SYNC 2010 [Senior + Youth National Conference]

Last Friday, Karen and Jessica headed to Saint Petersburg, Florida for SYNC [Senior + Youth National Conference]. The photography industry changes and evolves every day. As business owners, digital artists and photographers, SYNC has committed to be the conference that will help us evolve and grow with the ever changing teen generation.

H&H Color Lab [our choice for quality products] sponsored an opening night show on Friday evening. They chose 15 of their talented customers to share something valuable with the audience. Karen's choice of topic was Giving Back. She spoke of finding a purpose and a cause that you're pasisonate about... and see where it takes you. She had a lot of great response. Throughout the weekend, other photographers approached her asking for ideas and sharing their thoughts.

Karen and Shirley [owner, along with her husband, of H&H Color Lab]

H&H's eye-catching booth at the tradeshow

Karen won an award of excellence for her images of Hannah. This means her print scored in the top 50% of the category entries.

Karen and Jess with the SYNC crew. These are all the people responsible for this weekend full of fabulous speakers and inspiration! THANKS!!

GPPA Convention

The GPPA (Georgia Professional Photographers Association) held their annual convention last week in Jekyll Island, GA. Karen was asked to speak to their local association about her "Smart Marketing." She was sponsored by H&H Color Lab and Magnolia Frames.

Check out some of Karen's images in the H&H booth at the trade show. The four images were printed on metal. The left two images are by Lonnie Hoke of Lugoff, SC and the right two are Karen's.

Lonnie spoke on Monday morning about if he knew then what he knows now. During his seminar, Lonnie showed a list of names of photographers who have inspired him along the way and Karen was on it. What an honor!

Then Monday afternoon, after the trade show, it was Karen's turn! She shared all of IP's "Smart Marketing" and told the truth - "You can't complain about not being busy if you're not marketing yourself."

You know IP doesn't do anything average; Karen brought TONS of samples and frames, and everything IP offers - from framed portraits and metal prints to albums, purses, and dance studio products.

During a break, all the attendees had an opportunity to look through the products and samples and ask questions.

Karen always has great giveaways at her seminars. We keep a close relationship with all of our vendors and they're always so supportive of Karen sharing her expertise with others. Karen gave away samples of jewelry, metal prints, pearl canvas wraps, skinny minis (small business cards), and a huge discount on a new website. (Thank you so much to all our vendors!)

H&H always has the most cutting edge products. The metal prints have been a hit, but how cool is this display? This stand was made specifically to hold a combination of metal prints. Here are six 16"x16" metal prints with 4 holes hung together with chain. (Thanks to H&H to an awesome variety of samples!)

At the end of the seminar, Karen shared something dear to our hearts - Focused on a Cure. She told how it began and what it has become. She brought a few of the survivor metal prints with her and also showed a slideshow of the quotes from our survivors' stories. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. She sold some t-shirts and received a few donations to Focused on a Cure! It was awesome to see people to interested and supportive of our cause.

Needless to say, job well done, Karen!

We've gotten a lot of wonderful feedback since the seminar. Here's a few...

"The speakers were phenomenal, too. Lonnie Hoke and Karen Goforth both created a buzz yesterday. Karen went too far, though. She made folks CRY! (myself included.)" -Rachel (H&H blog)

"Hey. Hope your drive home went quick!! I'm still rolling on a high from yours and Lonnie's seminars! You guys rock! Thanks so much for coming down south to share your craft!!" -Tim & Michelle Brown

"I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed and was revived by your presentation on Jekyll. You had amazing images and so many great ideas that you shared with us. Now that I'm back from the conventions, I have much work to do on fine tuning my promotions. Thank you for your time and hospitality." -Angie Franklin

"The cancer survivor in me is in total AWE of your Focused on a Cure philanthropy. The 21 years of business part of me is in AWE of you paralleling me... surviving this crazy business too! The spiritual side of me is in AWE of your heart and love for our Lord. Well this list could go on and on... I just can't wait to talk to you again. You make me smile!" -Lori Grice

"I met Karen at the GPPA convention this past week! She was awesome and I did not get to catch her because she was swamped with people. Anyway, I live in a small town in south Georgia and I am really interested in doing something for charity! My mother in law had breast cancer and she is a survivor as well as my husband who had kidney cancer. My question is how do I go about getting something like that started? I loved the Piggin' Out for Pink idea and the slideshow made me cry. I loved the song! So, if you could help me with that I would appreciate it!" -Kellie Hardeman

Sounds like she did a great job! Maybe Focused on a Cure will inspire someone to spread awareness in their community!

Kansas City: Women's Forum

There were 27 women invited to visit H&H Color Lab in Kansas City for a women's photography forum. All were bright and talented with a lot to share. There were 5 speakers that were asked to share their specialties. Karen was chosen as one of those speakers.

This is Ginger - our customer service rep - who were refer to as our H&H angel! We love her!



This is one of the owners - Shirley Haub. Karen really respects Shirley and Wayne in the way that they run their business. They are both very attentive people and take time to listen to what their customers need. We feel like H&H is a great partner in making our quality products.



Karen presented an hour long program on Thursday morning about our special promotions and creative ideas.



Thursday afternoon, the ladies toured the Nelson Art Gallery in the Plaza.



The ladies separated into teams and were given words to interpret into an image around the grounds of the Nelson Art Gallery. Here's a few of the girls searching for the perfect angle.



This image symbolized rhythm.



And then they photographed an engagement session on location at the Nelson Art Gallery as well. Here are a couple of our favorites...

The Women's Forum was such a great experience. Karen brought home a lot of new ideas and new friendships with some very inspiring people.

Kansas City: Women's Forum

This is a crazy week for IP! Karen and Renda left for the beach Monday around noon. They had beach sessions Monday evening and tonight. After their beach session tonight, they'll head back to Kannapolis. Karen has to repack and fly out of Charlotte at 6am tomorrow morning to Kansas City. But it's worth the craziness because it was an honor to be invited!

H&H Color lab has been IP's color lab of choice for about 12 years now. The owners and employees of H&H are family at this point! Wayne and Shirley Haub, owners of H&H, had the brilliant idea of putting together a women's forum, where they invite about 25 successful female photographers to gather and brainstorm and learn together. If this isn't a great idea, then I don't know what is! They asked Karen to share tips on IP's special promotions and exclusive portrait sessions. The women will share their best images, their best "pratices," and their best ideas with one another.

Karen will be home Friday, full of ideas and inspiration. We'll have lots to share with you. Stay tuned!