Congratulations to Dawn for her scores at the Professional Photographers of Oklahoma Fall Convention’s print competition!

Participants are allowed to enter up to six prints into competition and they are judged by a panel of Master Photographers on a scale of 70 to 100. The scale of the scoring is …

Exceptional 100 – 95

Superior 94 – 90

Excellent 89 – 85

Deserving of Merit 84 – 80

Above Average 79 – 76

Average 75-74

Acceptable 73 – 70

Unacceptable 69 and under

The goal is to get 80 or above. The prints are judged based on the 12 Elements as outlined in the Professional Photographers of America print competition rules. To read more about the 12 elements follow this link http://www.ppa.com/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=559 . Competition is completely voluntary and most photographers do it to subject their work to some of the strictest peer review possible in order to improve their work.

Dawn entered six prints and scored 80 or above on all of them!!! In addition she received two Honorable Mentions in the electronic imaging and wedding categories, a Distinguished in the women’s portrait category, and the Trophy for Best Print in the Commercial/Industrial category.

Dawn’s scores were;

Dreamweaver – 82 Honorable Mention in the Electronic Imaging category

Urban Fairy – 80

Can You Take the Heat – 80 and Trophy for Commercial/Industrial category

Windswept Romance – 81 Honorable Mention in the Weddings category

Danceworks Senior Class – 80

Nostalgic – 83 Distinguished in the Women’s Portrait category

(The prints are below)

Once again, Congratulations Dawn for a job well done!

~Doug

A few years ago, can’t remember exactly how many, I stumbled upon the Professional Photographers of Oklahoma Convention. I remember my first night like it was yesterday. It was kind of a last minute decision to go and even more last minute for Doug and Paige. I had been planning to go for about a week but as I was getting ready to leave town Doug called and said he was off work early and wanted to go along. So we threw a bunch of stuff in suitcase for them and headed for Tulsa. Just west of Sand Springs we had a flat tire so Doug changes to the donut tire and off we go again. Got about a mile and the donut went flat too. So we called the tow truck and they got the donut aired up and the tow truck guy suggested the closest tire repair shop. Needless to say I was late for the start of the convention. Luckily they let me in to the first night “mixer” even though I missed registration. That night I met the people who would change my life forever. This was the most amazing group of professional photographers I could have ever hoped to meet. I meet Wayne Reese and Anthony Hart first and they told me about another organization in Oklahoma City that I joined shortly after. I also met Kent Shirley and Karen Moore that evening. I met a lot of people that night but these four stick out in my mind. And I consider all four of them dear dear friends. The next day I attended my very first print competition sanctioned by the Professional Photographers of America. Let me set the stage for all of you who have never been lucky enough to sit in on a PPA print competition. First of all the room is completely dark except for the front of the room where there are two bright lights, one either side of a long table, which are pointing at a 20x20 gray turntable. A panel of PPA trained judges sit at this table. The title of the print is announced and the print comes around on the turntable. The prints are scored by each judge and the print receives the average of these scores. No one but the judges are allowed to speak and the room is buzzing with anxiety. I have to say it was yet another life changing experience. These were the most beautiful photographs I had ever seen. After about an hour of watching breathtaking photographs come around on the turntable I wanted to crawl out of the room completely unnoticed because I knew they were way out of my league and I just hoped and prayed no one would ask to see my photography. But I did stay til the end and I made a decision that one day I would have prints on that turntable.
Two years ago I made the leap and entered my first print competition. I did pretty well. Ended up winning the First Timer Award for the highest scoring print case at the Southwest Professional Photographers Association, a five state regional competition.
Yesterday I sent my print case off to Tulsa with a fellow photographer to be entered into this year’s PPOK print competition. I’m not going to get to watch the competition this year because we have a wedding today but they’ll get judged without me. It’s probably better this way. Now I don’t have to endure the sweaty palms, pounding heart and queezy stomach that like to join me in the print room. We’ll be joining the group on Sunday for two more wonderful days of learning and fellowship. I love our conventions. Lots of friends, fun, food and, oh yes, some photography. Anyway if all goes well at print competition I’ll tell you about it next week. If not, I’ll have to try and distract you with something else!
Hope you all have a great weekend! ~Dawn

Over the Labor Day weekend we decided to take a little day trip. Kind of a mini photo safari. So we packed up the gear and a picnic dinner and headed west to Gloss/Glass Mountain. Doug, Paige and I had our picnic near the parking area then headed up...and up…and UP! Nearly straight up. As we were climbing the stairs built into the mountain face, about three quarters of the way up by then, the buzzards were circling above. Doug turned to me and said “I wonder what’s up there that they are interested in? I said “they’re probably waiting for me!” I was puffing and panting like crazy. Made a mental note to start getting more exercise. Once we got to the top it was completely flat and the view was amazing. We were there for a couple of hours and took a lot of pictures. There are a number of really unusual plants and flowers up there and they made for some pretty interesting photographs. Not to mention the rather unhappy rattlesnake that a fellow climber came across. And of course Doug and Paige are ALWAYS my favorite subjects. Paige enjoys taking pictures too and she’s really pretty good! We intend to devote an entire blog day to her photography in the near future.
So if your ever just sitting around your house wondering what you can do in an afternoon you really should drive over to the Gloss Mountains. You’ll be glad you did!

A few weeks ago I was talking with one of my clients about her children and how we need to get together and update their portraits. We were talking about the different things we could do and she asks “Dawn, why don’t you photograph children like you photograph your outdoor seniors?” Well Duh, why don’t I? I guess I just hadn’t ever really thought about it. All of my formal training screams soft, pretty, classic, etc. You know, “follow the rules” stuff. And for the most part I’ve been happy with the results. But the idea of taking children into the great outdoors and letting them be themselves suddenly became very appealing. And not just sandboxes, and swingsets. Instead I want to use the architecture for my settings and props. Well obviously this isn’t the type of thing that is easily explained so I called Emme’s parents and asked if they were up for “something different?” Lucky for me they were very excited about the idea. So they gathered up some of Emme’s favorite B Hip Kids clothes (Downtown Enid) and we set out to have some fun. And boy did we have fun!!! No pressure, no stuffy posing, no forced smiles, NO RULES. Just lots of texture, color and fun. Emme’s parents and I just let her be herself. Click on the link to check out our very first “Urban Kids Session” Starring Emme! If you like what you see give us a call to schedule your Urban Kids Session. I promise, you’ve never had a portrait session this fun!