Professional Photographers of Michigan is excited to announce our line up and schedule of events for the 2012 Fall Focus seminar. Come join us for 2 days of action packed, fun filled, educational opportunities! Great speakers and lots of fun for all who attend!

Special Offer for JD Clients who attend: Find Tom Hicks at the Seminar, mention Gift Certificate, and he’ll give you a $25 certificate you can apply to your next order.

This year’s event will begin on Sunday, October 7th at 4:00pm on the beach at Grand Haven State Park. If you need overnight accommodations, please contact the Holiday Inn in Spring Lake. The second day of the event, with guest speakers, will all be held in the Holiday Inn’s Grand Ballroom.

Schedule:

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Professional Photographers of Michigan is expanding its educational opportunities with additional programs to help you expand your skills and improve your business. “PPM Presents” is a series of one day seminars held throughout Michigan that are designed to expand your knowledge of photography and business.

The next workshop will be Sunday, April 22nd featuring Steve Ragland “Creating Images from Start to Finish”. The focus of this workshop is creating beautiful images using inexpensive materials or materials that you may already have. We will talk about each step it takes to create the set, finding inspiration and being innovative. Register here.

Each day-long workshop is available to PPM members for just $49! Registration for Michigan Affiliate members (DPPA, MMPPA, MTPPA and PPWM) is $69, non-member registration is $89.

Kirk Russell will speak on “Effective Marketing” at the Professional Photographers of Michigan Photo Expo February 11 at the Motor City Casino Hotel in Detroit, Michigan. The session is sponsored by JD Photo Imaging.

According to Kirk, “Studios who aren’t finding ways to attract, motivate, and engage clients quickly find themselves hung out to dry. How are you hanging?” During the session, Kirk will show step-by-step examples of how to reinvent a photography studio. He will share great ideas for new products, marketing, and new processes that move people to action.

Complete information on the PPM Expo and training seminars are here.

Get ready for an island adventure at PPM’s Fall Training Camp, October 9-11, 2011 at Mission Point Resort on Mackinac Island! More information or registration here.

The ever popular hands-on, up-north weekend retreat is back for another year. Join your friends for a fun filled, relaxing getaway on beautiful Mackinac Island.

The theme of the weekend is “shooting on-location weddings, families, couples etc”. The emphasis will be on

• How to analyze a new location and determine the best way to photograph there.
• How to choose the best settings, lighting, time of day, etc.
• How to make portraits that encompass the environment and venue where the portraits are being taken.
• How to approach a “destination wedding” location.
• How to photograph a family that may be vacationing at a special location that they would like to have highlighted within their family portrait.
• How to photograph a couple or senior portrait session that magnifies the setting where they are.

Even the party/banquet/reception on Monday night is to be a learning experience for attendees as to how to photograph a wedding reception at this beautiful destination resort.

Michael Timmons will teach you how to enhance your images on Monday, Sept. 26 from 10am until 4pm in the JD training center. The program is sponsored by the Professional Photographers of Michigan and JD Photo Imaging.

Ever wondered how to use Nik Software to enhance your images? How about taking your after capture skills to the next level? What about a work alternative to HDR that will give you a more photo realistic look using jpegs?

During this day long program, Michael will share with you all of his tips and tricks to create stunning, award winning images. This day will be devoted to exploring the Nik software interface and unleashing the power that lies within. Both color and black and white workflow will be discussed as well as image enhancement using Topaz Adjust and Lucis Art software.

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The Professional Photographer’s of Michigan Photo Expo will be held on March 18-22 at the Westin Hotel, Detroit Airport.

PPM’s annual convention and trade show features seminars from industry leaders, print competitions and hospitality every night.

As a service to our customers, you can download and print free passes for the trade show held on Sunday, March 20 from 11am-4pm and on Monday, March 21 from 10am-3pm.

While you are at the trade show, be sure to visit our booth. JD will be showing all the latest products, as well as announcing our new Eureka! program for professional photographers.

More information about the show.

If you have never entered print or album competition or attended one before, this would be a great time to start! This year at the Michigan Photographic Expo, PPM will offer a $500 cash prize to a lucky winner, and JD is offering specials on competition prints.

• Order 4 16×20″ competition prints for the price of 3 – Use promo code PPM3-1 in ROES
• Order 6 16×20″ competition prints for the price of 4 – Use promo code PPM6-4 in ROES
• Next Generation Entries: Order 4 16×20″ competition prints for the price of 2 – Use promo code PPM2-2

This special runs January 29th from 12 noon until February 12th at 12 noon. Use the competition print category in ROES to order. Note that this promo pricing does not include mounting, coating or laminating.

More about the PPM Album and Print Competitions

The Michigan Photographic Expo will include both album and print competitions.

• This year, album category entries can include Wedding, Senior, Baby, Family, or any other type of album. In addition, this year, albums may be submitted on CD. Please refer to the album rules to learn more.
• Entries must arrive between Monday, Feb 15th and Friday, February 19th, at 4:30 PM at the Mariott to be eligible. Judging will take place Friday night. Please include a CD of your images ( 4×5 @ 300 dpi) to be projected during the banquet.
• To qualify for the $500 prize, you must enter a print case. For each print case you enter, your name will be submitted into a drawing to take place during the awards banquet.

If you have any questions email dave@masters-photo.com or call Dave at 810.733.8888.