Texas School 2010: Yee-Haw!
May/09/2010
What can I say about the Texas School that hasn’t already been said? With my teacher hat on, I’d say that you just can’t beat the students: they show up ready to learn, they challenge you, and I believe they go home better for the experience. With my management hat on, I’d say that when you have the right product at the right price at the right place and the right people working their hearts out . . . don’t be surprised when over 1,000 photographers show up, learn a lot, have a fabulous time! What’s more . . . they want to tell everyone about it . . . and even show you their pictures and home movies. And so I will show you what I saw at Texas School 2010 . . .
How great is it to be greeted by the head man himself! School Director Don Dixon seems to be everywhere at once . . . taking care of business, putting out fires, and saying “howdy” to everyone with the kind of smile that tells you that he and his small volunteer board have everything under control. Meet the Texas School Trustees By clicking here.
This year Texas School met at the fabulous Dallas Intercontinental Hotel, which had enough room to host the entire school. I arrived the day before classes started so that I could get together with my co-instructor Carol Andrews Jensen and make final plans for our first five-day class together. The class was billed as “Ann and Carol Mean Business!,” but before we set foot in the classroom, apparently our reputation had preceded us and we were told that the class had been lovingly nicked named “The Business Bitches,” and that no offense should be taken. None was, and we promised to do our best to live up to our advanced billing :-). However, as you can see below, we took a minute (after dinner in the Intercontinental’s nightclub), to meditate on our exalted new status and ask for strength to carry us through the week.
Early Sunday morning registration was in full form, and students were accommodated easily and efficiently by the well-oiled-machine that is Texas School.
During registration we met our wonderful wranglers, Tracy Seip, and Robert Suddarth. How lucky were were to have them! if you’ve never been to Texas School, the wranglers are the hardest-working folks there. They keep everything moving, pamper the instructors, make sure we have everything we need so that we only have to worry about teaching, and they do a great job of taking care of student needs and last-minute challenges.
As is always the case by the afternoon’s opening ceremonies, activity is running at a whirl-wind pace.
Imagine . . . 1,088 of us under one roof!
Here’s Carol on the front row, listening to Adobe Goddess Julieanne Kost’s wonderfully informative and entertaining presentation.
Carol started off our first day in class by bribing the class with goodies.
Here’s the whole gang getting set for our formal class portrait.
Meanwhile back in class . . . we were privileged to have Ron Nichols present a session on sales and workflow using ProSelect. I never mind turning my class over to someone who knows more about what I teach than I do!
When I needed some additional handouts, I stopped in at the Texas School nerve center — an amazing place that buzzes from morning till night. As usual, I got exactly what I needed, promptly and efficiently.
On the way back to class, I stopped in for a peek at Helen Yancy’s class. Helen was my Texas School roommate, and it was nice to see the progress that her students were making.
The Dallas Intercontinental Hotel was a great venue for the school; so many great settings!
Here’s Carol directing a classroom assignment aimed at getting everyone into the mode of marketing thinking.
The “Country Store” trade show was large and impressive. I was pleased to see PPA Director of Membership Christel Aprigliano on hand. Not only was she kept busy at the PPA booth, Christel even helped out as a model.
Here’s Bill Camacho, who was happy to pose in the midst of making a sale.
I grabbed this shot of Ron Nichols multitasking at his trade show booth. But really . . . I can’t say I approve of using a Wacom tablet as a dinner tray!
You never know what goes on after hours at the Texas School. In this case Helen’s and my room turned into a barbershop, where Quinn Hancock (master hair artist in addition to photographic artist) performed several makeovers. Here he is with Doug Box in the chair.
An amazing high point of this year’s Texas School was the “Great Texas Shootout,” which took place with all instructors and students photographing models and cool cars and motorcycles, etc. throughout the Addison area surrounding the hotel.
I was lucky to have a perfectly behaved, adorable 4-year-old as my model.
Eventually Friday came, and the concluding ceremonies were a real kick, as that’s when the always-hilarious Texas School video was revealed. The 2010 version did not disappoint. I grabbed this shot of Mitch Daniels, still on the job. Mitch, along with Billy Welliver, are the instructors for the Video Production class, which has to be the most fun class of all!
Speaking of video, I knew that still photos could never capture the excitement of the Texas School closing ceremonies when all the great door prizes were handed out. So I made some video clips with my Canon G11 and created my first iMovie. Obviously I have a lot to learn, but I thought you might enjoy seeing one student’s excitement when lightning struck twice. You can bet she’ll come back to Texas School next year: May 1-6, 2011!
How great is it to be greeted by the head man himself! School Director Don Dixon seems to be everywhere at once . . . taking care of business, putting out fires, and saying “howdy” to everyone with the kind of smile that tells you that he and his small volunteer board have everything under control. Meet the Texas School Trustees By clicking here.
This year Texas School met at the fabulous Dallas Intercontinental Hotel, which had enough room to host the entire school. I arrived the day before classes started so that I could get together with my co-instructor Carol Andrews Jensen and make final plans for our first five-day class together. The class was billed as “Ann and Carol Mean Business!,” but before we set foot in the classroom, apparently our reputation had preceded us and we were told that the class had been lovingly nicked named “The Business Bitches,” and that no offense should be taken. None was, and we promised to do our best to live up to our advanced billing :-). However, as you can see below, we took a minute (after dinner in the Intercontinental’s nightclub), to meditate on our exalted new status and ask for strength to carry us through the week.
Early Sunday morning registration was in full form, and students were accommodated easily and efficiently by the well-oiled-machine that is Texas School.
During registration we met our wonderful wranglers, Tracy Seip, and Robert Suddarth. How lucky were were to have them! if you’ve never been to Texas School, the wranglers are the hardest-working folks there. They keep everything moving, pamper the instructors, make sure we have everything we need so that we only have to worry about teaching, and they do a great job of taking care of student needs and last-minute challenges.
As is always the case by the afternoon’s opening ceremonies, activity is running at a whirl-wind pace.
Imagine . . . 1,088 of us under one roof!
Here’s Carol on the front row, listening to Adobe Goddess Julieanne Kost’s wonderfully informative and entertaining presentation.
Carol started off our first day in class by bribing the class with goodies.
Here’s the whole gang getting set for our formal class portrait.
Meanwhile back in class . . . we were privileged to have Ron Nichols present a session on sales and workflow using ProSelect. I never mind turning my class over to someone who knows more about what I teach than I do!
When I needed some additional handouts, I stopped in at the Texas School nerve center — an amazing place that buzzes from morning till night. As usual, I got exactly what I needed, promptly and efficiently.
On the way back to class, I stopped in for a peek at Helen Yancy’s class. Helen was my Texas School roommate, and it was nice to see the progress that her students were making.
The Dallas Intercontinental Hotel was a great venue for the school; so many great settings!
Here’s Carol directing a classroom assignment aimed at getting everyone into the mode of marketing thinking.
The “Country Store” trade show was large and impressive. I was pleased to see PPA Director of Membership Christel Aprigliano on hand. Not only was she kept busy at the PPA booth, Christel even helped out as a model.
Here’s Bill Camacho, who was happy to pose in the midst of making a sale.
I grabbed this shot of Ron Nichols multitasking at his trade show booth. But really . . . I can’t say I approve of using a Wacom tablet as a dinner tray!
You never know what goes on after hours at the Texas School. In this case Helen’s and my room turned into a barbershop, where Quinn Hancock (master hair artist in addition to photographic artist) performed several makeovers. Here he is with Doug Box in the chair.
An amazing high point of this year’s Texas School was the “Great Texas Shootout,” which took place with all instructors and students photographing models and cool cars and motorcycles, etc. throughout the Addison area surrounding the hotel.
I was lucky to have a perfectly behaved, adorable 4-year-old as my model.
Eventually Friday came, and the concluding ceremonies were a real kick, as that’s when the always-hilarious Texas School video was revealed. The 2010 version did not disappoint. I grabbed this shot of Mitch Daniels, still on the job. Mitch, along with Billy Welliver, are the instructors for the Video Production class, which has to be the most fun class of all!
Speaking of video, I knew that still photos could never capture the excitement of the Texas School closing ceremonies when all the great door prizes were handed out. So I made some video clips with my Canon G11 and created my first iMovie. Obviously I have a lot to learn, but I thought you might enjoy seeing one student’s excitement when lightning struck twice. You can bet she’ll come back to Texas School next year: May 1-6, 2011!