Good afternoon! I hope each and every one of you are doing well!

As president, I wanted to give you an update on our association, some changes coming, and the activities we have planned so far.

PHOTOWORKS

Photoworks is next week! Have you registered? We can accept last minute registrations at gppa.com.

IMAGE COMPETITION

Image competition will be held at PPA headquarters on July 15. As we announced at Exposed last fall, we are no longer holding this event during Exposed. This places our competition in a better position in the calendar year between other regional competitions and IPC. This will give you time to have your images judged, and get an idea of your scores before moving to the next level competition. Plus, we'll have time to have any awards engraved and ready for the awards banquet at Exposed!

EXPOSED

Exposed will be October 3-4, 2020. As always, it will include amazing speakers and vendors, our awards banquet, membership meeting, and a chance to hang out with your photography family! We are holding a shorter state-wide convention in an effort to bring you a greater variety of activities and seminars throughout the year. We're excited about this new direction and hope it will mean more members can get involved. Watch your email and the website for forthcoming details about the venue and speakers.

CHANGES IN MEMBERSHIP RATES

Now, let’s talk about our membership rates. GPPA hasn’t raised rates in about 15 years. We have done our best to bring you the quality programming and content you deserve. To bring you even more content and continue improving that content, we have to increase our fees by a small amount. We are implementing a small increase in our membership rates that amounts to roughly 12% for yearly memberships. Monthly rates will increase more, so switching to a yearly membership will get you the best rate. These changes will take effect April 1, 2020.

You can see the complete list of membership levels and rates by clicking here.

TIM PRIEST AND SANDRA PEARCE.

We have two 2-day workshops coming up. Tim Priest is teaching a 2-day commercial photography workshop in April. This is a great chance to learn how to add commercial imaging to your offerings. Sandra Pearce, a master at painting in Photoshop, will be here in July for another 2-day event. Watch for those official announcements in your email and on gppa.com!

GET INVOLVED ONLINE AND IN PERSON

We continue to have an active online and in-person community. Follow us on Instagram at @gaprophotographers, and join our Facebook group at @gppamembers. Watch your email and gppa.com for information on member-led workshops, gatherings, and portfolio-building opportunities throughout the year, all over the state of Georgia.

In closing, the GPPA has served the professional photography community of the state of Georgia since 1959. I’ve been a member for most of my 26 years as a professional. I can tell you many stories of how I have been challenged and encouraged professionally, the friendships made, and the success experienced as a result of my being a part of this great group of people over those years.

We are writing new pages in the future of GPPA, and you are a huge part of it!

On behalf of your board of directors, I thank you!

As always, please contact me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions! My cell is 678-524-2501, and my email is mark@turnerphotodesign.com.

Sincerely,

Mark Turner, CPP, GSD, GFD

President, GPPA

Q: How long have you been in photography ? full time , part time? 

I have been in photography for a little over six years, on a part-time basis. My goal is to work my side hustle to the point where I make enough income that I can quit my full-time job and be a full-time traveling wildlife and landscape photographer.

 Q: Do you have pets that you are close to ?

I have an American pitbull terrier who is almost 7 years old and has been my sidekick for six years.

 Q: Have you always lived in ga? 

I grew up in New Jersey and Israel, but I have lived in Georgia since I was 18. I came here for college and graduated from Oglethorpe University.

Q: What do you do when you are not at work?

When I’m not at work, I am working my side business or I am out photographing.

 Q: Are you in any other groups besides GPPA? 

PPA and a couple of local photography groups. 

 Q: What advice can you give for someone just starting?

Practice. Practice practice practice, and when you get tired of practicing, practice some more.

https://facebook.com/SherryRosenPhotography

Art By Cheri 

Cheri Hammon CPP, M. Photog., M. Artist, MEI, Cr., F-ASP 

P.O. Box 51918  Idaho Falls, ID83405 

404.316.2622    Cheri@artbycheri.net    www.artbycheri.net 

Cheri began her career in 1986 as a photographic retouch artist at Fitz-Symms Photographers in Augusta Ga. She did negative and print retouching, hand tinting as well as artwork for copy and restoration of old photographs. She's done retouching and artwork for many of the finest portrait photographers in the country. Since 1999 Cheri has offered commissioned paintings in Corel Painter and fine art printing to Professional Photographers world wide.  

Cheri is a member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA).  She is a CPP and been awarded all four degrees,  Master Photographer, Master Artist, Craftsman and MEI.  She was awarded the Georgia Fellowship Degree from the Georgia Professional Photographers Association (GPPA) and was named Georgia Professional Photographers Association’s “2006 Photographer of the Year”. She is currently a member of the Professional Photographers of Idaho where she was named 2013 and 2014Master Photographer of the Year. She was named “Master Photographer of the Year for 2019 in WY (where she is a member but does not live) Cheri recently received the American Society of Photographers Fellowship Degree at the IUSA convention in 2018.  

Cheri’s fine art paintings only begin as a digital photograph, then they are painted by hand, stroke by stroked using Corel Painter, tablet and stylus and then printed as pigmented ink on fine art paper or canvas giclee. Her photographs and paintings have won numerous awards and havebeen published in the PPA Showcase and Loan Collection books and recently in the Painter Showcase book.  Cheri also  in 2013 was awarded the “Canon Par Excellence Award” at the Western States District Print Competition.  

Cheri moved from GA to Idaho Falls, IDin 2011 and is looking forward to a new adventure with her husband Dennis Hammon. Find Cheri on Facebook as Cheri Fitzgerald Hammon and Art By Cheri and on the website www.artbycheri.net. 

Artist’s statement: 

I feel the need to help the viewer to see with their hearts as well as with their eyes.  

Head over to the Facebook group and join in on the fun photography gratitude challenge! Who knows...maybe the gift fairy will have a surprise for someone at the end of the month!! 

We are excited for this weekends big event! Our annual Exposed Convention is about to start tomorrow! We have 4 fun filled days planned and are looking forward to see old friends and new faces. All the information you need can be found on the Exposed Schedule Page.

On Sunday we will have our General Membership meeting. Please plan to attend so you know what the board is doing for you as well as hearing about all the big events coming in 2019 as we celebrated GPPA's 60 anniversary! The 2017 minutes are up for review on the membership page if you would like a recap.

We hope to see you soon!

I simply cannot believe I am writing this, but the sad reality is that I must share this with everyone who is a part of our GPPA family. I want to share the truth, while devastating, and hope to avoid rumors and confusion. 

It is with a heavy heart that we report that Katie Jiminez, wife of our outstanding Executive Director Kevin Jiminez, died the evening of January 26 from the flu. Most of you knew Katie, a vivacious, outgoing, vital member of our community. She was more than the wife of our Executive Director. Katie was as loyal and dedicated to this organized as anyone you could ever hope to find. An accomplished photographer, Katie served as the committee chair for the Georgia Photographic Competition for many years. She had just received her Master of Photography degree at Imaging USA earlier this month. With Kevin, she helped run and administer Photoworks and was a participant or volunteer at most GPPA events. In many ways, she embodied the soul of GPPA. Her enthusiasm, dedication, and expertise will be sorely missed.

As president this year, I can only hope that Katie's shocking passing will only draw this family even tighter together. In the coming days, there will be lots needing to be done and I pray our GPPA family will rally together as an organization to lift up Kevin, her family, her friends, and each other during this time.

We love you and will miss you Katie. Always.

In preparation for the upcoming membership meeting on Sunday October 1st, please look at the proposed rewrite to the GPPA Code of Ethics & Bylaws. We also have 3 potential new directors being nominated to the board, these 3 women are all incredibly talented photographers and would bring new ideas and creativity to the board!

If you are unable to attend Exposed this year, your vote is still important!  You will find a proxy ballot PDF that you can fill out and have brought by another member to the meeting. 

Just a reminder...please take a look at your member profile and update any items that may be wrong or missing. This helps us keep you up to date on events and important information.  

After you log into your account, click on your name which should open a dropdown menu. From there you can choose to edit your profile.

We are also adding new content to the website to make it easy to search for photographers by area or specialty so make sure to check the appropriate boxes !

Thank You!

It's time to share your favorite 2 images that say "Summer" to you! This is open to all members and can be posted in the album here

The Members 5 Favorite  based on likes & Board Favorite images will be announced at the beginning of August!

GPPA is pleased to welcome Natalie Franke, photographer, creative entrepreneur,and founder of the Rising Tide Society. Natalie will be speaking on "Mobilization Marketing".  

For a sneak peak you can read her blog post  on "5 Tips for a Successful Launch"and learn more about her here. 

Don't miss this dynamic woman!! Register for Exposed today!