WHY PPETN?
Networking with Other Professionals – One of the most valuable aspects of PPETN is becoming known and building a network of professionals within your area. The photography business can be isolating. Do you ever get sick and need a backup photographer? Have you ever needed a secondary photographer at the last minute? Do you ever need to borrow a piece of equipment that is not cost-effective to purchase? Do you ever need advice about a part of the industry that you haven’t worked or want to discuss a challenging situation? Do you know about the latest trends? Would you like to have a group of friends to help keep the enthusiasm and fire alive in your work? Having a network of friends within the profession can make or break you.
Nationally Renowned and Award Winning Monthly Speakers – PPETN is happy to present professional photographers speaking on various topics of interest within the professional photographic community. Topics range from business practices to capture technique to post-production work – anything that will help you as a professional expand and grow your business. Photoshop and Lightroom techniques help you bring your photographic skills to the next level, and marketing ideas help you advertise your business and reach your clients in creative and interesting ways. Also, speakers sometimes discuss creative lighting techniques to help your images have a dramatic look, which is a bit of a lost art in today’s industry. After all, that is what photography is all about–finding the LIGHT!
Monthly Print Competition – This is a great opportunity to get valuable feedback on possible variations on your images from professional photographers who have been in the business for years. This monthly 8×10 print competition is open to all active, aspiring, and studio members. Each submission requires a donation of $3 per print towards the Michael Laughlin yearly scholarship (if offered that year). Winner are often After the prints are displayed, all active, aspiring, and studio members may vote for the competition. The winning images as well as the artist’s name and studio are displayed on the PPETN website with back-links to your website. This helps your website show up higher on website searches. It is also a great opportunity for promoting you business. At the end of the year, the photographer with the most winning photographs will be awarded the PPETN’s Photographer of the Year at the annual Christmas Party and Awards Banquet here.
Annual Print Salon - In February of every year, PPETN has their Annual Print Salon where members are welcome to submit images for judging by professional PPA judges. Each year there will be various categories such as Portrait, Illustrative, Commercial, Pets and others that will be given Best in Show, 1st Place and distinguished awards. This is an opportunity to hear how to improve the quality of your work as well as market your professionally awarded images (if you are so lucky). The winners are also recognized at the Christmas Party and Awards Banquet. Some of the photos are used in media press releases as well.
Photo Safaris - Periodically, PPETN will also have Photo Safaris. Models will be provided and this is a great opportunity to watch and ask more advanced photographers about the way they capture workflow, how they technically photograph, how they interact with subjects, and much more. Often, we meet afterwards for a meal and sometimes there is a print competition the next meeting.
Membership Page with back-link to Your Website – All members are listed on our Members Page. PPETN is ranking higher and higher on local searches for professional photographers. So your credibility as a professional increases as well as customers may be driven to you through the PPETN website. Also, there is a back-link to every member’s website as well. This helps your website show up higher on website searches.
Christmas Party and Awards Banquet - In December we have our social Christmas Party and Awards Banquet which is a great opportunity to get to know professional photographers within your region on a more personal one to one basis. These are a lot of fun and this is the meeting when the PPETN Photographer of the Year is awarded, when the outgoing Board of Directors are thanked for all their work, and when the new board members are introduced and inducted.
These are just a few of the reasons to join PPETN.
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