This month I entered a variation on my photograph The Sound Guy in the local Austin PPA print competition and it won first place. How exciting. I’m printing all my own prints now, and backing each as well for competition. I am very pleased with the results and certainly with the ribbon. It is certainly gratifying to be recognized as an award winning portrait photographer in the greater Austin area.

The Austin PPA is a group of local photographers who get together each month to inspire each other and grow in the art and craft of photography as a profession. Each month we study business, art, photography and each other’s work. This month we heard an excellent talk from renowned artist Edward Povey.

Stephanie Sharif came in second place; and tied for third place were Marta Gulbe and Jenny Rhea Eisenhauer. Congratulations to all the winners.

Award winning portrait photographer Bill Ledbetter, Jr. wins first place at the Austin PPA February Print Competition

The print “Eli and Isaac, Ready For a Bath” won second place last night at the local Austin PPA meeting! Congratulations to the boys for being so cute! Here I am posing with the first place APPA winner John R. Rogers and third-place APPA winner Brandi Nellis. It’s good to be listed among such talented photographers in the Austin area.

Bill ledbetter, Jr., showing his winning portrait of Eli and Isaac in their yard.

Last night was the Austin Professional Photographer’s Association (APPA) monthly meeting, where, among other things, members compete with their images for prestige, honor and glory. In years past I have been reticent to enter much; an entry is a 16×20 photograph mounted to a backing so it can cost a little. Plus, you are open to fail with your peers mocking you for the rest of your life. Or something like that… Anyway, last night I entered an image created at Villa Antonia and won First Place! That’s the first time I’ve actually made it to first, and only my second win (the first was last August with my downtown Austin panorama.) I was kinda surprised actually; this particular piece is one of my favorites, but lots of these APPA members are really very, very good. Yet, this image won. Wow, what an honor. Here is the image:

Halei waiting for her wedding day.

Well, I really enjoy photographing things of and about Texas, as it turns out. Earlier this year I was driving around downtown Austin and came across a wonderful spot to capture the whole Austin skyline at dusk with a beautiful sunset and so I took the opportunity to photograph there for a while. I love the photograph! I actually have a larger version of this photograph hanging on display at the Lakeline Barnes & Noble (which is a wonderful place with beautiful art hanging in the coffee shop.)

But, the story gets interesting here; at least for me… I am a member of the Professional Photographer’s Association of America (PPA) and the local Austin Professional Photographers Association (APPA) as well and at the monthly APPA meetings we have photographic print contests. For the month of August we were allowed to enter a panoramic photograph that could be a maximum of 24″ wide (which is kinda small for a really wide panorama like this particular photograph) and I wanted to do some things a little differently from the original, large print. I ended up creating the following smaller print, squaring it up with a more traditional size (24×12) and creating an arching sky overhead heading out to space. The group of photographers voted and judged this print to be 2nd, so I was very pleased! The 1st place winner was of course a stunning photograph as well; you should be able to see that on the APPA website sometime in the next few days. All in all, I was gratified to be able to produce the kind of work that is recognized by my peers as having the qualities needed to be a “winner”!

The Space Above Austin

The fine folks over at WeddingWire have recognized imageclectic photography with a cool award – this is what they say about it:

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent interviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

I must say I am certainly pleased and blessed to be in an industry where I can make a difference for people and enjoy every minute of it. Thanks to all our newlyweds and friends who helped make this possible, and to WeddingWire for being such a great resource!