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Chris Piccirillo of Mind’s Eye Photography in St. Mary’s, PA received a LexJet Sunset Award for having the Best Color Image in the annual print competition conducted by the Professional Photographers’ Association of Pennsylvania. The competition was held in conjunction with the group’s 73rd Annual Convention and Trade Show April 11-13, 2010 in State College, PA.
Chris captured the winning image, Kiss in Paradise, at a wedding he shot in Key West, FL. He used a 14 mm Canon fish-eye lens with a Canon 5D camera with an off-camera flash behind the couple. He admits there was some Photoshop work involved. He cleaned up the clouds, added an orange graduated filter to produce a CSI-Miami-like effect, and made minor tweaks for color and density. He printed the image in his studio, using Fujifilm gloss paper on an Epson 7800.
Although he says he does a good bit of printing himself, Piccirillo admits he hasn’t yet tried any LexJet papers. But he is looking forward to doing so now that he has won the Sunset Award trophy and a $100 gift certificate for any of the photo or art papers in LexJet Sunset portfolio of products.
“I’ve been meaning to check LexJet out. A lot of PPA members swear by your products, and I’ve looked into some of your fine-art papers,” says Piccirillo. When he read about the new LexJet Sunset award shortly before the print judging began, he joked to his wife that he should quickly place an order with LexJet just so he could qualify for the $500 gift certificate that he could have received if he had ordered from LexJet in the past 12 months or output the winning print on a LexJet product.
Piccirillo has been entering PPA print competitions for several years, and won an award in the very first competition he entered. When he gets a chance, he likes sitting in on the judging sessions, because he always learns something when he listens to what fellow pro photographers think about each print.
Although customers today may not be nearly as critical about print quality as the competition judges are, Piccirillo has discovered that winning awards is good for his business. For one thing, it helps distinguish his studio from competitors. Being recognized as a true professional sets his studio apart from the lower priced part-timers who have less experience and less invested in their equipment and studios.
When customers see press releases about his awards in the local paper, they know that Mind’s Eye Studio is keeping up with the best in the photography business. Piccirillo says, “It definitely helps in establishing our credentials.”
Customers also love it when one of their images turns out to be an award-winner. In this case, Piccorillo says the bride-and-groom who shared this Kiss in Paradise were so thrilled to learn that their image had won an award that immediately ordered a 20 x 24-in. print.
To see more of Chris’s award-winning photography, visit the website of Minds Eye Photography: www.pamindseye.com