Thank you to everyone who attended Sandra Pearce's class this past month, what an incredible artist and speaker. We were honored to have Sandra judge our May competition alongside Bruce Van Pelt, Kathryn Northcott and Michael Novo. Thank you to all of you as well as the print crew. Please see below for the Photographic Image Competition chair report, Congratulations to all who entered.

PPANI

May 9, 2018      Digital Image Competition

      We had 49 entries from 8 makers (6 members). The breakdown is as follows:

28 Portraits

11 Illustrative

3 Wedding

2 Commercial

6 Artist

11 B&W from the above categories.

We had 30 that scored 80 or above (President’s Award) 30/49 or 60%. 

We had 13 that scored 85 – 89, and 3 scored above 90.

I want to thank my great print crew: John Tulipano, Pamela Cather, Megan Drane and Beth Genengels. Thanks to Michael Novo acting as Jury Foreman.

Thanks to my fellow judges Sandra Pearce and Kathryn Northcott.

Sincerely,

Bruce Van Pelt, Chairman 5/13/18

Awards

Best Black & White

Best Portrait

Best of Show

“The Ringer” by Beth Genengels

Best Commercial

 “Molten Gold” by Megan Drane

Best Illustrative

“Fading to Extinction” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Best Artist

“Hooded Merganser” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Thank you to everyone who participated and attended our February print competition to kick off the 2018 season!  With over 150 entries, there were many great images.  If you were new to competition (or even an old pro), we hope you learned something from watching and listening to the panel judges.

Below is the print competition report, from Our Vice President and Print Competition Chair, Bruce Van Pelt.  Congratulations to everyone who participated.

Feb 14, 2018      Digital Image Competition

      We had 153 entries from 21 makers. The breakdown is as follows:

82 Portraits

46 Illustrative

4 Wedding

5 Commercial

12 Artist

4 Albums

39 B&W from the above categories.

We no longer enter physical entries but had 153 digital entries. 

The judges discussed many of the images as Challenges. This is where we learn the most from the judges’ opinions.

We had 67 that scored 80 or above (President’s Award) 67/153 or 44%. 

We had 14 that scored 85 – 89, and 1 scored 90.

I want to thank my great print crew: John Tulipano, Maria Heineman, Megan Drane and Beth Genengels. Thanks to Peter Yu for running the print handling and scoring system.

Thanks to my fellow judges. They are:

Robert Hawkins (Jury Chair, Iowa), Kristy Steeves (Ohio), Toni Harryman (Iowa) and Dan Thornton (Southern  Illinois).

Sincerely,

Bruce Van Pelt, Chairman

Awards

Best Black & White

“I can See That I Am Strong” by Janelle Pitula

Best Artist

“The Dog Walker” by Megan Drane

Best Portrait

“Uncertain” by Mary Katlin Davis

Best Illustrative

“Stepping Lightly” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Best Wedding

“Squeeze” by Michael Novo

Best Album

“My Secret Garden” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Best Commercial

“A Dog’s Best Friend” by John Tulipano

Best of Show

“My Secret Garden” by Peggy Sue Seehafer

BVP 2/16/2018

A Vote was taken at our October meeting and  I'm happy to announce your 2018 board members.

Chairman of the Board - Kathryn Northcott

President - Beth Genengels

Vice President  and Print Comp Chair- Bruce Van Pelt

Secretary and Program Chair - Megan Drane

Treasurer - John Tulipano

Membership Chair - Julie Mettler

Host Chair - Laura Dajoraite

If anyone is interested in getting more involved, please reach out to one of your board members. We will be forming committees, and looking for volunteers!

 Thank you to everyone for volunteering your time to make our group what it is. 

Applications for the Jennifer Buckman scholarship are due by November 8th. Please send them to Beth Genengels, beth@bethgenengels.com or mail to:

PPANI

c/o Beth Genengels Photography

4105 W. Crystal Lake Rd

McHenry, IL 60050

You can find the application under member resources, here. Remember, you must be logged into your account to view the member only resources.

The scholarship awards up to $600 towards PPA or PPA Affiliate education.

Bruce Van Pelt pulled the following from the December 2007 Hi-lites. We would like to share a little bit about the family who initiated the fund.

-Beth Genengels

On November 16, 2007 Jennifer Buckman, passed away from injuries sustained in a single car accident near Morton, IL.

Jennifer’s parents, Bonnie and Rob, and her sister Jaimie were overwhelming supported by the love of a huge numbers of

family and friends who came to the visitation and funeral. For those who attended the visitation, it took several hours waiting

in a long line, outside in the rain and inside the funeral home, for many hundreds to offer condolences to Rob, Bonnie,

and Jaimie.

The next day, the church was again filled to capacity for the funeral service with more family and friends. We are all deeply

saddened by Jennifer’s untimely passing. We offer our

prayers for comfort and continued support to the

Buckman’s.

Jennifer was a 2002 graduate of Morton High School, where

she was a member of the Madrigal Singers. She then graduated

from Illinois Central College in December 2006, with an

associate's degree in business. While at ICC, she was a

member of the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Timeless Voices.

She was a junior at Bradley University in Peoria, where she

was majoring in marketing and sales and was a member of

the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

Jennifer worked with her father at Buckman Photography in

Morton, where she was the office and sales manager.

She was a member of the Professional Photographers of

America; the Associated Photographers of Illinois; and the

Professional Photographers of Northern Illinois.

__________

I worked with Jennifer on the print committees of APPI and PPANI for several years.

She was always enthusiastic about doing the work of Print Comp. Her dad, Rob was an important part of Northern serving on the board and being past president.

Bruce

Thank you to our Print Comp Chair, Bruce Van Pelt for compiling the following report and congratulations to all of the winners!

PPANI

October 11, 2017      Digital Image Competition

      We had 40 entries from 7 makers. The breakdown is as follows:

22 Portraits     12 Illustrative 0 Wedding    2 Commercial      4 Artist

3 B&W from the above categories.

The judges discussed many of the images as Challenges. This is where we learn the most from the judges’ opinions.

We had 23 that scored 80 or above (President’s Award) 23/40 or 58%. 

We had 4 that scored 85 – 89, and 1 scored above 90.

I want to thank my great print crew: Peter Yu, John Tulipano, Maria Heineman and Beth Genengels. Thanks to Peter Yu for running the new print handling and scoring system.

Thanks to the Judges: Kathryn Northcott, Thom Rouse and Bruce Van Pelt.

Sincerely,

Bruce Van Pelt, Print Chairman

Awards

Best Commercial

“A Dog’s Best Friend” by John Tulipano

Best Artist

“Whooping Crane” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Best Portrait

“Best Friends” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Best Illustrative

“Great Horned Owl” by Peggy Sue Seehafer

Best of Show

“Whooping Crane” by Peggy Sue Seehafer

BVP 10/14/2017

We have so many members who merited images in the 2017 International Photographic Competition and several with Grand Imaging Awards, a Fuji award and medal recipients. 

If you didn't realize before now how much amazing talent Northern has, take a look. I want to congratulate all of those earning the above accomplishments, but more so, I want to congratulate everyone who pushed themselves to enter! You are taking a huge step towards improving your imagery and you should be proud! 

Keep going for the gold (ahem diamond) Northern!

Congratulations to PPANI members Megan Drane and Peggy Sue Seehafer who are BOTH Finalists for Grand Imaging Awards!!!

PPA is proud to announce our finalists for the Grand Imaging Awards, to be awarded January 15 in Nashville, Tennessee at Imaging USA 2018, the largest annual conference and trade show for pro photographers. 

The Grand Imaging Award finalists have been judged to be the very best of the 2017 PPA International Photographic Competition (IPC). The Grand Imaging Award finalists were selected from 5,800 entries judged by a panel of 33 jurors. There are ten finalists in ten categories comprising the Grand Imaging Awards, and one winner from the ten categories will be named the recipient of the overall Grand Imaging Award. 

View slideshows of the finalists at PPMag.com.

The Grand Imaging Award finalists are: 

In the Animal Portrait category: Aurora DeLuca, Barbara Breitsameter (two images), Carl Caylor, Danica Barreau, Erich Caparas, Jody Miller, Michelle Garcia, Sarah Stiles and Susan Gertz. 

In the Children's Portrait category: Brent Lewis, Cristie Reddehase, DiAnna Paulk, Felice Boucher, Kathy Wierda, Kathy Wierda, Kimberly Smith, Leslie Kitten, Louise Simone and Mariellen Youngdahl.

In the General Portrait category: Ben Shirk, Christie Newell, Erich Caparas, Francie Baltazar Stonestreet, Jean Wall, Joseph Simone, Kent Shelton, Lauren DelVecchio, Michelle Parsley and Phaneendra Gudapati.

In the Landscape & Nature category: Douglas Bennett, Ed Cooley, Erica Harvey, Jonathan Adams, Kimberly Smith, Laura Bennett, Mona Sadler, Robert Smith, Ryan Hellard and Trudy Evans. 

In the Illustrative & Commercial category: Amy Feick, Andrea Joliat, Ben Shirk, David Quisenberry, Elaine Hughes, Gail Nogle, Karen Nakamura, Michelle Garcia, Michelle Parsley and Russell Jensen.

In the High-School Senior Portrait category: Adrian Henson, Cyndi Hornsby, Ed Pedi, Gail Carver, Megan Drane, Melissa Thompson, Michelle Parsley, Salvatore Cincotta, Shana Woods and Travis Gadsby. 

In the Wedding category: Erich Caparas, Gary Hughes, Jose Luis Guardia Vazquez, Marceliano Munoz, Mario Munoz, Maryanne Keeling, Molly Long, Ryan Higgins, Salvatore Cincotta and Tomas Munoz.

In the Non-Event Album category: Alison Miniter, Carol Scott, Chelsea Tracy, James Chagares (two albums), Jamie Hayes, Lisa Asp, Lisa Francescon, Rob Greer and Ted Linczak.

In the Event Album category: Allison English Watkins & Kris Doman, Cindy Dover, James Nisly & Genevieve Nisly (three albums), Larry Spencer, Marceliano Munoz, Mark Garber & Jennifer Gilman and Tomas Munoz.

In the Artist category: Ann Murfin, Cristie Reddehase (two albums), Emme Rigby, Michelle Parsley, Nylora-Joy Bruleigh, Peggy Sue Seehafer, Richard Sturdevant and Sandra Pearce.

 Each category winner will receive a crystal award and the winner of the overall Grand Imaging Award will receive a $1000 cash prize. Last year's winner was Chicago pet photographer Barbara Breitsameter, M.Photog.Cr., CPP,  for her image "Send in the Clowns" in the General Portrait category. 

To learn more about the Grand Imaging Awards, view previous winning images and watch the 2017 GIAs, visit PPA.com/Competitions.  

PPANI

May 10, 2017      Digital Image Competition

      We had 113 entries from 21 makers. The breakdown is as follows:

77 Portraits     21 Illustrative 3 Wedding    3 Commercial      9 Artist

21 B&W from the above categories.

We no longer enter physical entries, but had 113 digital entries. 

The judges discussed many of the images as Challenges. This is where we learn the most from the judges’ opinions.

We had 67 that scored 80 or above (President’s Award) 67/113 or 59%. 

We had 16 that scored 85 – 89, and 1 scored above 90.

I want to thank my great print crew: Peter Yu, Megan Drane and Beth Genengels. Thanks to Peter Yu for running the new print handling and scoring system.

Thanks to the Judges: Kathryn Northcott, Sabina Cavalli and Bruce Van Pelt.

Sincerely,

Bruce Van Pelt, Chairman

Awards

Best Black & White

“Chill Out!” by Alejandro Mimo

Best Artist

“Running Away” by Peggy Sue Seehafer 

Best Portrait

“Taking Flight” by Megan Drane

Best Illustrative

“For the Love of Maplethorp” by Peggy Sue Seehafer

Best of Show

“Taking Flight” by Megan Drane

BVP 5/15/2017

PPANI

February 8, 2017      All Day Print Competition

We had 191 entries from 38 makers. The breakdown is as follows:

104 Portraits

47 Illustrative

8 Wedding

7 Commercial

24 Artist

1 Albums   -   1 Digital, 0 Books

37 B&W from the above categories.

We had no physical entries and 191 digital entries. We had the most entries ever and much of that came from out-of-state participants.

The judges discussed many of the images as Challenges. This is where we learn the most from the judges’ opinions.

We had 79 that scored 80 or above (President’s Award) 79/191 or 41%.

We had 13 that scored 85 – 89, and 2 scored above 90.

I want to thank my great print crew: Peter Yu, Megan Drane, Beth Genengels and John Tulipano. Thanks to Peter Yu for running the new print handling and scoring system.

Thanks to the Judges who traveled far to help us. They are:

Robert Hawkins (Jury Chair).

Judges -  Amy Feick, Pete Rezac, Toni Harryman, Karen Butts, Dan Thornton and Kristy Steeves all from different states.

Sincerely,

Bruce Van Pelt, Chairman