What will you do with your newfound knowledge?

I’ve spent a great deal of time over the past two weeks attending photography expositions, seminars and gallery shows. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the PDN PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. Then after that the Olympus InVision Photo Festival in Bethlehem, PA. They were both fantastic! I would recommend them to any of my photographer friends and I plan on attending them both next year.

Two weeks ago when I left for New York I told my wife that I was not taking any camera’s. My only goal was to absorb as much knowledge as I could from the seminars that I planned to attend. Well, that’s exactly what I did.

PhotoPlus

Wednesday, day one of PhotoPlus was brought to us by Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). I attended the posing, composition, boudoir and creative seminars given by Bambi Cantrell, Susan Stripling, Jen Rozenbaum and Dane Sanders.

On Thursday, day two, I learned all about flash photography, high end retouching and strategies for winning photo competitions. Seminar presenters were Joe McNally, Carrie Beene and a panel consisting of Allen Murabayashi, Lauren Wendle, Susan Bright and W.M. Hunt. “An Astronaut’s Guide to Photography in Space” presented by NASA Astronaut Donald Pettit was the Keynote Address. Pettit was a rather dry speaker however the subject and photographs were very interesting!

Friday morning, I attended a fine art digital printing seminar presented by John Paul Caponigro and another keynote address by Mark Seliger. I spent the rest of the day on the trade floor perusing all of the wonderful vendors. Friday night was date night with my daughter and her husband, Jess and Phil. We had dinner at the Breslin Bar & Dining Room and then a few drinks at Maysville, a bourbon bar. It was a very good time!

Homeward Bound

Saturday, the last day of PhotoPlus I took an early train home. I was only able to attend one seminar presented by Steve Simon. He called it “The Passionate Photographer: Becoming The Photographer You Want To Be”. Steve had a great message and he was a very good speaker. I walked away with a lot from this talk. One of the interesting technical things he brought up was his method of using Auto ISO, Auto White Balance and Back Button Auto Focus to capture the majority of his images. Very interesting!

On to Bethlehem….

Last Friday I attended the opening of the Pennsylvania Photographers’ Competition. It is in the Crayola Gallery at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, PA. I have two photographs in this show, the hangman and Mossy Trail Reflection. I was happy to see many people attending the opening. I had an opportunity to speak with a whole bunch of people about my photos. After the opening I had dinner and spent the night at the Sands Casino Resort Hotel. I don’t gamble but it is very entertaining just watching all the people who do.

After checking out on Saturday morning I headed over to the ArtsQuest building for the Olympus InVision Photo Festival. Throughout the day I attended several hour long presentations. The presenting photographers were Richard Renaldi, Roxanne Lowitt, Eugene Richards, Oliva Bee and Chase Jarvis. These ranged from very good (Eugene Richards) to awful (Oliva Bee) and everywhere in between.

When the day concluded I left Bethlehem and drove 2 and 1/2 hours to our family summer home. Known to us as The Cot-Taj-Mahal, it is located along the Juniata River. I know some of you guys are familiar with that piece of real estate. After a long drive I arrived and met my wife, Robrandi and her cray mother Fannie. We talked a bit about the Photoplus photography seminars, had a few drinks and then retired for the night. Drifting off to sleep, next to Robrandi, she asked me, “Now what are you going to do with all your new found knowledge”? To that I replied, “I’ll figure it out in the morning” …. and I’m still working on it.