Professional Photographers of Canada Conference

Well, I'm tired with a slight cold, but I had a wonderful time at the PPOC annual convention.

This year it was held in London, Ontario, which is ridiculously close to the ZWCX Media world headquarters. Close enough to drive, but far enough away to require a hotel. I prefer conferences that take you out of town, as it avoids the temptation to try to work during the event.

If you've never been to one, professional photography conferences are a strange and wonderful event. First, it's a chance to meet the members you usually only get to talk with by phone or email. Second, it's a chance to see and hear speakers who are outstanding in their work and passionate about sharing with other photographers.

This was my first PPOC conference, although I have been to the Imaging USA conference of the PPA several times in the US. The PPOC conference has the same feeling as the PPA conferences, even with significantly less people (Imaging USA has around 9,000 shooters show up and the PPOC conference is probably closer to 1,000). It's well worth the time and expense to attend.

Although the event rant from Thursday, April 10th to Wednesday, April 16th, I was only about to be there from Saturday the 12th through the evening of Tuesday the 15th.

Besides seeing people I knew and meeting new ones, my favorite part of a photography conference is the speakers.

Claude Charlebois (www.charlebois.ca) gave a stunning presentation on how he approaches the business while nourishing the artist. His subject matter covered the habits of great artists and how to adopt their approach to your own style, along with a discussion on developing your style with examples of his own experience.

Arthur Rainville and Jennifer Hudson (www.studiorainville.com and www.oliveavonlea.com) delivered a joint presentation on the fusion of Art, Technique, and Business. This included samples of their own work, a live photo shoot, and an walkthrough of their post production process.

Hanson Fong (www.hansonfong.com) presented on his posing technique and how he deals with the complexities of wedding and portrait photography. It was an excellent explanation and demonstration of why simple is usually better.

Julieanne Kost (www.jkost.com) is a digital imaging evangelist for Adobe and gave an excellent presentation on Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Although I use both packages extensively, I learned more than few things to help me work more efficiently.


One of the stranger things to happen was a fire at my hotel. Now, having been in a building fire before and on the 11th floor of my hotel. I did the smart thing and stayed in my room. Disturbingly, there were no announcements to let people know what's happening, but I finally phoned downstairs and was told to evacuate. Typically, I grab my camera gear and leave my jacket, head down the stairs and start shooting the firetrucks.



On Tuesday night, I attended the banquet and was seated at the President's table. This is because I had bumped into Walter Janzen (www.janzenphotography.com , Preseident PPOC) at the Imaging USA conference in Tampa, Florida). Strangely enough, I met Andrea Nielsen, of As it Happens Photography in Florida as well and she is practically a neighbor.

The banquet was the fun, as I had a chance to see all the work of the award winners there. The level of work was simply stunning and even the student awards were outstanding. Once the awards were finished, I was off on the road home and back in the office.


I'm already looking forward to next year.

Moving Around II

Well, I finally finished my move. Despite my reluctance to change things, I think this is a huge improvement. Thanks to Nancy-Marie for convincing me to finally get moving (literally).

It's strange how you can concern yourself with the tools and equipment to work, but forget about the workspace in which to use them.

As of now, I have:

• enough shelf space for my ever growing collection of books,
• a usable window,
• better ventilation (surprising how much heat comes from computer equipment),
• space for the dog to visit without sharing the chair,
• a reading area (see book collection above), and
  
• strangely enough, an actual fireplace in my office.

It's well worth your time to look at your own office space, be it large or small, and look how you use it. Make a list of the things you would change and eventually you'll come up with a plan to improve it. Given how much time you spend in your workspace, it' surprising how little we plan for it. It's also a pleasant suprise to find how small changes can lead to big improvements.

Moving Around

Well, I'm in the midst of one of the more painful events. I'm moving, not into a new place, but moving my office. After several years in a small room, I am moving to a brightly light office with plenty of space. In fact, it even has a fireplace, which is unusual.

Of course, this has lead me to discover several things. One, I have way more stuff in my office then it was ever designed to hold and two, it's a lot harder and more time consuming to move your office than I expected. In fact, I am just about to move the computers and printers and, since things sometimes go wrong, I thought I would post my weekly blog entry before disaster struck.

I've also discovered that the top step of a flight of stairs is often just an inch or so taller than the other ones. This will lock the tires of a dolly from going any further. Of course, I discovered this after hauling a large filing cabinet up the flight of stairs by myself. I had to climb around the cabinet and lift it from the back, while fighting off visions of being crushed by the cabinet rolling down the stairs. One of my life's goals is to never make the cover of a newspaper by dying in some stupid and creative manner. I usually avoid this, but this time I came close.

All and all, I think moving an office once and while is a good thing has it makes you look at how you use or don't use your space properly and it's gives you a chance to clean out all the junk you collect over the years.

I'll post a photo once I'm back online.