by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography, photography competition, photography education, photography marketing, success education
Yesterday I shared the images I entered at the Arizona Professional Photographers Association annual convention. Today I’ll show the awards I received as part of the competition and talk about the marketing value for business.
Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award for high scoring print case (341 out of 400)
First Place in Masters Portrait, Commercial and Illustrative categories.
American Society of Photographers Award for High scoring image by an ASP member.
AZPPA Top Ten Award for the 15th time in 16 years
OK Bob, big deal, how can this be used in marketing?
I am excited to have earned these designations and will proudly display them in my studio. This is for marketing purposes and what I call a ‘stick’ for when clients walk through the door to be photographed. When people make decisions to spend money they ALWAYS want to be reassured that they have made a good choice on where they’ve decided to spend their hard earned dollars. Seeing the awards gives people more confidence in my skills. Almost everyone comments on my award case… in a good way. Thus they will ‘stick’ with me because of the positive reinforcement of seeing the awards.
Tomorrow I’ll follow up on the next step in making the winning of awards really pay when we chat about press releases.
By the way, as an aside for people who are still on the fence about the quality of Lumix cameras and the micro 4/3rds format… Four of the six images were captured with my Panasonic gear and they scored the highest of my entries.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | bird photography, commercial photography, fine art photography, fine art portrait, people photography, photography, photography competition, photography education, photography marketing
Arizona PPA had it’s convention this past weekend. Of course it included the annual imaging competition and as usual I entered images for feedback on new work I am creating. I am always trying to create new artistic looks and it’s good to get feedback from my peers in a formal setting like imaging competition.
My results were favorable. I was awarded the Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award, first place in the Masters Commercial, Portrait and Illustrative categories. The American Society Of Photographers award was also presented given for having the highest scoring image by an ASP member. This was the 15th time being named to the AZPPA Top Ten in 16 years.
While receiving awards is good for the ego (and sending press releases) the real value is in receiving opinions of fellow photographers to find flaws that were not apparent when working up the images. I found some things to tweak as a result of hearing the challenges between the jurors during judging…
I’ll share my entries here. Wouldn’t mind some feedback from you too…
‘Awakening’ scored 86
‘Catrina – Day of the Dead’ scored 83
‘Old World Juniper’ scored 81
‘Last Stand’ scored 83
‘Sandhill Cranes’ scored 88
‘Sarasota Polo Magazine Comps’ scored 84
I always recommend getting your images into competition for review. Remember it’s not a competition against the other photographers… It’s against yourself and the opportunity to grow your skills.
Yours in creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | charity photography, photography education
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. An amazing organization and an opportunity to give back using your photography skills. Pass the word of this post so more people become aware of the organization and know of the service. Monday the 19th of January at 9:50 AM. If you get a chance to watch… Even better.
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and the Today Show
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography - art quote, photography education, success education
A recurring thought and one I fight on a regular basis is fear.
Fear of failure.
Fear of not doing something right.
Fear of making a mistake.
And strangely enough fear of success can come into play.
I’m guessing that fear plays into a lot of artists’ lives as this theme keeps appearing in many quotes from writers, painters, sculptors, musicians and of course photographers.
“Do not fear mistakes – there are none.” Miles Davis
Mistakes are magnificent opportunities to learn new lessons. If you are not making mistakes you are not stretching and giving yourself the chance to become the best you can be.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources, salute to business
I’ve been a little off in my posts between travel for speaking, holidays and general ‘taking a little break’ kind of mood. It’s time to saddle up and get it rockin’ again. And today’s post was one I had to share as I think good customer service is the one of the most important things you can do for your business. Here’s an example and a salute to a stalwart in the industry.
Paul C Buff lights have been in my quiver of tools ever since I first started. Quality, consistency and great customer service has made me a fan. Before the end of the year I was looking a a tax bill that could be lowered by a ‘179’ purchase where I would get to use the money in my business rather that giving it to Uncle Sam. I am a great believer in paying taxes, it’s what keeps this being one of the greatest countries in the world. BUt, the rules are there for a reason and should be taken advantage of.
So with some money I had to invest I decided to beef up my lighting kit. I ordered some modifiers like strip and octagon boxes and a couple Einsteins. Very happy to say the least…
Now here’s where the service comes in… I got out the Einstein lights and after working with them for a little bit I realized that they were way more than I needed electronically speaking. I didn’t want or need all the extra controls. I emailed and asked if I could swap them out for a similar powered but less ‘busy’ flash unit more like my other units. Here was their response…
Hey Bob,
No problem! We do not do exchanges but you can return anything during the 60 day guarantee for a refund and then order the X3200 units at your convenience. You do not need any RMA# and we do not charge a restocking fee. All you need to do is box up the flash units with a note that includes your name and contact info and something stating you would like to return for a refund. Once we receive it we will apply the refund to the card the original purchase was made on. This is usually done within 2-3 business days of us receiving the return and we will email you a receipt for the refund once it is done.
Please send return to:
Paul C. Buff, Inc
ATTN Returns
2725 Bransford Ave
Nashville, TN 37204
Please let me know if you have anymore questions or need anything else in the meantime.
Have a great day,
Kimberly
Paul C. Buff, Inc
Alienbees, White-Lightning, Einstein
Be sure and check out our NEW products:
Vagabond™ Lithium Extreme Check out our must-see VLX™ comparison video at https://www.youtube.com/user/paulcbuff
Foldable Giant Stripbox
The OMNI™ 18-inch Reflector
…..and if you’re looking for some technical help visit our tech forum here http://www.paulcbuff-techforum.com
I salute their superior customer service!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
