Associate Fellow

The WPPA convention is over now, WHEW! So much information and knowledge flying around. It almost gives you a headache!

It was a great 3 1/2 days in Madison. We heard lots of new insights and learned new techniques. We were even inspired to offer our wedding services again just because of the inspiration we received from Stewart and Susan Powers of Gainsville Florida.

At the awards gala Sunday night, I received the award of Associate Fellow of Photography from the WPPA. That's me below, second from the right in the back row. The other people in the picture are some of the top photographers in the state and in the country.
The Associate Fellow and the Fellow awards are given to persons that have served the association as a board member and or as a teacher.

A Couple of Good Months

Wow, time flies when you're having fun!
It's been way too long since my last entry. But I have an excuse: I've been busy with planning for this next year and getting ready for the "Competition Season!"

The first part of every year, we sequester ourselves to plan our promotions and products for the nest 12 months. It's a time of brain-storming and working out the details for what we want to do for our clients. It's time consuming but very rewarding.

The first part of the year is also a time for Wisconsin photographers, who are members of the Wisconsin Professional Photographers Assoc. to begin the process of selecting and then refining their best images for entry in the annual print award judging. This process usually begins on a more local level with judgings at regional associations. We are members of the Indianhead Professional Photographers Assoc. that has members from across the northern half of the state. At the January meeting of the IPPA my print "Heaven and Hell" won the highest honor of the day, of which I'm kind of proud. It was taken in Arizona as the full moon hung over the Grand Canyon and a forest fire blazed in the distance. We were at the right place at the right time and prepared.

The Following month my print "The Landmark" came very close (two points) to having a similar honor. The "Landmark" is actually a view of the Milwaukee art museum from the Lake Michigan side of the building. It was designed to look like a sailing ship. It is without a doubt one of the most remarkable buildings in the U.S., maybe the world.

So these are a couple of my entries for the WPPA convention that opens at the end of this week. Wish me luck!

Then, last but not least, we received word that I have been re-certified by the professional photography standards committee. That means that I can list the initials CPP after my name. CPP stands for Certified Professional Photographer and it also means that my daily work as a professional is above average and that I can be trusted to perform a job for which I'm hired at or above the industry standard. Less than 3% of all professional photographers are Certified and less than 50 photographers in Wisconsin are certified, so I am honored to be among them.

Happy New Year!

It's New Years Day so the obvious thing to do is to wish everyone the best for 2009. I sincerely hope that we all have a great year that is full of accomplishment and satisfaction.

This is going to be a "day off" for me so I started it with a viewing of Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture." If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's all of about 30 minutes in length but it is packed with good life advice. We received it from my brother-in-law for Christmas. He told us it wasn't veiled advice so I choose to believe him. Today was the second time that I watched it. I'll watch it again. I think that it is that valuable (especially for high school students, however, I'm a bit past that point in my life).

Aim high!

Missing my Dad

It's been a while since I last added an entry to my blog and a lot has happened since that time. It was a busy time for us in the studio but most importantly, on December 6, we lost my dad, Raymond Ziesemer. Mom and Dad moved up to Merrill a little over four years ago and they were very happy living here. They moved up from Milwaukee where they lived since they were married 63 years ago. Dad was 87 at the time of his death.

Ray was one of the good guys. As a father to three sons and a daughter, he always put the family first and he was always home. He was not one to "go out" at night. He stayed home and helped with the family. He was a good example of fatherhood. And, he loved my Mom.

He had a tradition, which goes back as far as I can remember, of stepping out a heart in the fresh snow and adding "I Love You," in the center of it, for my mother. Well that's exactly what he did on his last day, just before he died. It was his farewell to his wife of more than half of a century.

He had a good life. He was, for an 87 year old, in pretty good health. He could do almost anything that he wanted to do. He survived WWII. He beat cancer. He died in the arms of the woman he loved. It doesn't get much better than that.

We'll miss you , Dad. But we'll see you later.

Merry Christmas!

The grandkids are here today for their annual Christmas card portraits. Right after Halloween, even before I start thinking about Christmas photographs, we start to get calls for family portraits and children's portraits and most of the callers ask, "Can we have them before Christmas?" The answer, of course is, "Yes!"

Digital imaging has complicated the lives of many of my fellow photographers and I have to say, that it was an interesting transition for me, but I'd never go back to film. Digital is much easier on the environment, and at this point in time, I can honestly say that the images are superior to the images we made on film. Plus, the turn around time in our lab is shorter. During some times of the year, though, it is difficult to get the orders to the lab on time because of the amount of camera room time that I have scheduled. (Not a bad thing, really)

So the kids are here today, and we'll have some fun with them in the camera room and then "the mommy," our daughter, can select her favorite images for Christmas.

It's a good life!

And the Winner is...?

Left, you see a photograph of a hair stylist from Rhinelander (WI) who was selected as the national winner in the glamour category of the Fantastic Sams National Artistic Styling Awards that was recently held in New Orleans. We did the photography for the contest entry, which was subsequently chosen as a national finalist that then became the national winner. Her entry was one of over 750 at the convention.

We feel very honored that the Rhinelander Fantastic Sams would trust us with the photography of their entrants and we are pleased that the entry was so successful. Congratulations!

I get a good feeling when I find out that that the talents that I've been given and acquired help someone else.

Speaking of helping someone else... we are now in the middle of our annual Turkey Daze portrait promotion. For the price of a frozen turkey, we'll photograph our client and then donate the bird to the local food pantry in the client's name. The food pantry can then help people in the community, that are having a tough time, have a happy Thanksgiving.

A Saturday Night Out

This is my first posting on the newly created blog site for Phil Ziesemer Photography, Ltd. I thought that I'd write about my night out at the play with my wife, Mary.

"Get Smart" was the fall play for Merrill High School this year. It was an adaptation of the 70's TV show by the same name that featured actor Don Adams as "86," Maxwell Smart and Barbara Feldon as "99." It was hilarious and I find myself still saying quips from that show today, the most famous being, "Would you believe...?" We went to the show for a few reasons, like "hey, in a small town, this is about as much culture as you're going to find," and "hey, this is fun and retro!" and Let's look at the posters that we created for the kids." The last being the very last because we'd already seen the posters since we made them! It's some of the most fun that I have as a photographer. It's always a pleasure to work with fellow artists. The arts must continue to be offered in our schools! (OK, that's as political as I'm going to get)


The play was great fun and the actors and actresses did a fine job. It was the last night of the play's run so they were all on top of their parts as was the crew. It seemed as though the play went off without a missed line or cue. Great Job Guys! Nancy Arndorfer and Anne Caylor directed the show and they have a great way with the kids.

So, that's it. My first blog post. Talk to ya later!