Western Australian Australian Institute of Professional Photography 2014 Awards

Well a couple of weeks ago we had the Western Australian Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) Awards... and I was fortunate to have achieved five silver awards in the Illustrative and Landscape sections.
The award winnings are the ones with the silver award at the bottom right of the print. I almost didn't enter this year as I was still very unwell in post surgery recovery. Glad I did now.





The Nikon AIPP Then Event: Day Four part two

... ok the down hill run....  Two more sessions to go.

First was Steve Saporito, who spoke on portrait marketing.  What I got out of Steve's talk was the importance of market segmentation, and being clear with your marketing with each of the segments. Other messages included strategic alliances, and understanding what the people you are serving value.

Next and finally was the industry forum hosted by SBS Insight host and journalist Jenny Brockle, on the topic of "what makes for a professional photographer".

Now my initial reaction was - brave choice, she will have to work this hard but it was really fascinating to hear from a number of the panel members and the audience on diverging or similar views.  Certainly, there was a theme that there are clear difference between the degree of professionalism, consistent technical competence, craft/skill, business acumen and adhering to a industry code of conduct.  It was clear that gear is not the key point, which is just as well as the barriers to entry into the industry are tumbling down.  Personally, experience and expertise and in a lot of instances, relationships are important.  It was good to see that the new Continuing Professional Development program seemed to get a big tick, with the intent of ensuring contemporary skill development with the ultimate aim of branding and recognising an Accredited photographer.

The panel members were... awesome (yes I know... awesome again), with a high degree of insight. Jenny did a great job in exploring the topic.  In all, a great discussion that seemed to pass very quickly.

Then at the end I had an opportunity to talk with Rosh Sillars for a bit, which was a real treat. Thanks Rosh for the time.

All in all I was very impressed with the scale, scope and professionalism of the conference.  The mix was great, and evidenced a well thought out conference program that had something for everyone.  I would highly recommend attendance at next years event, which will be in NSW from the 26 - 29 Aug 2012... and I'm already booked in!

ok, back to the normal programming.

Boy, I'm knackered... The 2011 Nikon AIPP The Event Conference, Day Three

What an amazing day! Full on and impressive, and I think my head hurts, but I'm too tired to be sure.

Day Three of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, annual conference, 2011 Nikon AIPP The Event. (and no it's not just a Nikon event, they are the head sponsors... It's very ecumenical! ;-)

The morning kicked off with an amazing gentleman, and landscape photographer, Andris Apse.  Andris is a New Zealand landscape photographer, who is very talented, tenacious and humble.  Anyone that will camp onto of a mountain for a couple of weeks to get the right shot is awesome, and his work speaks for itself.  I had the pleasure of having a great chat with Andres at the cocktail party after Tony Hewitt introduced us.  I have to confess I had no idea who he was, and I was stuck with what a nice guy he and his wife were..., and very geniune.  Next morning, he was giving the keynote address which made everyone very quiet! Andris's website www.andrisapse.com

Speaking of Tony, another nice guy (shit, I hope he doesn't read this!).  He is the MC for the event.  Tony was recently awarded Grand Master Photographer, and is another very talented guy.  Also he is extremely passionate about increasing the professionalism and education of the professional photographic community, and a real gentleman who actually goes out of his way to help the 'baby' photogs.  Anways I disgress, Tony's talk was next, and was very entertaining and insightful.. all about connecting with people. Tony Hewitt's webiste

Next was a talk by Gavin Blue, President of Heartfelt and the Australian Commercial and Media Photography association, to those photogs thinking of joining the Heartfelt community.  What is Heartfelt?  Ahh, I'm glad you asked...

Heartfelt is a volunteer organisation of professional photographers from all over Australia dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature and ill infants and children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of their local hospitals, as well as children with serious and terminal illnesses.

Heartfelt is dedicated to providing this gift to families in a caring, compassionate manner with all services provided free of charge.  http://www.heartfelt.org.au/

Yes, I will be applying.

Next, was a very quick lunch beak then off to Mercury Megaloudis's talk on keeping the passion alive.  In which he talked about what drives, motivates and challenges him to remain a highly awarded photographer...  including my favourites his dog portraits, for which he was awarded Portrait Photographer of the Year in 2008!  He's got a heap of other awards too. http://www.mega.com.au/ws/

Then off to a Peter Eastway, Kayell and Epson sponsored hands on workshop on Fine Art file preparation and printing.  Thank you for Peter for all the information, and to Kayell and Epson for access to the computers, printers and great Canson papers.  I printed up my iconic calla lily image and a portrait of Damien on an amazing fine art paper.  VERY IMPRESSED... I'll do a shot of them tomorrow as the light in the room wont do them justice.

So that was Day Three... I'll go back and do a bit of an overview of Days One and Two tomorrow... as I need to pass out!