Having been a member of the Professional Photographers of America for over 25 years it is always a big deal to attend the convention. For the last few years it has been in the south making it convenient for us. Last year it was in Nashville and before that it was in Atlanta and New Orleans. Next year it will be going back to San Antonio, where I was awarded my Craftsman Degree several years ago. The PPA convention is a time for thousands of professional photographers from all over the world to come together to share and take classes and learn from the best. It also has the biggest ‘toy’ exhibit you have ever seen, the trade show is amazing. A lot of people will go to just the trade show because it is the place to see what is new and get an early jump on everyone else on the hottest new backgrounds and ideas. This year over 10,000 people attended the convention in Atlanta and the speakers were amazing. The trade show was huge and there were so many new products for us to offer our customers that our minds are spinning right now with where to start.
This year’s convention is a little bitter sweet because one of the things that is so great about going is visiting friends who you only see once a year. Over the last year at least three people whom I have loved visiting with have closed there studios, and after attending the convention I learned of even more. Photography is a very interesting profession. Yes! It is actually a profession for some of us. I am always amazed at the number of ‘professional’ photographers who come out of the woodwork, just after Christmas. Can you say Holiday Camera Sales? For those of us who have made our living and supported our families as professional photographers for the last 30 plus years, the lack of any requirements these days to call yourself a professional photographer can be disheartening. There is so much more to being a photographer than having a camera. You have to devote years of learning lighting skills and posing skills for any situation. You also have to learn how much is required to run a business. This takes time, money, equipment and education. After figuring out all of your overhead, taxes and insurance, you have to figure in the number of sessions along with how much you need to be able to really make over the minimum wage to figure your prices. This is something that so many aren’t doing anymore. And by going by the seat of their pants and not putting out quality work, just cheap work, it is hurting the integrity of this business and the many who have devoted there lives to this profession. It is amazing to me what the general public will be OK with when it comes to their loved ones and their history. Call me a hold out or old fashioned and maybe I am, but I am not in the business of giving everything away on CD. I know my work will hang on my clients walls for their lifetime. That it is something that they will treasure forever and hand down to their children. I know this because they tell me so. And I can be proud knowing I captured, to the best of my ability, a milestone of their history and completed the project to the end by delivering a finished portrait with perfect retouching, finishing and framing. Something they cannot get by taking their $100 CD of images to Walgreens.
Bentley Photography