Too much time away from taking care of the web sites. I started on a redesign months ago and let it slide to the back burner for too long. Last weekend I set the goal of having the redesign with slideshows up and running by Tuesday morning. I was successful in reaching that goal; just before midnight Monday I finished uploading the files and was able to see all the pages, slideshows and images. Was it all smooth and without problems, No. There are a few minor issues that I will be working on correcting over the next week. These do not effect the display or usability of the site.

If you haven’t seen the new site take a look, http://francoisclement.net.

My goal now is to continue posting here on the blog on a weekly basis, at the minmum. Along with that goal is one of either creating a new image that week, pulling my archives for something special to be shared on the blog and to start building up a portfolio of prints from these images that can be purchased. By the end of the year I’ll have the specifics on how the portfolio program will work. The intent is to share, at a reasonnable cost, images with those that would like to build up a collection of prints they enjoy. I’ll start with something from before my move to the San Jose area seven years ago. Enjoy.

I was away for four days last week, January 27-30. I went to San Diego to attend the PPC (Professional Photographers of California) Quarterly meeting and to assist with the PPA Regional & PPC print Competition. As President of my local affiliate I needed to attended the meetings, which did provide some good information that will be useful for future events. I also volunteered to assist on the print competition crew. Assisting and or attending any print competition is a good way learn how to better your prints for not only competition but for your clients too. I entered four prints in the competition, three of which I had entered locally this past year and one from the previous year. I’m very happy with the results that I got overall. I qualified to earn three PPA merits for this years International Print Competition. The prints I entered and their scores are as follows: Mythical Oak - 89; My Father’s Passion -80; Peaceful Reflection -80; In it’s Hay Day -77. Here are the prints as they were presented for competition (except without my logo).

I happen to belong to a few professional photography associations ranging from the local level up to national. The associations that I’m a member of are Professional Photographers of Santa Clara Valley (PPSCV), Professional Photographers of California (PPC) and Professional Photographers of America (PPA). I’ve been on the board of the local group for a few years in different capacities, including a board member, Vice-President (last year), and President this year. I’ve also been the webmaster for the Santa Clara Valley group.

At the local level we have print competitions about six to eight times a year and an annual one in December where we can submit up six of our top prints from that year. In the previous Year End competitions I’ve entered I’ve placed as high as third with one of the prints. At our January meeting we had our Awards ceremony for Year End Print competition and or our Outstanding Member of the Year. This year I was fortunate and won the Print of the Year Award with the print titled “Mythical Oak”.

You can view a different version, a high contrast black and white, of this same tree in the More Places and Happenings post. I actually have done up a series on this oak trying different effects and image manipulations. I enjoyed the creative process and the the results I was getting.

The week of January 28th I’ll have this print, and three other different prints, in the PPA Regional (Western States) and the PPC Print Competition. I’m looking forward to helping out the at the print comp and hearing the scores and comments from the judges as the prints are judged.