My name is Kimberly Pezeshki,M.Photog.M.Artist,Cr., CPP. I’m a Wyoming Past President & Fellowship Director, and CPP Liaison. As your elected Wyoming PPA Councilor I am your ambassador for PPA. I'm here to answer any questions or pass on any concerns to PPA.
Council is the legislative body of Professional Photographers of America, Inc., (PPA), representing members in 53 countries, territories, and provinces. Our first purpose is to represent the best interests of PPA members. Special interests come second to the good of the whole organization.
Charge to Councilors "We, the PPA Council, have been elected by our peers to represent this, the world's greatest professional photographic and imaging association. Our goal is to create an environment where the free exchange of ideas will foster the proactive thought needed for any enterprise to flourish. Each of us brings to the Council a unique point of view and set of experiences which, when combined with those of other imaging professionals, creates a greater collective vision. With that understanding, we believe that our obligation is not to any single interest, but the interest of the association and profession as a whole. In this way, we will have the greatest impact on the world we love. Our specific job is to be that of visionary and protector of the Bylaws. Creative work cannot be accomplished successfully by committee. Therefore, we will elect a Board of Directors that represents the best in creativity and professional skill that our trade has to offer. We take this responsibility seriously, and pledge to elect those people only of outstanding character, leadership and business acumen to run the day-to-day operations of our association. We recognize that PPA's primary responsibility is to help its members prosper in changing creative and business environments. We believe that no other professional photographic organization can do this -- the responsibility rests with this body. The burden is heavy and the responsibility great. The reward for our service will be an imaging industry that is stronger and more prosperous than it is today. This will be our legacy. To this end, We pledge to conduct the business of this Council with respect, professionalism and courtesy."
PPA Council Report 2023
Kim Pezeshki
Council is the legislative body of Professional Photographers of America, Inc., (PPA), representing members in 53 countries, territories, and provinces. Our first purpose is to represent the best interests of PPA members. Special interests come second to the good of the whole organization.
CPP
The committee met and discussion centered on the purpose of the new liaison replacement program and why we need it. Committee halted development of CPP Liaison replacement program based on feedback from Board while they awaited further vision from the Board.
Technical Image Evaluation Data as of 12.2022 (overall approximately 59% passing rate)
Credentialing:
The Merit Image Review registration opened on Dec. 13th with a new registration page. Members will now be able to register a single image in one of the 3 Degree areas. (Master of Photography, Master Wedding, and or Master Artist. The MIR registration will now be open year-round with the review taking place Feb through Nov. We are putting the final touches on the juror schedule platform and the new review interface. The new MIR interface will include a more robust data tracking system to help with the new juror approval process. The new IPC will be rolled out in mid-February 2023. The new competition will allow members to put their images up against some of the best image makers in PPA. Registration will open in July 2023 with the judging starting in September 2023. The head-to-head judging will take place live at IPC 2024.
Education Department
New Curriculums introduced in 2022 These new classes will be released in 2023
• Cris Duncan- Commercial Photography
• Allen Cooley - Commercial Photography
• John Gress- Commercial Photography
Curriculum Development
New Curriculums for 2023
The EDU team is working with the EDU Advisory committee and subject matter experts to develop the following curriculums:
• Wedding
• Real Estate
Webinars
This year PPAedu hosted 27 webinars.
- The heArt of Pricing and Sales/Lindsay Betz
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The Six-Figure Traveling Pet Photographer/ Arika Dorff
- Create an Experience that Wows Your Pet Clients/ Kim Hartz
- Create an Experience that Wows Your Pet Clients/ Kim Hartz
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Introducing Sigma I Series- Unique, All-metal Lenses for Mirrorless Cameras (sponsored)/ Aaron
- Norberg, Heather Larkin, Jim Koepnick*
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Turning Summer Sports Sessions Into Full Senior Sessions/ Allison Carlino
- Content Creating/ Cane Sampson
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To Niche or Not to Niche/ Paul Seibert*
- The Art of Storytelling in Photography – Kristy Steeves
- To Niche or Not To Niche – Paul Seibert
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Under Promise, Over Deliver: 67 Figure Business Strategies – D’Ann Boal
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Sigma Announces 16mm / 30mm / 56mm f1.4 Lenses: Now for Fujifilm X Mount – SIGMA Sponsored
- Improving Your Client Experience Using 17hats – Vanessa Joy Perfecting Your Pricelist – Chris Wooley
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The Art Beyond the Headshot: Mastering the Light – Rafal Wegiel
- How To Create High-end Portrait Experiences at Events – Catalina Viau
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Real Estate Photography & Virtual Tours: Setting up for Success – Jason LaVanture
- SuccessfulMiniSessionsWithouttheHassle–AmandaRae Shoot for the Sale/ Jessica Vallia
- It’s All in the Details: A Look at Posing Your Clients/ Kristy A. Steeves How To Sell Wall Portraits for Great Profits/ Charles Lewis, Todd Lewis Shooting Fencing: From Clubs to the Olympic Games/ Serge Timacheff What Every Website Needs To Attract Commercial Clients/ Christina Peters Diamond Hunting/ Judy Reinford
- 7 Growth Hacks to Increase Revenue in 2023/Amanda Rae (Sponsored by 17Hats) Grants and Photography: Funding Your Practice/ Endia Beal
- Post Processing & Shooting With the Final Image in Mind/ Laura Grier
Bridging the Gap
Facebook Live – every other Wednesday at 2pm PPAedu Live (hosted as a Facebook Live event) is now hosted every other Wednesday at 2pm ET. This series supports PPA’s efforts in helping photographers understand their value as small business owners, bridging the gap between themselves and their customers, and attaining the skills they need to succeed in a competitive marketplace.
These segments are recorded and placed in the PPAedu Library.
Imaging USA Speakers
Open Call for Speakers for Imaging USA 2024 For the nineth year PPA promoted an open call for Imaging USA speakers for 2024. The application submissions dates are December 5, 2022– February 28, 2023.
Imaging USA 2023- Gaylord Opryland, Nashville, TN There were 86 classes, including both pre-con and platform, and 101 instructors slated for Imaging USA – Nashville, TN. Working with speakers is always an ongoing process as we assist them in the preparation and development of their programs. This year we have worked even closer, with vendors, the events department and our sales team create programing that should be beneficial to all our members. This year will be the second year that we have hosted Networking Avenue and the first year that we’ve introduced our Deep Dive Classes. The Deep Dives are sponsored sessions that focus on a selected topic.
Upcoming Imaging USA locations:
- * 2024: Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY * 2025: Gaylord Texan, Grapevine (Dallas), TX
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* 2026: Gaylord Opryland, Nashville, TN
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* 2027: Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, NC
- * 2028: Gaylord Texan, Grapevine (Dallas), TX
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* 2029: Gaylord National Harbor, National Harbor, MD (DC area)
Government Affairs Department
The world of copyright has made significant strides this year with the implementation of the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), the copyright tribunal tasked with overseeing and administering the small claims process set up by the CASE Act (Copyright Alternative in Small-claims Enforcement Act), legislation PPA advocated for, and this year educated its members on how to access the system, what it looks like as a copyright holder, and FAQs. We met with the Copyright Office and were pleased to share with them our educational materials which tailor copyright systems to the average photographer. Our educational effort is ongoing and continues to be released as the intellectual property world changes around us.
Our efforts on Capitol Hill have been in pursuit of modernizing the Copyright Office and to this end, we have made great progress in furthering the message that the current processes do not work for high volume photographers. The systems are antiquated, the standards are not realistic, and the data that is necessary according to the Copyright Office is in large quantities destroyed because of current limitations on data storage. This is a slow process, but such is the world when attempting to pass a bill through Congress. The Copyright Office has initiated its stated goal of modernizing itself but to this day, the changes have been non-existent. Therefore, we have played an active role in applying pressure from the legislative branch through official letters and bill drafting. We continue our work to modernize the Copyright Office through every available means however we would rather the best system be implemented instead of the quickest.
This year the Government Affairs Team engaged with individual national parks to ease bureaucratic red tape that targets photographers. In Grand Teton National Park, the park superintendent threatened to roll out a Commercial Use Authorization for photographers who simply took portraits within the park. They threatened to require CPR certification, liability insurance with coverage provided within the park, name badges, a permitting fee, and a percentage of gross receipts for the job; these requirements simply targeted people with large cameras and forced those targeted to engage in a system that infringes on their 1st Amendment. In addition to this gross violation of a constitutionally protected right, it does not achieve the intended goal of the park which is to limit the impact of visitors. A photographer with a camera and one client will have no different impact on the land than a couple visiting the park for pleasure. This effort continues with our seeking passage of the FILM Act. It is currently unclear whether this will be solved by legislation by the end of the year but if not, then it will continue to be a high priority for the Government Affairs Team.
The Indemnification Trust saw a similar trend to 2021 with closed claims being 231 YTD over 229 YTD. This year the Trust distributed a total of $59,903.51 with an average paid claim being $998.39.
Information Technology Department
Below is a list of several highlights for the year: (not a full list of completed projects)
- Merit Image Review Process
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Registration to support across a 10-month review schedule
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Ordering Critiques
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Judge Scheduling Platform – This tool will allow judges the ability to schedule time for review of
- images
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Image Review system
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Automatically award merits
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Finishing up auto-renews for GL membership (connection to Insurance provider tax calculator)
- Completed the final District and IPC Competition
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Working on a solution for the migration to Google Analytics 4 across all websites Development of the 2024 Imaging USA Expo Floorplan setup
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GL/Nightly Processing – New Full-Plus Membership
- Set up new membership types in NetForum; Full Plus, Full Plus (Semi-Annual), Life Plus, Life Plus with Indemnification Trust
- Adjusted existing membership settings, removed grace period, changes to Additional & Limited membership settings
- GL Join/Renewal Form on ppa.com, with GL application and state tax calculations by API integration with the Insurance Carrier - Lockton
- Member transfer process on ppa.com – members can switch themselves from existing membership to GL membership, and get an automated refund
- Created an automated nightly process to handle payments, drops, and renewals Interactive reports for customer service tied to nightly renewals
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Automated member email notifications
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Tracking opt-in date for the auto-renew process
- Email verification process: mailing address validation process to reduce SPAM attacks and ensure correct policies are delivered to the insured/member.
- Developed integration with 3rd party system to provide real-time address location verification Completed upgrade of the corporate CRM System - NetForum
- Completed the development and implementation of the Imaging USA App Developed two new evaluation systems
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Speaker Evaluation System
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Board of Directors Evaluation System
- Dashboard Analytics Updates/Additions consisted of:
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New Find a Photographer analytics dashboard
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New Imaging USA analytics dashboard
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New See the Difference analytics dashboard
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Designed / Developed / Implemented the new Imaging USA Website
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Changed imagingusa.org to now resolve to imagingusa.com
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Launched redesign of the Imaging USA 2023 attendee registration
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Enhanced security on all credit card forms across our sites, to help prevent fraudulent charges • Added
- additional member data to NF for reporting: Curriculum
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Last Login Date
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Videos Viewed
- DownloadTracking
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Upgraded Mailroom Operations and postage equipment
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Reduce shipping and mailing costs with the ability to now compare shipping vendors' rates Completed the migrating of our on-premises Exchange email server to the Office 365 cloud based
- platform. This reduces our exposure to downtime and allows for additional email storage per user
Juror Excellence Committee
The committee met virtually 3/9, 4/6, 6/21, 8/15, 11/11. Cris Duncan taught a Judges Workshop/Class held 3/21-23. There were 24 attendees. JEC held two In Person Evaluations (IPE) for potential new Jurors (April 18 & 19, 2021) . •
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This resulted in 4 new PPA Jurors: Chris Richman, Gena Tussey, Julie Savage, and Lisa Asp. •
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Resulted in 6 new JITs: Brad Barton, Chris Paulis, Chris Wooley, Jim Trapp & Teri Whittaker
A New Juror Refresher virtual meeting/program was created and occurred before both the District Judging and IPC.
Member Value & Experience Department
Total Membership November 2021: 32,577
Total Membership November 2022: 34,149
The final list of 2023 degree candidates includes 188-degree recipients, which is slightly less than our
2022 class of 201 recipients, but still up from our 2021 class of 117 recipients.
- We have 48 Photographic Craftsman recipients,
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112 Master of Photography recipients,
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12 Master of Wedding Photography recipients, and
- 24 Master Artist recipients.
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Of our 188 recipients,
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6 of these recipients are receiving 2 degrees, and 1 of these recipients is receiving 3 degrees.
Wyoming PPA and PPA in Wyoming 2023 Degree Recipients
Photographic Craftsman:
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Kory Bumgardner, M.Photog., CPP Golden, Colorado
Master of Photography:
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Sherry Bluemel Lyman, Wyoming
- Paige Fulton Estes Park, Colorado
In addition to those members who earned their degree, in 2022, we have sent out 188 25+ bars to members for earning an additional 25 merits,
9 EDU100 bars,
30 Imaging Excellence Awards (to be presented at Imaging 2023, and
15 Imaging Excellence Bars.
12 of our Imaging Excellence recipients for Imaging 2023 are also earning a new degree at this year’s Award & Degree Ceremony.
Over the last 12 months, the Indemnification Trust has closed 249 claims and provided indemnification payments totaling $59,903.51.
Sales and Strategic Alliances Department
Merits Awarded to Wyoming PPA 2020-2022
2022 PPA
Council Report
Council report from Imaging USA held at the Gaylord at National Harbor.
Council is the legislative body of Professional Photographers of America, Inc., (PPA), representing members in 53 countries, territories, and provinces. Our first purpose is to represent the best interests of PPA members. Special interests come second to the good of the whole organization.
Council Report of General Activities
Certification
Candidates
Currently, PPA has had 644 members declare their candidacy for Certification this year as compared to 624 in 2020 and 631 in 2019. 284 candidates have taken the exam this year as compared to 253 in 2020 with a passing rate of 85%.
Year-End Statistics
Total CPP count: 1925
Total CPP Candidate count: 1440
Total number of members participating in the CPP program: 3,365
From the total of 431 current members that were due to recertify in 2021, a total of 268 recertified putting our retention percentage around 62% for the year.
Technical Image Evaluation
2020 showed a 52% pass rate compared to a 57% pass rate for 2021.
2021 2/ 2021 4/2021 6/2021 8/2021 10/2021 Totals
Total 97 95 70 56 55 373
Accepted 52 59 33 38 32 214
Rejected 45 36 37 18 23 159
The 2022 Technical Image Evaluations dates have been selected and are posted below and on PPA.com:
- Friday, February 4, 2022 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, February 18, 2022 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, April 1, 2022 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, April 15, 2022 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, June 3, 2022 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, June 17, 2022 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, August 5, 2022 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, August 19, 2022 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, October 7, 2022 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, October 21, 2022 12PM (noon) ET
Staff sent out the CPP Liaison program closure notification letter on Tuesday, November 30th.
Drone Certification
Since the beginning of the year, we have brought in 9 new Certified Drone Photographers. Please find them listed below;
- Colby Fugate McLemore, Jr, M.Photog.Cr., CPP– Knoxville, TN
- Michael S. Anders – Cape Girardeau, MO
- Reza Chegoonian – Dallas, TX
- Jonathan Duncan, CPP – Brentwood, TN
- Gregory Daley, CPP – Lafayette, LA
- Jennifer Koontz – Avon, NC
- Mohammadreza Broushaky – Mclean, VA
- Christian A. Prichard – Lavalette, WV
- Phillip Rubino, CPP – Castle Rock, CO
- Devin John Westhasue – Avon, OH
Education Department
Curriculum Development New Curriculums for 2022
The EDU team is working with the EDU Advisory committee and subject matter experts to develop the following curriculums:
• Wedding
• Commercial
• Content Creation (researching)
Webinars
This year PPAedu hosted 23 webinars.
Bridging the Gap
Facebook Live – every other Wednesday at 2pm PPAedu Live (hosted as a Facebook Live event) is now hosted every other Wednesday at 2pm ET. Imaging USA Speakers
Open Call for Speakers for Imaging USA 2023 For the eighth year PPA promoted an open call for Imaging USA speakers for 2023. The application submissions dates are December 1 – February 28, 2022.
Photography Workshops (formerly Super 1 Day)
Photography workshop numbers were up in comparison to the previous year.
Spring Session
Spring classes, were scheduled for May 4-18, which is in line with our pre covid schedule.
Fall Session Fall workshops were held September 7 – 21.
The quarantine affected while some instructors were able to have classes in person others were not. Including both workshops, there were a total of $65,451 from paying attendees.
Events Department
IPC
This year, IPC Districts took place as an online judging event, and IPC took place at PPA Headquarters and online.
The Judges Workshop class also took place online this year with Carl Caylor and Jessica Vogel as the instructors.
2021 District Results
2021 Districts # of Images # of Critiques
SW 617 401
NE 666 298
NC 445 208
Western 540 313
SE 877 495
2021 IPC Report
Category Not Accepted General Imaging Excellence Total
Photographic Open Digital 705 (37.03%) 786 (41.28%) 414 (21.74%) 1904
Photographic Open Physical 16 (42.11%) 13 (34.21%) 9 (23.68%) 38
Electronic Imaging Digital 260 (43.55%) 120 (20.1%) 217 (36.35%) 597
Electronic Imaging Physical 3 (27.27%) 0 (0%) 8 (72.73%) 11
Album Digital 12 (24.49%) 28 (57.14%) 9 (18.37%) 49
Digital 1917 (38.13%) 1914 (38.07%) 1201 (23.89%) 5028
Physical 27 (42.86%) 15 (23.81%) 21 (33.33%) 63
Total 1944 (38.19%) 1929 (37.89%) 1222 (24%) 5091
Marketing & Communications Department
BE MOREThis is our primary membership marketing campaign and includes messaging on all our assets.
Overall, 2021 is looking better than pre-COVID times. Joins continue to increase, drops decrease, and web conversions continue to perform better.
SEE THE DIFFERENCE
PPA.com analytics results for the See the Difference campaign show a 64% decrease in site visits and an 86% decrease in visits from ads year-over-year.
FIND-A-PHOTOGRAPHER
Overall, the new site is performing extremely well, generating not only more traffic, but better-engaged visitors. Traffic increased by 41% in 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, and the Search Engine tool use increased by 37% year-over-year.
2021 PPA Councilor report .
Council is the legislative body of Professional Photographers of America, Inc., (PPA), representing members in 53 countries, territories, and provinces. Our first purpose is to represent the best interests of PPA members. Special interests come second to the good of the whole organization.
My name is Kimberly Pezeshki,M.Photog.Cr., CPP. I’m a Wyoming Past President & Fellowship Director, and CPP Liaison. As your elected Wyoming PPA Councilor I am your ambassador for PPA. I'm here to answer any questions or pass on any concerns to PPA.
Charge to Councilors "We, the PPA Council, have been elected by our peers to represent this, the world's greatest professional photographic and imaging association. Our goal is to create an environment where the free exchange of ideas will foster the proactive thought needed for any enterprise to flourish. Each of us brings to the Council a unique point of view and set of experiences which, when combined with those of other imaging professionals, creates a greater collective vision. With that understanding, we believe that our obligation is not to any single interest, but the interest of the association and profession as a whole. In this way, we will have the greatest impact on the world we love. Our specific job is to be that of visionary and protector of the Bylaws. Creative work cannot be accomplished successfully by committee. Therefore, we will elect a Board of Directors that represents the best in creativity and professional skill that our trade has to offer. We take this responsibility seriously, and pledge to elect those people only of outstanding character, leadership and business acumen to run the day-to-day operations of our association. We recognize that PPA's primary responsibility is to help its members prosper in changing creative and business environments. We believe that no other professional photographic organization can do this -- the responsibility rests with this body. The burden is heavy and the responsibility great. The reward for our service will be an imaging industry that is stronger and more prosperous than it is today. This will be our legacy. To this end, We pledge to conduct the business of this Council with respect, professionalism and courtesy."
Certification
Candidates
Currently, we have had 622 members declare their candidacy for Certification this year as compared to 628 in 2019 and 604 in 2018. 258 candidates have taken the exam this year as compared to 269 in 2019 with a passing rate of 84%. Almost all exams have been taken online since March due to social distancing guidelines.
Year-End Statistics
Total CPP count: 1977 Total CPP Candidate count: 1273
Total number of members participating in the CPP program: 3,250
From the total of 490 current members that were due to recertify in 2020, a total of 255 recertified putting our retention percentage around 52% for the year. This percentage is about 20% lower than normal, however, due to many educational events being canceled and the one-year Board waiver being implemented we feel confident the Recertification rate for 2021 will be much higher as CPPs take advantage of the Covid resources PPA has offered.
Technical Image Evaluation In April the Certification Committee reviewed and adjusted the focal length requirement in the technical image evaluation allowing equivalents to be used to meet the specified criteria. The consensus was reached that images should be reviewed based according to camera/lens type and the evaluation checklist should be updated to reflect this: “The lens focal length should be between 70-105 mm or equivalent.”
The 2021 Technical Image Evaluations dates have been selected and are posted below and on PPA.com:
Friday, February 5, 2021 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, February 19, 2021 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, April 2, 2021 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, April 16, 2021 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, June 4, 2021 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, June 18, 2021 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, August 6, 2021 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, August 20, 2021 12PM (noon) ET
- Friday, October 1, 2021 12PM (noon) ET – Friday, October 15, 2021 12PM (noon) ET
Exam Resources
Staff has been working closely with the Certification Committee this year to revamp the sample exam available to candidates for CPP study. The Committee was able to rework several of the items on the sample exam and update references. We plan to release the new sample exam in early 2021. The new exam will be offered online and as a PDF. Each question will also have feedback providing the book and page number each question is referenced from.
Marketing
After working with an outside video production company in late 2019 we launched a new CPP video in February via social media and the updated PPA.com. The 3-minute video highlights two new (2019) CPPs and their Certification journeys. We have been excited to start using the video as a part of our peer to peer marketing campaign and using real CPPs to share the power of Certification.
Updated Logos
With the revamp of the PPA logo and website in March we also updated the Certification logo to reflect the new color guidelines of PPA. The new CPP logo is available for download in the CPP insiders section of PPA.com. We have also updated the CPP Liaison signature logo and it can be downloaded in the CPP Liaison loop community. The Drone Certification Logo has also been updated with new coloring.
Recertification
With the help of the Certification Committee, the Recertification CEU chart was updated in mid-April to be more streamlined and offer more options for CPPs to earn online CEUs. We have also added a Recertification FAQ section to the CPP FAQs online. The list below highlights the changes that were made: • adding in a 2 CEU increment option • aligning the number of days to the accrual options (the old chart used language such as “multiday” which was confusing) • removing the cap on teaching or speaking CEU accrual (the old chart was a max of 5) • increasing the online accrual options to a max of 10 CEUs instead of 5 (this is accrued through PPA or PPA Affiliate online education)
Certification Curriculum on PPAedu
The Certification department worked closely with the Education department this spring and summer on mapping out the new CPP Curriculum for PPAedu. The new curriculum outlines the process of Certification from start to finish and has a section on “Post-Certification” that highlights topics such as the Recertification process and how to incorporate CPP into your brand. We are very excited about this new curriculum and the ability to have collateral materials and resources assigned to videos. In total there are over 50 videos devoted to Certification in the Curriculum and it has been one of the most popular Curriculums in the platform.
Board Approved Certification Waiver
In late October staff sent out notifications to both CPP candidates and current CPPs to let them know about the requirement waiver the Board approved in October. Extensions will be given when the member has reached their expiration date with no additional fee required.
Imaging USA- Right at Home
Imaging USA – Right at Home preparations are well underway. At the time this report was written we had 71 members registered for the 3-day virtual precon CPP Exam Prep Class and 42 for the half-day Technical Image Evaluation Prep. Staff has been working with Intrado and Marcom to create the virtual Certification lounge and discuss the needs and functionality. We are excited to create a fun, virtual space where Certified members can gather and connect.
Drone Certification
We continue to monitor FAA developments including the addition of: • Remote ID requirements for commercial drone users • Passing an online safety test and carry proof of passage while flying for recreational drone pilots. That test is still in development per the FAA website. So far this year we have welcomed in 13 new Certified Drone Photographers: Devin Curtis Day – Lilburn, GA Charles Lawson, CPP – Kilmarnock, VA William Long, III – New Orleans, LA Jason Reina – Nacogdoches, TX Brian Bailey – Sewell, NJ Melvin E. Guante, Cr.Photog., CPP – Watertown, MA Chris Kendrick – Columbia, MO Angela Marcotte, CPP – Lufkin, TX John Monaco – Rockfin, CA Nat Seymour, CPP – Redmond, WA Marc A. Smith – Kernersville, NC John Mwangi Wanjiru – Newark, DE Mike Anderson - Madisonville, TN
Education Department
PPAedu
The new PPAedu learning management system was launched in June of this year. This content will continually be evolving as new content and curriculums are being developed and refined continuously. The learning system that was developed is designed to offer the learner/member options and freedom as they journey on their personal learning path. They’ll be able to choose from a range of curated curriculums, deep dives (topic specific) and of course, browse through all content using a wide variety of filters. In reworking PPAedu’s online presence, we are conscientiously making clear the layered benefits of all of PPA’s educational offerings. Our priority was to create a platform and appearance that is prototypical to that of other educational platforms in order to improve member user experience and to attract new members to our website and educational offerings. Working with the MarCom team, there is a focus on optimizing user experience, differentiating between members, guests and first-time visitors. As a team we have refined the taxonomy for all educational content. This will help all site content be served to members and guests in a very organized and curated way. We have updated the specialties and interests lists, unifying our terminology across all departments. Due to the current state of events, we approached content creation differently in 2020. Instead of being able to bring instructors into the office for filming, we worked with instructors to record their class segments in their own studio. We’ll continue to refine this process but we’re hopeful that this will actually be a great way to curate new content. It shows the artist in their own space and viewers will see a more authentic version of the speakers’ photographic style. Additionally, we’ll be able to add more personal content like studio tours to the EDU collection.
New Video Classes Created in 2020
These new classes will be released in 2021
- Kim Hartz – Pet Photography – Kim is part of the team working with us to build out a pet photography curriculum.
- Arica Dorff – Pet Photography and Business Fundamentals
- Allen Cooley – Commercial Photography – Allen is part of the team working with us to develop a commercial curriculum.
Curriculum Development
The following curriculums were launched this year along with the new EDU learning platform:
- Certification
- Getting Started
- Student
- Bridging the Gap
New Curriculums for 2021 The EDU team is working with the EDU Advisory committee and subject matter experts to develop the following curriculums:
- Wedding
- Commercial
- Pet photography
IPC
This year we were not able to host IPC Districts although did offer unlimited critiques which came in at 1,018. IPC was held online in October with 5,082 images entered of which, 862 images were accepted into the Loan collection and 1,709 images were accepted into the General collection. IPC critiques came in at 2,230. Below, there is a year over year comparison to show the IPC numbers from 2014 to 2020.
International Photographic Competition Committee
What a year 2020 has been!
We had to cancel district competition and do a virtual IPC judging. Everything went great with our virtual event. I big THANK you to staff, board and all the jurors that stepped up and made this happen.
We reviewed the IPC results, operations and logistic of this year’s event.
- Overall 50.77% merited.
- 2571 Merit or loan.
- 1706 Merit
- 865 Loan 33.6% loan rate
- 1075 District critiques, 2018 IPC critiques
The IPCC committee updated the operations manual for the committee and created a separate Rules and Guidelines manual for the public, making all needed changes. We have added and updated training videos on the web site to continue to push education out to our members.
Competitions in 2021 will be in Atlanta at the PPA office
District will be May 9-14,
IPC will be September 12-17
We are working hard to grow IPC and believe we are making the needed changes to allow the competition to increase in both the number of photographers that enter and the number of entries.