Texas School 2021 - The Artist Within by Shelly England

Kimberly Smith is such a talented artist and was an inspiration to all in her

class at Texas School 2021. The week flew by and was so much fun each day.

There were 3 of us from the Houston Guild in her class.

Our main project was photograph then paint a scene. We had 2 adorable

models: Emmaline, Jenny Eisenhauers 2 year old baby girl and the cutest

fluffy puppy that was our wrangler, Ken Hatley’s dog. The shoot was fun and

both cooperated.

From there, Kimberly showed us her process and inspirational ideas for

editing and painting the photo of the baby and puppy.

I learned so many things in Photoshop that I didn’t know before. It’s the

little things that make it all fun. We always started in layers and made 2

copies of the background like a hamburger. There are many different ways

that artists paint, even in Photoshop. Kimberly is a no frills painter - no

special pen, brushes, etc. She uses what is available in Photoshop with a

couple of additions from Topaz. We took the picture of the baby and puppy

section by section and learned tips and tricks such as extending a dress to

the floor, adding a pink bow, adding sleeves to a sleeveless dress and painting

eyes to name a few things. She showed us how to add flowers and place them

and also how to add a headband. All the details make the art come to life.

We got the picture painted as far as we could, then Kimberly showed us how

she mats her own prints and how to make a torn edge mat. It was a perfect

ending to a week of learning that I thoroughly enjoyed! If given the chance, I

would take this class again in a heartbeat! This was my first Texas School

class and I look forward to many more!

PPGH Image Competition Results June 22, 2021

Thank you to our judges last night:  Aaron Hockley, Karen Klawetter, Maryanne Keeling  & Ann O'Neill-Deal for their commitment to giving back to the photographic community.   All the judges spent time after the competition answering questions from participants on how their images could be improved.  What wonderful images we saw last night during our Image Competition! And here is the best of the best!

Active

1st place – Diana Waguespack – I Am Yours

2nd place – Stan Matzke – This Just In

3rd place – Stan Matzke – The Catch

Master

1st place – Ann O’Neill Deal – Resistance is Futile

2nd place - Ann O’Neill Deal – Frowning Gives You

Wrinkles?

3rd place - Ann O’Neill Deal - On Edge

Congratulations to all these winners and to all that entered!

Saturday June 12, Michael Crawley taught us about making historical pictures. His love of this comes from his love of history in general. He also participates in several reenactment groups that dress in character and recreate battles of the Civil War or whatever time period they are reenacting.

Michael shared his knowledge of do’s and don’t’s for creating an authentic looking portrait. The success is in all the little details matching the time period you are trying to recreate. For example, if you were doing a 50’s Dr. Pepper advertisement picture, you would not use a can of Dr. Pepper. It helps to research the period or picture style you are trying to recreate. Hair style, make-up style and clothing style are also important. The wrong earrings can ruin a picture.

Michael also taught us about how they use guns, gun safety and some pointers if you are around people with guns. In his Civil War reenactments, guns and cannons are just a few of the things used to make a life like battlefield.

Michael had 3 models come and we took pictures of them. Two of them were in Civil War dress and one was a W.W.II Nurse. He showed us how he tells them what he is doing and how to pose with their weapon or accents (First-Aid Kit). He showed us back drops that he uses and a roll up floor that looks like wood.

After we took the pictures, Michael showed us how to edit them using Nik filters. This was very interesting to me as I had never used Nik. I especially liked learning about the Wet Plate Effect that makes the photos look like they were developed this way on glass. I love old pictures so this class was a fantastic learning experience. I highly recommend you go back in time and join Michael when if he teaches this class again - you will learn lots.

     

Thank you to our judges:  lvan Domazet, Bryan Welsh, & Kim Kuhlman.  They had some great comments and ways to make the images even better.  Ivan offered to review images you are thinking about entering at the IPC level because he is not judging IPC this year.   Our members are creating wonderful images.  

And here is the best of the best!

Active

1st place – Alison Montgomery – Slumber in the Garden

2nd place – Diana Waguespack – Save me a dance at the Masquerade Ball

3rd place – Alison Montgomery – Our Heart

Master

1st place – Ann O’Neill Deal –  The Diva

2nd place - Ann O’Neill Deal – A Conspicuous Canine

Congratulations to all these winners and to all that entered!

What great images we saw last night during our Image Competition!  And here is the best of the best!

Active

1^st place – Tara Flannery – The Morning Blues

2^nd place – Diana Waguespack – Always in My Dreams

3^rd place – Tara Flannery – Hope Comes in Spring

Master

1st place – Ann O’Neill Deal – Okay, Where’s the Cookie?

2^nd place -  Ann O’Neill Deal – Peek-A-Boo!

3^rd place -  Ann O’Neill Deal  - This is My Smile

Congratulations to all these winners and to all that entered!

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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