PPA Today

Steve Outram Announces 2006 Photo Tour Workshops

WESTERN CRETE PHOTO WORKSHOP
May 2nd - 10, 2006
Sept 26th - Oct 4, 2006
$2260 per person

THE SECRETS OF ZANZIBAR
Sept 9th - 22, 2006
$4200 per person

A PORTRAIT OF LESVOS, GREECE
Oct 6 th - 20, 2006
$3474 per person

Complete details at www.steveoutram.com.

Sundance Resort Announces Photographic Workshop Series

SUNDANCE, Utah – March 30, 2006 – Sundance Resort announces the launch of its new Photographic Workshop Series, designed to provide instruction and inspiration to photographers of all abilities in the magnificent surroundings of Sundance and Mt. Timpanogos. Classes are slated to begin in August 2006.

With its vast undisturbed wilderness and stunning scenery, Sundance is the ideal location to stimulate photographic artistry and creativity in aspiring photographers, serious amateur photographers, and photo enthusiasts. The format and structure of the weeklong programs will incorporate, maximize, and complement the venue and all that it embodies.

PPA Affiliate Communications Competition: Winners Announced

PPA recently held its annual Affiliate Communications Competition. This competition is designed to improve affiliate publications and websites and recognize those involved in producing these communication tools. Every eligible competition entrant receives one PPA merit per entry. Those who place or earn an honorable mention receive an additional merit for each entry recognized below.  

Four qualified judges scored the newsletters and websites in the following three areas:

• editorial content
• overall appearance
• service to members

Congratulations to this year’s Affiliate Communications Competition winners!

Looking For A Sweet Easter Pic? The Best Bunnies Are Chocolate!

It's that time of year again, and live rabbits will be used as props in Easter pictures. 

Unfortunately, that’s never good for the rabbit.  Rabbits aren’t “hardy” animals like dogs and cats.  They’re prey animals, not predators, and hence, stress easily with noise or movement.  They bite when they believe themselves to be threatened; their hind legs are powerful enough to do damage when they kick.  Squeezing or holding them improperly can break their fragile backbones. 

And, regardless of the myth, young children and bunnies aren't a “good mix”.

Be known as a Businessperson Who Cares and help spread the word that rabbits are not easy pets to own (or take pictures with!) by using a Large Chocolate Easter Bunny wrapped in colorful foil instead and hold a drawing for it after Easter.

"Make Mine Chocolate!" (http://makeminechocolate.org/) can offer you free Assistance with a Make Mine Chocolate campaign including press releases to send to your local media outlets announcing your participation in rabbit education during this critical season.  This campaign is unusual enough to get your business coverage it can use during this busy Easter season. 

An Evening with Kathleen Hawkins

Marathon Press Announces Multi-City Marketing Seminar Tour

Marathon Press is pleased to announce a multi-city seminar tour entitled An Evening with Kathleen Hawkins for 2006.  The program will feature Kathleen Hawkins, an accomplished industry consultant, speaker and award -winning photographer.  In addition to being a published author of several books for the professional photographer, Kathleen is a three-time winner of PPA's AN-NE award for marketing excellence.  She and her husband Jeff, own a successful wedding and portrait studio in Orlando, Florida.

The program is a business-building, marketing and sales seminar for professional photographers consisting of a 4 hour evening program in which Ms. Hawkins will unlock the keys to achieving increased sales and profits.  She will discuss, step by step, the key marketing and sales strategies for a photography studios success.

Audio of Orphan Works Testimony

Audio of the Orphan Works testimony before the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 8 at 2 p.m. EST. is available here as an MP3 download. (filesize: 10mb)

Read a complete Executive Summary and Prepared Statement here.

Adobe Photoshop TV Reaches One Million Downloads in a Single Month

The producers of the highly trafficked video Podcast, Adobe® Photoshop TV reported that their 30-minute weekly presentation was downloaded over one million times in the month of March, 2006.

Featuring Dave Cross, Matt Kloskowski and best-selling author Scott Kelby, Photoshop TV is a weekly tutorial program that gives viewers tips, secrets and new techniques for making the most of Adobe® Photoshop software.

Along with demonstrating quick tips and in-depth techniques, the "Photoshop Guys" pepper their Podcast with their own brand of humor and airiness.

Nikon Small World: Call for Entries

MELVILLE, NY, March 21, 2006 – A submission deadline of April 28, 2006 for entries in the 32nd Annual Nikon Small World Competition is rapidly approaching. This year Nikon has advanced the date for entries in the Nikon Small World competition which has provided both amateur and professional microscopists an opportunity to showcase their photographic skills made possible by the light microscope for over 30 years.

Contestants are reminded they can submit a maximum of three images, either digitally at www.nikonsmallworld.com, or via film at Nikon Small World, 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747-3064.   Rules and entry forms are also available at www.nikonsmallworld.com.

Nikon will notify winners’ mid-summer, as the 1st and 2nd place prize winners will receive Nikon products worth $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. In addition, the top 20 winning images will be highlighted at museums and science centers around the country as Nikon Small World embarks on its 2006-2007 Museum Tour.

For more information visit the Nikon website at www.nikonusa.com. Product related inquiries can be directed to Nikon Instruments at 800-52-NIKON.

Sinar Introduces eMotion75 Digital Back

Sinar has announced the latest in the eMotion line of professional digital backs. The Sinarback eMotion75 provides a continuous capture rate of approximately every 1.5 seconds. With the unique storage system of the eMotion series, the eMotion75 can continuously capture up to 160 exposures in its 6 Gigabytes of internal memory.

The eMotion75 (and its sister back the 22MP eMotion22) feature “no-buffer” shooting. Once you stop shooting, the images are transferred to a Compact Flash card at a rate of more than 16 MB/s.

The eMotion75 features an ISO range of 50-400, and file sizes of up to 190 MB.

The active and usable surface of the sensor remains the same as the eMotion22 (48 x 36 mm) The smaller pixel size in the eMotion75 (7.2 microns) provides better (anti) Moiré characteristics, while at the same time raising the performance in advanced wide-angle and view camera applications.

A large range of adapters designed are available for the new eMotion75. And, with the Hasselblad-V Adapter, Sinarback eMotion digital backs can also be used on any view camera.

In addition, with the development of the Sinarback eMotion75, eMotion22 users also benefit. Sinar has announced a firmware upgrade for the eMotion22. Updating the firmware will increase the CF writing speed to more than 16 MB per second. In addition, the number of user selectable languages which are displayed on the integrated screen has also been increased. The photographer can now choose German, English, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. The feature of operating the eMotion22 in “Master Mode” has also been updated and it is now possible to use the eMotion22 with earlier shutter systems.

For more details on the eMotion75, please visit eMotion75 Information .

Broncolor Introduces Verso Pack

Designed as a studio power pack, the Verso has a “dock-on” rechargeable battery that lets the photographer work with asymmetric power distribution, even without any electrical power nearby. With its three lamphead outlets, the Verso allows the photographer to master even complex lighting situations.

With the RFS version, flash triggering is wireless. This technology eliminates potential misfiring. Thanks to the short recycle times and flash durations, you can capture movements with razor sharp contours. Additionally, the incredible asymmetry of 7 f-stops eliminate the need for a second power pack. And with a capacity of about 360 flashes per battery (at full power), you can leave the spare batteries for this shooting back at the studio!

For more information on the new Verso Power Pack, please go to Verso Information.