NYIP Student Success

Many NYIP members have won prestigious awards in contests and photo fairs or have had their work exhibited in galleries. Other NYIP members are building careers shooting weddings, press events, corporate and commercial assignments, or have received professional recognition and publication of their photos. Here are some recent NYIP success stories:

Bettie Coetzee, Johannesburg, South Africa
Bettie Coetzee recently used her NYIP Photography Card to gain permission to photograph world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming while she was conducting a Masterclass to South African students at the University of Johannesburg. All cameras were forbidden, including other press photographers, allowing Bettie to get the exclusive shoot, which was later featured in the local newspaper.

Stacey Paris, Bearden, AR
Stacey Paris will be spending her summer taking photos of the 15 teams who participate in her town's summer baseball program. She got the job after submitting a bid to the community and she says that "Thanks to NYIP, I feel confident I will do a great job." With over 200 children involved, Stacey's going to be very busy!

Angie Knost, St. Louis, MO
Angie's opened her own business, specializing in publicity photos, portraits, and commercial and stock photography. She's also been quite successful as a pet photographer, having had photos published in Cat Fancy magazine, I Love Cats magazine, and Kittens USA. Her beauty photos have also been published in the 101 Hairstyles and Short Cuts publications.

Abdul Rahim Al-Maimani, Oman
Abdul shoots advertising photos and recently completed a project for a mobile operator. His nature photos have been published in a Swedish magazine. You can see some of Abdul's images on his Web site at www.pbase.com/amaimani.

Jack Lane, Levittown, NY
Jack recently won an NYIP Award of Merit for a picture he handed in for one of his NYIP photo projects. He was pleased to report that the photo is one of the best sellers at the Bucks County, PA gallery where he is exhibiting. Congratulations!

Raymond Earley, Seymour, CT
Raymond finished his NYIP Course about a year ago and says that "before I took the Course I knew little about the art of photography. I have taken a few workshops before and it did not compare to your Course. Since I finished it, I have won several contests and made a few thousand dollars!" Raymond has also had an exhibit at his community's Town Hall and also created a photo Web site which you can see at www.earleyimages.com.

Cat Morris, Long Beach, CA
Wow, has Cat Morris been busy. She's had over 133 photo sessions in the last 18 months, taking pictures of families, babies and children. Sales from the photo shoots have been good too! Cat reports over 800 orders. When not photographing portraits, Cat has taken images for a medical catalog and pictures for marketing materials. Business at her studio has been so heavy that she says she can't keep up with the work load!

Daniel Warschun, Aubrey, TX
Congratulations to Daniel Warschun who had a photograph published in the September 2005 issue of Texas Co-op Power magazine.

Bill Vauthrin, Calgary, Canada
Bill Vauthrin has been hard at working building up his portfolio by taking pro sports photos of Calgary teams. He has two weddings booked for the summer and is working with a best selling author taking pictures for the writer's book on Canadian collectibles due out this fall. How's Bill's photography career going? He's quite clear on the point — "I'm having way too much fun for doing this!"

Bryan Hornsby, Casatt, SC
South Carolina Wildlife Magazine awarded Bryan Hornbsy two Honorable Mentions for photos he entered into one of their contests. Congratulations!

Charles J. Smick, Paducah, KY
Chuck Smick writes and photographs for Mid West Outdoors Magazine. They routinely publish his photographs and articles on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. He has photographs on exhibit at a gallery and has also started his own company, Smick's Custom Photography which specializes in outdoor, wildlife and pet photography. Chuck is soon to be a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association too!

Mark L. Andrews, Ft. Bragg, CA
Mark was personally invited to showcase 150 of his photographs on his local public TV station. MCCET TV used his photographs during a three month period on the station and Mark was thrilled to report that it resulted in requests for prints of his work. Mark also sells greeting cards of his photos through local stores.

Albert Joseph, St. Lucia
Two of Albert Joseph's photos were winners in the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank's photo contest. His award-winning photos were exhibited in a local exhibition and was featured on the Bank's Web site. Furthermore, the Weekend Voice, a local newspaper did a profile of Albert, publishing several of his pictures.

Chris Bradley, Hasleth, MI
Chris has opened MI Paw Prints, a photography studio which does action/outdoor pet photography. He recently finished three photo sessions (for dogs, of course) and is about to photograph a "dog wedding" for a charity event. Chris says "I thoroughly enjoy your Course and feel like a kid at Christmas when my next NYIP unit comes. I have received countless comments on how much people enjoy my pictures. Thank you, NYIP."

Stephen Galea, Iklin, Malta
Stephen has taken part in several international and local photo competitions and has had quite a number of winning photos, including a Gold Medal in the International PSA (Photographic Society of America) annual competition. He's been doing photo sessions too, photographing models for their portfolios and working hard to build up his portfolio of commercial photographs.

Richard Thomson, Bend, OR
Congratulations to Richard Thomson, whose first photograph was published in Salem's Capital Press newspaper!

Alex Braverman, Ft. Worth, TX
Alex is a dance photographer, specializing in ballet photography. He's currently working on a book about the Bruce Wood Dance Company. He's had four photos published in a magazine. Over thirty of his pictures were on exhibit in a Ft. Worth gallery. Alex has also had success with photo contests, winning Best of Show four times at a local competition.

Eric Campbell, Mt. Enterprise, TX
Congratulations to Eric Campbell, whose photo of a Monarch butterfly was featured on the Weather Channel as the Picture of the Week.

Candy Cardiff, Nanaimo, Canada
Great news from Candy Cardiff who announced that she's a stringer for the Oceanside Star newspaper. "I applied right after reading the NYIP Photojournalism lessons, sent in some photos and stories to go with them, got an interview and was hired that day. I've been getting 5-20 photos published each week and I love it!"

Leslie A. Wolber, Suffolk, VA
Leslie Wolber has been very busy. She's started collaborating with another photographic artist, Brenda Wright and they hope to have an exhibit soon. Leslie recently finished an assignment photographing the Richmond Men's Chorus for their latest record album, and a job taking portraits for a Coldwell Banker real estate office for use on employee business cards. A photograph of Leslie's pet Golden Retriever is featured in one of the 2006 United Way calendars. Leslie operates her business out of a mobile photo unit which allows her to take on-location portraits of people and pets.

Michael Kral, Raleigh, NC
Michael Kral opened his own business, Double Image Photography, along with a friend. Recent assignments include work for the Carolina Ballet, the Raleigh Rebels and a local spa. Michael's images were recently used in a hockey calendar too. Keep up the good work!

Stephen R. Pellerine, Sendai City, Japan
Congratulations to Stephen who recently went to Mongolia to photograph various artists including ballet dancers, musicians and contortionists. The images he took were exhibited in Mongolia and were published on postcards to help promote the Mongolian artists. Stephen also photographed the Russian Ballet when they came to Japan.

Clyde Sawyer, Jonesboro, GA
Congratuations to Clyde who used his NYIP Press Card (which students receive in their second unit) to get a press pass for NASCAR races in Atlanta, as well as the Atlanta Boat Show, a media trade show and the Honda Battle of the Bands. Clyde has also been photographing models including one of the Atlanta Falcon cheerleaders.

Faith Morvant, Winnie, TX
Even though it was the first photo contest Faith had ever entered, she won an Honorable Mention for her picture of the Stowell Rice Dryers at the Texas Rice Festival's photo contest.

Joy Wallen, Valley Cottage, NY
Joy Wallen says that she "enjoys street photography as it allows me to view people in their natural habitat, engaging in their everyday lives, creating life." Joy has been taking pictures for more than 30 years and recently participated in a group exhibit at the Garnerville Gallery.

Dana C. Voss, Bloomington, IN
Congratulations to Dana who had her first personal exhibition recently. Three of her photos sold!.

Eric B. Green, Norfolk, VA
When Eric Green said "a lot has been happening photographically speaking lately", he wasn't kidding! The initial reaction to his brand-new Web site, www.ericgreenphotography.com, was overwhelming and as a result Eric says he's going to have a very busy season photographing weddings. He also won Second Place in the Astro-Photography contest sponsored by the Lodestar Observatory in New Mexico and First Place in the Virginia Zoo's annual photo contest.

Mary Voight, Spiritwood, ND
Mary has opened Mary Voight Photography and has been busy taking senior, wedding and children's photos. North Dakota Outdoor Magazine recently published Mary's prize-winning photo of a Tiger Lily. Congratulations!

Kimberly Hanson, Lincoln City, OR
Kimberly Hanson is not only taking the NYIP Course, but also an online class taught by an NYIP graduate, Beverly Schulz. Kimberly took several photos ofa local kite festival and submitted them to her local newspaper, the Newsguard. They were so impressed with her images that they offered her a job as a freelance photographer. Within two weeks, the newspaper had already published seven of Kimberly's photos!.

Melanie Clare, Kingsville, Canada
In spite of the fact that Melanie Clare isn't yet working full time in photography — she's hoping to get more into wedding and nature/landscape soon — she's photographed over ten weddings in the last two years and has three more scheduled already!

Dennis R. Gay, Redmond, WA
In addition to running his own photography business, Cherry Capitol Photography, Dennis recently took on an internship with a local professional photographer. You can see some of Dennis' work on his Web site www.cherrycapitolphotography.com.

Valentin Enriquez, Manchester, NH
Congratulations to Valentin whose photo "Balloon Glow" was chosen as the Photo of the Day on Kodak.com.

Terri Brentrau, Key West, FL
A photograph Terri took of the Jacksonville, Florida skyline was published on the cover of the Civic Round Table Directory.

David Puffer, Bountiful, UT
David Puffer won Fourth Place at the Utah State Fair in the Child Photography division. Several of his photographs of cars were published in a brochure for a local body shop.

Roy Breslawski, Sandy, UT
Another Utah resident and NYIP student, Roy Brewslawski, won two Third Place awards at the Utah State Fair in the professional division. In addition, the Salt Lake City Tracey Aviary gift shop is selling prints Roy took of the Aviary's trained raptors and tropical birds.

Clifford Jones, Camden, NJ
Clifford Jones has opened a entertainment photography business, taking portfolio and comp card photos of singers, dancers, models and actors. Clifford recently photographed a Miss Latina New Jersey pagent too!

Dawn R. Smith, Louisville KY
Dawn Smith recently completed an photo assignment for her church newspaper which is distributed to 50,000 homes in Louisville.