Iowa Convention

In 2004, when I quit my construction job to join Jodi at Gehman Photography, one of the first things she made me do was go to our Professional Photographers of Iowa state convention with her. I was blown away. I couldn't believe that people who lived so close to us would be willing to teach us how to improve our work, when they knew full well we could end up taking business from them.  It still makes some of our friends shake their heads to this day. 


But we have come to appreciate and enjoy the friendship and competition that comes from knowing other photographers across the state.  Iowa has one of the best associations in the USA, and we're proud of it.  Some of our best friends are photographers, and if we're unable to photograph your event for some reason, we're blessed to have an extensive list of people that are not only trustworthy professionals... they are our friends and people you will enjoy spending your day with!


TEACHING

This year, we had the honor of co-teaching a class with our pals Dan and Alex McClanahan on how to use creative lighting.  We've been blessed to sit under some amazing teachers and speakers the past several years, and it's awesome to be able to give back... to impart what we've learned to the next generation of photographers.  

AWARDS


Each time our association meets, we have a print competition.  We all put our best work out there for 6 out-of-state judges to look at, talk about, and give a score. We were excited and blessed to come away with a few awards, including...


JODI: 
First place in the Non-Event Album category for her senior album: Taylor

Second Place in the Event Album category with her album: Shawn & Haley

RODNEY
First Place in the Wedding category with: "Soaking It All In". This same print also earned the prestigious Kodak Gallery Award for Photographic Excellence which is a tremendous honor. 

HONESTLY...

We love our job, and know that we have a long way to go before we are the business we want to be, and wanted to tell you about this past weekend to show you that we are advancing.  We know we have holes at Gehman Photography... but we're fixing that.  We are dedicated to elevating professional photography and it's value for as long as we're a part of the industry. I know it seems cliché these days, but those who know us well know we mean it when we say we'd like to thank Jesus Christ, the One who gives and takes away, for blessing us with a job that we look forward to going to every day, and for allowing so many opportunities to come our way... it's all His anyway.

Much love...

R&J  

A Case of the Monday's :: Part 5

Well, it's been a little while since I dropped "A Case of the Monday's" on you, so here we go again.


1. Well, I'm not much of a Conan O'Brien fan (or Jay Leno for that matter), but his closing remarks... especially those about cynicism... were pretty classy and right on.
Looks like they might be pulling some of these videos so you may have to search for it if this one doesn't work.



2. It's the Colts and the Saints in the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning is very close to the best quarterback I have ever watched in the past 20 years I've been following football closely. It would have been fun to watch him and Favre battle it out, but the Saints are on fire right now.

3. In all my life, I have never been wrecked by a tragedy like the one in Haiti. I have been following the stories closely for the past week, almost to a fault. I love hearing the stories of rescue and of miraculous survivals, but I've also had my heart ripped from my chest hearing stories of kids who suffered. I was planning to go to Haiti in February with Water For Life, the same missions group we went with 2 years ago. Then the earthquake happened, and now our plans seem up in the air until commercial flights are allowed back into Port Au Prince.

4. I'm finding myself more and more drawn to politics than I used to be. There's so much going on in the world, that to be totally disconnected doesn't seem right. A good website to get information from is the Drudge Report. The only problem with following politics is that its depressing if you let it be.

5. I may have told you back in December that I'm assistant coaching basketball at a small Christian school in Kalona. Our varsity team is 11-3, and JV is 4-2 or so. It's been fun, because in almost every game, something hilarious happens and I just laugh on the bench for half the game.

6. It's been raining almost every day this week. Now it's trying to snow. I'm ready for some sunshine and green grass.

7. The last two weeks, I've been working on wedding albums trying to get caught up. So far, not too bad. I'm keeping pace, but I know there are a lot to get to. So, if you're waiting on your album out there, I'm going as fast as I can. :)

8. Also this past week, I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, "The Tipping Point". It's an interesting read on how little things make a big difference. While it's not the kind of book that leaves you with 5 practical points to help your business, it does help you see things in life where the pendulum begins to swing and you recognize things are going to change.

9. American Idol is back. I mean no disrespect, but I like the show better without Paula Abdul. She's a nice person, but that's why she wasn't a good judge. You have to be able to be harsh, and I don't think she could do that.

10. I'm hooked on Twitter these days. Follow Gehman Photography at www.twitter.com/gehmanphoto if you're into that sort of thing.

Competition Results

We have been members of the Professional Photographers of Iowa association for several years now, and one of the highlights of the convention is the print and album competitions. Of course, there are several speakers workshops and a trade show where we can update equipment and learn more about photography in general, but the competition is where we pit our work against our peers', basically to see if it's any good. :)

Jodi and I entered two of our wedding albums this year, and we entered them together as "multi-maker" albums. We're honored to report that one of our albums (click here to view Jeff and Rachel) scored the highest of any wedding album OR print! So it got 1st place, plus a Fuji Masterpiece Award (our first one!) and a Memorial Award for being the highest scoring wedding album. So now, we'll send it to regionals and nationals and see what happens on a bigger stage. We also received the second place award with Chris and Marcie's Album, and I somehow made the top ten of non-master photographers in Iowa!

Also, I got third place with this print called "Love Rocks"....

The most special part of the whole deal is that Jodi and I get to share all of these honors and achievements with each other. That's the part that we love about working together. Not only do we get to work together thru the normal routines of our job, but we get to celebrate our accomplishments together. I know it's cliche, and everyone says it, but we are so blessed. We thank God all the time for the life He's given us, and we pray that we'll reflect some glory back to Him in the process.

I know we're not the best photographers out there. We know we have a lot to learn. But I know that we are exactly where God wants us in February of 2009, and that He is letting us be a small part of His story. And that, my friends, is far superior to any award that photography could ever bring us.