Miss Karlie came all the way from Manchester for me to take her senior portraits. She was a barrel of fun and up for anything I could throw at her! She even let me get her soaking wet
PPA’s International Print Competition and Annual Exhibition of Professional Photography is known worldwide for setting the standard by which photographic imaging is judged for both artistic and commercial appeal. Earlier this week, a panel of eminent jurors from across the United States selected the top photographs from more than 4,000 submitted entries at Gwinnett Technical College in Georgia. Among those entries were two images created by Kindle the Heart® Photography. Judged against a standard of excellence, over 1,500 images were selected for the General Collection, and just over 600 (15 percent) were selected for the Loan Collection—the best of the best. Loan Collection images are on display throughout the year at PPA headquarters in Atlanta, and at various events worldwide, and will also be published in the much-anticipated “Loan Collection” book.
One of my images has been selected for the esteemed Loan Collection. “My Peeps”, the image of my children and our dog! I am still in shock to be counted among the best of the best!
A small number of entries each year are also chosen for the honor of being included in the “Showcase Book”. This is a book of exemplary work created by photographers all over the world and is published each year. At the beginning of the competition, each judge is given a certain number of tokens – usually between 6 and 10. When an image is considered for the Loan Collection but ultimately is not chosen, any judge that feels it SHOULD have gone into the Loan Collection can select it for the “Showcase Book” by surrendering one of their tokens. Because each judge only has a limited number of tokens and thousands of images to judge, they do not make the decision to use their tokens lightly.
This image I created of Autumn, a 2011 senior from Cannon County during her senior portrait session, entitled “Smitten” was selected for the “Showcase Book”!
My images, as well as all the other images chosen for the General and Loan Collections will be on display at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, January 15-17, 2012, in New Orleans, La. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Imaging USA, an annual convention of professional photographers and several photographic associations. These images constitute one of the world’s largest annual exhibits of professional photography gathered simultaneously under one roof.
Needless to say, I will happily be purchasing a copy of the Loan Collection book, as well as the Showcase Book as soon as they become available
Until next time…
~Michelle
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Victoria is (likely) the last of my 2011 seniors. She and I had such fun! And she had some of the most amazing pictures! This one looks straight out of the Anthropologie catalog to me…
And just to prove she has some sass and spunk, I just have to share this one!
But there’s also a beautiful and sweet side to Miss Victoria…
Victoria, thank you for choosing Kindle the Heart® to be YOUR senior photographer! It was a blast!
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Another year has come and gone, and regional print competition results are in. Before I show my images and share my scores, allow me to explain a bit about the competition and scoring. Each photographer submits four images for competition. Images are prepped and matted according to competition standards. Every image is titled according to the subject matter by the photographer. The ultimate goal of every photographer that competes is to get what is known as a “merit”. This is the equivalent of a blue ribbon or first place score and signifies exemplary professional portraiture. The scoring breakdown is as follows:
Deserving of a Merit 80 or above
Above Average Professional Portraiture 79-75
Average Professional Portraiture 74-70
Below Average Professional Portraiture 69 or below
It seems simple and straight forward, but the judging is stringent and getting that coveted 80 or above is HARD!
At the regional competition held in Athens, GA at the beginning of the month, I managed to achieve one merit! I am doubly proud of this particular merit because it happens to be of my children and our dog, Dixie. Unlike my children, Dixie is quite the camera ham so I decided on a whim to take this portrait of her with the kids and at the last minute, pulled a different image and submitted this one for competition instead. That decision proved to be a good one! With a score of 81, my children and Dixie in “My Peeps”…
My second submission for regional print competition this year was an image I took of one of my Manchester seniors during her portrait session. Miss Taylor is quite the singer, and we captured that in this image. Although this image did not merit, it did score a 77 which is in the “above average professional portraiture” category. The stunningly beautiful Miss Taylor, posing with an antique mic, in “Songbird”…
My third submission is this image of Zach, another of my Manchester seniors. I honestly felt this was the strongest image of all my submissions, but alas I was wrong. Zach, with a score of 77, was titled “Sinatra Remembered”…
My fourth and final image was of Samantha. Although it was the lowest scoring of all my images, it still falls in the “above average professional portraiture” category with a score of 76. Samantha, absolutely glowing in “Dreaming of You”…
So there you have it! Although I’m a bit disappointed that only one of my images was considered merit worthy, I am still proud. Based on these scores, I guess I’m an “above average” portrait photographer LOL! Next stop for at least a couple of these images – International Print Competition! ::cringe::
Until next time…
~Michelle
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Miss Olivia has the privilege of being the last session of 2010. She is a Lipscomb cheerleader this year, and this session was just to show off her cheering skills and uniforms. I’ve got to tell you, she’s pretty amazing!!
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Great pictures Miss Olivia! I can’t wait to show them to Kasen. She misses you at gymnastics.
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