VPPA Blue Ridge Newsletter

March 2013

In This Issue

From the

Governor

From the Lt.

Governor

Upcoming

Events

Quick Links

Blue Ridge Board

Governor

Sharon Davidson, CPP

Email Sharon

Lt. Governor,

Michael Corbin

From the Governor

Hello Blue Ridge! I hope you are feeling rested after a fantastic convention! Jim Carpenter

did a wonderful job. It was so good to see everyone! Hopefully you are feeling more

inspired and ready to implement some of the things you learned into your business.

Our district did a great job in print competition! Here is a list of those receiving blue ribbons

and any additional awards the images received, plus scholarships and degrees received

my our members:

Teresa Bernard 4 Golden – HS Senior, Court of Honor

William Garrett 3 Stuck to the Glass – Best Art/Restor.

Elegance of the Past – Art/Restor., Court of Honor

Kevin Hurley 2 Move Over Rover – People’s Choice

Jeff Loope 1 Elements of Taste – Commercial Court of Honor

David Lee Michaels 3

Melissa Morgan 2 Dora the Explorer – Child Court of Honor

Location, Location, Location – Justice Award

Jennifer Stoneman 1

Shannon Turner 6 Model RSR – Best Commercial

Maimed – Best Pictorial

The Worley Family – Virginia CPP

Colin – Best Portrait Album

Lisa Carter CPP Scholarship

Melissa Morgan O'Neal Scholarship

David Lee Michaels, Sharon Davidson AFP

Kevin Hurley 2nd star

Secretary, Lisa Akers

Email Lisa

Treasurer, Brian Muncy

Email Brian

Quick Links

VPPA

PPA

Congratulations to everyone!! I apologize in advance if I missed anyone! If I did, please let

me know.

I am attaching a link to a PPA webinar that we in the Blue Ridge have access to. It is "Post

Capture: Textures Using Photoshop" with Michael Barton. We will have access to this

webinar until the end of 2013. I hope you enjoy it! You will be asked to enter your name and

email address.

Michael Barton – Post Capture: Textures Using Photoshop (https://ppaevents.webex.com/ppaevents/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=5205552&rKey=0dfcd45a9bd32488)

I do hope that you will begin immediately implementing something that you learned into

your business, and it is important to start immediately. By now we have all had time to digest

what we learned. We should have some idea of what we want to do and how we can work

that into our businesses. I have my list, and I am working on accomplishing those things.

However, there is one thing I am going to try to keep in mind as I do so.

Have you ever heard the saying, 'If you chase two rabbits, you are likely to catch none?'

I have several ideas and I know that I personally must focus on one if I have a chance of

"catching" the idea and making it work. Think of your ideas as rabbits, which are very quick

and agile. You aren't likely to catch any of them if you try to chase them all at the same time.

You will end up exhausted, frustrated, and right back where you started.

If you do have several rabbits that you want to chase, try to catch one at a time. Chase the

one that will do you the most good in the short term. You will be excited and motivated by

reaching your goal, and you will be even more prepared the catch the next one.

I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting!

Happy Catching!!

Sharon

From the Lt. Governor

It seems like only last week we had the VPPA annual convention, with knowledgeable

expert speakers from whom I trust all of us learned things needed to improve our photography,

increase our motivation, and supercharge our businesses. Wait, it WAS last week! So here

we are, time for the Blue Ridge regional meeting, and we are planning to top the convention

experience. Tall Order, you say?

I say, let’s go for it.

On Monday, March 11, from 2:00 PM to 7:30 PM, Sue Rakes comes to Roanoke for

the meeting at David Lee Michael’s studio.

Who is Sue Rakes, you ask? She’s the principal of Sue Rakes Photography and one

of the few who’ve earned Master of Photography as one of the top 3% of photographers in the

country. Her work speaks for itself -- look below and judge for yourself.

She will improve your lighting outdoors and take you step-by-step through the process

from location choice to final output. Beginning with a discussion about choosing outdoor

locations before we head over to Wasena Park, she’ll show us how to find the perfect spot

and how to light and photograph it. She will then lead us through her workflow in

Lightroom after dinner at Big Lick Barbeque.

I know that Winter 2013’s Snowmagedon is happening this week. But you know

how snow is around these parts. It’ll be gone in a few days, in fact a special request has

been put in with The Powers That Be for Monday, and the Weather Guessers currently say

mostly sunny and 62 degrees (as I write this). So there is no excuse for you not to be there.

Spending the afternoon in the company of someone with so much to share is the best use

you could possibly make of the afternoon.

David Lee’s studio is at 905 Winona Avenue. His phone number is 540-342-9129,

and it is important folks RSVP by calling him or emailing him at

davidleemichaelsphotography@cox.net to let him know how many chairs to set out.

Unless you dig sitting on the floor, of course.

Upcoming Events

* April 8-Meeting, Speaker Michael Corbin, Lynchburg, VA

By popular request, I will be doing a walk-through on how (and why) to register your

copyrights. Besides letting folks watch as I register my own, bring your laptop and we'll get

everything you've shot since the first of the year registered, too. Way too few of us do

register our work, and then we whine when it gets stolen because there's almost nothing we

can do about it. Registration gets you the leverage to actually do something about the blatant

theft of your photographs.

*SEPPA April 13-16, 2013, Athens 4seppa.com

If you have any suggestions or if you have an article you would like to be published in the

newsletter, please email Lisa Akers (lisacakers@yahoo.com).