PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER • APRIL 2018

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 CONTENTS | APRIL 2018 ppmag.com

©ALAN ROSS
62

©STEFAN FORSTER
©LEVON BISS

44 54
4 PPM AG.COM
 DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES

44 A project with legs IN EVERY ISSUE

Levon Biss’ larger-than-life bug portraits 8 Editor’s note
By Amanda Arnold
13 Giveaway
18 On the cover
54 One more hill
18 Merited
Globe-trotting Stefan Forster’s relentless quest
By Robert Kiener 74 President’s message
74 Perspective
62 Alan Ross: A little bit of talent, 82 Final frame
a little bit of chutzpah,
and a little bit of luck
An unpretentious icon shares the FOREGROUND
greatest lessons of his career
11 Catching air
By Jeff Kent
12 Lofty perspective
14 Sloth life
16 Photography after dark

On ppmag.com
This and more on our home page SUCCESS
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26 Performance of a lifetime:
Review: Capture One’s significant update Adding a sideline
ppmag.com/capture-one-11 By Jeff Kent

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Clyde Butcher is a force of nature
ppmag.com/clyde-butcher 35 Little slugger:
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Darren Roberts’ weddings with a Rocky view
36 Pro review:
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Learn how Loan Collection images are made By Stan Sholik
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Stay in the know with Top Picks
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Professional Photographer (ISSN 1528-5286) is published monthly for $27 per year (U.S. rate) by PPA Publications and Events, Inc., 229 Peachtree Street, NE, Ste. 2200, Atlanta, GA 30303-1608.
Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, Ga., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Professional Photographer magazine, P.O. Box 7126, St. Paul, MN 55107.

PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018 5

Professional Photographer is the official journal PPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS PPA STAFF
of Professional Photographers of America
President Chief Executive Officer
*Stephen Thetford David Trust, CAE
Director of Publications EDITORIAL OFFICES M.Photog.Cr., CPP trustd@ppa.com
Jane Gaboury Professional Photographer sthetford@ppa.com
jgaboury@ppa.com 229 Peachtree Street NE Chief Financial Officer
Suite 2200 Vice President Chief Operating Officer
Senior Editor Atlanta, GA 30303-1608 U.S.A. *Audrey L. Wancket Scott Kurkian, CAE
Joan Sherwood (404) 522-8600 M.Photog.Cr., CPP skurkian@ppa.com
jsherwood@ppa.com awancket@ppa.com
Director of Certification
SUBSCRIPTIONS Treasurer
Associate Editor Julia Boyd, CAE
Professional Photographer *Gregory Daniel jboyd@ppa.com
Amanda Arnold
P.O. Box 7126 M.Photog.Cr., CPP, F-ASP
aarnold@ppa.com
St. Paul, MN 55107 gdaniel@ppa.com Director of Events
Art Director/ (800) 742-7468 Fiona Corbett, CMP
Production Manager subscriptions@ppa.com Chairman of the Board fcorbett@ppa.com
Debbie Todd *Rob Behm
dtodd@ppa.com TO RENEW OR SUBSCRIBE M.Photog.Hon.M.Photog.Cr., CPP Director of Publications
ppmag.com/subscribe rbehm@ppa.com Jane Gaboury
Editor-at-Large (800) 742-7468 jgaboury@ppa.com
Jeff Kent Directors
jkent@ppa.com PPA MEMBER SERVICES Mary Fisk-Taylor Director of Membership
Professional Photographers M.Photog.Cr., CPP, ABI, API Kristen Hartman, CAE
Contributing Editors mfisktaylor@ppa.com khartman@ppa.com
of America
Don Chick & Ellis Vener
(800) 786-6277
Barbara Bovat Director of Sales and
Director of Sales csc@ppa.com, ppa.com Cr.Photog. Strategic Alliances
& Strategic Alliances bbovat@ppa.com Wayne Jones
Wayne Jones Periodicals postage paid in Atlanta, wjones@ppa.com
(404) 522-8600, x248 Ga., and additional mailing offices. Jeffrey Dachowski
wjones@ppa.com M.Photog.Cr., CPP Director of Education
POSTMASTER jdachowski@ppa.com Angela Kurkian
East Regional Sales Manager Send address changes to M.Photog.Cr., CPP
Marina Anderson Professional Photographer Clark Marten akurkian@ppa.com
(937) 902-8217 P.O. Box 7126 M.Photog.Cr., CPP
manderson@ppa.com St. Paul, MN 55107 cmarten@ppa.com Director of Information
Technology
West Regional Sales Manager Steve Kozak and Administration
Brian Sisco M.Photog.Cr., CPP Scott Morgan
(404) 522-8600, x230 skozak@ppa.com smorgan@ppa.com
bsisco@ppa.com
Kira Derryberry Director of Human Resources
Advertising Services Manager M.Photog.Cr., CPP Wilda Oken
Cheryl Pearson kderryberry@ppa.com woken@ppa.com
cpearson@ppa.com
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Advertising Services Coordinator M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API Communications
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Industry Advisor
Michael Hanline *Executive Committee
mhanline@ppa.com of the Board

Professional Photographer, official journal of the Professional Photographers of America Inc., is the oldest exclusively professional photographic publication in the
Western Hemisphere (founded 1907 by Charles Abel, Hon.M.Photog.), incorporating Abel’s Photographic Weekly, St. Louis & Canadian Photographer,
The Commercial Photographer, The National Photographer, Professional Photographer, and Professional Photographer Storytellers.
Opinions expressed by Professional Photographer or any of its authors do not necessarily reflect positions of Professional Photographers of America, Inc.
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Copyright 2018, PPA Publications & Events, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.

6 PPM AG.COM
 DO IT YOURSELF
THE GLORY OF EARNED KNOWLEDGE
LEADING LINES
EDITOR’S NOTE

u Here’s the thing about experience: It’s nontransferable. We can talk, explain,
describe, but we can’t simply gift our earned experience to others and spare them
their own arduous journey toward understanding. If only we could. Imagine how
far along the human race would be if each of us didn’t have to duplicate what
millions of others had already learned firsthand. Think of the hours we all prac-
ticed standing on two feet just to prepare
ourselves for our first wildly out-of-con-
trol steps. Let alone memorizing multi- Any skill would be
plication tables and committing prayers, cheap if we could
poems, and soliloquies to heart.
It’s both the heartbreak and the glory
just acquire it for
of being human that we cannot bestow the asking.
experience on others. Our children have
to chip their own teeth in unbalanced bi-
cycle falls, suffer their unique disappointments, and feel the pains that we’d love
to spare them. Our friends must mend regrettable moments of poor judgment. On
the other hand, how drab our lives would be if we each didn’t have the opportuni-
COMING NEXT MONTH ty to experience the exhilaration of finally driving a five-speed car without killing
What’s holding you back the engine. It’s the failed attempts—the stalls and jerky gear changes—that give
It might be you the accomplishment value to us.
The storied career of internationally acclaimed photographer Alan Ross is en-
A system for sales
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as William Garnett, Milton Halberstadt, and Ansel Adams. Ross learned the craft
from some of the most accomplished and noteworthy photographers of the day.
While he claims his career is the result of “a little bit of talent, a little bit of chutz-
pah, and a little bit of luck,” (page 62) we know there’s an essential ingredient he
©HUDSON’S PORTRAIT DESIGN

doesn’t mention: the experience earned by working through every detail himself.
We can only imagine how his learning by doing played out over the hours and the
years of his professional journey.
The value of learning by doing is also expressed in this issue by photographer
Levon Biss (page 44). His career path is far different from Ross’. But he points
out that he gets frequent requests from his peers to detail the method and equip-
ment he uses to photograph his tiny subjects in meticulous detail. “But half the
beauty of these things is learning the process, coming up with the vision in your
All the possibilities own head,” he explains. Any skill would be cheap if we could just acquire it for
Explore the potential of tilt-shift lenses the asking.
Experience is nontransferable, but even if we could accept an experience trans-
fer, would we really want to miss out on the all the doing that’s needed to gain
meaningful knowledge? All the trials and errors and small achievements and
STAY IN TOUCH hours and setbacks and milestones and thrilling aha moments? I don’t know if
I’d even trade a chipped tooth. •
editors@ppa.com twitter.com/ppmagazine

facebook.com/ppmagazine pinterest.com/ppmagazine

Jane Gaboury
instagram.com/professionalphotographer_mag Director of Publications

8 PPM AG.COM
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 FOREGROUND
by Amanda Arnold
CATCHING AIR
KNOWING HIS NICHE
Omar Z. Robles captured this street portrait in Cuba, where a stray
Chihuahua nipped at the subject’s feet as he posed and performed
dance moves.
“When I travel, I try to use the elements that are around me,” New
York-based Robles says. The dog was not part of the plan. But it
“would just not go away. So we said, just use it and keep going.”
Robles’ background in dance—he worked as a mime for 10 years
©OMAR Z. ROBLES
PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018
before taking up photography—inspired him to delve into an
ongoing street photography series featuring dancers leaping
and posing in urban environments. He credits his dance exper-
tise for his photographic success, which has led to recent jobs
for Jaguar, The Gap, and Pottery Barn. Knowing how a dance
movement should look—the proper lines—and snapping at
just the right moment is important, as is selecting superior
dancers as subjects. “I’m very meticulous about the people I
work with.”
11
 LOFTY

IMAGES ©JEFFREY MILSTEIN

PERSPECTIVE
TOP OF MIND
FOREGROUND

LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK FROM ABOVE

u Long transfixed by the view from
above (he got his pilot’s license when
he was just 17), Jeffrey Milstein’s
new photobook “LANY” features
aerial imagery of edifices in Los
Angeles and New York. Reflecting
his background in architecture and
art, Milstein’s compositions reveal
the order and beauty of architec-
tural forms from a bird’s-eye view.

THE AIRCRAFT: Milstein makes his

photos from either a Cessna 182
airplane or a small gas engine heli-
copter. With the Robinson helicop-
ter, which has two rows of seating, Milstein sits in the back; with the
two-seater Schweizer, he sits in the front with his camera equipment
wedged between him and the pilot.

12 PPM AG.COM
 THE PLAN: Milstein maps a flight plan for particular structures he’d
like to photograph. Having such a plan is especially important in
big cities like New York and Los Angeles, where a flight clearance
may be required ahead of time. He always flies at the end of the day,
usually planning for two hours of air time, making photographs
during the golden hour and just as the sun goes down and the city
lights go up.

THE SETUP: To get straight-down shots, the helicopter door is re-

SEN IOR19
moved prior to the flight. When Milstein sees something he’d like
to photograph, he instructs the pilot to make sharp turns so that MARKETI NG
the copter leans toward the ground (he’s of course strapped in by
a seatbelt). Unfortunately, making these tight turns means “pulling
Gs,” which causes the aircraft to shake. Milstein uses a gyro attached
to the bottom of his camera to correct for vibration. It’s heavy and
unwieldy, but it does the job, he says.

THE EQUIPMENT: Most of the photos in “LANY” were made with a

Phase One IQ 180 or a Phase One IQ3 digital back. With the IQ 180,
Milstein used an ALPA 12 TC camera with either a 60mm Roden-
stock lens or a 75mm Schneider lens, both of which he dubs “superb”
except that their built-in shutters are limited to 1/500 second, which
can be slow in bumpy air. With the IQ3, he used the Phase One XF
camera and 80mm or 110mm Schneider lenses, which were excel-
lent, except that shooting straight down caused lens creep—losing
focus after a few shots. If he wants to print his images large—he’s
gone as big as 80 inches and up for art exhibitions—he sticks with
Phase One. For lower resolution images he uses the Sony a7R II,
whose built-in image stabilizer is very effective, he says. •

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 SLOTH LIFE
BOOK CHRONICLES THE ARBOREAL MAMMALS
TOP OF MIND
FOREGROUND
u Wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas’
new book “Sloths: Life in the Slow Lane” was
dreamed up while lying on the rainfor-
est floor with researcher Rebecca Cliffe,
founder and director of the Sloth Conserva-
tion Foundation.
Eszterhas was photographing orphan
sloths at the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica
rescue center for a story. In a nearby for-
est, a mother sloth turned up with a new-
born. Hoping for photos of the pair, Esz-
terhas spent two weeks tracking them
with Cliffe. “I just fell in love with sloths,”
says Eszterhas. “I learned a lot from Becky
[Cliffe] about what we do and do not
know about sloth behavior.”
Locating and photographing sloths is chal-
lenging and tedious work. It requires slow,
quiet walking, craning one’s neck to search
the trees above. Sloths perch very high in
the vegetation and are camouflaged by both
their coats and languid movements.
Once she and Cliffe located the mother in
the trees each day, they’d lie down on the
forest floor to keep watch. “You spend most
of the day hoping they come lower, and
many days, they don’t,” Eszterhas admits.
IMAGES ©SUZI ESZTERHAS
14
Passing the time, Eszterhas and Cliffe
hatched a plan for a joint journey through
Central and South America, with Cliffe con-
ducting research and Eszterhas making
photographs of the sloths—all culminating
in a book.
The work took place over three years and
included sloth jaunts in Costa Rica, Panama,
and Brazil. One of the most challenging ad-
ventures for Eszterhas was photographing
swimming sloths in Panama. “I had never
taken an underwater photo in my life,” she
says, and half-overwater, half-underwater
photos are the most challenging. Before the
trip, she practiced in a pool by photograph-
ing a teddy bear wearing floaties.
When the day came to photograph the
swimming sloth, the water kept streaking
over the dome of the camera, so she had
to dunk it between shots to keep it clear, all
while trying to follow the sloth. “I was so
absorbed in the technique and trying to keep
up with the sloth that I got into the jellyfish,”
which were lurking in the water, she says.
The stings were worth it, though—anything
for a moment with these “enchanting little
creatures.” •
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 PHOTOGRAPHY AFTER DARK
SEASONED NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHERS SERVE UP TIPS
TOP OF MIND
FOREGROUND

u Nighttime photography presents a unique set of challenges. What

if the wind whips up during a long exposure? What if dew collects
on the camera lens during the wee morning hours? Should you wrap
equipment in a heater pack to fend off humidity?
Night photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, who wrote the
foreword to the recently released National Geographic book “Night
Vision, Magical Photographs of Life After Dark,” are seasoned in

16
the many challenges of both film and digital night photography and
offer advice.
• MAKE SURE YOUR TRIPOD LEGS ARE SCREWED IN FIRMLY AND
STANDING ON SOLID GROUND. As the air gets colder during the night,
tripod leg sections may slip.
• USE A REMOTE RELEASE. Don’t touch the camera to release the
shutter. That introduces the risk of camera movement during long
exposures.
• MAKE THE MOST OUT OF YOUR TIME. It takes a digital camera the
same amount of time to run its noise reduction processing as it does
to make an exposure. So if you make a 20-minute exposure, your
camera will be out of commission for an additional 20 minutes for
processing. To keep busy, Cook and Jenshel run one exposure while
they scout out their next location, so they have staggering exposures
set up at all times throughout the night.
• TWEAK YOUR SCREEN BRIGHTNESS. The longer you’re out in the
dark, the more your eyes will adjust to the darkness. So what you
see on your LCD screen may appear brighter than it actually is. To
compensate, set your screen brightness to minus one.
• ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. During an overnight session in a gar-
den, Cook set up one exposure and was looking for her next when
she heard “the dreaded sound of sprinklers.” She rescued her camera
quickly enough, she says. “But I was freezing after running through
the sprinklers!” •
©MICHAEL KNUDSEN
17
 ON THE
COVER
IMAGES FROM THE PPA LOAN COLLECTION
MERITED

u “I’m sure some people were won-

dering what I was doing lying on

the ground with my head and hands
just inside the furrow,” says Jon
Adams of making his photo “Grow”
at Washington’s annual Skagit
Valley Tulip Festival. He wanted
to offer a bug’s perspective. “We’ve
all imagined being ant-sized at
some time in our lives,” Adam says.
Being at the festival is “like look-
ing into a deep ocean of color. The
flowers seem to go on forever.
Whenever I see something like this
on such a grand scale I feel very
small on the planet. And so I start-
ed thinking about being even small-
er, and what would this look like
then?” ReflectedPixel is based in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, special-
izing in landscape and architectural
photography. reflectedpixel.com

• CAMERA & LENS: Sony

Alpha NEX-5R, Rokinon
8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens
• EXPOSURE: 1/200 second
at f/9, ISO 100
LOAN COLLECTION / ©JON ADAMS

• LIGHTING: Natural light

• POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe
Lightroom, he adjusted
color balance, brought
out detail in the shadows
with the shadows slider,
and gave it a bit of clarity
for punch. He used Google
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 for
the tonal contrast filter.

ABOUT THE LOAN COLLECTION

The current Loan Collection comprises more than 600 photographs chosen for distinction by jurors of PPA’s International Photo-
graphic Competition. The compositions are considered the best of the best in contemporary professional photography, having been
awarded the Loan Collection distinction based on their success in meeting the 12 elements of a merited image. ppa.com/ipc

PPM AG.COM
18
Exceptional Images
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save the date for atlanta!
You made Imaging USA 2018 in Nashville an amazing experience.
Thank you for being part of the memories. We hope you made
connections, learned a lot, and are ready to bridge the gap for
your business in 2018. Take a look back with the video and image
galleries and register for Atlanta 2019 at ImagingUSA.org
brought to you by

Atlanta, GA Jan 20-22, 2019 imagingusa.org

“I will continue to cherish the

friendships I’ve made through the
world of photography... and bring
happiness and positivity through
my images.” —Addie

“Some of the best parts of Imaging USA

involve connecting with the friends you
don’t get to see very often.”
—David

“Just got back from the cold in Nashville

for Imaging USA where professional
photographers get together to learn and
inspire each other! I’m pumped and
inspired about what 2018 has for my
business and the industry as a whole.
Can’t wait to take it to the next level and
DREAM BIGGER!” —Sherry

Images courtesy of ©Adriana Bocanegra, ©Alex the Photo Guy, ©Doris Long, @Jessica Renwick, ©Tara Ruby
 FAMILY DINNER

IMAGES FROM THE PPA LOAN COLLECTION

MERITED
“Feeling totally refreshed
and focused after attending
Imaging USA!” —Nicole

LOAN COLLECTION / ©FRANCES AILEEN HARDING

“Nashville, you were great!
I felt like a kid in a candy
store looking at all the
latest gear at the Imaging
USA conference.”
—Savannah
u Frances Aileen Harding, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, loves to photograph water birds along the
Gulf Coast. “Family Dinner” was captured at Smith Point Rookery in High Island, Texas.
“Watching the herons and egrets relaxes me,” she says. “I’ve spent the last few years studying
their interactions, and my goal is to provide a window into their lives for the viewer to see the
complex nature of their relationships.” A. Harding Photography is based in Baytown, Texas,
and specializes in high school senior, pet, and fine art photography. aharding.net

• CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens
• EXPOSURE: 1/640 second at f/7.1, ISO 1000
• LIGHTING: Natural light
• POST-CAPTURE: She began with Adobe Lightroom, making global adjustments to
white balance and clarity. In Photoshop CC, distracting branches were removed with the
clone tool and the background was desaturated to draw the viewer’s eye to the subject.
Google Nik Color Efex Pro was used to add a hint of detail to the feathers.

21
 WALK AMONG THE GIANTS
Laura Bennett, M.Photog.Cr., was
IMAGES FROM THE PPA LOAN COLLECTION
MERITED

on a photography trip in California

with her husband when they came
upon this scene in Redwood Na-
tional Park. “The weather was fog-
gy and raining at the time, which
made for perfect diffused lighting
in the forest,” she says. In Lady
Bird Johnson Grove, “The path
curved into the forest, creating a
beautiful leading line into the red-
woods. The dampness accentuated
the saturation of the green ferns,
which immediately intrigued me.
There were few people in the
park that day, and the silence was
mesmerizing. I tried to convey the
peaceful, stress-free environment in
my processing.” Bennett Photography
is based in Colorado Springs, Colora-
do, and specializes in landscape pho-
tography. lbennettphotography.com

• CAMERA & LENS: Nikon

D800E, AF-S Nikkor
14-24mm f/2.8 ED lens
• EXPOSURE: 1/8 second at
f/16, ISO 200
• LIGHTING: Natural light
• POST-CAPTURE: She
processed the raw file in
Adobe Camera Raw then
brought it into Photoshop,
where she used luminosity
masking to adjust levels
and dodge and burn
highlights and shadows.
She used Google Nik Color

LOAN COLLECTION / ©LAURA BENNETT

Efex Pro 4 filters for
contrast and saturation
then finished the image
with localized adjustments
using Nik Viveza.

22 PPM AG.COM
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 SUCCESS
STRONGER BUSINESS, BETTER LIFE

Ask for
information. Ask for
Forget about your own
business.
needs momentarily Always ask a closing
and focus on sincerely question that will produce
helping the person a Yes or No answer:
you’re talking to. Can we schedule your
session now?

Ask for Ask for an

feedback. endorsement.
How did we do? Most business people
What can I do to improve
our service? Tell us what
7 ASKS don’t ask customers
for a review, so it’s
you like and what you an opportunity to
don’t like about our It’s straightforward, but get a jump on your
products. it’s not easy: Ask for what competition.
you want. If your goal is
boosting revenue, here
are seven asks to get
comfortable with.

Ask for
Ask to referrals.
renegotiate. Getting referrals
There’s the potential can dramatically increase
to save a lot of money your income. Get in the
if you ask to negotiate habit of asking every
or renegotiate client for a referral
with companies you or introduction.
buy from. Ask for
more business.
What else do you have
to offer after the initial
sale? New services?
Seasonal items?
Don’t leave money Source: “The Power of Focus,” by Jack Canfield,
on the table. Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt (Ebury Publishing, 2001)

PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018 25

ADDING A SIDELINE
SUCCESS
IMAGES ©TERRY BATEMAN
PERFORMANCE OF A LIFETIME
ADD $50K OR MORE TO YOUR BOTTOM LINE
by Jeff Kent
u “Once you’ve been involved in perform-
ing arts, it gets in your blood,” says Terry
Bateman, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, a veteran of
performing arts and music programs in his
school days. “It’s something that stays with
you, becomes part of you.”
In 1979, Bateman was able to translate
his affinity for the performing arts into a
budding photography career when a local
lab hired him to photograph some nearby
26
school music programs. He excelled at the
work, and within a few years he was able to
purchase that business line from the lab and
strike out on his own. Since then, he’s grown
Indianapolis-based Performing Arts Photog-
raphy by Bateman into one of the nation’s
leading studios specializing in the perform-
ing arts. He photographs marching bands,
color guards, dance schools, school music
program participants, orchestras, and more.
Terry Bateman
Since his first year in business, he’s earned
solid six-figure incomes every year and ex-
panded his reach nationwide.
Bateman believes that a skilled profes-
sional photographer who follows a few
fundamental best practices could generate
an additional $50,000 to $60,000 annually
working with two or three good-sized school
music and performing arts programs, or
more than $100,000 by expanding the busi-
PPM AG.COM
ness line and investing more into the per-
forming arts community.

WHERE TO START
“I would always suggest that anyone com-
ing into this line of work should start with a
passion for the activity,” says Bateman. From
there, if you’re familiar with performing arts
from personal experience, he suggests using
that background. If you’re new to the field
but interested, educate yourself so that you
can demonstrate your knowledge of how to
photograph these groups in the most effi-
cient, artistic manner possible.
The next step, says Bateman, is to build
relationships with local music programs and
dance organizations. Like so many specialty
markets, the performing arts revolve around
personal relationships—and a deep under-
standing of their unique space. Start with
neighbors and relatives, and ask them about
their involvement in local organizations,
school programs, and private performing
arts groups. Get to know administrators at
these organizations.
OPPORTUNITIES
“There is plenty of need for this kind of pho-
tography,” says Bateman. “The key is match-
ing the need with your talents.”
Schools with music departments, march-
ing bands, or color guards are a great place
to start. That said, don’t overlook indepen-
dent groups. They often have a different set
of requirements than schools, so you’ll need
to be flexible and listen to groups’ expec-
tations and needs—and also how they can
assist you in creating the best possible expe-
rience and highest-quality product.
“It needs to be a win-win opportunity for
you and the client,” says Bateman. You need to
provide a high level of quality, and they need
to support you and provide you what you
need. If you can establish that sort of symbi-
otic relationship, then you have the basis for
a partnership that could last for years.

HOW TO STAND OUT

Performing arts photographers face com-
petition from traditional school and team
photographers, as well as larger group pho-
tography outfits looking to expand their fran-
chises. “The key is to differentiate through
customer service,” says Bateman. “We set
ourselves apart by offering customer service
that really endears us to our clientele. It’s
more of a boutique style of service.”
Bateman is also a specialist in the per-
forming arts. He knows the instruments, the
different roles people play, how to pose large
groups for dramatic effect, and how to con-
duct a photo session with an extremely large,
diverse group in a fast, efficient manner.
“The difference for us is this is a special-
ty, not something that we have to do as part
of larger school contract,” he says. “Some
school photographers actually like us com-
ing in to do this because they don’t have to
figure out how to pose and work with these
groups. That can be difficult if you’re not
used to it. We’ve heard stories about other
photographers taking two hours to do some-
thing that takes us 20 minutes.”

WORKFLOW
Depending on the engagement, Bateman may
photograph on his own or bring an entire
team. For dance, color guard, and indoor per-
cussion competitions, he might have a cou-

PPM AG.COM
 ple photographers shooting the action with
another out front doing portraits in front of
a background. An additional assistant helps
with logistics. The team could swell to up
to six photographers for larger events, like
state marching band competitions, which of-
ten produce more than 40,000 images.
The key to efficient processing, says Bate-
man, is good photo day planning backed by
efficient, well-exposed captures. With good
files to work with, his production team can
quickly categorize image files for easier re-
view and ordering. He describes the work-
flow system as similar to what a high-vol-
ume sports photography outfit might use.
“Everything depends on how you handle
the job on location,” he says. “If you’re not
efficient or accurate on location, that creates
tremendous disorganization on the backend
production.”

SALES
“The whole concept of this business is pho-
tographing one image and selling it multiple
times,” explains Bateman. This approach is
best illustrated when working with marching
bands. Bateman photographs 200 to 400 par-
ticipants, depending on the size of the band,
in a series of large group shots, which he
then composites. He can then sell a few doz-
en to a couple hundred of that composite.
For products, Bateman sells a variety
of prints as well as specialty products that
consumers can’t generally get on their
own—like action collages, composites, group
composites with each section of a band (tu-
bas, flutes, trombones, etc.), and smaller
keepsakes like buttons, magnets, and mugs.
He custom-designed his order form so that
it encourages upsells to multiple products.
For example, he’ll offer an add-on photo of
just the senior members of a band or dance
team, priced so that it’s a discount from an a
la carte purchase and an easy add-on.
Of course, to make these groupings and
add-on products effective, Bateman has to
capture all the key groups during the photo
shoot. That means photographing the entire
band, orchestra, or choir, then photograph-
ing the seniors as a group as well as each
of the sections. This gives parents access to
any combination of images they might want
to purchase.

PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018

 Bateman supports multiple ordering meth-
ods—everything from online purchases to
phone orders to kids bringing him money in
an envelope on photo day. Unlike many pho-
ADDING A SIDELINE
SUCCESS
30
tographers who take down online galleries
after a set amount of time, Bateman leaves
his up indefinitely. It may take away some of
the urgency to purchase, but he has found
it’s worth it to keep the door open to later
purchases. “People come back years later—
sometimes as many as 10 years later—to
purchase things,” he says. “They might need
images for a graduation celebration or a ret-
rospective project. It happens quite a bit, so
we leave the galleries open.”
FINDING YOUR PASSION
Ultimately, Bateman goes back to his passion
for the work, and for working with inspired
young people, as the driving force behind his
business. As the decades pass it’s something
that keeps him young at heart and energized
about his vocation.
“Just as music uses both sides of the brain,
having a heart-centered performing arts
photography business that uses both analyt-
ical and creative thinking provides a tremen-
dous amount of satisfaction,” he says. “I’m
very fortunate to do this for a living.” •
batemanfoto.com
PPM AG.COM
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A DV E R T I S E M E N T
Before you say, “Excuse me?”… An explanation: As a professional
photographer, you have no viable means for recovering damages
for most infringements of your work. High-volume, small-business
photographers are left out of the justice system that is currently
only protecting the famous or wealthy.
As of today, there is no small-claims process for copyright
protection. The only legal process for seeking damages for a
copyright infringement is to file a claim in federal court. Think
about that. Most copyright infringements result in the loss of what
represents $1,000-$3,000. It doesn’t take a law degree to know
that it is not feasible to sue someone in federal court over an
amount any less than that. What might be worse is that very few
professional photographers can afford to invest time and money
into a federal claim even when damages are higher.
On the other hand…
…You know that $1,000-$3,000 make a big difference to your
small business. In the best scenario, it determines if you can take
that next vacation, and in more extreme cases, it can determine
whether or not your studio can keep its doors open.
Together, we can change this. After decades of lobbying from
groups led by PPA, new ground is being broken on copyright law in
the U.S. and 2018 may be the year the law finally gets a makeover.
PPA’s goals for copyright reform have been heard and the cause
has been officially taken up by the House Judiciary Committee.
These goals include:
1. Creation of a small-claims option for copyright enforcement
2. Modifications to the copyright registration process to create
a more functional system
3. Modernization of the United States Copyright Office
Last year the House Judiciary Committee released the first policy
proposal to come out of the committee’s recent review of U.S.
copyright law. The proposal includes “granting the Copyright
Office autonomy with respect to the Library of Congress, requiring
the [U.S. Copyright] Office to maintain an up-to-date digital,
searchable database of all copyrighted works and associated
copyright ownership information and many other reforms”
including a small-claims process for copyright infringement.
“The Copyright Office should host a small claims system
consistent with the report on the issue released by the Copyright
Office.” These are the goals PPA has long worked for and now it
looks like copyright reform has bipartisan support in the House
of Representatives.
“The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act
of 2017 (CASE)/ H.R. 3945” is the name and number
of the bill calling for a small-claims process and it’s something
to cheer about! “CASE” is here and is expected to come up for
a vote this year (see sidebar). This is bipartisan legislation that
could finally present photographers with a legal recourse in the
case of theft of their images. With this bill heading to the floor,
independent of the Judiciary Committee’s proposal, copyright
reform in America is finding its way to becoming law.
Members of PPA will no longer be left out of the copyright
system that has ignored them for generations! PPA’s fighting for
photographers’ legal rights to protect and defend your work’s
value. PPA helps its members be more informed about copyright
and provides resources to help protect their work.
What can photographers & artists do to help? Now is the
time for ALL of us who care about visual arts to help in this
fight. We must update the rights of small creators and adjust
the copyright system to the 21st century. PPA is always helping
professional photographers be more empowered. You can
send a letter urging your congressperson to support H.R. 3945
at PPA.com/SmallClaims.
This is important to ALL photographers
and visual artists alike! It’s only if 30,000+
of us ask for change that we will be heard.
Show your support and demand action at
PPA.com/SmallClaims
 ©F22 Studio

• A DV E R T I S E M E N T •
 Your copyright
is your business.

Protect it.

Don’t Get Ripped Off!

Know Your [Copy]Rights!
Have your images ever been stolen?
Do you know how much it costs you?
Who do you turn to for help?
Know your rights and protect your business from copyright infringements!
PPA’s got photographers’ backs.
If your work has been used without your permission, use PPA’s free copyright
infringement assistance tool to guide you through the steps to stop the infringment.
Having your work stolen is painful enough, so PPA makes it quick & easy.

Download handy copyright resources

Use the free, copyright-infringement assistance tool
Get back to work!

Protected PPA.com/Copyright
 THE GOODS
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PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018 35

 STRAIGHTFORWARD
u At a time when major manufacturers

seem to be packing every conceivable func-

tion into their camera bodies, it’s refresh-
SIGMA SD ing that one company is producing a cam-
PRO REVIEW
THE GOODS

QUATTRO H era with extremely high resolution, simple

operation, and a competitive price. The
by Stan Sholik
company is Sigma, and the camera is the
Sigma sd Quattro H. What it does, it does
extremely well, and what it does not do,
you may not need. Indeed, its simplicity
and ease of use remind me of the days of
shooting with 35mm fi lm.

UNCONVENTIONAL SENSOR
The Quattro H is a lightweight mirror-
less interchangeable lens camera with an
APS-H (1.3X crop) 25.5-megapixel sensor.
The Foveon X3 sensor it employs, howev-
er, is a departure from conventional sen-
sors, and the Quattro H delivers resolution
far exceeding what you’d expect from a
25-megapixel camera. The Foveon sensor
is both the greatest asset and biggest dis-
advantage of the Quattro H.
The Foveon X3 sensor is what sets the
Quattro H apart from other digital cameras.
A typical 24-megapixel digital camera with
a Bayer array fi lter captures 24 megapixels
of luminance information, 12 megapixels of
green information, and 6 megapixels each of
red and blue. Demosaicing software does the
IMAGES COURTESY SIGMA
math, resulting in a 24-megapixel RGB image.
The Foveon chip layers photo sites on top
of one another. In the X3 sensor, the top
layer captures 20 megapixels of blue in-
formation, while the bottom layers capture
about 5 megapixels each of green and red.
Though this is a simplified description of
complex technology, the result is increased
sensitivity due to the lack of a Bayer array
fi lter and somewhat simplified image pro-

PROS CONS cessing. The sensor captures 25 megapixels

• Outstanding image resolution at
base ISO
• Pleasing color reproduction at
base ISO
• Ease of operation
• DNG output format
• Outstanding monochrome and
IR capture
• High quality only at 100 ISO
• Slow autofocus speed
• No video
of luminance information, 25 megapixels of
blue information, and 6 megapixels each of
green and red, yielding visibly higher reso-
lution images than you would expect from a
25.5-megapixel camera. The Quattro name
derives from the top layer having four times
the resolution of the two lower layers.
Other Sigma cameras require you to use
Sigma’s unloved Sigma PhotoPro software
to do the heavy math and produce fi nal raw
images. With the new Foveon X3 sensor,

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 you can have the signal processing done in
the camera, and the Quattro H can produce
an industry standard DNG raw file as well
as its proprietary X3F raw files. This makes
PRO REVIEW
THE GOODS
it finally possible to process Foveon chip
files in non-Sigma software. I found no dif-
ference in quality between the proprietary
A straight DNG capture with the Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens
IMAGES ©STAN SHOLIK
A composite of seven Super Fine Detail captures processed in Sigma PhotoPro software. With motion
in the waves, some artifacts are visible and the ocean colors are not rendered the same as the straight
capture. There is no provision in the PhotoPro software to align images or remove ghosting.
38
versus DNG raw file output, although DNG
files are limited to 12 bits versus 14 bits for
X3F captures. After testing this, I shot in
DNG format almost exclusively, producing
143MB 12-bit raw files. Sigma claims the
image quality rivals that of 50-megapixel
Bayer array cameras, and the Quattro H
would seem to be in that league. The cam-
era delivers this quality at a price far lower
than a medium-format camera or the high-
est resolution DSLRs.
There are downsides to the Foveon sen-
sor, however. The greatest of these is noise.
I found that at any ISO setting other than
the base of ISO 100, noise is an issue. Apply-
ing noise reduction at higher ISOs negates
the advantages of the increased resolution.
You need to approach this camera as you
would an SLR loaded with ISO 100 film. It
is capable of delivering remarkable quality
landscape images and gorgeous studio still
lifes and portraits with controlled lighting,
especially with Sigma Art lenses mounted.
Portrait resolution with the 85mm f/1.4 Art
lens on this camera is so high that every
eyelash and pore is sharply rendered.
Another downside to the sensor and im-
aging system is slow autofocus. The new
dual-mode autofocus system combines
phase detection for speed and contrast de-
tection for accuracy. There are a variety
of focus modes, including face detection,
movement prediction, focus peaking, and
more, but none measure up to the focusing
speed of even a mid-level digital camera.
This is not an issue for its target use as a
landscape, portrait, or still life camera.
UNUSUAL DESIGN
It’s not only the Quattro H sensor that’s un-
conventional, so too is the camera design.
Rather than taking advantage of the poten-
tial space and weight savings of a mirror-
less camera, Sigma has added an extended
tube on which the lens mounts to the front
of the body. The tremendous advantage of
this approach is the ability to mount DSLR
lenses, in particular those available in Sig-
ma’s Contemporary and Art lines. Because
of this feature, the Quattro H has the most
extensive line of available lenses of any
mirrorless camera.
Another unusual design decision—one
that I fell in love with—is the ability to
remove the IR-blocking filter and convert
the camera into an infrared camera. More
about this later.
In use, I found the ergonomics of the cam-
era outstanding. The large grip makes for
comfortable handholding with the Sigma
PPM AG.COM

24mm F1.4 HSM and 35mm F1.4 DG HSM
Art lenses I had available. Only with the
85mm F1.4 DG HSM mounted did the sys-
tem feel unbalanced but still easy enough
to hold with my left hand supporting the
lens despite the lack of image stabilization.
The grip holds the large battery that Sigma
specs with a battery life at about 190 cap-
tures. I didn’t come close to capturing that
in one session, but it seems optimistic. Re-
charging time from an exhausted battery is
close to 3.5 hours.
The top and rear plates contain a mini-
mal number of dials and buttons. The QS
button on the top plate behind the release/
front setting dial provides access to the
quick settings menu. You can customize
the QS menu to display any of 23 functions,
eight at a time, covering most any func-
tion you would want quick access to. Other
functions are available through a menu
structure that seems minimalist compared
to a digital SLR, yet every important func-
tion is available.
IMAGE QUALITY
The real test is the image quality, and the
Quattro H delivers, at least at the base ISO
of 100. Resolution is excellent, although I
PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018
The Most
A studio portrait with the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG
HSM Art lens (left). The Quattro H managed to
Powerful
render sequins with highlights exceeding the
dynamic range of the sensor while still holding Album Design
Suite
detail in the underlying fabric. A 1:1 crop of the
portrait shows the high resolution of the camera
with the Sigma 85mm f1.4 lens (above).
was somewhat disappointed in the dynam-
ic range. However, you can increase the ALBUM
dynamic range considerably by selecting DESIGN
the Super Fine Detail (SFD) mode in the
shooting menus. SFD is similar to HDR,
capturing seven bracketed exposures in
the aperture priority or manual exposure WALL ART
modes. The Quattro H saves the captures as
a proprietary 475MB X3I fi le. It’s necessary
DESIGN
to use Sigma Photo Pro software to decode
them and output a fi nal TIFF or JPEG. As
with HDR photography, you should mount
the camera on a tripod and should not
IN-PERSON
shoot a moving subject. I did a fair amount SALES
of my testing in SFD mode, and the dynam-
ic range issue vanished. I was often disap-
pointed, though, that Photo Pro didn’t seem
to have the anti-aliasing or ghost elimina-
tion algorithms that all modern HDR soft-
ware provides. Nevertheless, with the right
subjects, the dynamic range increase is
enormous.
Color reproduction is pleasant, with 10
possible presets from which to choose, al-
though five are not available with DNG cap-
ture. When shooting an X-Rite ColorCheck-
er and correcting the gray balance, I didn’t
fi nd the color reproduction to be accurate.
I confi rmed this by shooting artwork in my
FREE TRIAL
FUNDY.COM
Images © Imagine Photography
 copy setup without being able to match the
original art accurately. That said, the col-
or rendition reminded me again of shoot-
ing with a particular transparency film to
PRO REVIEW
THE GOODS

achieve a specific look. Color reproduction

from the Quattro H will either appeal to you
or not.
Along with the color settings, there’s a
monochrome mode. If you make mono-
chrome captures, you should own this
camera. With the camera’s high resolu-
tion, monochrome captures saved as DNG
or even better as SFD files are the best I’ve
ever seen from a digital camera.
Even more exciting is the camera’s abil-
ity to capture monochrome infrared (IR)
images. Sigma has made it extremely easy
to remove the IR blocking filter that sits in
the lens tube. Without the filter, the sensor
captures visible light but still produces a
visible IR effect. Add a #87 IR lens filter and
you have a true IR camera. Although the
With the IR blocking filter removed and a #87 filter mounted on the lens it’s possible to produce a true IR
image, including the inevitable softening due to blooming. Sigma Art lenses don’t have an IR focusing
mark, stopping down to f/16 pretty much
does the trick, with the image sharpness
degrading somewhat due to inevitable IR
blooming. While Sigma is not making a big
deal of this feature, I love it.

STRAIGHTFORWARD TOOL
In creating the sd Quattro H, Sigma didn’t
seem interested in making a camera for the
mass consumer photo market. Rather it has
created a straightforward and cost-effec-
tive tool that should appeal to landscape,
portrait, and still life photographers will-
ing to accept the camera’s strengths and
weaknesses.
For photographers already invested in
the Sigma SA system, the sd Quattro H is a
must-have camera. For others, the addition
of the DNG file format will broaden its ap-
peal. And the MSRP of $1,199 makes the sd
Quattro H an interesting system addition
for anyone looking for a high-resolution
color, monochrome, and infrared camera
With the Quattro H set for monochrome capture and the IR filter in place, the camera produces gorgeous
images equal to low ISO black-and-white film. rolled into one. •

Stan Sholik is a commercial/advertising

photographer in Santa Ana, California.

40 PPM AG.COM
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43
 44
IMAGES ©LEVON BISS
 A PROJECT WITH

LEVON BISS’
LARGER-THAN-LIFE
BUG PORTRAITS

BY AMANDA ARNOLD
Levon Biss
 t was a ground beetle. Levon Biss’ son
Sebastian brought the ordinary bug
in from the garden on a spring day,
and Biss placed it under Sebastian’s
microscope. “There was nothing spe-
cial about this insect,” explained Biss
in his 2017 TED Talk. “It’s a common
species.” And yet, under the micro-
scope, its glowing green back looked
gorgeously speckled as if with stars.
“When I first saw it, it reminded me of
a galaxy,” Biss says. “And all the time,
this had just been outside our window.”
Biss made an image of the insect
for Sebastian. It turned out to be the
first in a long series of macro insect
portraits, “Microsculpture,” he’s made
since that serendipitous day in 2014.
In truth, at the time, Biss was looking
for new direction and had already been
researching macro photography, he
says. Based in the United Kingdom,
Biss was a successful commercial pho-
tographer, making images of sports
and celebrity icons worldwide (see
page 82). But 18 years into that spe-
cialty, he was beginning to see his
workload decline. “The way we con-
sume images now is in a different form
than when I started in advertising,”
he says. “Everything we look at these
days is digital. Ads go through digital
billboards or the internet. You don’t
need a giant 100 megapixel camera
and files for that.”
Hoping to shed his reliance on com-
mercial work, Biss craved a specialty
that would put him in high demand.
“You make yourself the best in this one
very particular area, find something
that is so niche that you don’t have any
competition,” he says. After Biss made
the photograph of Sebastian’s beetle,
he realized the possibilities of macro
photography trained on tiny subjects.
“That’s how it came about. That was
the thing I was looking for.”

SCALING UP
When Biss began making insect por-
traits in earnest, he reached out to the
Oxford University Museum of Natural
History, asking for access to its collec-
tion of insect specimens. Impressed by
his work and realizing the potential im-

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 pact of large-scale prints of tiny insects oth-
erwise tucked away in drawers, the muse-
um permitted Biss to take its insects back
to his studio for photography sessions. Over
two and a half years, Biss made images of
37 specimens. Those works led to a website
(microsculpture.net), a book (“Microsculpture:
Portraits of Insects”), and a traveling exhibi-
tion of the enormous 3-meter-plus prints at
natural history museums and public spaces
around the world, including the Oxford Uni-
versity Museum of Natural History itself. The
works have been exhibited at museums in
the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and
the United Kingdom, with upcoming shows
scheduled for Denmark, Germany, and the
United States.
“I have not really done any PR on the proj-
ect,” says Biss. “It’s just had its own little
legs.” Within the first seven days of Oxford
University posting a behind-the-scenes video
about the photo series on its Facebook page,
the Vimeo video had accumulated 14.7 mil-
lion hits. “That kickstarted it, and it’s been
going around the world ever since.”

IN MICRONS
Biss frequently receives emails from pho-
tographers inquiring about his technique,

48 PPM AG.COM
 searching for a particular formula for mak-
ing such crystal clear, microscopic images.
“But half the beauty of these things is learn-
ing the process, coming up with the vision
in your own head,” says Biss, who taught
himself macro photography by reading on-
line forums and through an abundance of
trial and error. No macro photographer’s
system is like another’s, he says. “You look
at some of the systems [photographers] have
built, and it’s like something NASA would
create—a beautiful structure that looks in-
credible. Mine is made up of wood and cable
ties and things like that because my system
changes with every insect I photograph.”
What makes microscopic photography of
insects so difficult is the very shallow depth
of field, Biss explains. To make one image
that’s fully focused front to back, he captures
then stacks thousands of individual images
made at incremental distances.
To that end, he uses a microscope ob-
jective lens attached to a DSLR body that’s
placed on electronic rails. The rails automat-
ically move the camera forward in minute
50
increments—between 8 and 10 microns,
about 1/8 the width of a human hair. Biss
photographs each insect in 25 sections,
snapping hundreds of shots of the same
section (the eye, the leg, the antenna) as the
camera creeps incrementally forward on the
rails. After all the shots are made, he uses
Zerene Stacker software to flatten the photo
layers into one fully focused image. The pro-
cess takes two to three weeks, and the final
image might be made up of 8,000 individual
shots, he says.
The final step is committing the image to
physical form, which is handled by a company
in London. Since Biss’ works travel to muse-
ums all over the world, they must be sturdy
reproductions. “When your print is 3 meters,
you can’t ship it as a framed print with glass.
So we do aluminum prints,” he explains.
NEW WORKS
Thanks to his experience with Oxford, Biss
recently earned a new commission with the
National Museum of Qatar (currently under
construction) to photograph 20 specimens of
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 the countries’ local insects. The project is to
be completed in seven months, so to meet
the deadline Biss is working six days a week,
three insects at a time. In a single day he
multi-tasks photographing one insect, pro-
cessing photos of a second, and retouching
photos of a third.
When he worked with the entomologist
at Oxford, the insects came to him clean,
but the Qatar specimens require a chemical
wash, a labor-intensive but necessary pro-
cess. “It’s quite comical sometimes trying to
remove a microscopic grain of sand from be-
tween an insect’s claws,” Biss says. “But the
cleaner the insect is, the better the final pic-
ture will look.” While there’s always a risk
that the specimen will be damaged during
cleaning, it rarely happens, and the reward
is worth the risk for the museum, Biss says.
“You will be displaying these insects for mil-
lions of people to see. So do you come up
with a final picture, or do you keep them in
a box or a darkened drawer for no one to
see them?”

NATURAL SELECTION
People love gazing at Biss’ gigantic prints of
miniscule beings, he says. “I think the works
are successful for a number of reasons: The
images are beautiful—people like it from
that point of view. People like natural histo-
ry and nature. And people like the process.
Once they understand how the images were
created, the blood, sweat, and tears that goes
into making these images, that hooks them
on the project.”
The blood, sweat, and tears have hooked
Biss as well. It’s this labor of love he thirst-
ed for when he decided to leave commercial
photography. “When I was growing up, we
were shooting film, and each roll of film cost
money. These days a photograph doesn’t
mean so much. We snap away and there is
no expense to it. I wanted to produce some-
thing that had a sense of worth.”
Biss’ most prized insect image is the one
he made of Oxford’s shield bug collected by
Charles Darwin in the 1800s. That the muse-
um allowed him to take this historical spec-
imen to his studio spoke volumes, he says.
“That showed me they thought my images
had value and worth. And for that reason
alone it is my favorite image.” •

levonbiss.com and microsculpture.net

52 PPM AG.COM
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 54
IMAGES ©STEFAN FORSTER
GLOBE-TROTTING
STEFAN FORSTER’S
RELENTLESS
QUEST

BY ROBERT KIENER

55
56 PPM AG.COM
 s landscape photographer Stefan Forster remembers it, it was just before
midnight last April when he was sleeping soundly inside a four-wheel
drive SUV on a remote mountain pass in northeastern Chile when “All
hell broke loose.”
The Swiss photographer had been in Chile and Bolivia for several
weeks on a private photographic expedition. He’d made dramatic
images of sunrises over expansive dunes, crystalline lakes, and
other lowland features but wanted to get higher into the Andes Mountains for even more spec-
tacular landscapes. Driving along the little-traveled Paso de Sico, a 15,000-foot-high moun-
tain pass on the border between Chile and Argentina, he spotted a picturesque valley he
wanted to photograph the next morning. He pulled off the gravel road to camp for the night.
After a walk he prepared a modest dinner then tucked himself into his sleeping bag inside
the rented Nissan Patrol, where he drifted off to sleep.
Several hours later he was violently awakened by a massive lightning bolt followed by a
deafening crash of thunder, like someone cracking a whip. “Lightning bolts were striking
everywhere, POW, POW, POW, just yards away from me,” remembers Forster.
Disoriented as the thunder boomed and lightning flashed outside the vehicle, he wrestled
his way out of his sleeping bag and grabbed a flashlight. He was shocked to discover the
windows caked with snow. Flurries had half-buried the vehicle as he’d slept. “I was trapped
inside as lightning bolts flashed all around me and the snow pelted down. I’d never seen so
severe a storm.”
Worse was yet to come.
The lightning waned and Forster began driving to the nearest mountain village, which
was more than 40 miles away, but the SUV quickly became buried by the raging blizzard.
Trapped and afraid of driving off the mountain pass in the blinding snow, he shut off the
engine and climbed into his sleeping bag. The temperature dropped to 10 below zero.
Morning dawned and the storm was still intense. He spent more than an hour getting the
SUV started. His GPS was not working and the battery on his satellite phone was weak. He
could see no more than a few feet in front of him as he began creeping forward in the SUV along
the mountain pass. The road disappeared ahead of him. He was exhausted, cold, and frightened.

57
 Suddenly he spotted a light flickering in the
distance. “It was like something out of a Hol-
lywood movie—a miracle,” he remembers.
He had chanced upon a remote Chilean mili-
tary minesweeping outpost high in the Andes.
The five-soldier team were amazed to see
Forster stumbling toward them. They wel-
comed him into their remote barracks for
three days until the skies cleared and the
road re-opened. “Those men saved my life,”
he says. “Someone was watching over me.”

WHERE FEW TREAD

While Forster admits that his Andes ad-
venture was frightening, it hasn’t put him
off searching out some of the world’s re-
motest spots to photograph. “I love going
to places that few landscape photographers
have been,” he explains. “And that’s getting
harder and harder to do as so many pho-
tographers go the same hotspots over and
over again.” He cites the example of Iceland,

58 PPM AG.COM
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this time in Death Valley, California.

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color from a polarizing filter but also needed enough light that the model
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 which he first photographed 13 years ago
and has returned to more than 40 times.
“When I first went to Iceland there were
fewer than 300,000 tourists a year going
there. Last year there were nearly 2 million.
Now it can be difficult to find a spot there
that isn’t packed with other photographers.”
To get off the beaten track he typically
rents an off-road vehicle and usually brings
along a kayak as well as 80 pounds of hiking,
camping, and camera gear. “I’m a loner and
I love exploring new areas—the more isolat-
ed the better—on multi-week hikes,” he says.
He’s kayaked along the coasts of Greenland
and Norway, in Louisiana’s alligator swamps,
and in Alaska and the Pacific. He’s visited
many African countries and photographed
active volcanoes in Indonesia. “There are
enough pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Get out
to the backcountry,” says the 31-year-old. “To
60
really stand out as a photographer you have
to come back with something different.”
Looking through Forster’s portfolio of dra-
matic landscapes that include icebergs shim-
mering under the Northern Lights, rarely-
captured desert rainstorms, and breathtaking
drone shots of the Grand Canyon, you can see
that Forster’s idea of “something different”
means finding and capturing a scene bathed
in the perfect light.
“Light! Yes, that’s it. That’s what I am al-
ways after,” says Forster as he smiles and
admits that he titled his first book, “Chasing
Light” to reflect his twin passions. He ex-
plains, “I’m restless (my photographer friends
say it’s as if I drink too much Red Bull) and
am not the type of photographer who is con-
tent to wait for the perfect moment or scene.
I’d rather go hunting for that moment. I am
always chasing after every sunbeam I can.”
PPM AG.COM
THE HUNT
He explains that he rarely uses a tripod be-
cause it slows him down: “I’m never satisfied
with a spot and keep moving.” He confesses
to having taken 100 different photos of the
same sunrise from 85 different spots on one
trip. “Even when I’m taking a picture from
a certain location I’m always looking to the
right or left thinking, There’s another hill or
small dune over there that may make a
better foreground. I am anxious to see what’s
over the next hill.”
Forster admits he has an advantage in
hunting for dramatically lit scenes: He leads
as many as 10 photography tours a year
to destinations such as Namibia, Iceland,
Greenland, and Norway in addition to trav-
eling widely on his own personal assign-
ments. “If I find a breathtaking scene and the
light isn’t perfect I know I can always return
again to photograph it when the light may be
magical,” he says.
He’s a keen amateur meteorologist and is
usually able to read the weather (his Andes
misadventure notwithstanding) well enough
to know what factors will produce a startling
sunset or sunrise. “There are surely many
better photographers than I am, but I have
a knack for knowing how different weath-
er conditions will affect the light,” he says.
He often tells his students, “Never trust the
weather forecast. The most amazing light
comes when bad weather is predicted.”
While his book “Chasing Light” was a
great success—the first printing sold out in
three weeks—some critics accused Forster
of altering or enhancing his photographs.
“That bothered me,” he says. “They had no
idea that I don’t manipulate my work and
that the 160 pictures in that book were cho-
sen from the more than 500,000 in my li-
brary and were shot over three, four, five or
more visits to those locations.”
Forster stopped selling his work via stock
photo agencies because, as he explains, “I fi-
nally refused to accept the ridiculously low
prices they were offering,” He sells prints via
his website. “I’d rather sell 10 pictures a year
at a price I am proud of than sell hundreds
for next to nothing,” he says. In addition to
his photo tours, he offers photography class-
es and presents multimedia lectures, “The
Kingdom of Light,” that feature his photogra-
phy and videos. The lectures help him mar-
ket his popular (and lucrative) photo tours.
Only two of 2018’s 10 tours were not fully
booked by the end of 2017.
What’s next for this peripatetic Swiss
photographer who’s worked so hard to get
so far off the beaten path? “There are still
so many places left to visit on my to-do list,”
he says with a broad smile. He begins reel-
ing off a long list of places such as Mongo-
lia, Alaska’s Katmai National Park, Cambo-
dia, and other remote destinations when he
stops and confesses, “I used to think that it
was a bad thing to always be frustrated, al-
ways wanting to find that next—even more
dramatic—destination. But I have come to
realize that when you are chasing the light
it’s good never to be fully satisfied. There’s
always that next picture. The one just over
the next hill.” •
stefanforster.com
Robert Kiener is a writer in Vermont.

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‘‘
Alan Ross

’’
a little bit of talent,
a little bit of chutzpah,
and a little bit of luck.

An unpretentious icon
shares the greatest
lessons of his career

BY JEFF KENT

62
IMAGES ©ALAN ROSS

63
’
64 PPM AG.COM
lan Ross describes his career progression as “a little bit of talent, a little bit of chutzpah,
and a little bit of luck.” It’s a humble characterization of a career that has included an
impressive array of experiences, from working with Ansel Adams to creating com-
mercial images for some of America’s biggest brands. Yes, Ross has had an un-
canny ability to be in the right place at the right time. However, what he did with
those opportunities has made all the difference. His painstakingly built career
has progressed by carrying the legacy of his mentors through his own lens.
During Ross’ early professional days, a trio of mentors helped shape and
refine his career. They were aerial photographic pioneer William Garnett,
Ross’ photography professor at the University of California, Berkeley; San
Francisco fine art and commercial photographer Milton Halberstadt, who
gave Ross his first job as a photographic assistant; and the legendary

65

Ansel Adams, with whom Ross worked for
more than a decade and who eventually en-
trusted him to be the exclusive printer of the
Ansel Adams Yosemite Special Edition print
collection. (Ross continues this work today,
still printing from Adams’ original negatives.)
Most photographers would be thrilled just
to meet three such Wikipedia-worthy pho-
tographers. Ross made the most of his oppor-
tunities, working under the tutelage of these
photographic icons for more than 15 years,
uncovering invaluable insights into the world
of professional photography. Ross eventually
used that knowledge to create a commercial
photography studio in San Francisco, which
he ran for more than a dozen years. These
days, he enjoys a peaceful pace of life in Santa
Fe, New Mexico, where he teaches, does
commercial photography, and creates fine
art for galleries and dealers around the coun-
try and in Europe and Asia.
It’s been an interesting ride, marked by les-
sons learned from some of the industry’s best
minds. Ross shares some of those lessons here.
Follow your passion. “Make photographs
because you want to make them,” says Ross.
66
Do what it takes. “Ansel Adams was a
consummate professional,” says Ross of his
mentor. “When he decided to dedicate him-
self to photography, he went at it full bore
with the goal of supporting a family. He
wasn’t always a world-famous landscape
photographer. At first, he photographed Chi-
nese kindergarten classes, portraits, archi-
tecture—anything he could get paid to do.
One of his first books was on artificial light-
ing. It was his occupation, and he did what it
took to make a living.”
Ordinary can lead to extraordinary. Prac-
tice makes perfect. Sometimes that means
creating decidedly mundane images en route
“That’s one of my most important pieces of
advice. Make photographs that interest you.
When you’re passionate about what you’re
doing, it shows in the work.”
But be practical about your passion.
Passion inspires, but at the end of the day,
everyone needs to make a living. It’s import-
ant to apply your passion to work that pays.
“Doing paying work doesn’t mean we have
to shut off our creativity or our enthusiasm,”
says Ross. “I can say from experience that
taking on assignments that you may never
have considered may open up new doors for
you. Accept the challenge, see the creativity
in what may not seem inspiring at first.”
Assist your way to independence. There
is much to be learned by assisting an estab-
lished pro. Assisting can also open doors in
terms of connections and access to a network
of established pros. “Assisting someone is a
fabulous way of getting into the field,” com-
ments Ross. “Any opportunity to work in an-
other studio is time well spent. So much of
my career was built upon the experiences I
had working for Halberstadt and Adams and
the many connections I made through them.”
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 to creating something exceptional. “Going
through Ansel Adams’ materials, what always
surprised me was the number of ordinary im-
ages he made,” recalls Ross. “But he learned
from each one. If he flubbed an image, he
learned from it and got better. Because you
can’t afford to make a bad image when
someone’s paying you for it. When Ansel was
hired to do something, he didn’t ever want to
hit a wrong note. So he practiced and prac-
ticed until he got everything right. That’s the
attitude it takes to be successful in this job.”
Build a transferable platform. When build-
ing a photography career, it’s helpful to have
a work platform that you can take with you
anywhere. That way, if you relocate, you have
a base to renew your business without hav-
ing to start over from scratch. “In my case,
when I relocated from San Francisco to Santa
Fe, I had photo reps in L.A. and an art direc-
tor in New York who regularly sent me work,”
says Ross. “That helped ease the transition
because I had work coming in even as I was
trying to establish myself in a new market.”
Diversify. Ross stresses the importance of
having a mixed base of income so you’re not
overly dependent on one source. Even if you
hyper-specialize in a niche of photography,
your outlets for sales can be diversified—for
example, licensing images to ad agencies,
selling prints to collectors, and doing assign-
ment work for editorial clients. Build a multi-
pronged business so you have avenues to fall
back on if one area falters.
Find art in your everyday work. Bring
artistic exploration into your client work, and
slowly build up your portfolio with the kinds
of images you want to make. “Look for the
art in the everyday,” says Ross. For example,
Ross grew up in Sausalito, California, in the
shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. It never
occurred to him to photograph this routine
sight that he passed every day until Bank of
America commissioned him to do so. Look-
ing at the bridge with new eyes, he created a
series of photographs that helped spark his
commercial photography career and led to
some highly successful fine art images. “It’s
important to see things that you might pass
by every day, do things you’d never think
of, be open to new ways of doing something
that seems routine, and then let one thing
lead to another,” advises Ross.
Find your ideal clients. Try to find clients
who want you to do something that interests

68 PPM AG.COM
 you. Contact agencies and buyers you want
“Make photographs to work for who are doing work you admire.

because you want Aim to work with clients in a field you’re

interestd in. Pursue your ideal clients instead
to make them. of waiting for them to stumble upon you.
Be active in your interests. Finding those
That’s one of my most ideal clients can seem like a daunting task,
but it isn’t. You can shape your career by
important pieces pursuing your personal and professional
passions. People want to work with others
of advice. Make who share their interests and who contrib-
ute to the causes about which they’re pas-
photographs that sionate. So get involved. Read and submit to

interest you. When relevant publications, participate in Internet

forums, be active in social media communi-
you’re passionate about ties, join groups, and support organizations.
Above all else, embrace what excites you,
what you’re doing, it and then follow the inspiration. •

shows in the work.” alanrossphotography.com

70 PPM AG.COM
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THROUGH THE LENS OF PPA
PERSPECTIVE
©LARRY PLUMLEE
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
PAYING THE PRICE
by Stephen Thetford, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
u It’s not about how much you want it; it’s
about how hard you’re willing to work for it.
For the past several years I’ve had the op-
portunity to photograph one of the PGA Tour
Champions events at the invitation of my
good friend Larry Plumlee, M.Photog.Cr. Af-
ter I was done being awed by these famous
golfers, I found myself enjoying the opportu-
nity to observe them.
One common trait among these athletes is a
perpetual pursuit of excellence, which is appar-
ent in their warm-up, focus during play, and even
their return to practice after a day’s work.
One example: During the second day of
74
pro-am play, the weather was deteriorating.
Tom Watson’s group was leaving the par 3
9th hole tee box when the bottom fell out
of the clouds. Only a couple of event volun-
teers and I were on the 9th green as carts
approached. I was sharing a volunteer’s um-
brella and planned to remain there until the
rain subsided when Watson’s work ethic was
unexpectedly displayed before me. His cart
hadn’t even come to a complete stop before
he bailed out and reached for his putter.
He headed toward his ball, seemingly un-
aware of the downpour. His caddy, with tow-
el and umbrella in hand, tried to keep up. I
©THETFORD PHOTOGRAPHY
Golfer Tom Watson carries on despite a downpour.
retrieved my camera from under the poncho
to make a couple of images as he sank the
4-footer and, without celebration, retrieved
his ball from the cup, caddy still in pursuit.
What is it about champions that make
them victorious? Surely talent is a big part,
but if we suppose that natural talent, oppor-
tunity, or privilege are the most important
ingredients in successful endeavors, then
we give ourselves a pass by suggesting we
have not enough of these. We therefore be-
come facilitators in our own mediocrity. I sug-
gest to you that just as important as any of
these is the dogged determination to overcome
obstacles and pursue the goal. Even a simple
thing like finishing the hole in the rain with
no gallery and few followers is indicative.
As dedicated professionals, we possess a
desire to be the best we can at our craft. Are
we willing to pay the price to realize excel-
lence? Desire must be followed with sweat.
We do this by investing continually and con-
sistently in education and development of
our image creativity and business acumen.
Like all champions, we must meet obstacles
with focused determination.
The modern business environment has no
tolerance for mediocrity. We’re only as good
as our last session or event. We can’t remain
static if we want to be contenders.
PPA provides tremendous resources to
help you develop and advance your skills.
But PPA can’t do the work for you. You must
embody the determination to apply these
tools. Success in this industry is an obtain-
able goal if you commit to doing the work.
Are you willing to pay the price? If you
are, know that PPA is here to help you be a
champion. •
PPM AG.COM
 2018 AFFILIATE SCHOOLS
APRIL 8-12
New England Institute of
Professional Photography
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
neipp.com

APRIL 22-27
Texas School of Professional Photography
Addison, Texas
texasschool.org

MAY 6-11
Mid-Atlantic Regional School of
Professional Photography
Cape May, New Jersey
marsschool.com

MAY 20-24
Great Lakes Institute of Photography
Harbor Springs, Michigan
glip.org

JUNE 9-12
Florida School of Photography
Florida Photography Workshops
Daytona Beach, Florida
floridaphotographyworkshops.org

JUNE 10-13
Kansas Professional
Photographers School
Newton, Kansas
kpps.com

JUNE 10-13
East Coast School
Raleigh, North Carolina
eastcoastschool.com

JUNE 10-15
West Coast School
San Diego
westcoastschool.com

JUNE 18-21
Winona School of Professional
Photography
Winona Lake, Indiana
winonaphotoschool.org

JULY 15-20
Professional Photographers Society
of New York State
Photo Imaging Workshop
Geneva, New York
ppsnysworkshop.com

SEPTEMBER 23-27
Lamarr Williamson School of
Professional Photography
Columbia, South Carolina
larmarrschool.com

PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018

 CHALLENGED TO SUCCEED
A PPA PROGRAM THAT LEADS TO PROFIT
THROUGH THE LENS OF PPA
PERSPECTIVE

u Since its launch two years ago, the PPA

Business Challenge has put thousands of
photographers on the road to greater profit-
ability. Regardless of where you are in your
career as a photography entrepreneur, the
Business Challenge promises to answer vital
questions and help you develop a personal-
ized success plan. The 12-month program

©STORIES FRAMED PHOTOGRAPHY

gives participants step-by-step instruction
and support from mentors through online
lessons, forums, and sharing.
PPA Director of Education Angela Kurkian,
M.Photog.Cr., CPP, administers this member
benefit. She works hard to dispel a particu-
larly insidious myth: “Something I hear often
is this concept that … success and money
don’t go hand-in-hand, as if accepting mon-
ey for your craft were a bad thing. Should
artists only make enough to pay the bills? I
don’t think that’s true.” As a longtime profes-
sional photographer, says Kurkian, “I have
learned that the more profitable I am, the
more room I have in my schedule to give to
those who would benefit from what I can offer.”
We checked in with three photographers
who completed the Challenge to learn how
the process works and how they’re faring.
SETTING THE GOALS
The Business Challenge begins by encourag-
ing participants to define what success
means to them and to set goals accordingly.
Lindsay Syme, owner of Lindsay Syme Pho-
tography in Spring Creek, Nevada, shares
her specific definition of success: “Success
is that fabulous thing you achieve when
you set a goal and do the work it takes to
reach that goal,” she says. Her goals when
she began the Challenge were equally specific:
“My business goals were to contribute finan-
cially for my family, to be 100 percent in every-
thing I do, to give back to the community and
others, to educate and share with others, to
strive to be better and improve my craft, and
to show others how valuable they are.”
DOING THE WORK
The Business Challenge is a year-long com-
mitment of time and action. Abbie Miller,
Abbie Miller was able to increase her business revenue by 55 percent after using this member benefit.
photographer and owner of Stories Framed
Photography in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, wra-
ped up her first year in the program and
opened a retail studio space for the first time.
In 2017 Miller was named Business Person
of the Month by a local Chamber of Com-
merce. This year she was listed by Expertise
as one of the top 20 portrait photographers
serving Milwaukee.
Miller says her revenue is up while her ses-
sion numbers are down, which means she’s
maximizing her time and income. One ben-
efit she received from participating in the
challenge is a higher degree of certainty. “I
have more confidence in sharing my pricing
with clients,” she explains. “Along those same
lines, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t doubt or
discount myself, my time, or my product.”
She also learned that small changes can
accrue to make a big difference. By adding
a fourth collection to her print package op-
tions, she’s outsold all her other offerings. As
a result, by the end of 2017, her revenue was
up 55 percent.
What else did she pick up from the Chal-
lenge? Miller provides some of her lessons
learned: “How to handle objections, how to
choose products, focused marketing, client com-
munication, and so much more. The thing I
did that really helped my learning is to lis-
ten, watch, or read all the calls, webinars,
and conversations in our group chat. Even
if I thought the topic wouldn’t apply to my
business—weddings, for example, because
I don’t shoot weddings—I could still find
something to take away from the discussion.”
Kurkian notes there are no easy routes
to successful entrepreneurship. Putting in
time to do the work is critical. And Miller
has found that although she’s made great
strides, she still has psychological barri-
ers to overcome. “I’m still working on the
idea that spending money can make mon-
ey,” Miller says. “The last quarter of the
year I spent more money with my retouch-
er than I ever dreamed I would. However, I
had time to spend with my family, my cli-
ents received their images faster, and I was
way less stressed out. It was worth every
penny. And because I know how to better set
my pricing, the cost is built into my prices.”
Miller says she wants every PPA member
to consider taking the Challenge: “It’s a busi-
ness class just like you would take at a busi-
ness school or hire a business coach for but
geared specifically toward photographers.
And because of the vast amount of resources
available to us, it wasn’t taught by a single

76 PPM AG.COM
 person where you just learned how they do
things. It was a collective effort by so many
generous photographers.”
APPLYING THE LESSONS
Michael Boatright had a career in technolo-
gy while operating his Atlanta photography
studio as a secondary business until 2016,
when a corporate reorganization left him
without his day job. He took it as an oppor-
tunity to dive into professional photography
full-time. “Coincidentally, the PPA Business
Challenge was firing up just when I needed
it,” he says.
Boatright notes that the Challenge pre-
sented him with the business coaching he
needed: “Even though I had managed bud-
gets of millions of dollars for major technol-
ogy corporations over multiple decades, the
prospect of building a business plan, pricing
strategy, marketing, in-person sales, and the
like was intimidating and, honestly, frighten-
ing. By breaking this down into manageable
steps with a group of peers at various levels
of business, technical, and creative experi-
ence, I realized that I wasn’t alone in this.”
The Business Challenge is presented on
theLoop, PPA’s members-only online network,
which helps participants stay on task. Boat-
©MICHAEL BOATRIGHT
Michael Boatright credits the Business Challenge for tripling his 2017 revenue.
PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018
FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS
1. CREATE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT
WORKS. The first step of the Business
Challenge is to define what success
looks like for you. Use the Square One
tool (ppa.com/squareone) to determine
your pricing for profitability and sustain-
ability. The goal is to pay yourself.
2. USE YOUR TIME WISELY. Time is fi-
nite. Use PPA’s Benchmarks (ppa.com/
businessguide) to see how your studio
compares to PPA’s benchmarks of suc-
cess. Use that data to prioritize your work.
right says discussions on theLoop offered
wisdom from both mentors and peers.
“Very early on in the program,” he says, “one
of the speakers on one of our Challenge calls
said, ‘You will never be able to compete solely
on price.’… That changed everything. Until
that moment, I hadn’t understood that what
I was offering to my potential clients was my
creativity and hard work and that the value
3. UNDERSTAND CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS.
Photography is not about the image; it’s
about what you do with the image. Devel-
op products your target customer wants,
products they can’t create themselves.
4. DO THE WORK. It’s an easy concept
to understand, but who doesn’t look
for shortcuts? Part of the success of
the Business Challenge is that partici-
pants are accountable to each other,
which keeps everyone motivated to do
the work. It’s not easy, but it’s rewarding.
proposition is based on a lot more than price.”
This was one a-ha moment in a series of
them throughout the year. “There wasn’t a
single Challenge call, webinar, discussion
thread, or exercise that I didn’t get something
of value,” Boatright recalls. “Merchandising,
pricing, and marketing were the hardest things
for me to work through. I tried a variety of
ways to get people into the studio. Some
worked, some didn’t. But perhaps the hard-
est thing to work through was clients for
whom I had done free work in the past. Some
relationships made it through the transition
better than others. [Learning] how my peers
worked through the same kinds of situations
was a great help through this process.”
As he looks ahead, Boatright is encour-
aged. By November 2017 he had tripled his
studio revenue for the year. And he closed an
agency deal that he anticipates would qua-
druple that amount, putting him well into the
black for the year.
“I can look anyone in the eye who asks
and say that none of this would have hap-
pened were it not for the Business Challenge,
and of course, the willingness to put in the
work needed to make it effective,” he says.
New 12-month Business Challenge pro-
grams begin three times year: the 1st of Feb-
ruary, April, and August. •
ppa.com/challenge
77
LABS

78 PPM AG.COM
 LABS

PROFE S SION A L PHOTOGR A PHER | APRIL 2018 79

 THE SHOP

Advertise in THE SHOP and LABS section of

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

Ad size: 3.625” x 4.33”

For more information,
contact your advertising representative:

BRIAN CISCO
Advertising Sales
404-522-8600, x230
bcisco@ppa.com

MARINA ANDERSON
Advertising Manager
937-902-8217
manderson@ppa.com

80 PPM AG.COM
 THE SHOP

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 PPM AG.COM
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 BE MORE Cooected
Join Your Local Affliate
PPA Affliate members are a creative community of photographers helping
photographers. These non-proft groups nurture and provide the support
and tools to help you grow.

As an Affliate member YOU will:

• Meet & connect with peers & mentors

• Attend in-person workshops throughout the year with some of the

best instructors in the industry

• Sharpen your skills by competing in your local image competitions

• Close the gap toward earning a PPA Degree by attending

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• Get recognized; build credibility & set yourself apart

• Get involved & give back to your photographic

community

• And much more!

There’s never been a better time to Be More Connected!

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