I'm BACK . . .
August/19/2008
Thanks to everyone who has noticed my lengthy hiatus from the blog. For those who emailed me asking if I'm O.K., Yes, indeed, I am fine . . . and I really appreciate your concern. Fact is I was on the road for over a month: teaching, flying, teaching, planning, flying, teaching, flying, judging, flying, teaching, flying, teaching, flying. I think you get the idea: it's been impossible to keep up, especially since I've been trying to keep balls in the air on a new studio venture that Jim and I are planning for next spring. More about that later. We've also had a family "adventure" that I will write later.
Meanwhile, for the record . . . here's a quick summary of what I've been up to. You might see a few familiar faces:
Mark Weber, Bill Camacho and I worked with a great group of mid-westerners at the July 14-15 Marathon Marketing Workshop in Kansas City.
In nearby Concordia, MO, Bill, Mark and I joined with the Marathon executive team for two days of Marathon/Bellagrafica planning. Look at all those Macintoshes playing so nicely together! I think we look like a cult.
Why didn't we do the planning in Norfolk, NE, the home of Marathon Press? Simple: Rex Alewel, the owner of Marathon, also has a working tree farm in Concordia, so since the Kansas City workshop was close by, everyone came in to attend that event, then we did the planning in Concordia. That way we got to visit "The Ponderosa," our nickname for the Alewel farm, where we took in some welcome evening R&R, including guided tours of the farm with Rex at the wheel and passengers Patsy Hodge, Linda Varn, and Mark Weber . . .
. . . and time to chill with the Alewel dogs Lucy and Lucky, shown below with Rob Merrill, Tina Joachim, Bruce Price, and Shannon Barry.
Moving on to Atlanta, I was delighted to teach the July 19 and 20 Studio Management Services Business Basics class with my pal Mary Fisk-Taylor. I am so intrigued with Mary's new Real Life Studios, a boutique studio in downtown Richmond that is the perfect counterpoint to Hayes & Fisk, the quintessential classical studio she operates with the incomparable Jamie Hayes. Here's Mary, shown below in green, hanging out with class members in front of PPA Headquarters.
Then on to Daytona for the 2008 International Print Judging, where PPA Print Exhibition Committee and Overall Jury Chair Helen Yancy delivered up marching orders to jurors, reminding us that "as the mother of 4 children and the grandmother of 12, I know how to keep you all under control." As well she did!
It was very entertaining watching PPA Board Member Susan Michal go the extra mile in creating the judges' official portrait.
Later on, Helen and I had the pleasure of delivering to Susan a portrait of her darling Pomeranian that we jointly created. I took the photograph on a previous visit that Helen and I made to Susan's Florida home, then Helen finished the image using Corel Painter. If you would like to study Helen's artful painting style, you can do so at a workshop to be held at my Deep Creek home and studio on October 31 - November 3. To learn more about the class, click here.
Back on a plane to spend two days at home, change suitcases, then on to the next stop: Boston, and a wonderful group of New Englanders at the end-of-July Marathon Marketing Workshop. Unfortunately New England native Bill Camacho was sidelined because he was having shoulder surgery . . . the result of a soft-ball-game-gone-bad. We were happy to have John Miele on site to fill in for Bill.
The last leg of the trip took me back to Atlanta, where I joined Lori Nordstrom in teaching a 3-day SMS Workshop.
Because the PPA Board of Directors was finishing up its meeting in Atlanta, Lori and I were able to prevail upon Board Members and well-known instructors Carol Andrews and Ron Nichols to join our teaching team. In the image below, Ron provides a hands-on demo of the new ProSelect upgrade that puts even more sales tools in the hands of photographers.
After class, Carol, below left, and Board member Susan Michal join Lori and me for a "diva" photo. It was great spending time with these vibrant ladies!
That wrapped up this year's longest road trip. What a month! Oh my, it is SO GOOD TO BE HOME!
Meanwhile, for the record . . . here's a quick summary of what I've been up to. You might see a few familiar faces:
Mark Weber, Bill Camacho and I worked with a great group of mid-westerners at the July 14-15 Marathon Marketing Workshop in Kansas City.
In nearby Concordia, MO, Bill, Mark and I joined with the Marathon executive team for two days of Marathon/Bellagrafica planning. Look at all those Macintoshes playing so nicely together! I think we look like a cult.
Why didn't we do the planning in Norfolk, NE, the home of Marathon Press? Simple: Rex Alewel, the owner of Marathon, also has a working tree farm in Concordia, so since the Kansas City workshop was close by, everyone came in to attend that event, then we did the planning in Concordia. That way we got to visit "The Ponderosa," our nickname for the Alewel farm, where we took in some welcome evening R&R, including guided tours of the farm with Rex at the wheel and passengers Patsy Hodge, Linda Varn, and Mark Weber . . .
. . . and time to chill with the Alewel dogs Lucy and Lucky, shown below with Rob Merrill, Tina Joachim, Bruce Price, and Shannon Barry.
Moving on to Atlanta, I was delighted to teach the July 19 and 20 Studio Management Services Business Basics class with my pal Mary Fisk-Taylor. I am so intrigued with Mary's new Real Life Studios, a boutique studio in downtown Richmond that is the perfect counterpoint to Hayes & Fisk, the quintessential classical studio she operates with the incomparable Jamie Hayes. Here's Mary, shown below in green, hanging out with class members in front of PPA Headquarters.
Then on to Daytona for the 2008 International Print Judging, where PPA Print Exhibition Committee and Overall Jury Chair Helen Yancy delivered up marching orders to jurors, reminding us that "as the mother of 4 children and the grandmother of 12, I know how to keep you all under control." As well she did!
It was very entertaining watching PPA Board Member Susan Michal go the extra mile in creating the judges' official portrait.
Later on, Helen and I had the pleasure of delivering to Susan a portrait of her darling Pomeranian that we jointly created. I took the photograph on a previous visit that Helen and I made to Susan's Florida home, then Helen finished the image using Corel Painter. If you would like to study Helen's artful painting style, you can do so at a workshop to be held at my Deep Creek home and studio on October 31 - November 3. To learn more about the class, click here.
Back on a plane to spend two days at home, change suitcases, then on to the next stop: Boston, and a wonderful group of New Englanders at the end-of-July Marathon Marketing Workshop. Unfortunately New England native Bill Camacho was sidelined because he was having shoulder surgery . . . the result of a soft-ball-game-gone-bad. We were happy to have John Miele on site to fill in for Bill.
The last leg of the trip took me back to Atlanta, where I joined Lori Nordstrom in teaching a 3-day SMS Workshop.
Because the PPA Board of Directors was finishing up its meeting in Atlanta, Lori and I were able to prevail upon Board Members and well-known instructors Carol Andrews and Ron Nichols to join our teaching team. In the image below, Ron provides a hands-on demo of the new ProSelect upgrade that puts even more sales tools in the hands of photographers.
After class, Carol, below left, and Board member Susan Michal join Lori and me for a "diva" photo. It was great spending time with these vibrant ladies!
That wrapped up this year's longest road trip. What a month! Oh my, it is SO GOOD TO BE HOME!