TAPPA Tribune - August, 2014

August, 2014

The Portrait of a Lifetime Print of the Month Winners What Entrepreneurs Need to know Photoshop Tips The TAPPA Tribune Tampa Area Professional Photographers Association

Contents President’s Message

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This Month’s Program

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Parish Kohanim

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Next Month’s Program

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Upcoming Events

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Print Of The Month Rules

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Print Of The Month - Portrait

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Print Of The Month - Unclassified 12 The Portrait Of A Lifetime

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What Do All Entrepreneurs Need To Know?

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Photoshop Tips

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Letter To The Editor

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Committees 22 Board Of Directors 22 Visit TAPPA on FaceBook

On the cover: Photo by Pedro Carillo

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Photo by Constance Avellino

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Question: Who made millions during the 1849 California Gold Rush?

Answer: The people selling pans and pick axes.

A quote from the website www.legendsofamerica.com:

“Though the great majority abandoned their other activities to search for the precious metal, one enterprising Mormon merchant named Samuel Brannan had a better idea. He bought all the mining supplies he could find, and filled his store at Sutter’s Fort with buckets, pans, heavy clothing, foodstuffs, and similar provisions. Then he took a quinine bottle full of gold flakes to the nearest town, San Francisco. There he walked up and down the streets, waving the bottle of gold over his head and shouting “Gold, gold, gold in the American River!” The next day, the town’s newspaper described San Francisco as a “ghost town.” Samuel Brannan quickly became California’s first millionaire, selling supplies to the miners as they passed by Sutter’s Fort.”

What does this have to do with photography, you ask? More than you might realize. There seems to be no shortage of emails in my inbox offering me riches beyond my wildest dreams in the field of photography, if I just buy this DVD, these actions, that marketing kit, this webinar, that seminar, this weekend retreat workshop. And all being sold by people who make far more selling these “shortcuts” than they ever did running a photography business.

So how do you know what is good and what is bad? Easy, if they use all the buzzwords (aka: “Secrets to Success,” “Fast Track to Success,” “Overnight Success,” “Take Your Business to the Next Level,” (notice how they never tell you if that level is up or down?), “Grow Your Business,” “Be a Rockstar,” and the ultimate overused buzzword cliche ever “Turn Your Passion Into a Profit”).

If you were a miner, you’d want to learn how to mine successfully by someone who has done it, or is doing it, not just sold a dream and a wagon full of tools. If you want to become a better, more successful photographer, it only stands to reason that you’d want to learn this business from someone who is skilled at the craft, and/or makes a successful living at it, just like you. TAPPA makes a solemn promise to always bring you qualified instructors - not infomercials.

See you Tuesday!

Kevin E. Newsome TAPPA President TAPPA Tribune

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THIS MONTH’S PROGRAM

Randy Van Duinen

Light Painting the Night Up! A night of Hands On Light Painting with Randy Van Duinen!

Randy will start out by explaining how to light paint through a slide presentation showing you the equipment used, examples of both small table top set-ups and large scale shoots, along with techniques to get your creative juices flowing. He will then do a live presentation where you will actually see him light painting a couple different setups using different techniques.

Meeting Details Tuesday, August July 8, 2014 19, 2014 Social 6:00 Dinner 6:30 Program 7:00

The last part of the presentation, and best part is that it is hands-on!

Member with PayPal RSVP

by Noon August July 1: $25 12: $25

You will be able to make your own light paintings using the setups that Randy has laid out with the lights he has brought with him. So remember to bring your CF card so you will be able to make your own light painting photograph and get advice as you shoot.

After the 12th: 4th: $35 $35

On the 3rd Tuesday this month

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Register online at TAPPA.org Doubletree Hotel 4500 W. Cypress St., Tampa

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NEXT MONTH’S PROGRAM

Get Inspired, Get Motivated…

Create!

Parish Kohanim What does it take to find the artist within and create?

Discover the needed inspiration and motivation with Parish Kohanim, as he reveals his versatile and exciting career of over three decades. He’ll share images throughout his successful years in commercial and fine art photography, giving “behind the scenes” anecdotes and explaining what it takes to put a major shoot together and execute it successfully. Educational as well as inspirational, Parish will also share his philosophy and passion about the art of photography. You’ll learn about breaking old habits and connecting beyond the visual sense for the absolute best image-making.

Parish is currently working on a unique coffee table book on Cirque performers and also speaks about their incredible physical feats and their drive for perfection, along with a series of production shots and videos taken during their many sessions.

Come meet Parish’s challenge to see—and expose—the beauty in all things that surround us in our everyday lives, from landscapes and florals to the human form.

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Meeting Details Tuesday, September July 8, 20149, 2014 Social 6:00 Dinner 6:30 Program 7:00 Member with PayPal RSVP

by Noon September July 1: $25 2: $25 After the 2nd: 4th: $35 $35 Register online at TAPPA.org Doubletree Hotel 4500 W. Cypress St., Tampa

PARISH KOHANIM BIOGRAPHY Commitment, passion and love to elicit “magical beauty” is the paradigm of Parish’s intuitive philosophy of three decades of photography. Consistently original, diverse, inventive and timelessness are the hallmarks of his photography. His uncommon use of colors, whether vibrant or pastel, as well as multitudes of tonalities in his stunning and luminous black & white images have become his distinctive and unique signature and style.

During his career, he has worked commercially for many Fortune 500 Companies, IBM, Coca-Cola, DeBeers to name a few and his work has appeared on the pages of Vogue, Harper’s Bazzar, Forbes, Time and Newsweek. Parish has been a Canon “Explorer of Light” since its’ inception in l994 and a Canon Print Master, which consists of a very exclusive group of photographers worldwide.

Parish was named “One of the World’s Top 100 Photographers” in 2011, 2012 and 2013

by Graphis. In June of 2013 some of Parish’s fine art images were part of an exhibit of American artists shown at the Taylor Foundation in Paris, and now the works are in a permanent collection in Barbizon, FR. Parish has an insatiable desire to explore and expand his artistic horizons and he remains true to his approach to simplicity and to the visual dialogue that is intuitive and innate.

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Upcoming Events

Print of the Month Rules - Prints are to be mounted.

Thursday, July 10, 2014 7-10pm

Ed and Betty

Preparing for Competition Mini Seminar

Tuesday, August 19

Randy Van Duinen Light Painting

Saturday, August 9th thru Wednesday, August 11th

2014 FPP Convention: The Rosen Plaza – Orlando

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Parrish Kohanan

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Matt Kloskowski

From the National Association of Photoshop Professionals

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Lissa Hatcher

Sunday, January 12th thru Tuesday, January 14nd

Imaging USA 2014: imaginguse.org

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- Size: 8x10.

- Electronic Imaging size can be two 8x10 taped together on the back and spread open for viewing.

- Three entries per member each month.

- There must be at least three entries in a category for that category to be included in the monthly competition.

- All entries MUST have your name and the category you wish to enter on the back of the print.

- Prints must be turned in before 6:25 pm.

Prints received after 6:25 will not be accepted!

Winners: - Please send your winning files to POM@TAPPA.org for the newsletter as soon as Possible. Deadline for publication is one week after the meeting.

- Name your files by your last name-place-category. For example Smith-1st-Portrait.jpg - Any resolution 1000 pixels on the longest side or greater is acceptable. JPEG format is preferrable.

Print of the Month - Portrait First Place: Michael Landes

Print of the Month - Portrait Second Place: Constance Avellino

Print of the Month - Portrait Third Place: Pedro Carillo

Print of the Month - Unclassified First Place: Randy Van Duinen

Second Place: Deanna Phillips - not shown

Print of the Month - Unclassified Second Place: Constance Avellino

Print of the Month - Unclassified Third Place: Randy Van Duinen

The Portrait of a Lifetime Helping a friend and veteran leave a legacy

By Penn Hansa

Bruce Roscoe, CPP, orchestrated a portrait session of his best friend, Joe Rowe, that he’ll remember for ages. As a photographer who served in the Vietnam War, taught workshops all over the United States and has been named as one of the top photographers in Arizona, Roscoe has had his share of photographic experiences. But this was the only shoot that he could give credit to fate for making it happen. “It could only have been divine intervention to have everything work out the way that it did,” Roscoe said. “It was that incredible.”

When they finished high school in 1967, Rowe joined the Marines, and Roscoe decided to postpone college to join the army. The army recruiter asked if he had any special skills, and Roscoe told him that he wanted to be a photographer. It was the first thing that came to mind.

In a way, the photo shoot was 58 years in the making: Roscoe and Rowe have been friends since they were eight years old. “If I didn’t see him in 10 years and then I saw him again, it would be just like yesterday,” said Roscoe. “Nothing would change.”

That wasn’t quite what he ended up doing. After he went to school in the military to be trained as a combat photographer, his first orders were to go to Alaska.

The origins of their friendship are a little hazy to both. “We probably met after getting in a fight with each other,” Roscoe guessed. But they both recall the childhood they spent together on the East Coast. They sailed, surfed and snorkeled together at the beach, and spent hours in the forest climbing and exploring.

“We had it great growing up,” Roscoe remembered.

“We didn’t know how poor we were. We bought a bike and it was Joe’s and my bike. So he’d have it for a day, and then I’d ride it for a day, like a family bike.”

“My parents gave me a Brownie Bullet camera when I was younger, and I loved it,” Roscoe said. “I thought I was going to travel and take pictures of kings and queens.”

But it was just a mistake - he was actually supposed to be in Vietnam.

During their service in Vietnam from 1967-68, Roscoe and Rowe never saw each other, and only had vague ideas of where the other was. When they returned, they were changed people. Both suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“It was just different. We had our issues. We never knew what life was going to be like in a warzone.

We changed, not for the good or the bad. We just came back as good as we could be,” Roscoe said.

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For years, Roscoe didn’t touch a camera. “I always had a love for photography, but because of the memories I had associated with a camera, I had to be ok with myself before I got back into it,” he said.

When he eventually returned to the art, portraiture became his specialty.

“I think why I got into portraiture is because some of the pictures I took overseas and some of the ways people’s faces looked told a story. And I thought, Well, you know what - if I can learn how to capture faces in a storytelling way, that’s what

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I need to do. I need to start capturing people and telling a story with their face.”

Roscoe ended up in Arizona and joined PPA in 2008. He became a Certified Professional Photographer in 2010, focusing on photographing the elderly.

“There’s just so much character in their faces. In young people, you don’t have the wrinkles, the character lines, the things that show how much time you’ve been in this world,” Roscoe explained.

“For these people who are grandparents, I want to pull a character out of them to leave a legacy for the younger generations.”

As they lived their lives on separate American coasts - Roscoe in the west, Rowe in the east - they stayed in touch through their families and the occasional phone call. “Joe’s mom was like my mom.

I’d find out from her how he was doing, and she would tell him how I was doing,” Roscoe said.

And then one day, Roscoe got a call from his friend Joe. Rowe told him he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, which his doctor said had been caused by Agent Orange, one of the herbicides and defoliants the U.S. military used as part of the herbicidal warfare program Operation Ranch Hand. The effects of the spraying affect both the Vietnamese and Americans as terrible remnants from a war that no one wants to remember.

Shortly after hearing the news, Roscoe left for Rhode Island to take Rowe’s portrait. It wasn’t a question of obligation, just a sense of duty to his friend and those who loved him. “I was trying to create Joe’s final image for his family,” Roscoe said.

He called the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Wakefield, and they graciously allowed Roscoe to use their hall for a temporary studio. But it left the question of lighting equipment, things that Roscoe couldn’t bring from Arizona for the session. So he did an online search for photographers near Providence and came across Chris Garrison’s studio. Roscoe emailed him and explained what he was trying to accomplish, and asked to borrow his gear. Without hesitation, Garrison he agreed to share his studio’s equipment.

“I didn’t know him before this email,” Roscoe said.

“I asked him why he would let me, a complete stranger, borrow his equipment and he told me, ‘You know, Bruce, I’ve had people help me out when I needed them. I’m just trying to return the favor.’”

photography workshops, came from Connecticut with a makeup artist to help with the shoot. Roscoe, recognizing the importance of the event, also contacted the Providence Journal for a reporter to cover their story.

The shoot only took a little more than an hour.

Rowe arrived and spent an hour with the makeup artist, then Roscoe started doing his job. The Providence Journal sent a reporter, who was also a Vietnam veteran, to interview Rowe. It was as if all the stars had aligned. Everyone who was there that day was there for Rowe and to help create an image that would capture his character. “I felt like a movie star,” Rowe said to his friend. “It lifted my spirits, and we had lots of fun.”

It was a highly emotional shoot for Roscoe, who realized that this would be the last portrait he would take of his friend. “It is crushing to be losing one of the people you can really talk to without having any problems,” he said. “There’s not a lot of people you can call your best friend, and Joe is one of mine.”

Rowe, who works with PeaceTrees Vietnam to raise money for schools and libraries in Vietnamese villages, asked his friend to help make his last wish come true: to see through the completion of a library in the village of Mo O, close to where Rowe was stationed in the war.

Thinking back on the shoot, Roscoe couldn’t believe that it all happened so perfectly. After all, if he didn’t have the venue, the lighting, or the assistant and makeup artist, the final image wouldn’t have been as meaningful as it is for both him and Rowe. “I find it interesting that you can get photographers from all over the country together, and you can make something happen,” he said.

“Nobody got any money from it. There wasn’t any incentive. They were just doing it to help.”

The ties of friendship and kinship, he realized, were stronger than he could have ever imagined.

Fellow PPA member Roger Salls from Roger Salls Photography, who had attended one of Roscoe’s TAPPA Tribune

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What do all entrepreneurs need to know?

By Professional Photographers of America (PPA)

Say hello to your newest guest column! It comes to you from none other than Bridget Jackson, resident guru for all things numbers and profitability.

Bridget is the manager of PPA Business and also a CPA. She’s helped hundreds of photography studios be more profitable and will address some common questions each month. Heed her advice folks--this lady knows her stuff!

What do all entrepreneurs need to know?

By Bridget Jackson, CPA

This is a question I receive frequently, and see it all over the place on other sources of photography advice. Some of it is good, but some, well, you know...

1: If you don’t know your numbers

and how to read them, you’ve got one foot in the proverbial grave of a failed business.

That might seem harsh, but did you know that according to the Small Business Administration (SBA), only 2/3 of small businesses survive two years? The reason they flop is poor accounting.

Let me take that one step further and say that it’s not enough to have your tax return prepared once a year. You have to understand what your numbers mean.

I’ve read through multiple columns on what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and here I present you an abbreviated list of often-overlooked qualifications. It’s not a be-all-end-all list by any means, but these are some takeaways that seem relative in light of the fact that I am a numbers person and a consumer.

PPA is here to help you understand the principles of sound financial management, and it starts with managerial accounting. PPA provides resources to members to help you implement, understand and manage your business based on these principles.

If you are not practicing, I encourage you to follow in the footsteps of what many successful studios have done before you and embrace managerial accounting today.

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An added benefit of visiting the Benchmark Resources is participating in the current survey. Not only will you feel an overwhelming sense of community knowing that you contributed to the only industry-wide financial survey, but that you helped shape the results of the survey. PPA will release preliminary numbers at Imaging USA 2015.

TAPPA Tribune

2: Company culture

drives a successful business

As the boss it is your job to define, provide the resources and participate in the implementation of your company’s culture. Businesses that succeed in this area have an increase in overall employee satisfaction and retention.

For those of you who don’t have employees; don’t feel left out. I have one for you too!

2A). As the sole employee of your studio, you need to be prepared to “take out the trash.”

That’s right, although you won’t have a boss to answer to, you will be left with the potentially unwanted tasks of answering the phones, cleaning, etc. So prepare yourself mentally for these roles. It’s up to you to take care of the dirty work too!

3: Know your competition

and treat them with respect.

Just because someone is a photographer doesn’t mean they are your competition. Continue to evolve yourself as an artist by entering print competitions and by continuing to update your product offerings. Cultivate a professional relationship and level of respect among your peers. Their opinion of you and your business often outweighs others. As a consumer, negative comments by one entrepreneur about another actually have detrimental effects on the business owner making the comments.

One way to rise above is to become an industry expert in your market and lead by example.

Of course, it takes much more than this to create a successful business. But taking these small steps can make a huge difference along the way!

The TAPPA Tribune is published monthly for the membership of the Tampa Area Professional Photographers Association. Its purpose is to share knowledge and insight with the photographic industry.

The deadline for submission of articles and ad changes is the 15th of the month.

Permission is hereby granted to reprint the contents of this newsletter, provided the authors and The TAPPA Tribune are recognized as the source.

The ideas and views expressed do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Tampa Area Professional Photographers Association; they are solely those of the author.

Editor: Chuck Vosburgh 300 62nd Street North St. Petersburg, FL 33710 Chuck@ChuckVosburgh.com 727.743.1740

Advertising: To advertise in the TAPPA Tribune, please contact the editor for rates and distribution information.

Meetings: TAPPA monthly meetings take place the second Tuesday of the month at: Doubletree Hotel 4500 W. Cypress Street Tampa, FL (one block east of Westshore Blvd).

Networking Dinner Meeting

6:00 pm 6:30 pm 7:30 pm

Register online at TAPPA.org

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Photoshop Tips

Provided by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals

More Brilliance In The Eyes

Sharpen Tool 2.0

To make the eyes pop, make a selection of the iris (you can use the Quick Selection tool [W]), and then add an Exposure adjustment layer. If you drag the Exposure slider to the right, you’ll get brighter eyes. But if you also drag the Offset slider to the left, you’ll get more contrast/detail. This is a very easy and fast technique if you like to brighten eyes with details.

If you want to do selective sharpening in Photoshop, you duplicate a layer, sharpen the whole thing, and erase the parts you don’t want; but there’s a better way. Select the Sharpen tool (you’ll recognize it as one you used once and never again because of excessive artifacts)--as of CS5, it just works. Make sure Protect Details is turned on in the Options Bar and paint the areas you want to sharpen.

Provided by Calvin Hollywood

Set Clone Target Points The Clone Stamp tool (S) allows you to set up to five target points from which to clone, using the Clone Source panel. Just click one of the Clone Source icons (rubber stamp) at the top of the panel and then Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on a layer to set the source. Repeat for each Clone Source icon in the panel. This is helpful when you want to pull elements from different parts of an image or even from different images altogether.

Provided by Pete Collins

Provided by Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Use Dodge/Burn Tools To Fix Selection Edges After you’ve cut out an object from one image, and added it to another, sometimes you’ll see areas of light or dark along the edges that were missed in the selection process. Setting the Burn tool’s Range in the Options Bar to Highlights or Midtones, you can darken the light parts to match the rest of the edge. Setting the Dodge tool’s Range to Shadows or Midtones lets you lighten the dark parts to match the lighter edges.

Provided by Pete Collins

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EDITORIAL

What would an outsider think?

Chuck Vosburgh

Recently an anonymous letter to the editor came from a guest that had a negative experience at one of our meetings. It’s normal to get negative feedback from time to time, and you can’t please everyone all the time, but the letter did make a couple of valid points that I think we should all give some consideration to. These points have been made to me by others as well and I ‘d like to share them with you. Essentially there are three points that I believe to be valid and worthy of consideration:

A new member needs a better way to make friends and learn.

Picture this; you’re a new photographer coming to your first meeting with all the nervousness that comes with the unfamiliar. People at the table give you a kind ‘hello” and introduction and go back to their own conversations among themselves. Some may say it’s the new person’s responsibility to get involved, but it’s not. It’s ours. We are ambassadors for our group and our industry. We must go out of our way to include and befriend new photographers or we reinforce the belief that we’re a cliqueish bunch of old dinosaurs clinging to a dying business model.

I propose every new member be assigned a mentor whose job is to answer questions, be a supportive friend and help the new member become involved in our group and a true professional.

Most people come for education and friendships.

We need to provide the very best of both.

I also propose that we create a welcoming committee to help our monthly visitors meet people, feel welcome and to follow up after the meeting.

This committee would also be responsible for assigning a mentor.

We need to realize that the new photographer doesn’t know what we know about business.

Imagine you’re a new photographer who has only been exposed to the words of the so-called “rock-star photographers” with their ill-conceived advice, and the online forums full of other new photographers who have also learned from speakers who have little or no business experience. Now imagine sitting at a table where people are complaining about the only kind of education you’ve only known and they seem to be blaming you for ruining the industry. Sound uncomfortable? Some

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may say it’s the new photographer’s responsibility to get the right kind of education. It is, but what if they’ve never heard our message of a sustainable business that can support a family? We have an ethical and moral responsibility to teach, and that can’t happen if we’ve criticized and insulted the new photographer.

Don’t blame the new photographer, blame the ones who taught him or her, the wrong information.

“

The new photographer is blind to our message because they haven’t heard it.

I propose we put a new emphasis on how photography can be a legitimate business and a viable source of income. Our message of sustainability and legitimate business practices makes sense to anyone who hears it. The new photographer is blind to our message because they haven’t heard it and the few with the right message are frequently viewed as self-righteous and insulting.

A new photographer needs encouragement.

Imagine deciding to pursue photography as a profession and sitting at a table with established professionals, many of whom are complaining about how terrible the industry has become, how hard it is to earn a living and that there aren’t any opportunities anymore. What would you think?

Would you stay? This business is hard, no doubt about it. All businesses are hard. The new photographer needs encouragement, not discouragement. I don’t think there are any of us who haven’t voiced the opinion that this industry is in decline and getting worse. We need to stop it! If you hate this industry, quit and find another line of work. If you love photography, say so!

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”

It’s possible that there’s no way for most of us to continue to earn a living solely from photography and it will become a part-time profession for all but the very top in the profession. If so, let’s make the most of it.

I propose we help each other refrain from negative talk in public. Complaining is human nature, but let’s keep it amongst ourselves and stop discouraging others.

It’s up to us.

This is America and people are free to run their business any way they like as long as it’s within the limits of the law. Even if it’s not in their own best interest. We’re not going to stop the trend. The best thing we can do is help and in doing so, the standards will naturally rise. There’s no one else to do it. It’s up to us.

As for me. I miss the old days. I also believe it’s never been a better time to be a photographer. So, what do you think? Please let me know.

Best regards, Chuck Vosburgh TAPPA Tribune Editor

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2014 Officers President

Kevin Newsome

813 968-2810

Kevin@NewsomesStudio.com

Vice President

Susan Black

813 230-6472

Susan@Bespics.com

Secretary

Carol Hackman

727 867-9254

HackmanC@tampabay.rr.com

Treasurer

Christine Reynolds

813 760-0831

ChristineR@aol.com

Past President

Benjamin Todd

813 431-2873

Benjamin.Todd@Verizon.net

Directors

Constance Avellino

813 600-8152

Me@ConstanceAvellinoPhotos.com

Lee Burgess

813 245-3320

Lee2810@verizon.net

Booray Perry

813 728-7110

Booray@BoorayPerry.com

Melissa Sewell

813 230-7092

Melissa@DontBlinkllc.com

Chuck Vosburgh

727 743-1740

Chuck@ChuckVosburgh.com

Committees Delegate

Julie Johnson

Membership

Melissa Sewell

813 230-7092

Melissa@Dontblinkllc.com

Program

Susan Black

813 230-6472

Susan@Bespics.com

Salon

Constance Avellino

813 600-8152

Me@ConstanceAvellinoPhotos.com

Door Prize

Amber Wilkes

605 351-5865

ambi57106@yahoo.com

Scholarship

Susan Black

813 230-6472

Susan@Bespics.com

Audio Visual

Lee Burgess

813 245-3320

Lee2810@verizon.net

Newsletter Editor

Chuck Vosburgh

727 743-1740

Chuck@ChuckVosburgh.com

813 245-3320

Lee2810@verizon.net

Photographer Web Master

Lee Burgess

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