UPCOMING EVENTS

Photo NorthEast

April 5-7, 2014

Woodcliff Lake, NJ

M.A.R.S. May 4-9, 2014

Cape May, NJ

Next Board Meeting

May 13, 2014

Eldorado III Restaurant

6:15pm Dinner

7:00pm Meeting

Monthly Dinner Meeting

May 27, 2014

Eldorado III Restaurant

784 Central Park Ave.

Scarsdale, NY 10583

914-713-3993

6:00pm Reg & Conversation

7:00pm Dinner

8:00pm Speaker

APRIL

2014 WPPA Newsletter

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

President’s Message 2

Photos Mar 25th Meeting 2

Nicastro Points 3

WPPA 2014 Schedule 3

Member’s Flash 3

Member’s B’Day 3

Spotlight on Instructors

Jane Connor-Ziser 4

Contemporary Photography

don’t pigeonhole people. Take people for who

they are, hear what they want and it will be

great”. That concept goes for both hetero and

same sex couples. The tradition of the male

and female poses may not be what is desired

by today contemporary couples.

Since it became legal to have same sex mar-

riages in New York State, a whole new demo-

graphic of the population has entered the wed-

ding photography market and that should

mean new business at a time that the wedding

photography business has been struggling.

But Paul and Caryn’s business is not just

about same sex weddings; it is a conventional

wedding, portrait and children photography

business. The driving force of their personal

and professional lives are the celebration of

love and kindness. Clients appreciate vendors

who come through for them. It is human na-

ture for people to like to do business with

people that they like. As Paul says, as photog-

raphers “75% of our skills are people skills,

25% are technical skills. We need the tech-

nical skills but it is our people skills that

brings you satisfied customers”

The evening ended with a frank, informative

and open discussion of the current state of the

photography business. All who attended left

with a new prospective on the current trends in

photography.

WPPA President Frank Mohalley presented Caryn Benjamin and Paul Bernstein each with a PPA merit for their presentation to our organization.

At our March

general meet-

ing we had

two wonderful

event photog-

raphers pre-

sent a cutting

edge approach

to staying

engaged with

current trends

in Wedding

and Portrait

photography. Paul Bernstein who has 40 years of

photographic experience as a portraitist and his

wife Caryn Benjamin who has 15 years of photo

experience as a photojournalist, showed us how

they embrace same sex weddings and work with

clients from the LGBT community.

“It’s all about the equality of all human beings”

said Caryn “Make no assumptions about couples,

WPPA NEWSLETTER P AGE 2

President’s Message

Hello all:

Our General Meeting was very informative, learning from Paul Bernstein and Caryn

Benjamin, in presenting their Program on Contemporary Photography: Moving Past Gender Stereotypes. They

also gave us many tips on normal weddings, baby sessions, and portrait photography, sharing their philosophy

on their pricing policies. A very enjoyable evening, especially the question and answer portion. If you weren't

there, you missed A LOT.

THERE WILL BE NO APRIL MEETING-DUE TO THE STATE CONVENTION

NOW find a friend that doesn’t know we exist, and invite them to a meeting. YOU GET 5 NICAS-

TRO POINTS (for $$$ towards our State School tuition) when you convince them to join WPPA. Since Aspir-

ing membership is decided at the May State Council Meeting, a prospective member could join us for a pit-

tance (only Section Dues) to the end of the year, so GO GET 'EM, to join WPPA.

YOU HAVE TO BE HERE if you wish to talk (and listen) to other photogs telling of their experiences

in photography, both GOOD and BAD. You can learn a lot, but to hear, you have to BE HERE. Isn’t that

what it’s all about???

Sincerely, Frank

At Our March 25th Meeting:

Westchester Section

2014 Program Schedule

Apr 5-7 State Convention—Woodcliff Lake, NJ

May 27 James Samela—Business Success

Jun 24 Image Comp

July 20-25 State School—Geneva, NY

Aug 26 Will Cadena

Sep 23 Image Comp

Oct 28 Neil van Neikerk

Nov 18(3rd Tues.) Image Comp

Dec ?? Holiday Party at An American Bistro—7PM

WPPA NEWSLETTER P AGE 3

2014 Nicastro Points (Standing as of Mar. 31, 2014)

Mark Liflander 22 Eve Prime 10

Alan Vollweiler 22 Andre Spatz 10

Nelson Roman 17 June Greenspan 8

Deborah Lea Cohen 15 Domenica Comfort 7

Ron Carran 14 Kelly Vasami 7

Bob Klein 14 Phyllis Tarlow 6

John Kenney 11 Jason Taylor 6

Chris Bojanovich 10 Elaine DeZolt Miskolcze 4

Dan Fried 10 Frank Dispensa 4

Frank Mohalley 10 Richard Halevy 4

The two members with the most Nicastro points at the end of

2014 can earn a $100 scholarship for the State 2015 Photo

Imaging Workshop in Geneva, NY.

How to Get Nicastro Points

Points

1. Attendance at a monthly meeting. 3

2. Bring images for quarterly competition (max of 4 images)

Point per image when there is no competition 1/4

Point per image when there is a competition 1

(To qualify, images must be registered on time with the

chairman)

3. Presenting a “Prologue” at a monthly meeting 2

4. Presenting the featured program at a monthly meeting 4

5. PPA membership 4

6. Attending PPSNYS Workshop or PPA affiliate School 3

7. Per $200 of ad revenue for our newsletter 1

8. Sponsor a new member 5

9. Attending the PPSNYS annual convention(2 day min) 2

10. Entering images at the state convention - per image 1/2

11. Newsletter Editor 6

12. Webmaster 6

13. Program Chairman 3

14. Hospitality Chairman 2

15. Properties Chairman 3

Member’s Flash

Calumet Photographic announced on March 13, 2014

on Facebook that the company is closing all of its U.S.

stores and has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, effective

immediately.

Headquartered in Chicago, USA Calumet began life in

1939 as Calumet Manufacturing Company, a sporting

goods store that also sold cameras from time to time and,

over the decades, grew into a full service photographic

retail and photofinishing chain. In 2012, after Metro DC-

based Penn Camera filed for bankruptcy and closed 5 of

its 8 stores, Calumet acquired the remaining three.

According to Chicago Tribune the Chapter 7 filing

lists between $50-$100 million in assets and $10-$50

million in liabilities. With the website and Twitter ac-

counts down and customer reports of unanswered phones,

it’s currently unknown what will happen to orders and

rental gear.

DP Review

WPPA Member’s Birthday

Member Jason Taylor

was surprised by an unex-

pected treat for his Birth-

day by the members and

the staff of the Eldorado

III when he receiving a

beautiful cup cake with a

single candle. Getting the

photo of Jason, the cup

cake and the lit candle all

at the same time was an

extra treat.

Officers:

President Frank Mohalley

914-576-2318

Vice President Alan Vollweiler

914-591-7878

Treasurer Frank Mohalley

914-576-2318

Secretary Domenica Comfort

914-738-1198

Board of Directors:

J J Donnelly Nelson Roman

June Greenspan Liz Steger-Hartzman

Bob Klein Kelly Vasami

Mark Liflander Eric Wessman

Committee Chairpersons:

Ethics/Grievances Eric Wessman

Facebook Page Mark Liflander

Hospitality Deborah Lea Cohen

Membership Alan Vollweiler

Image Competition Kelly Vasami

Programs Mark Liflander

Properties Alan Vollweiler

Publicity TBA

Webmaster Mark Liflander

Newsletter Editor:

Alan Vollweiler 914-591-7878

The WPPA

We’re on the web

www.westchesterppa.org

WPPA

Website

Offers a

Gallery

for its

Members

---

Sign

Up

Today!

Find us on Facebook

“Westchester Professional

Photographers Association”

PPSNYS State School

July 20-25, 2014 Instructors: (As of Mar. 21, 2014)

Steve Kozak-The Secrets to Success When Turning Pro

Mary Mortensen-

Art of Photographing Babies, Children & Their Families

Richard Sturdevant-Advanced Photographic Artist Composites

Jane Conner-Ziser-Retouching Secrets in Photoshop-A Masters Touch

Jane Connor-Ziser

Retouching Secrets in Photoshop

A Master's Touch

No need to hope your plug ins will work this time when you know how to

use Photoshop, and Jane is one of the best in the industry. Her Right Brain

/ Left Brain approach gives you high end technical education combined

with high end fine art applications that will enable you to make the right

technical decisions for creating artistic masterpieces every time you pick

up your pen! Learn the What, Where, When, Why's and How's of image

editing in a fun and friendly learning environment - bring your smile and

your computer!

Some of the topics to be covered are: Retouching Theory and Application,

Fine Art for Photographers, How to Master your Wacom and the Pho-

toshop Interface for retouching and fine art applications, Image Editing in

ACR or Lightroom, How to retouch people (backgrounds, bodies, skin,

clothing, hair, teeth, eyes), light sculpting, painting with light, dropping in

skies, fantasy image adjustments, masking (hair, hand painted masks, mul-

tiple edge definition), selections, edge editing, layers, blending modes,

monochromes, hand tinted images, collage and learning what to look for in

Competition Retouching (yes, she is also a photographer!).

Jane is a photographer, digital artist, premier educator and independent

consultant. With over 25 years of experience, 19 of them in digital imaging

and evolving technologies, the techniques Jane developed for facial re-

touching and enhancement and portrait painting are widely emulated by

photographers and digital artists worldwide through her classes and educa-

tional products. She was named as one of Canon’s Explorers of Light in

their PrintMaster program, is past co-chair of Digital and Advanced Imag-

ing Committee and Professional Photographers of America