New Online Gallery and 100 Year Anniversary of Professional Photographer Magazine

I subscribe to Professional Photographer Magazine and Professional Photographer Magazine’s e-mail list, and I just received some interesting info through the e-mail list to share. I’ve been to about 20 PPA (Professional Photographers of America)-related conferences and seminars over the last 10 years, and for me, one of the most enjoyable parts of being at the state and national conventions has been seeing the competition prints. They are all sized to approximately 16×20 inches, and the range of photography I’ve seen at every convention is tremendous, including: portraits; sports; weddings; landscapes; still-life; industrial/corporate; and many other specialties.

On Professional Photographer Online, they’ve posted a new online gallery of award-winning PPA Loan Collection images from years past. What’s really special about the gallery is the story that accompanies each image. You can read how each was captured, and what equipment and techniques were used by each photographer. This makes it not just a showcase for great work, but also a fantastic learning tool.

Here’s a tip for using the gallery: After clicking on an image in the gallery, you should allow it to open completely, or the images may get stacked up on each other, requiring you to click the top right box in each image to close each window. That can then cause problems with reading the text when hovering over the images. The images load fast, so you probably won’t ever experience this issue. To avoid the issue completely, just wait for each image to load, which takes about a second or two. According to the newsletter, more images will be added to the gallery in the upcoming months.

I also highly recommend the printed version of Professional Photographer magazine. I’m a subscriber, and I believe that any photographer, whether or not they are a working pro can learn and be inspired from the photographer profiles, techniques, product reviews, news and technical advice that is in every issue. The most recent issue (February 2007) is especially good. The subscription price for 12 issues is under $20, which is a great value, and the most recent issue was over 130 pages. This year is the magazine’s 100th anniversary, which is quite an achievement for any publication. I plan to highlight other imaging magazines in the upcoming months, because I feel so strongly about their value to image-makers of all levels.

There are also many articles available on the Professional Photographer site, including this excellent article and online gallery featuring the work of celebrity photographer Greg Gorman.