Well hello again from the hopefully snow-free for the rest of the season NEPA region. We have been having wacky weather again this winter season. Hopefully we have seen the last of the major cold and snow for the season. So awhile back I decided that perhaps I should join the local chapter of the PPA since I am already a national member. As this might help me network locally and start getting my name known by some of the other PPA members in this area. The local chapter for me is the Northeastern Pennsylvania Professional Photographers Association or NPPPA for short. So after talking back and forth with a couple of its members for a bit I chose to attend their Winter Meeting this past couple days. I got to meet a bunch of new photographers and see some of their work. The meeting also was fortunate to have Byron Sands there giving a class on the benefits of using Adobe Lightroom as a part of the digital workflow process. The great part for me is that Byron is very local and we get along pretty darned good. Nothing like having a talented reference right in your back yard! I also attended the print competition and the after conference dinner to get to know these new friends a little bit better. 

For me seeing Lr in action was interesting and let me step outside my normal workflow for a minute and see if there are any changes I could make that would make it better overall. After watching the presentation all weekend I feel pretty good about my current workflow and how I got about image creation from pre-shoot to delivery. Don't mistake me...Lr is a great product and I see a couple places in my current business that it could be beneficial and I also see the areas where it could be very useful down the road as the business grows and adapts. But for now I like the way I am doing things. 

The main takeaways would be that I am more than likely going to be entering the print competition at the next meeting and we will see where that takes me in terms of takeaway on the critique section of the judging. The trick is going to be entering 2 or three of the different classes to see if can gauge where other pros view my strengths and weaknesses. Of course since it is still an opinion on a photo you need to take some things as just that...an opinion. Overall I enjoyed the last two days in the company of other folks who get the in jokes between photographers and who just really enjoy shooting creative images.

Byron Sands showing off Adobe Lr Print competition and judging.

-Josh