This little group of ours has gone from a ‘good idea’ to a real ‘community with opportunity’!

Congratulations to Debra Moody, Jessica Hirschmann and Joanne Henig!  All three Long Island Photo Gallery members have had their fine art photography chosen by the SheltAir Corporation to be on permanent display at their new terminal at the Francis S. Gabreski Airport, which is located in the Village of Westhampton Beach.

This is some great recognition for our group and our members.  Here are the 6 images that were chosen:

What’s next for Long Island Photo Gallery and its members?  We can only say that we have high hopes for continued success.  It is because of our member’s enthusiasm that we continue to grow and achieve outstanding recognition throughout Long Island as ‘the’ place for fine art Long Island photography!

Long Island Photo Gallery, the LI photography “Community With Opportunity”,  is on a positive roll.  Please join us in welcoming Tommy Brunhuber and Edward Mooney to our group.

Tommy Brunhuber explains, ”My “career” as a photographer is still very much in its infancy and I am by no means a professional, but I am humbly willing to learn as much as I can.”   Well Tommy, with your membership in Long Island Photo Gallery, you are beginning to move your career forward.  We encourage Tommy, as well as all of our members, to update their images in the gallery and  their images offered for sale on the website, on a regular basis.  Attend our field trips (May 8, 2010, Vanderbilt Museum, Centerport, Long Island) and our critique sessions (April 14th, 2010 at 7:00 PM).  Read and post to this blog as well.  Challenge yourself everyday!  I look back at my work when I first started Long Island Photo Gallery with Jessica Hirschmann and I can’t believe how much my work has improved.  You all will improve too.  Practice, share, grow.

Newest member Edward Mooney has “his work exhibited in several galleries on Long Island and also at the Fire Island, Montauk Point and Horton Lighthouses.”  Eddie also has his own website and blog.  His distinguished career as a fine art photographer has work exhibited at the Village Art and Frame in Babylon and the Seafarer Gift Shop in Sayville.  We are delighted to have his work exhibited here, on the Long Island Photo Gallery website, and we hope to see his framed pieces in our Bohemia gallery soon.

With every new member that joins, the exposure for all of us grows.  Each of us has a unique artistry.  As we grow, we will be able to offer a greater variety of fine art to a general public that is hungry for Long Island Fine Art Photography for their home and office.

~ Joanne

I’ve been dancing around these characters on my computer keyboard for over a week now, trying to come up with a great topic for all of our members.  I was supposed to do a piece on the fantastic time we all had at the Atlantis Aquarium, but Mother Nature dumped nearly two feet of snow on us and, ‘viola’, another field trip and blog post thwarted!

So before the weather gets too nice and all of Spring has sprung, please refocus your photography minds and efforts on two HUGE things in this blog post.

First -  your NEW Long Island Photo Gallery website, your NEW Fire Island Photography website, your NEW Members area, your NEW Photography Resource area and your NEW Photography Equipment area.

Whoa guys! (I said this was HUGE!)

All of this has been revamped and expanded to drive more visitors (a.k.a. shoppers) to us all.

I want to send out a HUGE thank you to Jessica Hirschmann who has been working like a woman possessed with this for a couple of months!  It would mean the world to ME … if YOU … would take a moment to post a THANK YOU to Jessica.  She deserves our collective praise for making us all look great!

Second – our Print Gallery located at 1650 Sycamore Ave, Bohemia needs your print work!  We have NEW prints on the walls in Bohemia and want to continue to build our physical gallery.  We are looking to advertise the Bohemia gallery to the public and want each of you to have something hanging in the gallery and marked “For Sale”.  Call me!  I want to help grow our physical gallery into the real deal and to sell, sell, sell for you.

Short, but SWEET!  As always, we welcome your comments.  And don’t forget to post a thank you to Jessica!

~ Joanne

As promised, 2010 is starting out to be a much anticipated, ‘Year of Action’ for Long Island Photo Gallery and its members.  Last night was the start of the push to increase opportunity for our members while helping to ignite the creative juices for us all.  If you love photography like we do, a great way to kick the year off is to have a Critique Night.  There’s nothing like a group of photographers, of all levels, joining together to enjoy each others favorite photos while having those same images critiqued by a jury of their peers.

Submitted by photographer Joanne Henig

Last night we held our first ever, Long Island Photo Gallery critique night. We met new members and had a new guest of LIPG sit in and participate in the event.  We had a great group of photographers assembled and we saw some really great photography.  The purpose of critiquing images is to help the photographer grow as an artist and to help them reach their personal photographic goals.  It is extremely difficult to critique your own images.  You, of course, know what you like and what you don’t like about your photos. But, an independent fresh set of eyes can sometimes point out the simplest suggestions to improve upon an image.  In many cases, this can take an image from being ordinary to extraordinary!

Submitted by photographer Jessica Hirschmann

Those that attended last night’s meeting walked away with a FREE Long Island Photo Gallery 2010 wall calendar.  Believe it or not, we are starting to zero in on the 2011 Long Island Photo Gallery calendar.  If you would like to get your images in the calendar, please contact either Joanne or Jessica at LIPG.

What’s next?

<————-  Scroll through our events calendar on the top – left of our blog page to see a complete list of events for 2010.  Don’t be shy.  Sign up.  Come on out and share your love of photography with fellow Long Islanders.

Submitted by photographer Mike Stein

Missed last night’s critique night?  No worries.  Sign up for our next critique night on April 14th, 2010.  We would love to see you and your images there.  Can’t promise a FREE calender, however : )

Stay In Focus!

Become a Long Island Photo Gallery Member. Click HERE.

Two members of LIPG spent a few hours volunteering their time, in coordination with thousands of photographers worldwide through the organization Help-Portrait,  to photograph individuals and give those individuals the resulting portraits.  Thank you Kim Pace & Joanne Henig for giving your time to give those in need something they can have for a lifetime, a portrait of their family!

Here is a copy of a recent press release from Help – Portrait explaining the day and project further.

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) December 18, 2009 — Last Saturday, December 12th, the world stood still as photographers worldwide united in a photography movement called Help-Portrait, which gave more than 40,000 individuals portraits to treasure for a lifetime. On Saturday, more than 8300 photographers and volunteers participated in 715 locations in 42 countries.

“On December 12th, cultural borders were crossed on one side of the camera and competitive borders on the other.”

Help-Portrait was founded by celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart with his vision of the photography community and individuals giving back this holiday season. This event reached a magnitude that nobody saw coming.

“On December 12th, cultural borders were crossed on one side of the camera and competitive borders on the other,” reflects Cowart. “I honestly don’t know which side of the camera was blessed more. For many of our subjects across the world, Help-Portrait provided them with their first-ever family photo. However, we’re consistently hearing from many photographers worldwide that this is the greatest thing they’ve ever done with their cameras.”

Information about Help-Portrait has spread across the globe through the Social Media phenomena– Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogging. Cowart used his 10,000+ Twitter followers to help share information and vision about Help-Portrait, thus snowballing into this cultural event that gave back so much more than just a portrait to those in need.

In addition this movement has nabbed the attention of local, national and international media throughout the weekend and this week. Help-Portrait stories have been featured on CNN, CNN.com, CNN International, CBS Evening News, HLN Headline News, The ONE Campaign, AOL Philanthropy Project, Sears/GNN.com, BritneySpears.com blog, New York Daily News, CTV News (Canadian), Egyptian Satellite Channel and more. Those photographed all had a story – all unique and heartbreaking in its own way.

“Poverty steals a lot of things, like your home, car and food, but it also steals something on the inside. Help-Portrait feeds that something on the inside,” states Help-Portrait Event Coordinator Annie Downs.

Moved and inspired by the response from those who participated this weekend, the Help-Portrait team is thrilled to announce the 2010 date of December 4th. It is setting the precedent of future Help-Portrait events annually on the first Saturday of December.

Inspiring quotes from those impacted by Help-Portrait:

“The portrait,” he said, “Represented where I’m going, not where I’ve been.” – Phillip Jackovich, Help-Portrait subject, OC Register story

“One of the ladies at Help-Portrait today cried the entire time I took her photo. I said ‘Are those happy tears?’ She said, ‘Yes, very happy!’” – Millie Holloman – Help-Portrait Photographer, Wilmington, NY

“Giving a photo to a stranger gives you a unique opportunity to speak a kind word of encouragement, value, beauty and truth that isn’t quite as tangible without that photo to give your words context. It’s hard to argue with art when you give it positive meaning. It was profound how encouragement, value, self-esteem and worth were given through actions, words and the foundation? A photograph.” – Joel Mills -Help-Portrait volunteer, photo editor Charlottesville, VA

“Today was the one of the best days I have had as a photographer and as a human being.” Kwame Reed – Photographer, Brentwood, California

For more information on Help-Portrait: Visit the official site, follow the H-P team on Twitter @help_portrait (Hashtag #helpportrait), be a friend on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/helpportrait and watch the official YouTube videos . Videos from around the world can be found on the YouTube tagged page here. Photos from the events posted can be found here

About Help-Portrait:
The goal of Help-Portrait was simple: 1. Find someone in need 2. Take their portrait 3. Print their portrait and 4. Deliver their portrait. This movement began just over four months ago with the YouTube video launch from Cowart. Help-Portrait was formed by celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart as he contemplated using his skills and expertise to give back to those who may not have the opportunity for a professional photo. The idea is that a photographer has the opportunity to help someone smile, laugh and to remember – it is a movement, a shift in photography.

About Jeremy Cowart:
Cowart began full-time photography in 2005 and has traveled to 6 continents with his talent. He’s photographed Imogen Heap, Sting, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood and more. He’s also worked with entertainment clients ABC, E!, Fox, A&E, FX, The Style Network, CMT and more. You can view his photos and learn more at: http://www.jeremycowart.com/ or read his blog:http://blog.jeremycowart.com/ and follow him on Twitter @jeremycowart .

Well, there were only a handful of us, but we had fun and we took lots and lots of great pictures last night at the 1st EVER Long Island Photo Gallery Photography Field Trip.  We are moving forward!

Location?  Fire Island’s Cedar Beach & Boat Basin.

Although the weather was threatening and reports were for thunderstorms, the sun came out (along with the mosquitos) and we walked around with our equipment and took in some of the best that Long Island has to offer.

The ocean was calm.  The volleyball courts were packed.  And it was dinner time at the boat basin with all the BBQ’s fired up and serving up the good stuff.  We’ll do another Fire Island field trip in the spring.  See more images from this field trip on our Fan Page on FaceBook.

Now it’s time to turn our Long Island attention inland.  To the east.  To the farms and the vineyards.

Join us for our NEXT successful field trip to Fink’s Country Farm.  Click HERE for details.