** OPEN TO ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS WORLDWIDE **

• This ongoing, monthly competition spans over 10 months (July 2011 – April 2012) .
• Each month a Winning Photograph / Photographer will be chosen and awarded CASH equal to half (50%) the total raised entry fees for the month PLUS a $50 coupon towards any Berger Bros. Camera exclusive classes, seminars or field trips.
• At the end of 10 months ALL winners will participate in the “Winning Photographs” Showcase Exhibit in June, 2012 at the upscale MarineMax Yacht Center and Marina in Lindenhurst, NY where the “Best in Photo” winning photograph will be chosen and the grand prizes awarded.

Grand Prize Sponsors

Long Island Photo Gallery, Help-Portrait and Christmas Magic come together at St. Patrick’s Parish in Bay Shore to deliver an electrifying and unimaginable night like no other!

The holiday season can become a busy and overwhelming time of year, sometimes making it difficult to focus on what truly matters most; our family and friends.

Child Posing For Our Cameras

On Thursday, December 16th several of our  members took time out of their busy schedules to volunteer and enjoy a night out  with 19 loving families from Bay Shore, New York. Held at St. Patrick’s Parish, Long Island Photo Gallery teamed up with Help-Portrait and Christmas Magic to create a mystical and memorable night for everyone involved. Help-Portrait is a movement of photographers who donate their time and creative abilities to give back to those who are less fortunate. Help-Portrait’s Long Island chapter was held in conjunction with St. Patrick’s annual Christmas Magic, a night where families throughout the community come together to enjoy a holiday meal and spend time with Santa Claus himself.  It turned into a night that genuinely enhanced the magical sensation of the holiday season.

A number of volunteers and community members took part in the gathering including Deacon Frank Keach and and hospitality center director Katherine  from St. Patrick’s. Multiple volunteers dedicated countless hours of their time to plan and coordinate the event.  The evening kicked off with a delicious assortment of steaming hot meals and savory desserts followed by individual family portrait sessions coordinated by participants from our own Long Island Photo Gallery, included co-founders Joanne Henig and Jessica Hirschmann.  Kim Pace, Mark Stumpf and Joe Cubiotti joined in and  teamed up with non-LIPG members and photographers Bob Palmieri and Rod Franklin to deliver extraordinary moments captured forever for each of the families.  “We didn’t just give families a meal and a toy, we gave them a memory”, boasted Long Island’s Help-Portrait Event Coordinator Joanne Henig.

Lights. Camera. Action!

Following dinner and portraits on the first floor , everyone made their way upstairs to enjoy Disney Radio entertainment where DJ’s contributed to the  vibrance of the night by playing a variety of engaging songs and sing alongs before hosting a series of family oriented games. Before anyone realized how quickly the night was flying by, Santa Claus stole the show and surprised everyone with what seemed like endless bags of gifts specifically organized for each child. One by one, each and every patient child was called up  to the stage to meet Santa and unwrap one gift. At the height of everyones awe and excitement, each boy and girl was given a titanic bundle of gifts, all of which were brought by Santa Claus himself. The heart warming night at St. Patrick’s Parish served as a great way to celebrate the holiday season in a way that no one will forget.

Visit Help-Portrait for more information on the movement and for ways for you to get involved!

Also visit Long Island Photo Gallery to learn more about the artists who donated their time to Long Island Help-Portrait

~ Joe Cubiotti, InFocus Blog Post Contributor

Help-Portrait Long Island Team, 2010

This year, as some of our members did last year, we will be donating our time, equipment and prints to families in need through a movement known as Help-Portrait.  Help Portrait is a movement of photographers who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those who are less fortunate.

Long Island Photo Gallery members and non-members alike are organizing at St. Patrick’s Parish in Bay Shore on December 16th at 4:00 pm.

St. Patrick’s of Bay Shore has a wonderful Hospitality and Family Needs service that is interested in having Long Island Photographers donate their time towards taking and delivering holiday portraits to families in need. We need photographers, portable studios, lighting and anyone interested in helping out.

The event is SET. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16TH. ST. PATRICK’S PARISH, 9 N. Clinton Avenue, Bay Shore, NY 11706. This is CHRISTMAS MAGIC night where families in need arrive to have their pictures taken, are given a meal and then Santa arrives and the children get a gift from Santa. It is so wonderful to see and even more importantly, so wonderful to volunteer! Please spread the word!

Please join us!  THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16TH. ST. PATRICK’S PARISH, 9 N. Clinton Avenue, Bay Shore, NY 11706. 4 PM

We spent the better part of last week focused on Long Island Photo Gallery. We kicked off a new season of photography networking with our annual meeting on September 22, 2010. Great turn out and great ideas. (See previous post)

Then we bought a booth and displayed our fine art at the West Islip Craft Fair. A huge fair, filled with great vendors, food and music. Long Island Photo Gallery was one of the great vendors. Right up there with the pickle vendor!

Those that passed by were drawn into our ‘gallery’ to view our newest medium, the Gallery Wrapped Canvas printed by member Rich Lombardi. We sold a lot of matted prints and we believe that the amount of cards and literature that we gave out will carry over to sales off the website.

We also believe that we could see our membership grow as a result of being at the fair. Numerous photography buffs stopped in to chat. We met so many really nice people.

Photo Credit - Joe Cubiotti

Thanks to Mike Stein and his daughter Danica (who wanted a plate of bacon for breakfast) who came out to help us set up and sell. Mike sold 3 pieces! Congrats Mike! Also thanks to some of our members that stopped in to say hello. Kim Pace with her boys and Mom. Joe Cubiotti with his good friend Derek. Mark Stumpf with his son, daughter and parents. Great to see you all!

Next up … Fink’s Farm photography field trip. October 9th, 2010 at 1:00 PM. Please RSVP at Event Brite and please visit the Fink’s Farm website for attraction information. This is a FAMILY field trip and is a great place to play with the camera.

Do you have a little voice inside your head that steers you away from your photography goals? If you’ve tried and failed to reach your photography goals in the past, negative thoughts may be what’s holding you back. Try this 1 -2 – 3 approach for success.

First, you need to review your goals. Are they “pie in the sky” goals or realistic goals that you can visualize yourself completing or achieving? Stick with the latter. There is nothing worse than trying to be the over achiever. I’m not saying not to shoot for the moon. What I am saying is to set your goals based on where you are today and then let your goals build to help you travel the path to where you want to be.

Second, you need to have your goals written down. A piece of paper is fine. Some computers are equipped with simple software like To Do List makers, Stickies or a simple Note Pad. For me, it’s good old fashioned paper. My computer is for all the techie stuff I have to do each day. And that piece of paper is ever-present in front of me, regardless of what is going on on my computer. Whatever you decide to use, write your goals down.

Third, you need to act. One goal at a time. Just recently I was watching a video about ‘branding’. And I realized that I was doing a fairly good job of branding my photography business but, there were a few things missing. So I wrote down specific goals to achieve the end result of a complete branding of my business. One by one I completed the tasks and viola!, goal achieved! I would have missed a few steps along the way if I had not first, reviewed the goal; second, wrote the goal down; and third, acted on it.

Long Island Photo Gallery has some of the best photographic talent organized under one website. We all did not get there by sheer luck. We got there by setting and achieving goals.

Clear all negativity from your mind when reviewing your goals. Never say never! And make sure you shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll be among the stars!

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~ Joanne

Portraits, fashion, editorial, landscapes, documentary, conceptual – all of these genres, and others not named, are open for consideration. Prints should take whatever form they need to in order to represent the continuum of tones, including gray tone, warm tone, cool tone, sepia, or other monochromes that comprise your photographs.

Photo Credit: Joanne Henig

Awards:

• First place Award: $300;
• Second place Award: $200;
• Third place Award: $100;
• Selected images will hang in the Mpls Photo Center galleries along with photographers from throughout the world. All exhibitors are included in the Mpls Photo Center’s online gallery.

How to enter this photo competition

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!