Member of the Month - Kari Douma, PPWM President

The 2009 PPWM board members have decided not to print a monthly newsletter, but instead, update this blog on a regular basis. After all, who has the time to read a newsletter? We're too busy reading each others blogs! Having said that, we all still believe it's important to stay in touch and communicate with one another. Please check this blog regularly... who knows, you might learn something really interesting!

Below are a few questions I asked Kari today...enjoy!
Kim Knauf


Do you have a retail space or home based studio?
I had been working out of my house for the last 6 years, and I just moved into a studio space in Grandville. I love the new space! Make sure you come to our Feb PPWM meeting to check it out!

What is your favorite subject to photograph?
I get asked this question a lot. I really don't have a favorite "subject", but I have a favorite "type of subject". I love doing all sorts of portraits. I love the newborn baby, so sweet and innocent. I love the toddler who is full of energy. I love the families who want to display their family bonds with each other. I love the senior who is trying to make a statement of who they are at this time of life. I love the excitement, love and emotion of weddings. Some people I photograph are doing so just because photography is expected of them. It is something they have to do, and they don't really care for it. Others are excited about the session, and love getting their portraits done. I love clients who love photography! I get excited when they get excited about how things are going. People who are excited and have a lot of fun ideas are my favorite type of client to photograph.

When you take a short break from editing, what do you like to do?
I love forums. Being self taught, I have learned almost everything I know from forums. My favorite forum is Open Source Photo. I love to just browse and learn... and help others. I think we need to look at this as a journey in life. When I first became a photographer, I asked a lot of questions. I am sure that some people rolled their eyes at me because of the newbie questions that I asked. But, that is how I got to where I am today. Someone took the time to answer me. So, now I try to answer other people's questions if I know the answers when they ask on the forums. I have also been getting sucked into Facebook lately too! So, I start that export out of Lightroom, or batch process a folder in Photoshop, and I hit the forums!

What is the most valuable thing you've ever learned at a photography seminar? The most memorable seminar I went to was by Jeff and Julia Woods at PPWM about 4 years ago. That seminar gave me a jump in my business. The thing that hit me most during that seminar was the pricing information. Julia went into how to figure out the cost of goods sold, and what % that should be of your total price. It was an eye opener for me. I think at that time I was charging $4 for a 4X6 and $12 for an 8X10. It really woke me up to what it took to be a BUSINESS. I just saw Julia woods again while I was at PPA, and it really inspired me to look at my pricing and business again! I am planning on going to a Studio Management program by PPA, or a workshop with Ann Montieth on business. I think as artists, we are always concentrating on how to get our skills elevated, and we forget about the business part of it!

My favorite thing to do on a weekend off is……….
go camping with my family! I don't get too many weekend's off. Between weddings, editing, and my kids sport events, the weekends "off" come far and few between. But, we love to camp, so I make sure I schedule a few weekends of camping with my family!

List 5 things you love about your photography career…
1. I love that I have the flexibility to schedule things when I want. If I want to help out at my kids school, I can. I can schedule my appointments around my personal life. 2. I love the gratification when people love their portraits. Our business is such a personal and emotional business. I love to see the tears when a bride views her wedding portraits. I love to receive an email from the mother of a two year old who was delighted that I captured the personality of her child. 3. I love the challenge of pressing the shutter at just the right moment... when the rambunctious child looks up with a sparkle in their eye, when the bride and her father are dancing and the father lovingly glances at his daughter as a tear rolls down his cheek, when the newborn baby picks his head up off his mothers shoulder as if to say "Take my portrait!" 4. I love that I can provide financially for my family with a job that I love to do! 5. I love the to stretch the artist in me by continually challenging myself to do something different. My wedding assistant and I love to go into a wedding and say, "What can we do to challenge ourselves today? What can we do different that we haven't done before?"

How long have you been a member of PPWM?
I have been a member of PPWM for 4 1/2 years.

How has being a member of PPWM benefited you?
PPWM has benefited me greatly! When I first joined PPWM, I joined because I wanted to learn. I was a new photographer, who was hungry for knowledge. I was learning everything I could, as much as I could, as fast as I could. In my mind, PPWM was another method to "feed" my photography hunger. I now realize that the networking and relationships I have formed in PPWM are worth far more than the tangible information I was learning. We refer customers to each other when not available, and have become great friends! I know that if I ever needed anything, any one of my colleagues would be there for me in a heartbeat. As a wedding photographer, that is priceless.

If you could have any super power what would it be?
I would fly! I would soar through the air!

Beautiful Work!

Wow it was really great to see so many people at print competition last night! I miss being able to come to every meeting. I saw some new faces, met at least one visitor... thanks for coming Kevin... and saw some people I haven't seen in awhile. It was great to see you all.
I am so proud of all the people who entered last night, especially the first-timers. You have some beautiful images! I've been entering print competition for several years and I want to encourage you to use it to your advantage. You worked hard to tweak and print those images... so display them in your studio with your ribbons attached. Clients will notice your hard work, no matter what color ribbon. Your ribbon is your award for a job well-done. If you used a client image for comp, let them know (you should probably have gotten permission before you printed) and give them a copy of the print to thank them for allowing you to use their image. They will love that, and will tell their friends. Blog about your experience. List your accomplishments on your website.
I would also like to encourage you all to consider print competition at the Professional Photographers of Michigan convention ... and then Professional Photographers of America. You've already put the hard work into it, why not? The judges gave you some constructive criticism, and more importantly, some suggestions to improve your print. More than a few of you could take your images from good to great if you just darkened or lightened this or that area, or took care of the banding, or improved your presentation...made your mats BLACK .....seems like they were stuck on black mats ;-).
If you can't bring yourselves to enter in Michigan (and possibly win $500) I encourage you to attend PPM convention on Saturday February 7 and sit in on the print competition. You can learn a lot... and every bit you learn will help you improve your art, and your business!
And while you're there, sign up for some ... or all ... of the seminars. The PPM board worked really hard this year to bring a superior line-up of speakers ... some of the best in our business... from all over the nation, and even a young gun from Australia. Sorry, I didn't mean to make this post a commercial. I'll save that for the next post ;-). But if you want more information check out the website: PPM.org , or give me a call or email.
Whew! this got really long-winded! I just wanted to say congratulations everyone. You should be proud of your accomplishments.
Debra, Sportel Photography.