Today's Guest: Owen Kassimir of PPGNY in Syosset, New York
Today's Host: Damien Allen
September 2007
Listen to this Show
Publish this Show on Your Website
Show Sponsor www.morephotos.com
Owen Kassimir
Owen Kassimir Transcript Page
Owen Kassimir Expert PageANNOUNCER: Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight with your host, Damien Allen. Today's program is sponsored by MorePhotos.com the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide.
DAMIEN: Welcome to VTalk Radio's Photographer's Spotlight. I'm your host, Damien Allen, in for the vacationing, John Bentley, and today we are speaking to Owen Kassamir who is the President of the Professional Photographers of Greater New York, a photo organization, of course, in New York. Welcome to the program, Owen, and how are you doing today?
OWEN: I'm doing great; thanks for having me.
DAMIEN: Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about the association.
OWEN: Ok, the Professional Photographers of Greater New York, also know as PPGNY, was established in 1960. We're basically an organization which was formed for educational purposes both for the professional photographer and the public.
DAMIEN: What type of educational resources does the PPGNY have for both the professional photographer and the public. What does the public need to be educated in?
OWEN: Ok, we are affiliates of the Professional Photographers of America and the Professional Photographers Society of New York state, and we provide lectures and programs for professionals to attend and for students to become apprentices and for the general public just to teach them new techniques. I mean, I do many seminars to some of the photo clubs all around.
DAMIEN: So you really cover from the professional photographer all the way down to the hobbyist then.
OWEN: Yeah we do. Yes, we do.
DAMIEN: What are some of the services and benefits that are included in being involved in this association?
OWEN: PPGNY we have an annual convention. We have an approved school that goes a week long during the summer. We have monthly dinner meetings with speakers every month from all over the country. We also have print competitions which we encourage our members to enter. It's a great learning experience. We also offer trade shows. We have a very big conference coming up in two weeks that we're going to have a very exciting tradeshow in addition to that. We have the most master photographers out of any affiliate PPA chapter in the whole country. So we offer a master consultation service for any photographer who wanted critiques on portfolios. We also, because we're a part of the state organization, PPSNYS, we can offer health insurance programs and life and disability insurance programs, financial planning services, collection services. We have a website which is www.PPGNY.org which lists all of our meetings, dates, upcoming events, officers, members, things like that.
DAMIEN: Well, my next question was going to be why would a professional photographer want to belong to the Professional Photographers of Greater New York or any photo organization for that matter, but with the list of services and the fact that you offer health insurance, that kind of answers its own question doesn't it.
OWEN: I think..yeah, I think the most important one which actually I didn't mention yet, is the comradere and the networking available by just meeting your peers from month to month. I think that's one of the best benefits of the whole group.
DAMIEN: How many photographers are currently enrolled in this association?
OWEN: Enrolled in New York state is about 500 and we are about 175 of that.
DAMIEN: Is there a certification process for joining or can anybody join the PPGNY and then do the schooling and, how many steps are there in this?
OWEN: Ok. The first step is to come to a meeting. We invite anyone to a meeting to see if they like it. They're allowed to come to two meetings without joining. At the second meeting they should be given an application which they fill out and we see what level they're at. There are a lot of studios that are not members and there's obviously a million students that are not members, but we encourage everyone to come. We have different levels of membership also. One would be active which is an active full time photographer earning 100% of their income from photography. Then we have associate members who are photographers, but might have another job during the week or something similar to that. They love photography. Then we also have an allied membership category which is often our vendors. So the camera store owner or the bindery, they would fall into that category. And then we have an apprentice category which is fairly new, and that is for new photographers, not quite sure where they're headed, but want to be an apprentice and learn from some of us and they can join at a lower rate for two years, and then they have to become a full member. A portfolio review of some sort is required for most memberships except the allied, and then they have to appear before the board to present themselves and say hello, and show us what they do. Most people are entered as members without a problem, and we keep growing. We're in a growing phase at this point and it's looking up really good.
DAMIEN: You mentioned that there's a seminar coming up in two weeks. Would you like to tell us a little more about that?
OWEN: I'd love to tell you about that. We have our annual Long Island Conference coming up on October 22nd and 23rd. We have six fabulous speakers starting with Greg Gorman, Julieanne Cost, Kurt Littlecot, Catherine Hall, Lori Nordstrom, and Markus Bell. At this point it's $195 for two days including six meals. It's held on Long Island. All the information is on the PPGNY.org website and coming right up, and we have registered over 100 people already, and we're looking to probably have about 200.
DAMIEN: Are we able to apply for membership at the website itself?
OWEN: You can download a membership application, or you can email the organization and we'll forward it to the membership chairman who will contact you.
DAMIEN: We would like to thank you for joining us today and sharing all this great information about the Professional Photographers of Greater New York.
OWEN: Thank you very much for having me.
DAMIEN: If you would kindly give the website information and contact information one more time for the listeners?
OWEN: Yes. The website of the Professional Photographers of Greater New York is www.ppgny.org and the email address is ppgnyinfo@aol.com.
DAMIEN: And if you'd like to plug that seminar in two weeks one more time please.
OWEN: Yes, the Long Island Conference is coming up right around the corner on October 22nd and 23rd. It's being held on the north shore of Long Island at the North Ritz Club and it should be a great event and something definitely not to be missed.
DAMIEN: And there are links for that on the website?
OWEN: Yes.
DAMIEN: Thank you very much for joining us today.
OWEN: Thank you very much for having me.
DAMIEN: We've been speaking with Owen Kassamir who is the President of the Professional Photographers of Greater New York. This has been the VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. I'm Damien Allen. Have a great afternoon.
ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTalk Radio Spotlight; only on www.vtalkradio.com. Radio for the 21st Century.
go to top of the page
