12/15/2023
12-20-23 Updated***
***Awards Banquet***
***FEBRUARY 4, Sunday 4-6pm***Email to come!
Important Notice to PPGMF Members that was emailed:
December 12, 2023
Dear All,
We hope this email finds you well. We wanted to take a moment to personally reach out to you as valued members of Professional Photographers Guild of Mid-Florida, PPGMF. We are grateful to have been an affiliate of Florida Professional Photographers, FPP, and the national organization, Professional Photographers of America, PPA. And we truly have appreciated your support and wanted to share some news with you.
First, we will have our annual awards banquet on Sunday, February 4, 2024 from 4:00pm-6:00pm. Please mark your calendar and join us for good food and great company! Plan to bring a white elephant gift. An email with more details will come in early January. Also check our social media on Instagram at PPGMFLkld and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ppgmf.
We also wanted to express our gratitude for your continued trust in our photography enrichment services. We understand that in today's world, everyone has access to photography tools and it may seem like good photography is undervalued. However, we believe in the power of live education, networking with peers, and creating competition opportunities to elevate the art of photography.
Since 1975, we have been fortunate to work with some exceptional educators who have dedicated their expertise to our members. More recently, we have had renowned speakers, including a teacher who was the finale speaker at Imaging USA for the past 2 years, drawing in hundreds of people into the Opryland resort's ballrooms. We have also had the privilege of hosting a teacher who specializes in underwater photography and teaches for national organizations. This individual holds almost every degree that PPA offers. It is important to note that every speaker we brought in was highly awarded, educated, and working photographers. These incredible educators were just a few that we have provided to our members.
We have gone to great lengths to provide opportunities for our members to compete and refine their craft. Our professional photographer-judges, trained and degreed by PPA, take their jobs very seriously in order to enhance the photography community. Our board invests countless technical hours to ensure the success of these events. We know that competitions truly improves the level of your craft.
As with any organization, the more you invest in it, the more you gain from it. So it is with great sadness that we are dissolving PPGMF as of December 31, 2023. We are proud of our collaborative work, but we can no longer sustain PPGMF. Please do not forget our annual awards banquet on February 4, 2024 as our last hurrah! It’s sure to be a fun night to say goodbyes and hellos to the new year and beyond!
We encourage you to join the PPA.com's local affiliates in Tampa (TAPPA) or Orlando (PPCF), as well as the state affiliate FPPonline.com. You can further enhance your professional growth and education exponentially through those organizations. We recommend attending every possible meeting, volunteering, networking, and participating in competitions. These are just a few ways to make the most of these opportunities. Remember, surrounding yourself with experienced photographers can be a tremendous learning experience, and who knows, you might even be able to lend a helping hand to someone else.
We value your continued support as we wind down PPGMF and would love to see you take advantage of the PPA & FPP resources available to you. If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to assist you in any way we can.
Thank you once again for being a part of our local PPA affiliate family (Community Network). Our wish for you is to keep capturing more beautiful moments and continue making friends in the photography community. You never know where the journey will lead.
Best Regards,
PPGMF Board
Cathy Cook
Anthony Sassano
Robin Phillips
Robbin Joachim
Steve Cinquanti
PPA is a non-profit photography association created by photographers, for photographers. Join PPA to get resources to grow your photography business today!
