Update Your Photography and Business Skills at PDN PhotoPlus Expo

Whether you are in the professional photography business or are serious about updating your skills, check out what’s happening at the PDN PhotoPlus Conference and Expo in October.

The PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo is the largest photography and imaging show in North America. The 2015 Conference runs from October 21-24 at the Javits Center in New York. The Expo runs from October 22-24.

PhotoPlus_220x145Last year, PDN PhotoPlus Expo attracted more than 21,000 professional photographers, photography enthusiasts, filmmakers, students, and educators from around the world.

“Our vast schedule of photo walks, master classes, conference seminars, keynotes, and portfolio reviews, combined with our large expo hall filled with hundreds of exhibitors demonstrating the latest imaging technologies, has created a wonderful playground for anyone who loves the visual arts.” explains Jason Groupp, Director of Education and Membership of the PHOTO+ Group

PPEThe expo features 220 exhibitors and thousands of new products. The educational programming includes over 80 seminars, keynote presentations, and special events. Whether you need to learn basics such as posing, lighting, retouching, editing, and printing or explore niches such as portraiture, commercial, or travel photography, the program has sessions that can help.

Business development programs at PhotoPlus Expo can help you find ways to expand your range of products and services and update your skills.

Sample Courses

For example, here are a few of the courses that will be presented during the 2015 Conference.

The Headshot Game and How to Play it!
Peter Hurley will explain how to forge a career in a hot genre that helps professionals of all ages improve their digital identities and establish personal brands. Hurley offers valuable insights about how he developed one of the most successful headshot businesses in the country.

Learning to Thrive as an Artist: Business, Marketing and Style for Photographers Commercial photographer and director John Keatley discusses one of his biggest passions—business! He will explain why photographers need to develop both an artists’ mindset and an understanding of the skills needed to market your work.

An Artist’s Journey: Surviving the Evolving Photo Industry
Jeremy Cowart, one of the most influential photographers on the Internet, will explain how to stay relevant in an industry in which new apps, new cameras, new tools and new technologies are released every day.

Focus on Filmmaking

It’s Moving! Tips for Photographers Who Start Shooting Video
European cinematographer and filmmaker Nino Leitner will share tips for photographers who are starting to shoot video. Where are the similarities in shooting practices and workflows? Where are the differences? Learn to avoid the typical caveats and get inspired to think about your images in constant motion.

Creative Concepts for Event Filmmakers
From single-day creative shoots to high-end, multi-day scripted productions, cinematic storytelling can reach far beyond a live event and command high value. Learn how Los Angeles–based Pacific Pictures has become one of the world’s most sought after studios by creating and selling some of the industry’s most prolific live event concept films. Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Shahinian explores creative storytelling techniques and cutting-edge, conceptual film productions that can take your documentary filmmaking skills and business to a higher level.

One-Man-Band Filmmaking
Do you shoot by yourself, handling all the lighting, audio, directing and carrying around all your gear? With the right approach and tools, the New Age filmmaker can accomplish anything independently. Joe Switzer will discuss topics such as project management, outsourcing and the corporate project workflow.

Filmmaking Essentials For Photographers
In this class for emerging photographers and professionals pursuing new markets, Eduardo Angel will demystify the most common filmmaking terms and shooting techniques. He will also cover the most essential selection of gear to increase the production value of your video projects and provide an overview of the business of motion. After this class, you will have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the disciplines of stills and motion.

Printing Skills and Innovations

Another way photography pros can distinguish themselves is through skills in fine-art printing and conservation framing or by offering high-quality imagery on durable, ready-to-hang aluminum or wood panels or as brilliant, extra-large backlits. Four PhotoPlus Expo sessions can bring you up to speed on the latest workflows and options for in-studio and lab printing.

The Craft and Passion and Fine-Art Digital Printing
According to Stephen Johnson, making a photographic print has always been a challenging process. It could involve days in the darkroom, and deep consideration of the results and possibilities. He contends that the time, craft, and care needed to make a fine print in this digital age is not dissimilar. The processes are very different, but the attention to the craft and need for passionate concentration on the potential beauty of the photographic print remain. Focusing on pigment-ink photo printers, he will discuss workflow issues, color management, adjustment layers, color-cast corrections, custom profile generation, editing, and inspection. He will also explore print aesthetics in the digital age: What makes for a beautiful print? Do new possibilities enhance our notion of what photography can be? Or are we merely trying imitate traditional photographic processes?

The Basics of Fine Art Printing
Rocco Ancora will encourage photographers to take control of their own printing. He will explain how to choose the right printer for your business and how to determine the right media for the print. As he demonstrates how the digital capture-to-print process comes together, he will explore a world of new possibilities and digital imaging practices.

The Basics of Custom Framing: An Overview for the Photo Industry
Framing industry expert John Ranes will explain the essential elements and equipment photographers need to expand into custom framing. Topics to be covered include: conservation framing, sourcing options, and revenue-enhancement offerings. John will review pricing, costs, margins, and volumes to help you determine whether custom framing is right for your photography business.

The Latest Technologies for Large- and Very-Large-Format Printing and Production of Brilliant Backlits
Renowned image permanence expert Henry Wilhelm and several of the world’s most accomplished printmakers will show how new printing processes are expanding the definition of photographic prints. For example, new flatbed printers can use very long-lasting UV-curable pigment inks to produce visually stunning prints up to 10 x 20 ft. on a wide variety of substrates including acrylic, sheet aluminum, Dibond, glass, plywood, uncoated artists papers, and traditional gesso-coated artist canvas. When UV-curable inks are back-printed on acrylic or glass, you can produce brilliant LED-illuminated backlit images at a wide range of sizes. With the dye-sublimation process used to make ChromaLuxe prints, images are infused directly onto specially coated sheets of metal or wood, and table tops. Photo labs can ChromaLuxe prints in sizes up to 4 x 8 ft. The ChromaLuxe prints are extremely resistant to scratches and abrasion and require no additional mounting or framing for display.

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PDN PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo