As a professional photographer I'm always looking ways to keep my mind actively engaged and excited to hone my creative process. When I joined the Professional Photographers of America, PPA one of the biggest areas of interesting from people in the community was the photography competitions. At first I did not quite understand what all hubbub and excitement was about. It's quite a process with a global reach. 

To sum things up simply, each year the competitions start out with the regional affiliate PPA's then it continues onto regional areas of the United States then the Nationals and International competitions. At each stage the images get judged buy trained judges on the quality of the images. The entries that receive a merit go on to the next competitions. 

Thousands of creative photographers participate in the competitions annually. Through the excitement and the process of the competitions you learn and grow professionally as an artist and creative professional. It takes effort but it truly is a win, win situation. 

Last year I photograph some large water splashes at Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park where the waves crashed on the rocks and it was amazing. I thought it could be a fabulous backdrop for mermaid. A couple weeks ago when this lovely woman reached out to me and she wanted to create a themed photo session, I jumped at the suggestions of a mermaid photo shoot. Below are some images from that session. It's always nice to be able to collaborate with like-minded creative people to develop artwork. 

Now I have to figure out how to merge Schoodic Point water splash images with the mermaid image. The next competition is not until next winter so I have a little bit of time to figure this one out. Stay tuned I'll keep you posted on how the process goes. 

If you can think of a themed photo session that you are interested in creating by all means let me know what you are thinking.