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w w w. M a r a t h o n P re s s . c o m
CONTENTS | JUNE 2016
ppmag.com
CHARLETON CHURCHILL
KANSAS PITTS
72
64
EMIN KULIYEV
82
PPM AG.COM
All the worlds a stage

Nuptials through the lens
of Emin Kuliyev
By Eric Minton
72
New heights
Charleton Churchill marries an
adventuresome spirit with a
career covering weddings
By Jeff Kent
82
Golden hour
Kansas Pitts bottles beach
vacation joy
By Amanda Arnold
On the Web
ppmag.com/win
Enter to win: Lensbaby Twist 60
ppmag.com/gallery/
darryll_jones
A gallery of Darryll Jones
Eric images
ppmag.com/news/shaken
On Mt. Everest to cover a
wedding, Charleton Churchill
found himself in the midst
of tragedy
ppa.com/cpp
Certified professional
photographer info
ppa.com/edu
Educational resources
theloop.ppa.com
theLoop forum
ppa.com/trysquareone
Square One calculator
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
64
IN EVERY ISSUE
10 Editors note
16 Giveaway
18 On the cover
18 Merited
26 Ask the experts
90 Perspective
98 Final frame
FOREGROUND
13 Character development
14 Eye to eye
16 All natural
17 High emotion
SUCCESS
25 Favorite wedding styles
28 Pumping up the volume
By Jeff Kent
36 Cowgirl with a camera
By Karin Leperi
40 Animal eyes
By Angela Lawson
THE GOODS
45 Beauty to go:
Profoto OCF Beauty Dish
46 Start painting:
Corel Painter 2016
By Betsy Finn
54 Storage solution:
WD My Cloud EX2100
By Stan Sholik
58 High-power agility:
Sekonic LiteMaster
Pro L-478DR-U-EL
By Stan Sholik
Professional Photographer (ISSN 1528-5286) is published monthly for $27 per year (U.S. rate) by PPA Publications and Events, Inc., 229 Peachtree Street, NE, Ste. 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303-1608.
Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, Ga., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Professional Photographer magazine, P.O. Box 7126, St. Paul, MN 55107.
PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | JUNE 2016
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Professional Photographer is the official journal

of Professional Photographers of America
2016-2017 PPA
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Cr.Photog.
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Production Manager
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M.Photog.Cr., CPP
rbehm@ppa.com
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*Michael E. Timmons
M.Photog.Hon.M.Photog.
M.Artist.Cr., CPP, F-ASP
mtimmons@ppa.com
Directors
Audrey L. Wancket
M.Photog.Cr., CPP
awancket@ppa.com
Greg Daniel
M.Photog.Cr., CPP, F-ASP
gdaniel@ppa.com
Mary Fisk-Taylor
M.Photog.Cr., CPP, ABI, API
mfisktaylor@ppa.com
Barbara Bovat
Cr.Photog.
bbovat@ppa.com
Jeffrey Dachowski
M.Photog.Cr., CPP
jdachowski@ppa.com
Clark Marten
M.Photog.Cr., CPP
cmarten@ppa.com
Kathryn Meek
M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API
kmeek@ppa.com
Steve Kozak
M.Photog.Cr., CPP
skozak@ppa.com
PPA STAFF
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trustd@ppa.com
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& Strategic Alliances
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Director of Education
Angela Kurkian
M.Photog.Cr., CPP
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Information Technology
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and Communications
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*Executive Committee of the Board
Industry Advisor
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Professional Photographer, official journal of the Professional Photographers of America Inc., is the oldest exclusively professional photographic publication
in the Western Hemisphere (founded 1907 by Charles Abel, Hon.M.Photog.), incorporating Abels Photographic Weekly, St. Louis & Canadian Photographer,
The Commercial Photographer, The National Photographer, Professional Photographer, and Professional Photographer Storytellers.
Opinions expressed by Professional Photographer or any of its authors do not necessarily reflect positions of Professional Photographers of America, Inc.
Acceptance of advertising does not carry with it endorsement by the publisher.
Copyright 2016, PPA Publications & Events, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.
PPM AG.COM
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EDITORS NOTE
LEADING LINES
SAFE BET
CAUTION COULD HOLD YOU BACK
The issue of safety is on my mind.

This morning I parked my car in the garage across from our office tower at the
usual pre-dawn hour that starts my day. Once on the sidewalk, I saw a character
standing not far from me. As soon as I began crossing the street he was behind me,
muttering loudly as he followed me toward the building entrance. Several yards
ahead, an office worker was entering
the building. He was halfway through
If you always play it safe, theres
the door when the sound of the
little room to grow. But if you never
strangers monologue made him stop
play it safe, you or your business may
reflexively and turn to look behind
not be around long enough to grow.
him. Then he saw me hotfooting it
to the door. And he did a gracious
kindness: He waited for me to get to
the entrance while he held the door so that I wasnt alone on the dark sidewalk
with a stranger in tow. Im pretty certain I wasnt in an unsafe situation. But I wasnt
particularly comfortable with someone following me for even a short distance.
Safety is a conundrum: If you always play it safe, theres little room to grow. But if
you never play it safe, you or your business may not be around long enough to grow.
We didnt set out to focus this months content on safety vs. risk; it just bubbled
up through the creative process.
Emin Kuliyev shares some of his delightfully non-traditional wedding images
in this issue (All the Worlds a Stage, p.65). A native of Azerbaijan who came to
the United States 16 years ago, Kuliyev draws forth the drama and humor of the
emotional intensity inherent in weddings. There is a satisfying sense of risk to his
compositions. And you cant help but feel like at some time in your life you were
very nearly there.
With a different aesthetic sensibility but no less spirited body of work, Charleton Churchill could be described as an adventure wedding photographer
(New Heights, p.72). Groom with backpack? Bride with hiking boots? Cliffs and
creeks? No problem. Churchills clients tend toward young intrepid couples who
want something beyond safely traditional. Churchill gives it to them, infusing his
work with a commercial feel that brides-to-be find oh so pinnable.
Photographer Kansas Pitts isnt doing anything unsafe by the seaside. The risk
she took was in shifting her niche from newborns to family vacation portraits on
the beach (Golden Hour, p.82). Its a genius move cultivating clients who are
spending family time (and discretionary income) in the Florida panhandle each
summer. Happy vacationers who are relaxed and anxious to memorialize their
special time on the Gulf coast make excellent portrait prospects.
So whats on your summer docket? Anything a bit risky? Share your images and
tales of adventure with us via social media (see Stay in Touch at the bottom left
for URLs).
COMING NEXT MONTH

Fired up
Hobbies are never far from Adrian Hensons heart
ADRIAN HENSON
Big step
Six photographers on moving to medium-format
Print it
Heres how you sell clients physical prints
STAY IN TOUCH
editors@ppmag.com
twitter.com/ppmagazine
facebook.com/ppmagazine
theloop.ppa.com
10
Jane Gaboury
PPM AG.COM
FOREGROUND
Edited by Amanda Arnold
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
ADVENTURES OF A STORMTROOPER
Meet Eric, the tiny stormtrooper. Darryll
Jones began making photographs of Eric five
years ago when the dark and cold of his United Kingdom home got the best of him, and
he needed some cheering up. I took a few
shots, uploaded them to the new Instagram
app and my old DeviantArt account, and
boom, I was hooked, he says.
So was everyone else. Nearly 100,000 people
follow Erics adventures (#haveyouseeneric)
on Jones Instagram account (@darrylljones).
People mail me every day almost telling
me how much they look forward to my
posts,he says, and that fuels me like you

cannot believe.
Jones sketches potential compositions before tracking down props. Hes always been
a Canon guy but admits hes increasingly relying on his Sigma Quattro DP0 with Foveon
sensor and wide-angle lens to capture
Erics outdoor adventures. Its so small and
easy to use, and the results are astounding.
Outside the studio he uses natural light,
sometimes with a small reflector; in-studio
he uses a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Profoto lights.
Erics life is basically a reflection of my own,

says Jones. He is a sad, grumpy, 40-something male whose life is falling apart, nothing
ever goes right, but he keeps going. He also
keeps Jones laughing. Fun is the bottom
line, really.
On the Web
A gallery of Darryll Jones Eric images
ppmag.com/gallery/darryll_jones
DARRYLL JONES
13
EYE TO EYE
FOREGROUND
TOP OF MIND
HUMAN-ANIMAL BOND
X
Flora Borsis self-portrait series, Animeyed,
14
IMAGES FLORA BORSI
highlights both the peculiarity and the commonality among species. I love animals and
somehow wanted to show that we are very
similar to them, says Borsi. I also wanted
to make a point of how unique and special
they are, one by onefrom fish to cat.
The project involved combing through 120
Adobe stock images to select interesting animal subjects, observing the angle, lighting,
color, and texture of each. Borsi then created
a mood board of hair and makeup concepts
that would complement selected animals
looks. Each self-portrait took an hour to
make, and each image manipulation took up
to 20 hours.
Her biggest challenges? Selecting stock
photos with the proper angles, crop, and
lighting; cutting the animals out from the
background; drawing the outlines in Photoshop to mask; and arranging the two images
to create a seamless, nearly believable look.
I tried to explore the human identity, what
makes us human, and what the relationship
is between animals and people the beauty
they give us through their look and their existence, she says. People appreciate a pretty body and face, but these species are less
appreciated, in my opinion. So I wanted to
draw attention to their unique look.
PPM AG.COM
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ALL NATURAL
FOREGROUND
TOP OF MIND
HAUNTING IMAGES FROM HANDMADE CAMERAS
IMAGES ADAM DONNELLY AND DAVID JANESKO
David Janesko and Adam Donnelly

construct site-specific cameras from
found materials in natural settings.
X
It started in grad school. David Janesko
and Adam Donnelly, students at the San Francisco Art Institute, were interested in building cameras, with Donnelly focused on making pinhole cameras and Janesko on creating lenses.
One day Janesko suggested the idea of
finding an aperture in the world, says Donnelly. I didnt really understand what he
meant at the time, he admits. But the concept eventually led to the duos project, Site
Specific Cameras, for which they choose a
locationa beach, desert, or woodsand
build a camera from found materials. While
other people may see an areas logs, seaweed, abandoned tires, and shells as refuse,
Janesko and Donnelly use these leavings to
capture pinhole images.
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16
There are self-imposed rules for the construction: no tools, such as hammers or
shovels, may be used, and aside from the instant film and light-sensitive paper on which
they print their images, nothing but found
materials may be incorporated. Non-natural
materials (like tires) are permitted as long as
theyre found onsite, but its not OK to tear
down live branches or leaves.
Often the hardest piece of the puzzle is tracking down the pinhole. Theyve had luck using a keyhole shell and even a whale bone
with a tiny hole in it. Otherwise, the camera,
large enough for one of them to sit inside
and hold film or paper to the hole, must be
completely light tight, which means packing
on mud, sand, or leaf litter.
Are they surprised at the images that appear on their silver gelatin paper and Fujifilm
FP-100C? Definitely, says Donnelly. When
we started getting recognizable imagesnot
just abstractwhere you could understand
the scene we were photographing, it amazed
us. We are surprised every time.
PPM AG.COM
I N P H OTO G R A P H I C
PAC K AG I N G
HIGH EMOTION
THE THRILL OF THE CATALONIAN CASTELL
X For Barcelona-based photographer Joan Figueras, photographing
the castell festivals of Catalonia, Spain, isnt just a personal project.
Its a life project. Its not something you can abandon, he says of his
passion to share this cultural phenomenon. I have a feeling I will
always take pictures of these human towers.
Castells can reach 10 people high, with small children ascending the tower to the top. The human structures are recognized
by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.
The biggest challenge is to capture the essence of what is a very
large, fast-paced, and emotional event, says Figueras of the biennial
Concurs de Castells castell competition in Tarragona. You see people crying and shouting, he says. You see children from five years
old to people who are 99 or 100 years old. Its not simple. Its a very
complex cultural manifestation.
The towers are built in just two to three minutes and can tumble
at any moment. With as many as 15 teams competing in one arena
filled with 15,000 people, Figueras, who uses a Canon EOS 5D Mark
II camera, a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, and a 70-100mm long lens, works
hard to maneuver through the crowds, capture the emotion on
peoples faces, and show the towers from angles both above
and below.
His favorite photos are the ones that freeze the emotional rollercoaster that is the construction of a castell: the quiet struggle to
construct the tower, the triumph when the smallest child reaches
the top, the disappointment if the tower tumbles before completion.
Hes even begun capturing sound recordings to further document
the impassioned environment. If you are able to portray all of this,
that is very touching to meto show the core of it is the challenge
so that people who dont belong to this culture can feel it deeply,
he says.
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17
MERITED
LOAN COLLECTION / HEATHER PICKETT
IMAGES FROM THE PPA LOAN COLLECTION
ON THE COVER
X Balancing Act was created in the studio and was intended to mimic a similar image Heather Pickett, CPP, had created for the familys
firstborn child. This type of shot has become a staple in the newborn community for single babies, but I had never seen it before or since
with a set of multiples, she says. As soon as I released the shutter, I knew I had something unique. The newborns were lying on a beanbag
looking up at the ceiling, with the fathers hands resting next to one newborns back. Pickett took the photo from above, looking down on
the babies. The babies were never held aloft as it appears. Heather Pickett Photography is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and specializes in
fine-art newborn photography. heatherpickettphotography.com
LIGHTING DIAGRAM
MAIN LIGHT
Paul C. Buff
Einstein 64" white
parabolic umbrella
with diffusion screen
CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D4S, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens
EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/3.2, ISO 200
LIGHTING: The main light was a Paul C. Buff Einstein with a 64-inch white parabolic umbrella with a diffusion screen.
POST-CAPTURE: Applying a low-opacity layer in Portraiture, Pickett retouched
each newborn to remove flaky skin and even out the skin tone. She extended the
black background with Photoshop and applied a black-and-white gradient and
added grain using Topaz Lab plug-ins.
BEAN BAG
CAMERA
POSITION
overhead
PARENT
ABOUT THE LOAN COLLECTION

The current Loan Collection comprises 1,085 photographs chosen for distinction by jurors of PPAs International Photographic
Competition. The compositions are considered the best of the best in contemporary professional photography, having been awarded
the Loan Collection distinction based on their success in meeting the 12 elements of a merited image. ppa.com/ipc
18
PPM AG.COM
PILLARS OF FAITH
Terry Ip, CPP, made Pillars of
Faith in Barcelona the day before
boarding a Mediterranean cruise to
celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary. Strolling a neighborhood near
the hotel, We walked into an old
Gothic cathedral that we later found
out was the Cathedral of Barcelona,
he says. I was amazed to see how
magnificent the pillars of this 13thcentury imposing church were. Because of the darkness in the churchs
interior, I had to hold my breath and
keep my camera steady to capture
all the beauty in front of me with the
1/25 second f/5.6 exposure. Terry
Ip Photography is based in Arlington, Texas, and specializes in family portraits and travel photography.
terryipphotos.com
CAMERA & LENS: Nikon

D800, Tamron 24-70mm
f/2.8 Di VC USD lens
EXPOSURE: 1/25 second at
f/5.6, ISO 1250
LIGHTING: Available light
POST-CAPTURE: Ip used
Adobe Lightroom and
Photoshop to adjust
saturation, highlights,
contrasts, and shadows.
LOAN COLLECTION / TERRY IP
19
MERITED
IMAGES FROM THE PPA LOAN COLLECTION
LOAN COLLECTION / DANI MILLER
PUREST PETAL
X Purest Petal was made in Dani Millers St. Charles, Iowa, studio during a clients newborn
session. Miller loves to incorporate fresh flowers into her newborn photographs, especially
for girls, she says, and felt inspired by the simple colors to produce a soft look for this image.
Each time I have a newborn come into the studio it feels as though I am creating something
that will honor the wonderful celebration, she says. This little soul was perfect from the
beginning to the end of the session. Sugar Hill Photography specializes in newborn, child,
and fine-art photography. sugarhillphotography.com
CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens

EXPOSURE: 1/80 second at f/5.6, ISO 200
LIGHTING: Natural light from a window to camera right and a 4x6-foot SweetLight
Super Silver Reflector to camera left
POST-CAPTURE: Miller used Adobe Camera Raw to fix mild color issues and
Curves and Adjustment Layers to bring everything together. She applied an oil
painting technique in Photoshop CC.
20
LIGHTING DIAGRAM
CHAIR
FILL LIGHT
SweetLight Super
Silver Reflector 4'x6'
MAIN LIGHT
Natural
window light
PPM AG.COM
MAKER Kaylee Greer
Joshua
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Riveting Storyteller
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P a s s i o n a t e Vo l u n t e e r
Pet photographer Kaylee Greer trusts Millers Lab to transform

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SUCCESS
STRONGER BUSINESS, BETTER LIFE
WEDDING STYLE FAVES

CLIENTS PREFER CANDID AND TRADITIONAL
Which style of wedding photos is most popular with clients? Candids take the cake.
Here are the most popular wedding photo styles by the numbers.
34%
11%
High-fashion
Couples who find

these photographic
styles appealing
Want wedding
photos in
multiple locations
47%
Artistic
66%
59%
Natural/Environmental
Prefer one location

for wedding photos
64%
Traditional
ISTOCK
83%
Candids
Source: Thumbtack Weddings

Trends Report 2016
25
SUCCESS
ANSWERS
ISTOCK
ASK THE EXPERTS

OUT WITH THE OLD
Q. I have a storage unit dedicated to old client
files that I dont want to maintain forever. How
could I go about pricing and selling these? For
example, I have years of image files of families
showing the kids growing up. Should I just give
those to the client since theyve already produced income for my studio for decades? And
what about files from random and small orders?
A. You dont have to be in business long before the storage requirements for your image files begin to mount. After a period of
time, is it advantageous to sell those files or
simply give them away to your clients so you
dont have to deal with them anymore?
First consider doing neither of those things.
While it might seem like a quick source of
revenue to sell digital files from past sessions,
ask yourself if this practice fits with your business model. I run a high-end product-based
studio and have a policy of not selling printable
digital files for my portrait work. I encourage
you to ask yourself two important questions:
1. Would doing this cannibalize my future
sales by effectively training clients to wait
until the image files go on sale?
2. After years spent educating my clients
about the importance of the printed portrait,
am I damaging my brand by now offering
digital files for sale?
If youre not satisfied with the answers to
these questions, dont sell digital files even years
after the sessions are complete. Sonia Deasy
26
of Deasy Photographic in Dublin, Ireland,

sums it up: Our studio is dedicated to the
premium photographic print at a premium
price. Part of the service our clients pay for is
the digital archiving of their images.
Archiving is just part of the deal at my studio. Clients are assured that the file of every
portrait they purchase will be digitally archived on and offsite. Images that arent
purchased arent archived.
Since this is my 10th year in business, I
started talking to my clients last year about
what we could do with all the images weve
created through the years. During my 2015
holiday order sessions, I proposed the idea of
a Years in Review album featuring images
from the past 10 years. Of course not every
client will purchase such an album, but some
will. I expect some will even add an image
or two that they didnt purchase previously.
For my business, this feels like the best
way not only to capitalize on older session
files but to get those portraits into my clients
hands via a finished product Ive designed.
On the flip side is my friend and colleague
Kathryn Langford of Photos by Kathryn in
Vancouver, Canada. Kathryn runs a high-end
product-based studio and in 2015 began marketing digital files from past sessions to her
clients. She called it her Spring Cleaning Sale
and offered the files for $1,000 per session,
including all the digital image files shown to
the client when they came for their initial

sales session. This single campaign created
a nice five-figure bump to her 2015 revenue.
Kathryns business model is a hybrid of finished product and digital files. After a minimum order of $1,500 is met, her clients may
purchase digital files as an add-on. Her 2015
Spring Cleaning Sale was an effort to clear
her servers and generate cash during the
slow winter months. Because she sells digital files in the course of her business, selling
files from previous sessions didnt pose a
dilemma, as it would have for me.
In fact, she found three distinct advantages to this type of sale:
Clients who had previously placed large
orders were excited to purchase the digital
files for their own digital archive purposes.
Clients who had previously placed smaller orders were able to buy the digital files.
Clients who for one reason or another
never actually placed their order (couldnt
decide, couldnt afford it, etc.) purchased the
digital files, resulting in a sale that may never have happened otherwise.
Kathryn ran the sale via an email campaign
for just one week. She sent an email followed
by an email 24 hours before the sale expired.
This method created a sense of urgency and
confined the questions and requests to the
week of the sale.
As you can see, there isnt a right way
to do business. You decide which strategy is
best for you.
Now for the question: Should you ever give
the files away? Sooner or later, all of us
will have a client who passes away. When I
learn of a clients death, I contact the family
and offer to make a print for the funeral services at no cost and then give the digital files
to the clients family so they may use them
for the funeral program or include them in
the funeral video.
Allison Tyler Jones, CPP
Allison Tyler Jones Photography Inc.
ANY QUESTIONS?
If you need help with business issues
or photographic technique, email
editors@ppmag.com. Well put a PPA
expert on the case.
PPM AG.COM
SUCCESS
CASE STUDY
IMAGES DAVID GRUPA SPORTS AND DAVID GRUPA PORTRAITS
PUMPING UP THE VOLUME

HOW TEAM PHOTOGRAPHY AUGMENTS PORTRAIT STUDIO BUSINESS
David Grupa
Kirsten Grupa
by Jeff Kent
David Grupa, M.Photog.Cr., began his photography career back in high school. He had
a little business photographing T-ball teams
for the local rec league. He made some simple black-and-white prints, handed out 5x7s
to the teams, and got about $50 in return. I
thought I was rich, he laughs.
Years later, he would join the ranks of the
full-time professionals when he opened a
portrait business in Maplewood, Minnesota,
a suburb of St. Paul. Though he had a background and interest in team sports photography, his colleagues told him that a high-
28
volume operation was not where he wanted

to be. So he developed a low-volume, highservice business, with a focus on senior portraits. However, as time wore on and circumstances changed, that singular focus needed
some revision. Maybe a line of work in volumebased sports photography was a viable part
of the picture after all.
SITUATION
In 2012, David married fellow photographer
Kirsten Holscher, Cr.Photog, CPP. Kirsten
(now Grupa since marrying David) also spe-
cialized in senior portraits, and while both

photographers ran successful businesses
(which they ultimately merged in 2014),
the thought of having all their financial eggs
in the senior portrait basket was a little
concerning.
To add to that apprehension, the studios
bookings for senior portraits were on the
decline. Sales averages were goodin fact,
they had improved averages in recent years
using advice from PPAso the level of income wasnt as much of an issue as the
open spaces in their bookings. With photog-
PPM AG.COM
raphy as the only source of income for the

whole family, I get antsy when were not
busy, says Kirsten. We had a little more
downtime, and we wanted to fill up the
schedule. We also wanted to diversify.
For a few years previously, David had worked with some sports teams at a local school.
The gig started as a fill-in when the schools
contracted photographer failed to show up
on picture day. David stepped in and helped

out, then continued with the sports teams
contract during the following years. Looking
at the income it provided, David and Kirsten
started to think about adding a high-volume
sports division to the studio.
The Grupas managed to pick up a contract
from another school as well as one from a
nearby parks and rec department. With
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TAKEAWAYS
SUCCESS
CASE STUDY
START AT SQUARE ONE. The Square

One calculator lets you see out how
your workload relates to your revenue.
The calculator will even populate the
fields with PPA benchmarks for overhead expenses and cost of sales, which
you can change to match your actual
numbers. ppa.com/trysquareone
three clients on the roster, David and Kirsten

decided it was time to get serious about
team sports photography. Volume sports
represented a big chunk of money that we
hadnt tapped into, says David. And its
year-round. In Minnesota, portrait work can
be very seasonal. With sports work, theres
always something going on.
But how could they make the new business line work? The marketing, the workflow, the structure were all relatively new to
David and Kirsten, and they needed help.
SOLUTIONS
The Grupas turned to the educational resources offered by PPA, starting with a seminar on
volume-based sports photography. Next, they
logged on to PPAedu (ppa.com/edu), which
they found to be a treasure trove of information, guidelines, ideas, and inspiration. Specifically, we found a lot of great sports and
team photography insights from people who
have been doing this a long time, says David.
They also found a lot of help on theLoop
(theloop.ppa.com), PPAs online forum where
DONT GO IT ALONE. Figuring everything out on your own can be a lonely

road, one marked by a lot of pointless mistakes. Connect with people
who have gone before you and know
what theyre doing. PPA is full of experienced pros who are happy to help.
Youll be surprised how quickly your
knowledge grows.
SEEK REAL-WORLD ADVICE. Find
personal contacts, instructors, classes, articles, videos, and other resources provided by working professionals
who are living the information they
provide. There are many routes to
success, and sometimes you need to
hear a variety of perspectives to find
the path thats right for you.
BE ACTIVE. When starting a new business line, youve got to get out and
go after it. Call prospects, follow up,
and actively engage the market. Once
youve built your network and book of
business, the leads will start to come
to you.
GET INVOLVED. PPA has a wealth of
resources, but youll never find them
if you dont get involved. Take classes,
join committees, volunteer, network in
person and on theLoop. The connections and the knowledge can be life
changing.
30
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the Grupas gathered information about contracts, marketing materials, and other sports
photography topics. The content is divided
by communities and into different subjects.
You can ask questions or participate in discussions on various issues. That resource
has been great, says David. You ask a
question, and three or four people will post
an answer. These are working professional
photographers, our peers, so the information has been very useful.
David and Kirsten also started using PPAs
Square One calculator (ppa.com/trysquareone). Square One allows you to determine
your target sales average based on your financial goals. You work backward from your
desired income level to determine the number of sessions or the average sale per session you need to achieve to meet your goal.
That resource was helpful to the Grupas as
they determined their pricing and target
sales average for each sports shoot.
Then, of course, there was Imaging USA.
A longtime volunteer on a number of com-
mittees within PPA, David had been going to

Imaging USA for years but rarely had time
to attend educational programs. At Imaging USA 2016, however, he finally went as
a regular attendee and soaked up every bit
of knowledge he could find. I sat through
pretty much every program on the sports
track, he recalls. I went to the Coachs Corner set up by Jeff Gump, [Cr.Photog.], where
I talked to instructors and other photographers from different parts of the country.
That was so incredibly valuable because I
connected with all of these folks who are out
there doing it. These were professional photographers working at all different levels,
in different markets, trying different things.
The real-world education Ive received from
those connections has been invaluable.
The peer networking extended to other
events at the convention, where David and
Kirsten were able to form bonds with fellow
photographers and set up ongoing collaborations. Being able to turn to other people
who have been doing this longer than us and
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SUCCESS
CASE STUDY
learn whats important and what isnt, what

works and what doesntthat has been so
valuable, says Kirsten.
David agrees. Getting involved is so important, he says. Just being involved with
PPA at a deeper level has exposed me to people I would have never met otherwise. I am
smarter because of them, and our business
has benefitted in the long run.
RESULTS
The Grupas set up a sports photography
marketing plan that, in many ways, mimics
their marketing for senior portraits. It was a
little unorthodox, but the education and feedback they received from peers helped them
adapt their portrait-based marketing for the
new business model. We know what type of
client we want, says Kirsten. So we market
to both individuals and organizations. David
does a lot of face-to-face marketing and networking. We identify the decision makers in
charge of our target leagues or schools and
then market to them individually, much like
we would a potential portrait client.

Based on suggestions from other PPA members and from insights gained during educational programs, David and Kirsten set up
new systems for picture days, processing, and
sales. During shoots, David typically photographs while Kirsten handles orders and
prep work. For bigger jobs, they scale up to
a second shooter and add additional hands
to help keep the process moving smoothly.
The approach and the new systems have
worked. Revenue from sports photography
accounted for about 15 percent of total sales
in 2014. That number jumped to 40 percent
in 2015 and appears to be holding steady
at around that rate this year. Significantly,
that increase in sports photography revenue
hasnt come at the expense of senior portrait
revenue. Those sales have remained steady,
so the studios overall revenue is up substantially as a result of the influx of sports work.
The studios sales are also more diversified,
and the schedule is full, which helps Kirsten
sleep better at night. Knowing that we have
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more money coming in and from different
sources allows us to breathe easier and enjoy our time with our family, says Kirsten.
That is a tremendous relief.
This has all been an exercise in adapting to changing circumstances, adds David. As we watched the numbers change in
terms of the volume of our senior sessions,
we knew we needed to adapt. We used PPA
resources to bring up our average sale so we
didnt need to compete on a volume level in
that part of our business. Then we fit in a
completely different business line, the volume-based sports work, in the new openings
in our schedule. Weve been really successful throughout this transformation because
weve had colleagues who are willing to tell
us how they were successful. We didnt do
anything brilliant; we just followed their advice. Its all worked out great so far!
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SUCCESS
NICHE MARKET
BREAKING INTO
FINE ART
Know your passion, and research
everything about it as a business
niche. Remain in a constant state of
learning.
Brand yourself with a signature
style, and stay consistent with your
message. Stay true to your genre.
Know your target clientele: demographics, discretionary income, and
purchasing preferences.
Research galleries and markets
that sell to your target clients, and
reach out to those galleries with your
portfolio.
Custom framing can make a huge
difference to avid collectors.
Start with local galleries and then
build on your success.
Accumulate awards and list them
in your online bio.
Keep an eye on what sells and develop that niche even more.
IMAGES TAMARA GOOCH
a niche. Its a specialty where theres little

wiggle room for making a profit, and this is
where Gooch has defied the odds.
COWGIRL WITH
A CAMERA
TAMARA GOOCH LASSOES FINE-ART AND
COMMERCIAL CLIENTS WITH HER LOVE OF THE WEST
by Karin Leperi
Some people believe the cowboy and cowgirl lifestyle is history, a relic of Americas
storied past that is no more. But thats not
how Tamara Gooch sees it. Theres something unique in the way the West sparks
her spirit. She senses it when shes out in
36
the vast landscape. Here, she can smell the

sagebrush-scented air and hear the leaves
rustled by mountain breezes.
Add to this Goochs unabashed love for all
things equine, and you can understand how
she may have willingly cornered herself into
BRANDED FOR SUCCESS

Gooch didnt discover Western lifestyle; she
was born and raised in it. I grew up with
a camera in my hand and on the back of a
horse, she says. Shes been riding and training horses for so long that her knowledge
of their basic instincts has become intuitive. Shes also dedicated herself to learning
about light, Western lifestyle, and the behavior and habits of wild horses in their natural
environment.
The spirit of the West is a magnificent
teacher to humanity, says Gooch. From its
ghost towns to its cowboys and galloping
horses, the American West takes us back to
something wild and unrestrained, reminding us of a sense of freedom that many of us
have forgotten. Horses teach us about honesty and authenticity because they know no
other way of being. Wild horses are Amer-
PPM AG.COM
icas last remaining icon of the West and a

huge part of our Western heritage.
Gooch does editorial photography for magazines such as Cowboys & Indians, Ranch
& Reata, Western Horseman and Natural
Horse. She knew shed made it as a fine-art
photographer when she was invited to participate in the 2012 Desert Caballeros Museum inaugural exhibition, Cowgirls with a
Camera. In 2015, her work was displayed at
Denvers International Airport art exhibition,
Facing the Wind.
TRAIL TO FINE ART
Goochs approach to fine art is straightforward: Build your portfolio, your database,
and work it. Tweak it and find out who your
ideal client is. Make it personal and make it
unique and always show your best work.
While she enjoys the post-processing aspect of her work, she knows that what sells
images is unfiltered emotion. From the
standpoint of framed pieces, my clients want
more than just a standard photograph; they
want something that captures the essence
and spirit of the horse, she explains.
Although her works hang in many Western galleries, theres one location thats most
dear commercially: If I could afford to do
only one location, it would be Aspen, says
Gooch. There has to be some sort of travel
base when gearing for the high-end market,
and the best gallery locations have to be involved with tourism for the constant flow of
traffic. The East Coast and Europeans love
horses and Western lifestyle, so other strategic locations are New York City, New Jersey,
Boston, Park City, Nevada, and California.
She also sells a lot of her fine-art prints at
the annual Cowboy Christmas market in Las
Vegas. Its successful because it dovetails
with the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo,
and people come to buy, she notes.
CORRALLING COMMERCIAL WORK
Gooch is in the sweet spot where clients often
seek her out. I got my start photographing
my daughters at hunter/jumper horse shows
when they were young. Soon other parents,
riders, and trainers asked me to photograph
them and their horses, and things just grew
from there, she says.
Her reputation spread by word-of-mouth,
COWGIRLS SADDLEBAG
Gooch uses Nikon equipment, and her favorite combination is the D810 camera and
either a 70-200mm f/2.8 or 300mm f/2.8 lens. Ive been trying out the Nikon
85mm f/1.4 for portraits and love the shallow depth-of-field. I also have a D4 that Ill
use in low-light situations but find myself turning to the D810 for its larger file size. I
print very large prints, 40x60 inches or more at times, and the large files are essential.
Props are everything to the Western lifestyle and not always available, so Gooch carries a ready supply of ropes, saddles, slickers, hats, boots, leather gloves, and stirrups
to set the mood.
37
SUCCESS
NICHE MARKET
PPM AG.COM
38
and before she knew it, high-end clients

and the horse racing industry were contacting her for special gigs. The commercial/
promotional photography I do comes from
high-dollar equestrian facilities that are advertising stallions for breeding and foals for
sale, says Gooch. I also do some work for
the horse racing industry, where promoting
winning stallions is a must for syndication.
Her tactic with commercial clients, whove
seen it all when it comes to Western photography, is to try to stand out from the crowd
by offering unique images.
Because diversification is a wise bet in any
industry, Gooch also books portrait sessions
with individuals. She photographs senior
sessions each year with Western teens who
want their animals in the picture, usually
horses and dogs. And other portrait clients
seek her out as well. I do quite a few fantasy
horse shoots where I use indoor horse arenas as my studio incorporating various lighting, smoke machines, bubble machines, et
cetera. Then I outfit the women in fabulous
gowns and have amazing horses available
for them to pose with. Customers love the
results.I am always looking for that certain
emotional connection with the viewer even
as I like to experiment with my shooting and
post-processing, Gooch says. Always make
sure to keep your clients happy as they talk:
Make it good talk.
tamaragoochphoto.com
Karin Leperi is a writer and photographer
in New Mexico.
SUCCESS
PET POINTERS
IMAGES AGL PHOTOGRAPHY
The image on the left shows the natural catchlights from a 30x60 soft box on camera left and a fill reflector on camera right. In the right image the catchlights
have been edited for photographic competition to look more uniform and more like catchlights in human portraits.
ANIMAL EYES
SHAPE AND LOCATION AFFECT CATCHLIGHTS
by Angela Lawson, Cr.Photog., CPP
X Animal eyes reflect light differently than human eyes. The breed
and species of an animal, the angle of the eye itself, and how convex (spherical) the eye actually is are all elements that determine
where the catchlights in the eye fall relative to where the light
sources are placed.
DOGS
If a dogs head is facing directly toward the camera and the main
light source is close to the camera, the catch lights will most often
both reflect from the very inner part of each eye near the nose
rather than a more central location as you see in human eyes.
If we move the light source to the side for more directional light,
and the dogs head is angled or tilted, the catchlight in the eye
closest to the main light will be near the center of the eye, typically
around the edge of the pupil area. The eye farther from the main
light will have just a small portion of a catchlight tucked up into
the upper corner of the eye near the bridge of the nose or may have
no catchlight at all.
When the main light source is coming from the sky on an over-
40
cast day or in open shade, the catchlights will appear as an angled

crescent at the top of the eye.
Its important to note that the shape of the catchlight itself can
differ as well. If the light is coming from a large source like a
large soft box, window, or the sky, the catchlight will look like the
shape of the source, much like in a human eye. However, the
smaller and more round the light source, the more the catch light
will look like a bright dot.
CATS
Cats eyes reflect catchlights in a way that falls between those of a dog
and a human because cat eyes are not as convex as a dogs, and their
faces have a depth similar to humans. Be aware that cats pupils can
change size and shape relative to the light itself, so there will always
be slight variations depending on the breed as well as the light source.
BIRDS
Some birds and other exotic pets, especially nocturnal animals
that have bulging eyes set a bit more to the side but still forward
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facing, typically have catchlights that form in a ridge or long shape

along the line of the bulge of the eye, either on the top or to the
side, depending on where the main light source is coming from.
OVERALL
In most cases, with animals that have very convex eyes located
on the sides of the face like rabbits, ferrets, and guinea pigs, youll
see the catchlight in only one eye. Youll get more pleasing results
by photographing them with their head at a slight angle. If photographed head-on, there often wont be any catch lights showing at
all. This typically holds true for horses as well.
Most dogs and cats eyes refract color much better than a humans
eye. Examples are the beautiful ice blue color of a huskys eye or
the stunning green-gold eyes of a cat. Though viewers may think
the eye color has been boosted in Photoshop or overworked, animal eye color can be truly vibrant.
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When a dogs head is tilted, the catchlight in the eye closest to the main
light will be near the center of the eye, typically on the rim of the pupil.
The eye farther from the main light has just a small portion of the main
light reflection tucked in the upper corner of the eye, near the bridge of
the nose, and a catchlight from the fill reflector.
SUCCESS
PET POINTERS
With the dogs face forward, the catchlight from a fill reflector on camera
left reflects in the center of the nearest eye and offset toward the nose in the
other. The main light on camera right, modified by a 30x60-inch soft box, is
reflected only in the nearest eye.
Cats eyes are less convex than dogs and the depth of their face is close to
that of a human. Their eyes will reflect more of the main light and will be
closer to the same position in the eye.
As animals age, their eyes develop nuclear sclerosis, much like

a humans eyes. By about the age of 7, many animals eyes begin
to get cloudy. Its not the same as cataracts but produces a similar
look. Due to the convex nature of an animals eyes, the cloudiness
is more visually prominent when any light source is aimed at the
eyes, as the eye has more area for the light to pass through.
When you think of how you want to edit or not edit the catchlights
in your pet portraits, consider the viewer. For clients, you likely
wont need to edit catchlights, or only slightly edit them, because
pets eyes will look natural to the owner. However, in photographic competition or portfolio review for certified professional photographer credentials, not all jurors and reviewers closely examining the image may be familiar with how animal eye catchlights
are different from those in human portraits. In fact, traditionally,
pet photographers have edited catchlights to resemble those of human subjects for competition images. This situation is in a state of
change as more jurors and reviewers find common ground on critiquing animal eye catchlights, so make your own choices based on
your photographic vision and the intended audience for the image.
aglphotography.net
Angela Lawson is the owner of AGL Photography, Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
42
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45
THE GOODS
TUTORIAL
START
PAINTING
PAINTING FROM A PHOTO
WITH COREL PAINTER 2016
by Betsy Finn, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
X
Each release of Corel Painter introduces
features for all kinds of artists, and for photographers who want to offer digital painting, the additions to Corel Painter 2016 are
designed to make the process easier.
The new welcome screen helps point you
in the right direction from the beginning
with tabs labeled Learn, Get Content, Get
Started, and Get Inspired. These tabs lead
you to training content, add-on brush sets,
preset workspaces, and artwork created
with Corel Painter 2016 to show you some
beautiful examples of whats possible.
Three options are available for making
a digital painting from an existing pho-
tograph: auto-painting, painting from a

clone source, and free painting. The first
two methods have the quickest learning
curve. From the Get Started tab, you can
click Photo Art to have Painter arrange the
workspace for you. You begin by opening
the image youll be painting (known as the
source image).
I prepared my source image by bumping
up the color saturation and simplifying the
background by removing a chair.
In the auto-painting panels I primarily
used Underpainting, Auto-Painting, and
Clone Source. To bump up the saturation,
change the contrast, or make general ad-
justments to your image before painting,

you can use the Underpainting panel, or
just make the adjustments in Photoshop
prior to importing the image.
To begin the Auto-Painting process, define the source image from the Clone Source
panel. Click the floppy disk icon with an
arrow in the bottom left corner to define
the source file. You can switch source files
at any point while editing, which Ive done
to pull in different colors for the background and foreground; the possibilities
are endless.
In the Auto-Painting panel, select Smart
Stroke Painting and Smart Settings, then
click play, which lets Painter 2016 determine all the settings and creates a finished
painting quickly. Just dont click away to
another window or do any other editing
elsewhere because the Auto-Painting will
stop. (You can also stop it intentionally at
any time.)
The process begins with big brush
strokes and progresses down to smaller
sized brushes. The final painting may or
may not be what you envisioned, so
many artists use it as a starting point
for further refining such as bringing out
the details in the face. If you dont like
it, just clear the canvas and adjust your
Auto-Paint settings.
When you want to add your own hand
brushwork to an image, you can use the
clone source tab in conjunction with cloning tools. Unlike Photoshops clone tools,
which are very limited, Painter 2016 allows
many of its standard brushes to be turned
into cloners. Its a simple matter of clicking the clone stamp icon in the color picker. If the color picker shows shades of gray,
Painter pulls the color data from the source
image; if it shows various colors, you can
manually select the color for your brush.
IMAGES BETSY FINN
I removed the background and chair to simplify the original (left) before beginning. On the right is a
stage of the Auto-Painting process when the brush sizes are smaller and more detail begins to appear.
46
The color picker allows you to pull color data from

the source image or select specific colors.
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The Photo Portrait pack ($29.99) is a new

add-on of 15 brushes that streamline the
photo painting process. It has brushes for
painting background, skin, hair, and the
like. I found that these brushes took the
guesswork out of getting started. Just hover over a brush, and the bottom of the tool-
bar displays what the brush looks like and

how the brush stroke renders. I also tested
the Hair Set pack ($29.99), which includes
15 brushes, and I found the textures and
varieties to be impressive.
Armed with this combination of brushes,
I filled in rough strokes on the face and hair.
Above, left: These are some stroke examples of the brushes I used most frequently from the Photo
Portrait brush pack. Right: The Hair brush pack offers impressive variety.
HELPFUL FEATURES
The brush library has been reorganized to feature the top 300 brushes,
making it easier to find what you want.
Visual tool tips, tutorials, and brush hints are integrated in the software to help
you learn your way around.
The welcome screen gives easy access to dynamic tutorials, brush packs,
photo workspace, and more.
Blending is improved across layers and media types, and its easier to edit
blending brush variants.
You can now import and edit pixel-based Photoshop brush stamps.
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Its important to keep in mind that a longer brush stroke will pull original color
and tone through to areas that might not
have originally had that color. So for parts
of your image needing more detail or with
greater tonal ranges, use shorter, stippled
strokes. For obvious brush strokes in the
final image, you can leave them as is or
use the blending tools to
smudge the colors. Short
strokes that circle around
will produce a better
blend. If youve ever done
any shading and blending
with traditional media
like graphite or pastels,
youll be familiar with
this concept.
When youre learning
how to paint and finding
your style, its tough to
know when to stop. You
could fine tune for hours
and still not feel done. Aim
for a consistency of realism, textures, and brush
technique throughout your
image even though they
may be applied to areas
differently. For an extreme
example, photorealistic
eyes look out of place if
the rest of the painting
is impressionistic. Consis-
tency is particularly important if you plan

to enter your work in the International Photographic Competition.
To practice brush technique, I did a quick
still life painting of a lime based on a photo
I took. I had fun experimenting with the
Sargent brush and palette knife. If youre
going to work on portraits, you will likely
In this closeup you can see the brush texture in the face.
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ChromaLuxe is a registered trademark of Universal Woods, Inc. 2016
feel more encouraged if you start simple.

Dont pick a complex portrait as your first
painting: Start small and work your way up
from there.
Overall, I think Painter 2016 is fantastic. I
loved being able to paint with different media
and walk away from my creative session
without a drop of paint on me. The brushes
were responsive and realistic, and I was
able to produce finished paintings quickly.
I have a lot of room for improvement, but
the nice thing is that Painter 2016 includes
a number of ways to get you started.
For photographers who arent used to
working with traditional media, the hints
and visual tool tips are a godsend. The brush
strokes are intuitive and realistic, there
are countless customizing options, and

with the addition of photo-oriented brush
packs, there is a drastically reduced learning curve. If you have Photoshop brushes
that you just cant do without, Painter 2016
allows you to import them and even edit the
settings. One caveat: If youre used to Photoshop, you may bemoan the lack of a history panel or history snapshots, so save often and as multiple versions.
Painter 2016 is $429 (upgrade for $229),
and brush packs are $29.99 per set. A fully
functional 30-day free trial of Painter 2016
is at painterartist.com.
Betsy Finn is a portrait artist in Michigan.
bphotoart.com
PPM AG.COM
COURTESY WD
THE GOODS
PRO REVIEW
EX2100 with two 6TB Red drives
STORAGE SOLUTION
WD MY CLOUD EX2100
by Stan Sholik
X
As still image and video file sizes increase
and the need to access them on multiple

devices anywhere in the world becomes
more important, the requirements for media storage become more complex. Even my
modest studio sports four desktop computers and a laptop, and Im never without my
iPad or Android tablets and, of course, my
smartphone. Away from the studio I need to
access images to show clients and upload
images from sessions for processing as soon
as I return. I also need my Mac and Windows machines at home to be able to access
photos from the studio computers.
A solution to the storage problem has
existed for many years in the form of
network-attached storage (NAS) devices.
These can hold multiple large hard drives,
use RAID configurations to guard against
data loss, and be part of a network available to other computers and the internet
for access from virtually everywhere.
NAS would be an ideal solution if not for
two major downsides: network complexity and cost. Enter the WD My Cloud line
of NAS devices. Even before dealing with
the complexity of setting up a NAS on your
network, you must navigate the complexity
54
of choosing a device from the WD site. I settled on an 8GB My Cloud EX2100 NAS from
the Personal Cloud, My Cloud Expert line.
The EX2100 is available for $559.99,
which includes two 4GB WD Red hard
drives. Red series hard drives are designed
for NAS devices and feature 1 million hours
mean time before failure (MTBF) as well as
special features to lower power consumption and heat when idle.
The EX2100 arrived with a two-sided
Quick Installation Guide that showed the
four steps needed to configure the device
to my network. Given what Id heard from
other photographers with NAS devices and
my lack of network knowledge, I had my
doubts. But I was wrong to be concerned.
Setup was as easy as plugging in the
EX2100 power brick to a wall socket and
connecting to the studio network with the
supplied Ethernet cable. After using my web
browser to connect to it on the network and
choosing English from the language options, the EX2100 walked me through a few
setup screens, and I was done. The NAS
shows up as any other hard drive does on
Windows or Mac whether theyre connected
to the network by cable or through Wi-Fi.
I chose to set up the EX2100 in RAID 1 for

data protection. I could have configured it
as two separate 4TB drives, one 8GB drive,
or RAID 0. Other My Cloud lines offer room
for up to five drives for more redundant
RAID configurations. The EX2100 allows
me to simply pull out one of the drives if it
fails, plug in a new drive, and wait until
it rebuilds the data and returns to normal
operation.
With all of the computers in the studio
playing nicely together, I decided to set up my
Android phone and tablet, my iPad, and the
laptop I take on location. Android and Apple
devices require the free WD My Cloud app
from their respective stores. Laptops need
to have the free WD My Cloud Desktop
for Windows or Mac to access the device from
anywhere with a network connection. Its
easiest to do this when connected wirelessly to the network on which the NAS
is attached, and thats what I did. It was all
very straightforward.
I used the same process to set up access on
my Windows and Mac home computers. It
took minutes, and I now have access to the
EX2100 for all my devices wherever I have
a network connection. WD removed the
complexity of NAS with the EX2100.
But wait, theres more. If you cant fill up
the EX2100 with photo or video media, you
can also use it to back up a Windows computer with WD Smartware Pro software or
a Mac with a seamless connection to Apple
Time Machine right out of the box. You can
also back up to a remote NAS, to Elephant
Drive cloud backup, to Amazon Web Services, and others. And you can stream content stored on the EX2100 to media players, Smart TVs, gaming consoles, and other Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)
devices.
For me, Im just pleased to have an affordable RAID 1 storage device holding all
my media files that I can access from anywhere I have an internet connection and on
any device I own.
Stan Sholik is a commercial and

advertising photographer in Santa Ana,
California, specializing in still life and
macro photography.
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As seen at WPPI!
THE GOODS
LIGHTING
IMAGES STAN SHOLIK
The Sekonics Power Control display (far left) makes it easy to adjust the exposure for each group or the overall exposure. The numbers above each group give
you immediate feedback on lighting ratios. Other screens shown (left to right) are the measuring screen, measuring modes, tool box, and settings for flash
channels and groups.
HIGH-POWER AGILITY
SEKONIC LITEMASTER PRO L-478DR-U-EL
by Stan Sholik
X
Given
the current makeup of digital SLRs

and the utility of multiple hot shoe flashes
and associated flash controllers, many photographers have written off light meters and
flash meters as archaic. Sekonic has defied
that thinking to make life easier for photog-
PROS
T-F mode provides ISO setting
necessary for user-defined
shutter speed and aperture
Easy to set and adjust lighting ratios
and overall light output
Fast, intuitive operation with color
touchscreen
58
raphers using high-power electronic flash.

The latest Sekonic touch-screen LiteMaster
Pro meters let you meter continuous light
and electronic flash output as well as control
the output of professional flash systems.
Sekonic introduced the state-of-the-art
CONS
Cannot turn off one group to meter
the two or three others
Screen is dim in sunlight
L-478 touch screen meter in 2012 with two

models, the base L-478 and the L-478DR. The
DR model could remotely trigger PocketWizard-equipped flash units and trigger and
control the power level of hot shoe flashes connected to PocketWizard ControlTL receivers.
With adapters you could trigger AlienBees
and White Lightning monolights and Zeus
power packs, and with the PowerST4 receiver you could trigger Elinchrom RX flashes.
The Sekonic LiteMaster Pro L-478DR-U-EL
meter extends Elinchrom compatibility with
wireless radio triggering and full power
control of all EL-Skyport-enabled Elinchrom flash units. It includes all of the features of the base L-478D-U meter such as
ambient and flash metering for still photography and cine metering for video. New
is the T-F mode, which lets you set shutter
speed and aperture and have the meter
show the ISO for proper exposure.
This model gives you metering versatility
and an array of custom settings; however,
a dim display in bright light is a downside.
I tested the L-478DR-U-EL with two
Elinchrom BRX 500/500 sets, giving me
four 500-joule heads and softboxes to work
with. I also used the Elinchrom EL-Skyport
Plus HS mounted on my Nikon hot shoe to
trigger the flash units.
PPM AG.COM
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Manufactured in Chicago, IL
Its an amazing and versatile system.

Once the flash heads are turned on and the
meter measuring mode is set to radio flash,
the meter quickly recognizes each flash
head. Setting the FCH (frequency channel)
and groups you wish to use is easy. Available to you are 20 frequency channels and
four groups plus All. I used FCH 1 and set
each head as a separate group, allowing
me to control the output of each head individually. If there are multiple heads in the
same group, adjusting the group output adjusts the output of all the heads. With the
heads set up, set the ISO and shutter speed
on the main menu and press the measuring
button to take a reading.
Each light group can be measured separately using Flash Power Control. Selecting
one of the groups and pressing the measuring button triggers the units in that group.
You can then use +/- to adjust the output of
the units in that group. Once you have the
power levels of each group adjusted you can
select the All button and measure the
Left: Lighting setup for this portrait was quick and easy with the main light as Group 1, the fill light as
Group 2, and the hair light as Group 3. With the camera mounted vertically it was much easier to use the
Sekonic meter than the EL-Skyport in the hot shoe mount. Right: Using the same lighting setup it took
just a second to lower the output of the fill light for a higher lighting ratio.
Flash Brackets
Clamps
Gimbal Heads
Arca-Type Plates
Sliders
Ball Heads
Custom L-Brackets
Made in USA
Got Gear?
www.ProMediaGear.com
Manufactured at our factory in Chicago, IL
Image shot inside the CNC Machine
THE GOODS
LIGHTING
In the moment it took for the model to turn in the

opposite direction I was able to adjust the fill light
up and lower the output of the hair light for this
exposure.
combined output. If the overall exposure needs to be adjusted, use +/- with
All selected. The Modeling Lamp button works the same to adjust lamp output.
The beauty of this is how the Flash Power Control displays the exposure information. As you meter each group, the meter
displays the f/stop for the group at the top
of the readout in large numbers and for the
individual groups above each group number. The readout above each group gives
you immediate feedback about lighting ratios. Using +/- buttons you can adjust the
light output of each group then take a new
reading and immediately see the new lighting ratio. The All button takes a reading,
and the combined exposure is displayed
at the top of the display with info on each
group below. Setting and adjusting overall light level and lighting ratios has never
been so easy or so visual.
This is all much easier to accomplish than
to describe. The color touchscreen definitely speeds the operation. Another advantage
to being able to adjust light output with

the handheld meter is that it saves you
from craning your head sideways to make
adjustments when the camera is mounted
vertically on a tripod and the EL-Skyport
transmitter is mounted in the hot shoe.
I came across one shortcoming to the system, but its due to the EL-Skyport, not the
Sekonic. I wanted to be able to meter the
main and fill light together without the hair
light, but you cant meter two or three groups
together, just single groups or all groups.
That aside, the Sekonic L-478DR-U-EL
represents the state of the art in hand-held
meters for Elinchrom flash owners, both in
useful features and ease of use. The Sekonic L-478DR-U-EL is priced at $399.
Stan Sholik is a commercial/advertising

photographer in Santa Ana, California,
specializing in still life and macro
photography. His latest book is Legal
Photography (Amherst Media).
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The Bon a Vie opens from the center out.
ZOOKBINDERS
HELPING PHOTOGRAPHERS SELL PHOTOGRAPHY
Q: WHY ZOOKBINDERS? HOW ARE YOU HELPING PHOTOGRAPHERS SUCCEED?
A: Throughout our 21-year history weve had a reputation as a quality
house, but in todays uber-competitive, time-starved world, were also providing services that help photographers give their clients a better experience while making it easier for them to spend more money on photography.
Q: ALBUMS CAN BE A THROBBING HEADACHE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS.

HOW DOES ZOOKBINDERS MAKE ORDERING ALBUMS LESS PAINFUL?
A: Photographers say it takes their clients forever to pick images and that
designing the album is tedious, and there are so many emails back and
forth with changes and revisions.
Too many brides say getting their album took too long, was too confusing, and they just didnt know where to start.
Zookbinders addresses these concerns with innovative services that begin when the photographer has an edited collection of images. Heres how:
1. We build an easy-to-use web gallery for each of your clients with
images we recommend for the album.
2. We invite clients to add or subtract from our suggestions, making it
easy for them to add more images at retail prices the photographer has
set up. The service generates upsells in the form of added images and
integrates neatly with our design service.
62
3. The service helps clients get album orders back to their photographer
in days or weeks instead of months or even years.
4. Just days after entering the design phase, brides preview their design
in a convenient virtual album. They can request revisions from our designers right there in the system.
5. Once theyre in love with their design, they can even elect to upgrade
to a larger album or add parent copies at retail prices the photographer
has set up.
Q: EXPLAIN WHY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE

PHOTOGRAPHY.
A: Weve all been to restaurants where the food might be good, but the
service is awful. Guess what? We dont go there anymore! Worse yet for
that restaurant, well also tell our friends not to go there. However, if the
food is decent and the service is amazing, well continue to go and tell our
friends. Its the same with a photography business.
Q: HOW CAN A BETTER EXPERIENCE LEAD TO HIGHER SALES?

A: Smart photographers recognize the importance of in-person sales. Theyll
create a reveal event for the couple and their family by creating a slideshow
of selected images set to the music of the couples rst dance. Theyll get
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The splash cover
them excited by showing them creative album ideas, wall art options, and
thank you cards over a glass of wine or freshly baked cookies. Maybe theyll
even have a special gift print ready for them to take home. These personal
touches can be a game changer for post-event sales and referrals.
Q: WHATS THE KEY TO GETTING REFERRALS?

A: Imagine your client sharing their wedding sneak previews (with your
watermark on them, of course) the day after their wedding with hundreds of
Facebook friends and Instagram followers. Imagine the bride telling her
friends and co-workers about the awesome reveal you treated her and her
husband to, the beautiful gift print you surprised them with, or the blog post
you put up that morning. Imagine the looks on their faces when she shows
off her wedding album barely two months after her wedding. She might hear
My cousin got married a year ago, and she still hasnt gotten her album! Whos
your photographer? These pictures are gorgeous! Youve effectively turned your
clients into your sales force, and thats the kind of advertising you cant buy.
Q: YOU JUST LAUNCHED AN INNOVATIVE NEW PRODUCT. WHATS SO
UNIQUE ABOUT IT?
A: The Bon a Vie album opens from the center like French doors. Each
spread unfolds in a format thats fresh and new. Its a head turner and an
attention grabber that will help differentiate you from everyone else and
help you get hired.
We just added an 18x18 that has been very popular as a sample album.
We liken it to the shiny red sports cars that dealerships put in the front of
the showroom.
Although we targeted the Bon a Vie for weddings, weve been surprised
at how popular its been for boudoir and high school senior clients. Boudoir
clients are typically looking for something unique, and senior photographers tell us high-school girls like that its different from their parents
wedding album.
Q: WHATS NEXT FOR ZOOKBINDERS?

A: Well continue to provide innovative products that draw attention and
that help photographers get hired. For album design clients, were being
asked to work directly with their clients on revisions so they can spend less
time on post-event tasks.
Weve hired more sales support consultants who offer free help to photographers with everything from pricing and products to improving their
workow. The majority of the folks on our support team are working photographers, and theres nothing we love more than helping a photographer
solve a problem.
63
All the worlds
64
PPM AG.COM
By Eric Minton
ANNA HOMUTOVA
a stage
Nuptials through
the lens of
Emin Kuliyev
IMAGES EMIN KULIYEV
65
Start a conversation with Emin Kuliyev and

you quickly realize youre in the presence of
a philosopher in the long tradition of Russian existentialism. He just happens to use
photography as his medium.
What do you mean by professional photographer? he asks, and this turns out to be
a rhetorical question as he delves into the
income, equipment, experience, artistry, and
opportunity that modern photography entails.
He mentions the newest iPhones capabilities
that encourage people whove never taken
an image before to call themselves photographer: Same name, photography, but new
meaning, Kuliyev says, sounding much like
philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin discussing dialogism: People kill the meaning of professional and kill the meaning of photographer.
Its like if you have a pen youre a writer, but
youre not Shakespeare.
Forty-seven-year-old Kuliyev, a native of
Azerbaijan who lived for a time in Moscow,
is both a professional and a photographer by
any definition. He makes a living as a wedding photographer in New York City. And
though he demurs at the suggestion that
he is an artist, he creates engaging but indescribable images, even with his iPhone
though more often he uses lenses of his own
making. Hes Shakespearean in the way he
expands the tools of his medium to portray
66
exquisitely the personalities of individuals

navigating one of the seismic moments of
their lives. All the worlds his stage, toohes
photographed a bride walking through an
American desert canyon and a couple cuddling as they gaze at the Aegean Sea coast.
But perhaps he holds more kinship with
writer Anton Chekhov, as his images focus on
the minutest details while keeping us everaware of the wider universe beyond the
characters comprehension, like the bride
and groom kissing on a New York City street
corner surrounded by the blur of passing
traffic and pedestrians.
Invoking dramatists for comparison (though
he started it with his Shakespeare reference)
is not to insinuate that Kuliyevs images are
tragic. If theres a common theme in his wedding images its that the viewer wishes he or
she had been invited to the event. Im like
a mirror; I can reflect peoples emotions,
he says. Through his photography, Kuliyev
tells the story of the couples big daythe
families and friends day, toostarting with
breakfast and then everything from makeup and dressing to the morning after. Im
chronicling every step, he says.
He used to average 10,000 images per
wedding day, but about six months ago he
started incorporating video into his repertoire. Im not a video guy; I shoot video as a
PPM AG.COM
67
photographer, he says, using the Sony Alpha

a7R II to capture key moments, then reviewing the footage frame by frame just as he
would a series of still images. When I know
I have just minutes before [the moment
passes], I will shoot video because I know I
will get something. Compared to even rapid-shutter photography, video expands the
number of potentially perfect captures of
that moment, he says. The number of his still
images has decreased to an average of 3,000
per wedding, but hes shooting about 100
videos nowabout 80 percent of his capturesgiving him some 100,000 images to
choose from. That also means five to seven
days of editing. It kills all my time, he says,
but he feels the product is better and, be-
68
cause he already has the footage, he gives a

short video to clients as a gift.
For his wedding photography business,
Kuliyev markets himself as a photojournalist. Its an apt descriptor, given the many
momentsand those moments presented
through many different perspectives and
points of viewhe presents in his wedding
portfolios. However, he insists that photojournalism is just a label, an easy identifier
for potential clients. His other online galleries show him pushing not only the aesthetic
but also the technical boundaries of photography. Even Kuliyevs transition to video is
part of his never-sated desire to get a leg up
on his competition as well as himself. I try
to be better than anybody else; I try to be
better than yesterday. I have to. Every year I

try to change my vision and spark.
One of his sparks came when he bought
his first Sony Alpha a7 mirrorless camera.
Its smaller sensor allows Kuliyev to adjust
the types of lenses as well as the lenses
position relative to the camera body. In his
apartment, a wall of shelves is filled with
what look like manufactured lenses but
are really his own creations. Hes collected
a wide spectrum of lensesone he demonstrates is a 125-year-old movie projector
lenswhich he connects to pipes that can
be attached to one of the mounts hes altered for that purpose. The mounts allow
him to focus the same as he would with any
manufactured lens, but the type and length
PPM AG.COM
of the lens gives him a range of effects.

Im like a painter with so many brushes, but
I collect, like, 300 brushes, he says. Now
I can paint in very different variations.
He includes only a couple of his experimental lenses when he does a wedding assignment and looks for an opportunity to use
themit just gives me a little bit more variation from anybody elsebut in his spare
time he experiments with each lens and
posts the results on his website and Facebook page.
Kuliyev didnt initially pursue photography
as a career. When he was 21 he worked in
a music store and had to label tapes by hand.
After a couple of years it was boring for
me, he says, so he decided to do more interesting labels by buying a computer and teaching himself Photoshop. His new skills led
him into a career as a graphic designer and
eventually to the United States, emigrating in
2000. He started taking design classes at
Bronx Community College, but two years
later he was in a car accident in which his
leg was broken so badly it laid him up for
nearly a year. To this day he doesnt walk
without pain.
What was a bad break at the time turned
70
into a career break. While Kuliyev was recovering from the injury and unable to work he
bought a Canon PowerShot G2 and taught
himself photography, discovering his true
calling. I was a photographer without a camera all my life, he says. I was shooting with
my eyes. He began with portraits but soon

moved to weddings, getting his start by photographing his first wedding for free. He
also teaches photography, doing workshops
and one-on-one sessions for photographers
around the world via Skype. From that nocharge start he now offers packages from
$5,000 to $8,000 per wedding plus travel expenses. Wedding photography is the
only way an independent photographer is
sure to make a sustained living, he says. He
tried stock photography but abandoned it as
too much administrative work for too little
income.
Im not sure Im successful, he says.
Photography is not for people who want to
be rich. For me, Im happy. Photography is
my passion. I like what I do. Yet, he doesnt
consider himself an artistin part, he says,
because art is immeasurable but also because as a wedding photographer, I do
it only for the money. That may not fit his
definition of art, but it must be pointed
outespecially since he brought it up
that Shakespeare used his pen to make money, too.
em34.com
Eric Minton is a writer in Washington, D.C.
PPM AG.COM
IMAGES CHARLETON CHURCHILL
72
New
BY JEFF KENT
heights
Charleton Churchill
marries an
adverturesome
spirit with a career
covering weddings
Charleton Churchill was an outdoor adventurer first. Then he became a wedding photographer. At
some point, like a good marriage,
the two became one.
A longtime photographic hobbyist, Churchill had been practicing
his photography during various
outdoor adventures, learning the
skills as he went. Then, in the mid2000s, he started planning a trip
to climb Mt. Everest. He decided
to step up his photography game
so he could better capture what he
saw and felt on the mountain.
As Churchills photography skills
improved, people close to him began
to notice. He started getting re-
MICHAEL COHN
Charleton Churchill
73
74
PPM AG.COM
to notice. He started getting requests for personal photography, including friends who
asked him to shoot their wedding in 2008.
At first, he refused, insisting that he wasnt
a wedding photographer. Eventually, he
agreed, and when the couple saw their images after the event, they were blown away,
he says. Oh, my God. These pictures are so
different, Churchill recounts.
Different. The description intrigued him,
and he started to think he might be on to
something. As he began getting more wedding photography requests, Churchill pondered how he could forge his own path in
the world of weddings. The concept I wanted to pursue was a type of adventure wedding photography, he explains. Not jumping out of planes or anything crazyjust a
style that demonstrates an appreciation for
the outdoors, for an adventurous lifestyle,
and for how those things can be applied to a
beautiful wedding.
Churchill worked some jobs with another
wedding photographer so he could learn
the ropes. He also took several photography classes to further his skills. In 2009 he
branched out on his own, booking eight weddings that year. In 2010 he booked 17 weddings and was named Best Photographer of
the Year in Sacramento by the local KCRA
A-List. His business caught fire and bookings
catapulted to nearly 40 in 2011. He started
picking up media coverage, awards, and a
growing fan base for his unique approach.
Churchills process for building his business has been intentional. In the beginning
he took some jobs that werent a perfect fit.
It helped get his feet under him and make a
lot of images. As the years progressed, hes
been able to home in on his ideal client and
on the type of imagery that inspires him.
Never a fan of the traditional nor the
trendy, Churchill has always tried to zig while
others zag. For example, he was heavy into
outdoor, on-location lighting when everyone else was all about natural light. When
some trends started to shift toward what he
was doing, he pivoted to a new method. Its
a constant battle to stay ahead of the game,
but that challenge is part of what motivates
Churchill. Im always thinking, How can I
shoot this wedding differently than I did last
75
time? he says. Thats the key to success for

me, always trying to outdo myself.
One issue with constant innovation is the
struggle to maintain consistency in the face
of trying new things. Early on, Churchill had
to work his way through that struggle like
any other creator, seeking the right balance
between an identifiable brand and the next
breakthrough. I had people ask me, What
is your thing? he says. Ill admit that it
took me a while to figure that out because I
was always experimenting. Ive now locked
in on what I love, and Ive been able to really
focus on the work that is me.
As his work has evolved, Churchill has been
increasingly selective of the images he shows
on his website and blog and how hes building his brand through images. This process
helped him define both his professional image and his target client. When talking to
couples, Id ask them what kind of images
they like, says Churchill. Sometimes, theyd
show me things theyd seen on Pinterest. Id
76
PPM AG.COM
Sometimes, pushing the envelope means

going out on a limb without expectation of
profiting from those efforts. Churchill has
done a few free weddings just to shoot the
event as a personal project. Prior to a wedding, he researches the event geography on
Google Maps to help define a creative vision
for the images he wants to make. And he
typically allots time on the wedding day to
try some innovative shots based on these
concepts, even if that means staying long
after the reception ends to play with these
ideas.
For special projects, Churchill has put out
a call for participants and offered to trade
them his work in exchange for their time and
travel expenses if they pay their way to the
destination. Some of his most notable images have come from these personal projects
or from incentivizing clients to go on location
for some additional shots by offering a lower
rate on these adventure shoots. For one engagement shoot in Alaska, Churchill put out
a call for subjects, a hair stylist, and makeup
artist. Several couples responded, as well as
hair and makeup pros. BHLDN, Anthropologies wedding brand, even stepped in to provide clothing and accessories.
You have to get out there and do it, says
Churchill. Stop thinking about it, and make
it happen. Ask for willing participants. Ask
for sponsors. If its just in your head, but you
dont do it, then someone else is going to do
it first. I think fear blocks a lot of photographers, and its gotten in my way before, too.
But you have to get past it. If you have ideas,
you cant wait. If you do, it never gets done.
Be brave. Attack, plan it well, and do it. Regardless of whether you fail or not, at least
youre trying.
charletonchurchill.com
say, Those are good, and we can do that if you

really want it, but a year from now everyone
will have seen those images somewhere else.
Dont you want something original? To do
work that way, you cant be lazy. You have to
work for it. Clients arent always convinced.
Theres a lot of education involved.
78
For a couple of years, Churchill worked hard

to educate. He tried to convince his clients to
give his ideas a try. A few did, and the results
produced several photographs that have become cornerstones of his portfolio. As I push
the envelope more and more, I am getting more
clients that are interested in what I do, he says.
On the Web
On Mt. Everest to cover a wedding,
Charleton Churchill found himself
in the midst of tragedy
PPM AG.COM
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IMAGES KANSAS PITTS
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83
he beach is a popular place for families to gather for their annual vacation. And Kansas Pitts, whos based in
Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has seen
more than her share of them, happily.
Her studio, which sees return clients
from throughout the Southeast each year,
thrives on these sun-soaked vacationers.
When she started out, Pitts planned to focus on newborn photography, signing up for
workshops to learn more about that niche. In
the meantime, she was receiving significantly more calls for family portraits on the beach.
I guess maybe because I was doing it differentlywith a wide angle lens and more environmental, she says. So she reimagined her
studio to appeal to the families who vacation
along the Florida panhandle each year.
While mom, dad, and kids are the primary
subjects in her work, the sun always plays a
central role. Portrait sessions take place on
84
a designated stretch of Santa Rosa Beach at

sunrise or sunset, and the resulting wide-angle shots are unusually colorfulthe lovely
pinkish-orange hue of sky and sand during
the golden hour, with the family wrapped by
light, smiling and laughing.
Most of the old-school beach pictures were
close up and very controlled, she says of the
market when she entered the game. And while
she captures a few of those posed shots, too,
her signature images are less planned and
more dramatic. Families pay a lot of money to
come to the beach to relax and have fun, she
says, so she creates a session thats an extension of that fun and a product that reflects it.
That started to set me apart, she says.
TAKE IT EASY
Given that her clients are on vacation, first
and foremost is making the session stressfree, which she accomplishes by keeping it to
30 minutes, the length of time thats best for

the light and the attention spans of small children (and vacationing dads). Florida summers
are hot and muggyadmittedly not great for
hair. So she warns clients about the humidity, suggests hair products, and most important, snaps the close-up shots at the beginning of the session while hair and makeup
are fresh, saving wide-angle environmental
shots for the end. Most of her sessions are
at sunset, which takes place around 8 p.m.
in the summer, but shes been encouraging
clients with small children to try a sunrise
session, since little tykes tend to be wiped
out after a full day at the beach but are balls
of energy in the morning.
The sales and ordering session is also expedited, both to reduce stress on the client
and to make purchasing easy. If a family
is vacationing in Florida for a week, Pitts
schedules the photo session on Monday,
PPM AG.COM
85
Tuesday, or Wednesday and the sales session

on Thursday or Friday. She edits the photos
the night of the photo session and immediately orders proofs so shes ready to show
clients the work on a quick turnaround.
I have clients come in before they go back
home so they dont have to go it alone, she
says, since going through proofs online to
make buying decisions can be overwhelming. Like the photo session, she keeps the
sales session shortjust 20 to 30 minutes.
Thats enough time to display a brief slideshow, some sample prints, and various types
of wall portraits, which are hung on the
studio walls. A lot of them have heard of
the acrylic and metal [prints] but theyve
never seen it in person, she says, and lately
many clients prefer the metal prints to canvas since they brandish vivid sunset colors
so well. Theyre very eye-catching, she
says. The goal is for clients to receive their
order at home as soon as they return from
the beach.
HAPPY RETURNS
BEACH STYLE
Pitts helps clients choose a wardrobe
by directing them to her Pinterest
page for examples. She loves when
clients eschew white for blush and
turquoise colors that look great on
the beach. She also advises the mom
to choose her outfit firstsince shes
often the one most worried about how
she looks in the photographsthen to
model the rest of the familys outfits
around her selection.
In addition, Pitts recently purchased
several formal dresses for girls that
clients are permitted to borrow for
the session. There are really pretty things out there for little girls but
they are in the $200 to $400 range,
she says, and most parents dont want
to spend that much money on a dress
the child will wear once for a photo
session. She takes that burden off the
family and at the same time puts her
subjects in clothes that look great for
a beach sunset.
86
During Pitts busy season, which runs from

mid-March to Labor Day, she photographs
three to six beach portrait sessions a week.
She attracts new clients via her SEO-savvy
blog and social media and then retains them
with a breezy scheduling and purchasing
process (thanks to her workflow software)
and simply keeping in touch.
These days she credits referrals for her
packed schedule. But in the beginning, it was
the internet and good SEO, she says. When
people are booking a vacation, theyre looking a lot of things up online, and she wanted her studio to show up in searches. She
blogs about 80 percent of her sessions immediately after each sales session, and she
tags clients when she shares those posts on
social media. I got rid of the typical website a couple of years ago and merged my
blog and website into one, she says. The
site automatically updates with new images
each time she blogs a new session. And even
though she blogs a lot, it still takes just 45
minutes of her entire week, she says. Every
time you blog a session, you have another
opportunity to reach somebody.
Keeping in touch with clients post-session
is paramount since some of them return annually or biannually to the Panhandle. The
ShootQ workflow software she uses allows
PPM AG.COM
her to set a reminder to send a specific client

an email about a year after they booked their
initial session. During the winter holidays,
she sends each client a card and a small gift
or a gift certificate for the coming yeara
reminder to schedule a session if they plan
to return.
Pitts also sends clients a questionnaire
when they schedule a session with her,
which helps her learn more about them and
deliver a better overall experience. I really just want to know everyones names and
ages and to ask them what attracted them to
me so I know what theyre looking for, she
says. And I try to ask about any special circumstances with the familyanything from
autism to a broken leg or a prosthetic leg, or
something as simple as, My youngest takes
a little while to warm up.
INTO THE SUN

Pitts signature wide-angle images are captured during the hour before sunset or the
half-hour after sunrise, at times that vary as
the season progresses. She prefers not to incorporate artificial light because it means
keeping the family in one spot, which she
feels diminishes authenticity. But going with
natural light also means embracing a certain
level of grain and trying out different noiseware, she adds. Her photos are backlit, with
the family blocking the sun, which is low
enough in the sky during the golden hour for
that positioning.The light wraps around them
and doesnt give them too much haze or
glare, she says, making for a dynamic image.
Pitts uses the Canon EOS-1D X, an upgrade from the Mark III, because it handles
noise better and the burst frame rate is faster, benefits for chasing kids on the beach.
She rarely stops shooting during her brief 30
minutes with families, capturing photos even
as she chats, trying to loosen them up.
For her wide-angle images, she wants an
organic look, so she often tells the parents to
embrace and then asks the kids to run up to
Mom and Dad and give them a big hug. Or
she simply tells them to play in the water
an easy sell for a vacationing family. I dont
tell them exactly where to go. I set them up
to create a moment, she says. That moment
becomes a memoryforever framed on the
familys wall.
kansaspitts.com
87
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CERTIFICATION STEPS
PERSPECTIVE
THROUGH THE LENS OF PPA
1. DECLARE YOUR CANDIDACY. Fill

out and return a candidacy form with
the $200 application fee.
2. PASS THE CPP EXAM. Study materials and prep classes are available
to help you get ready for the test.
3. PASS THE IMAGE SUBMISSION.
Fifteen unique images are required:
Six are compulsory and nine are representative of your purchased work.
ppa.com/cpp
MICHAEL TAYLOR
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
SETTING YOUR SKILLS APART
by Lori L. Craft, Cr.Photog.

What would you do if you had to hire
someone to capture one of the most important moments for your family and that capture had to be something youd treasure for
the rest of your life? You wouldnt trust that
responsibility to just anyone, would you? I
know I wouldnt.
Id look for someone I could count on, with
the skills and experience to ensure Id re-
90
ceive exactly what I was expectinga treasured family heirloom. As we all know, professional photography doesnt have a barrier
for entry. You dont have to have a college
degree; you dont have to take classes; you
dont even have to have a portrait studio to
be a professional photographer.
But that doesnt mean you shouldnt set
yourself apart as a skilled professional. One
way to do that is by becoming a certified

professional photographer (CPP) through
PPA. The CPP designation shows potential
clients theyre hiring someone who provides
professional-quality goods and services and
whos demonstrated a certain level of technical skill and artistry. In any field, certification
is a sign of authority, and photography is no
exception. Certified is a professional designation the public understands and values.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting
Detroit-area PPA member Shawn Lee. This
year, Shawn has challenged himself to become a CPP. He sees value in attaining the
certification for his business: It will set him
apart in a competitive market and give him
new confidence. I believe Shawn will achieve
his goal and be able to see the benefits of
adding these credentials to his name.
So the question is, Are you certified? Why
not challenge yourself to earn this important credential for yourself and your business
this year? There are currently about 2,200
CPPs on the PPA member roster. And there
are an additional 1,000 in the process of becoming certified. Why not join them?
Strength is in numbers. Find a buddy to
go on this journey with you, or better yet,
put together a whole group. Accountability
will keep you on track, and you can encourage each other throughout the process. Get
on theLoop and join one of the communities
dedicated to the certification process.
For more information on the pathway to
attaining the CPP, visit ppa.com/cpp. I cant
wait to see the list of certified professional
photographers continue to grow this year.
PPM AG.COM
SMALL-TOWN POWER
ADVICE FROM
THE LOOP
Relocating is one of lifes biggest changes and hassles. Maybe youre thinking of
moving or have moved to a smaller town.
Does your photography business have to
suffer just because your potential client pool
shrank? Not necessarily. Ever heard of being
the big fish in the little pond?
This topic was addressed on theLoop
(theloop.ppa.com), PPAs online community, where photographers pose questions to
peers, offer advice, and learn from the trials
and successes of others. Heres the question
and some valuable answers from theLoop
participants:
X
Q: Advertising your work can be tricky depending on where you live. One practice may
work for one area or region but not generate
as many leads in another. Is your studio or
business nestled in a small town? If so, how
are you advertising?
A: 1. I joined mylocalChamber of Commerce.
2. I traveled my local area
and photographed as many
of the attractions, scenic
areas, and landmarks as
I could find. I chose the
best of the best for prints. Some of these now
hangon the walls oflocal businesses (medical facilities, restaurants, attorneys, etc.).
3. While out capturing all those images, I wore my self-promo jacket. Keeping it
simple and easy-to-read from a distance, it
contained nothing more than the business
name, logo, phone number, and specialties
on the back (portraiture, fine art, nature,
travel). I was receiving calls while out shooting andwas asked tostop and talk face-toface with a few callers. This has worked well
in more ways than one, especially while doing a little street photographyin the historic
downtown district, which is very busy.
4. Local and area arts and crafts shows
are great for getting your work out there for
people to see.
If you decide to try any of these, tailor the
ideas to your situation andlocation. Get out and

in touch with people. In most cases, the people reached out to me and asked for my card.
Al Wilson
Al Wilson Photography, Rome, Georgia
A: Join a local business networking group as that will

be time and money well
invested. Connect with
businesses in the area that
market to your ideal customer. See what you can do
photographically first for them. Do they need
photos for their marketing, website, etc.?
Then see what you can do togethermaybe an event to benefit both your businesses
and then they will most likely turn and
want to see how they can help you. I do
co-branded gift cards (5x5-inch cards made
at my lab). The cards have the other business info and logo on one side and my
offer to their customers on the other side.
The business owner then gifts the card to
their best customers. Its a win-win. They
look great for gifting to their clients and I
get business. Id also look into getting involved with a local nonprofit that your ideal customer might be attracted to and do a
charity auction with them.
There are countless ways to get rolling.
Make sure your website is tightly edited,
have good SEO on your site, and carry business cards and marketing materials everywhere with you. Im not sure Id advertise
on your car as it might make it a target for
thieves looking for camera gear.
Tara Patty, CPP
Tara C. Patty Photography,
Colorado Springs, Colorado
A: I will add to this that a
sign on your car can null
and void your regular car
insurance.Check with your
agent, and also know that
your car insurance may
not cover your equip-
ment for theft/damage if you do not have it

covered specifically for business use.
I personally have not found good advertising avenues that work. Client referrals and
business networking seem to be my major
sources. After that it is through my sports
work and direct mail to past clients.
Joanne Fabian
J. Gray Fabian Photography,
Souderton, Pennsylvania
A: The Chamber of Commerce is a must: Be
active. I am an ambassador with our chamber of commerce and I have agreed to trade
chamber event photos for dues.
Bob Messina
Bob Messina 1st Photography,
Valencia, California
A: Meet people, shake their
handsthe more the better. Dont always be in promo mode. Be a real person. Potential clients will
take to that faster than a
slick promo line or other
clich gimmick.
Ask your happy clients to talk about you
to their friends. The request is usually taken
as a mild compliment by your happy client
asan unexpected effect of socialpsychology:
Clients like to feel valued by you, and your
simple request demonstrates that.
I have a private portfolio on my iPad Mini.
Everyone loves to see the latest photos, especially at church dinners (great icebreaker for
those awkward moments between folks who
dont know each other all that much).
Advertising without knowing the demographics of your market does not work well
at all.
Dig into the demographic data that is
freely available at the U.S. Census website. Knowing who my target market is and
digging into the census data some more, I
can figure out how and where to target my
marketing directly to those whom I want as
clients. Knowing your market and how to
break it down into bite-sized units, you can
actually see yourself achieving.
Charles Burgess
Burgess Photography,
Pensacola, Florida
91
ALPHABET SOUP
PERSPECTIVE
THROUGH THE LENS OF PPA
TERMS AND ACRONYMS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ISTOCK
If youve felt in the dark about some of the

terminology on the PPA website or at PPA
events, heres some help.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE: This year-long
educational program teaches studio business skills via interactive, online workshops.
ppa.com/challenge
CALL-A-DOCTOR PLUS: Contact a doctor
any time of day or night and have prescriptions sent immediately to a local pharmacy. Its $8.95 per month for PPA members.
cadrplus.com
CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
(CPP): Certification signifies a level of knowledge and skill. The CPP is earned through
testing and image submission. Certification
is widely recognized by consumers as an as-
92
surance of professionalism. ppa.com/cpp

DEGREES: PPAs degrees include Photographic Craftsman (Cr.Photog.), Master Artist (M.Artist), and Master of Photography
(M.Photog.). To earn a degree, you must be
a PPA member and accumulate 25 merits
through image competition, continuing education, and teaching. ppa.com/degrees
FACES OF PPA: This program seeks profiles
of PPA members, their photos, and inspiring
quotes, which are shared with the world via
social media and Professional Photographer
magazine. ppa.com/faces
FIND-A-PHOTOGRAPHER: Find-A-Photographer is a free 29,000-photographer-deep
database consumers can tap into to search for
a pro in their area. ppa.com/findaphotographer
IMAGING USA: PPAs annual convention is

the largest of its kind, with education sessions, pre-conference workshops, committee meetings, and parties. The next Imaging
USA is in San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 8-10, 2017.
imagingusa.org
INDEMNIFICATION TRUST: Think of it as
malpractice protection. The Trust protects
you from allegations of negligence while on
assignment, including digital image data loss
relating to a paid contracted assignment,
failure to be at the event or assignment at
the specified time, missed or missing images, and client dissatisfaction with services
rendered. ppa.com/indem
IPC: PPA hosts the International Photographic Competition (IPC) annually. Its the
industrys largest and longest running photographic competition. Photographers can
earn exhibition merits for their work. This
is where the annual Loan Collection is determined, which are said to be the best of the
best of IPC. PPA also works closely with Affiliates to enable district photo competitions.
ppa.com/competitions
LOAN COLLECTION: Images that earn a
merit in the International Photographic
Competition are judged a second time for
inclusion in the Loan Collection. Each year,
the Loan Collection is exhibited at Imaging
USA, and its featured in a hardcover book
published by Marathon Press. ppa.com/ipc
NONPROFIT: PPA is a nonprofit organization,
which means the money the association accrues from membership dues and programs
is funneled back into the association to benefit members and the photographic industry.
PHOTOCARE: Up to $15,000 of equipment
insurance coverage is available to members
at no additional cost. It includes protection
from loss due to fire and theft, plus photo
equipment and computer hardware breakage, and off-premises or on-location worldwide coverage. Theres no application required, but you must opt in online at your
My PPA page. ppa.com/photocare
PHOTOVISION: This cinematic-quality video education is available 24/7 to members.
It delivers in-depth knowledge from pros
working in their own studios and on location. photovisionvideo.com
PPA BENCHMARK SURVEY: This program
enables members to take their financial
PPM AG.COM
JUST CALL
PPA CUSTOMER CARE CAN HELP
ISTOCK
pulse and measureor benchmarkthe

health of their studio against the industrys most successful studios. It also provides comprehensive analysis and guidance
for healthy financial management. ppa.com/
benchmark
PPAEDU: This online learning portal offers
education on photography and business topics. It incorporates an assessment tool that
measures your current knowledge level and
then suggests a plan that helps you master
the photographic and business skills you
need most. ppa.com/edu
SEE THE DIFFERENCE: This package of
videos, brochures, and other marketing tools
enables members to show potential clients
what a difference it makes to hire a professional. ppa.com/freeresources
SUPER 1 DAY: Formerly Super Monday, this
program showcases day-long peer-to-peer
education across the country. Programs
take place over the course of two weeks.
ppa.com/super1day
THELOOP: PPAs online social network is
where members ask questions, get answers,
share tips and critiques, and get online peerto-peer support. theloop.ppa.com
WORLD PHOTOGRAPHIC CUP: This Olympics-style photographic competition is a cooperative effort between The Federation of
European Photographers and PPA. Its a team
competition that aims to unite photographers worldwide in a spirit of friendship and
cooperation.worldphotographiccup.org
If you ever have a question regarding your

PPA membershipunderstanding a benefit, how to work toward a degree or certification, details on the International Photographic Competitioncontact the PPA member care center, which prides itself on providing the utmost in quality customer service.
Member care team members get weekly
training and updates to keep them abreast
of the latest news about PPA, says PPA Member Experience Manager Cinnamon Draper.
Were on the right track at the member
care center, primarily being there to serve
our members. Our members are never just

a number, but the lifeblood of PPA. We try
to hear themto connect and respond efficiently and immediately. The teams goal is
to be as accessible and approachable over
the phone as staff would be in person if a
member walked into the Atlanta headquarters. We have high expectations with member care, says Draper. Our goal is always to
give our members a positive experience.
The next time you need to reach PPA with
a member care question, just pick up the
phone and call 800-786-6277.
2016 AFFILIATE SCHOOLS

JUNE 5-9
Kansas Professional
Photographers School
North Newton, Kansas
kpps.com
JUNE 12-15
East Coast School
Photographic Workshops
Raleigh, North Carolina
eastcoastschool.com
JUNE 12-15
Florida Photography Workshop
Daytona Beach, Florida
fpponline.org/school_general_info.php
JULY 17-22
PPSNYS Photo Workshops
Geneva, New York
ppsnysworkshop.com
JUNE 12-17
West Coast School
San Diego
westcoastschool.com
JULY 24-28
Image Explorations
Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia
imageexplorations.com
JUNE 20-23
Winona School of Professional
Photography
Winona Lake, Indiana
winonaphotoschool.org
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LABS
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LABS section of
Ad size:
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
3.625 x 4.33
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For more information,
contact your advertising
For information, contact your advertising
representative:
representative:
TARATRUITT
Eastern &
Western Regions
404-522-8600, x230
ttruitt@ppa.com
MARINA ANDERSON
Central Region
937-902-8217
manderson@ppa.com
94
TARATRUITT
Eastern & Western
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404-522-8600, x230
ttruitt@ppa.com
MARINA ANDERSON
Central Region
937-902-8217
manderson@ppa.com
PPM AG.COM
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THE SHOP
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FINAL FRAME
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CHARLETON CHURCHILL
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Professional Photographer - June 2016

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CONTENTS | JUNE 2016

All the worlds a stage

PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | JUNE 2016

Professional Photographer is the official journal

Photo 2015 Christopher Wilson. 2015 Alien Skin Software, LLC.

Come see how much simpler digital photography can be.

CAUTION COULD HOLD YOU BACK

The issue of safety is on my mind.

COMING NEXT MONTH

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Erics life is basically a reflection of my own,

IMAGES FLORA BORSI

MYTH: Film is dead.

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HAUNTING IMAGES FROM HANDMADE CAMERAS

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David Janesko and Adam Donnelly

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IMAGES FROM THE PPA LOAN COLLECTION

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