UPCOMING EVENTS

BIG SKY IN FOCUS ANNUAL CONVENTION 2025

SAVE THE DATE!

Join us for our Annual Big Sky In Focus Convention April 3rd-5th in Missoula, Montana! We will be having speakers from Rocky Mountain School of Photography and Professional Photographers of America! We will also be hosting our Annual Awards Banquet for our Annual Print Competition which will be held virtually the week before convention. We hope you can join us!!

MPPA will host Members Only Mondays every third Monday of the month starting at noon. Each month will feature one of our members or a special guest speaker who will not only share a little about themselves, but will offer education, tips & tricks with time set aside for questions and answers at the end. Since Montana is vast, this is a great opportunity to get to know other MPPA members, have fun, and learn something from each other.

NOVEMBER MONTANA MONDAY

Join us Monday November 18th @ noon and meet David Hollenback!

He is a 5th generation Montanan born and raised in the mountains of western Montana. He graduated from Superior High School in 1980. His family owned and ran a motel in Superior and a ranch inTarkio. His wife, Shawnee and him raised 3 children that grew up mostly on the ranch with the exception of a couple of years that we ran the family motel and a short time in Aurora, CO, when he was stationed there for technical school after he joined the Montana Air National Guard. He spent 26 years in the air guard with deployments to Italy, South Korea, Iraq, and multiple places in the states.

He started having an interest in photography around 2008 because he was issued a digital camera for my place of work (the cell phone cameras were not good at that time). It was a point and shoot camera and it was good enough to start the addiction of photography. Around 2011, He purchased his first DSLR, it was a Canon T2i and it was a great camera to learn how to time your shots in rodeo because it wasn’t good for machine gunning the photos. He has slowly been able to upgrade his skills as well as his equipment throughout the years. He started taking photos in the shadows of other established rodeo photographers and was fortunate to be able to bend their ear whenever he had questions.He has been associated with various organizations as their photographer and is currently a carded member of the Northern Rodeo Association and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He has been a “hired gun” for different photography companies for the last 6 or 7 years. He does dabble a bit with portrait photography as well as Landscape photography, but hasn't tried to promote his work on those.

He retired from my day job in November of 2022 with 30 years in the telecommunication industry, but so far has not added much more to my photography schedule. He joined the MPPA in 2024 and hopes to continue being a member for years to come.

Thanks to Mark LaRowe for the image.

PAST EVENTS

AUGUST 19TH @ NOON

This month Tammy Gallant from Laurel will be sharing how to make passive income doing Stock Photography.

JULY 29TH @ NOON

This month we will Jumping into Print Competition! Join us as Kathy Wierda and Melissa Thompson, both Master Photographers, along with another guest judge that will be announced soon, judge and critique member images.

June 17TH @ NOON

CJ Moll talks all about Social Media Marketing.

Montana PPA Annual Print Competition 2024

APRIL 15TH@ NOON

"The Power of Competition"

Joni Dietz will be talking about the power that competition has on your photographic work and storytelling within a photograph. She will talk about competition within MPPA, PPA and ASP. If you are curious about entering competition, or have questions, this is the Montana Monday for you!

Joni has been the person behind the camera all of her life. She finally opened her professional studio in 2004 in Manhattan, Montana. She moved from the days of film to digital and has loved learning all the new things along the way. She earned her CPP in 2017 and earned her Masters in Photography in 2021. She started entering PPA competition in 2015 and has done it consistently ever since.

Her scope of work consists of mostly portraits for families and graduating seniors. She throws in the occasional sports team here and there, to keep things interesting, because she loves compositing.

When Joni isn’t working, she’s enjoying the Montana outdoors with her husband and sidekick, Gregg. They enjoy camping, boating, hiking (as far as their basset hound will go) and traveling as far as their budget will allow.

FEBRUARY 19TH @ NOON

Nonprofit Storytelling and Event Photography

During this talk, Schyler Allyn from Red Lodge, will speak on what it is like being a photographer for a nonprofit and trying to stay on top of each program within an organization to highlight their events and volunteers and either tell or show the story they are trying to convey. I’ll also touch on the other mediums I work in, which include races, concerts, and filming Montana musicians.

Schyler Allyn is originally from Alpine, Wyoming, a small town South of Jackson Hole. He found his passion in photography during his senior year photo class and never looked back.

He graduated from Northwest College with his AAS degree in photography and continued his photography journey to Washington state, eventually finding himself in Red Lodge, MT. Schyler has worked for the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation for close to six years, documenting their programs through video storytelling and photography, which includes an event center called the Roosevelt Center.

When he is not taking photos for the Foundation, you can find him on the race course photographing races and concerts and shooting live sessions for Big Sky Bonus Tracks, his latest venture with a group of great individuals, where they film musicians across Montana and Wyoming for free.

FUNDRAISER FOR SCOTT FAIRBANKS

Mark your caledars! We hope you can make it to help our friend Scott Fairbanks who owns Scott Photography in Great Falls out!!

JANUARY 15, 2024 @ noon

Come learn all about our upcoming Annual Big Sky In Focus Convention, Annual Print Competition and Membership.

Montana Monday December 18th @ noon

Leslie Bohle is a longtime MPPA Member and Past President. She lives in South Eastern Montana on a ranch with her husband and owns and operates 2 photography business, Bohle Images and her school portrait business Legacy Scholastic Imaging. She has been a photographer for 20 years and also a member of MPPA for nearly as long. She has achieved her Master of Photographer Degree, Master Craftsman and is also a Certified Professional Photographer.

Creating unique portraits is one way Leslie challenges herself to learn and grow. In this short presentation, Leslie will give you ideas on how to create your own unique images as well as ideas on how to challenge yourself inspire you to bring your vision to life.

Monday November 20th @ noon

Join us on Monday November 20th at noon for our Montana Monday and meet Mark LaRowe. He will be giving a presentation called “A Trip Around The Sun Through My Eyes”.

Mark moved to Montana in 2011 in order to pursue his passion for landscape photography and his love of the American West. Originally based in Bozeman, Mark began his journey as a full-time photographer in January of 2016, moved to Helena in 2017, and in June 2018 opened a studio and gallery which features his western landscapes and western lifestyle imagery.

Mark’s photographic interests are widely varied and include western lifestyle, rodeo, landscape, portrait and commercial assignment work. His photographic content and subject matter is intertwined with the four seasons and changes throughout the year.

Monday October 16th @ noon

We are so excited for this months' Members Only Monday!! This month we are featuring long time members Trevon Baker and Stephanie Stigman. We are excited to learn all about the new venture they have been up to this past year!

Trevon Baker has been a professional photographer for over 30 years. 30 years ago this month, he opened his first studio in the Flathead Valley. His business was built on portraiture of children, seniors, families, weddings, etc. Nowadays his specialty is architecture and real estate photography. He is a master craftsman photographer, drone pilot, USCG Captain and has been a member of MPPA for the last 20 years.

Stephanie Stigman has been a photographer for 20 plus years, having had a portrait business, in the states where she has lived; Minnesota, Kentucky and Montana. Currently, most of her photography focus is on pets, travel and sailing. Stephanie has been a member of MPPA since 2016.

Trevon and Stephanie met through MPPA. A friendship developed that eventually led them to where they are now, soulmates, partners and captain and first mate. Trevon has always wanted to combine his two passions; photography and sailing, and with Stephanie's partnership, the two are doing just that, with Sailography. Trevon and Stephanie will talk about what they are planning to do with Sailography, along with photographing sailing regattas and events, commercial boat photography, and their Caribbean adventures during the winter months, teaching sailing in the Virgin Islands.

Monday August 21st, 2023 @ noon-Meet Pamela Dunn-Parrish

Our first guest will be Pamela Dunn Parish in Missoula. She will be doing a talk from her new studio titled: Moving through, To go forward...

Monday September 18th @ noon- Meet CJ Moll

His Talk will be about:

How to capture better candid images.

What are they?. A philosophy behind creating images and some practical tips on how to create better candid photos.