 2018 fall fashion show. His vision for fashion was coming  out fo the darkness and rain into the light of a new time (as Houston was recovering from hurricane Harvey). I photographed some elements/objects, the chains, black birds, silver fabric, and tree branches. Then I combined these objects with the models in Alan's fall designs to create the piece "Resistance" showing the struggle the had been and the striving for new and to be let free. This image received awards at PPGH, TPPA and went Loan for Imaging USA 2019. I can say it is one of my favorite pieces I've created and I hope you enjoy my work. If you have an interest in Underwater Photographic Art, please let me know. 

It's Where the Magic Begins! DianaMarieFineArt.com

Diana@DianaMarieFineArt.com

Did you know that PPGH has a Fellowship Program?

The PPGH Fellowship Program was designed as a means of rewarding individuals who have given freely of their time and talents in service to their fellow members.  The Fellowship Degree is earned in two phases, each phase requiring the member to earn fifty (50) points, for a total of one hundred (100) points.  In order to collect these points, a member must fill out the Fellowship application found under "Members Only" on the PPGH website by midnight on the Monday following the November monthly meeting. 

                             TIPS FOR GATHERING FELLOWSHIP POINTS

For a full breakdown of Fellowship Points, be sure to read the document on the PPGH website under MEMBERS ONLY>Fellowship Information. Hopefully, you have been documenting your Fellowship  points throughout the year, but if life has gotten in the way, here are a few tips to help you compile your points. Want to know how many meetings and workshops you attended for the year? Login to the PPGH then click on MY Event RegistrationsM. You will discover a nice, neat list of everything you attended. How easy is that!

Image Competition- If you were a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place winner, January 2020 through November 2020, you received a ribbon and these point will count toward your Full Fellowship for which 10 ribbons are required.  If you scored an 80 or above then that counts as a regular point, but may not be used for the 10 required points for Full Fellowship. Don't forget about any image competition awards that you may have received for the 2019 competition year.  Those points will be calculated in 2020 since you received the award (s) in December 2019. 

 Now, you should all know what committees you are on, because you have been working so hard and having so much fun! Remember, you have to serve on a committee for at least 6 months to collect a point. What , you are not on a committee?! Plan to volunteer for one in 2021 for some good times!

Remember, you get credit for your activity at the state and national level, too. Are you CPP or have you earned a degree recently from PP? Did you attend Imaging USA in Nashville? Did you judge for image competition? Have you recruited a new member? All of these things count, too! 

Don't forget you can download a PDF Fellowship form to help you gather your points so you will be ready to submit them in November. The form can be found under Members Only>Fellowship Information> Download Form Button> Fellowship tracking Chart.  So, don't wait until the last minute, start your homework now so you will be ready after the November meeting to submit your points. 

SUBMISSION: The submission deadline is Monday, November 23 at Midnight, one week after the November regular meeting. I would recommend that you start gathering your list now but wait until after the November meeting to submit, so you can be sure and receive credit for attending the last event before the cutoff date.  

I cannot wait to see who has earned their Fellowship or Full Fellowship for the 2020 year. 

Laura Mansur Guerra

Vice President, PPGH

Tara Flannery’s full-day workshop, Photographing and Editing the Corporate Headshot, was packed with information AND action.

In the morning session, Tara provided participants with the full rundown from how to market to headshot clients, to coaching them on what to wear, to the most efficient equipment for in-studio or on location headshots. Tara led a very interactive class where attendees learned abundant tips and tricks about Lightroom, preparing images for client use, pricing, websites, and even equipment. We discussed the benefits of using hair and make-up artists and/or providing suggestions to clients who might wish to seek them out on their own before the shoot.

In the afternoon, Tara presented three separate photographic approaches: in-studio flash, natural window light, and outdoors with flash. We had four lovely models of all ages and each attendee was free to capture images from each of the setups. From the photos we all captured, you would never know that rain from a tropical storm was coming down right behind the models.

           

To wrap up the action-packed day, Tara provided a hands-on demonstration of how she retouches her images for final delivery to the client. Lastly, she shared suggestions for proofing on site and pricing. I’m certain that everyone who attended would agree it was a most productive workshop. You won’t want to miss the chance to learn from Tara when she presents this workshop in the future.

Special thanks to Thersa Couch for the use of her lovely new studio space and covered breezeway that made outdoors photography possible on a rainy afternoon.

I am pleased to announce that The Membership elected the slate as presented by the Nominating Committee and that the Bylaws Revisions were adopted by the membership.  I’m sure that 2021 will be another great year at PPGH with this board listed below. 

President                                      Laura Mansur

Vice President                              Tara Flannery

Secretary                                      Alison Montgomery

Treasurer                                     Joan Reynolds

Membership Director                 Cornell McGhee

Director At Large                       Theresa Campbell

Director At Large                       Michael Crawley

Director At Large                       Maryanne Keeling

Thank you for the support you continue to show for PPGH even in these difficult times. 

I hope to see you at Print Competition via Zoom on Tuesday, September 22, 2020.

Kathy Kinser

President