Texas Professional Photographers Association, Inc

Don't miss Carmen Davaulus' gallery of outstanding images in the current Featured Photographer section of the TPPA website. You can view it here: https://tppa.org/photo-albums/tppa-featured-photographer-carmen-davailus

TPPA would like to showcase your work on the TPPA Website and social media outlets. To have your work considered for our Featured Photographer series, please complete this application in the comments.

Thirty-two years behind the camera... It wasn’t Mark Sykes’ idea and he didn’t start photography with a master plan. In 1994, he was a student at Texas A&M University, taking pictures for the enjoyment of it. That hobby turned into photographing engagements, which turned into bridals, then into weddings. Before he knew it, he was averaging more than 40 weddings a year. Photography didn’t gently tap him on the shoulder. It grabbed him by the collar and said, “You’re doing this!”

Read Mark’s story in the March/April 2026 Issue of The Photographer Magazine: https://tppa.org/magazine.

Join TPPA and PPA Master Photographer, Roy Nierdieck, for an unforgettable bird photography workshop at the stunning Smith Oaks Rookery on High Island, Texas.

This hands-on workshop offers numerous photo opportunities at various prime locations around the rookery, where you'll capture stunning images of diverse bird species in their natural habitat. A special presentation will cover essential tips on both shooting techniques and post-processing, followed by personalized photo critiques to help you refine your skills. Whether you're a beginner or experienced photographer, this workshop will enhance your ability to capture breathtaking bird photography.

About the location: High Island and Houston Audubon’s Smith Oaks Rookery is a popular destination this time of year for bird enthusiasts from all over the world. Great white egrets, roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets and other waterfowl will be nesting with eggs hatched and starting to hatch.

Tri-color herons, white ibis, cormorants and anhingas also frequent the area. The area boasts many other facilities maintained by the Houston Audubon Society as well as the Anahuac Wildlife Refuge that will provide many opportunities to photograph birds and wildlife.

The Rookery is a first-class facility with well-maintained elevated walkways and viewing platforms. It also features several sites with water drips to possibly capture migrating perching and songbirds.

Learn more and register at: https://tppa.org/events/it-s-for-the-birds

Are you standing on the edge of a decision about Texas School, weighing the cost against the benefits? Investing in yourself, your craft, your business, your future can feel daunting. It is easier to stay where you are, to keep doing what you’ve always done. But growth rarely happens in comfort.

Kory Bumgardner shares her story in the hope that it helps you write your own.

https://texasschool.org/blog/the-texas-school-effect/

Join me tonight and my special guest, Gary Meek, for What Art the Judges Looking For? Gary Meek is from Arkansas and has been a dear friend to TPPA, along with his wife, Kathy Meek. Both are outstanding judges.

Gary is both sensitive and hilarious, so we should all learn a lot about image competition and have a lot of laughs doing it.

Register at https://form.jotform.com/250614153820953

We start tonight at 7PM Central on Zoom. https://tppa.org/live .

It is free for TPPA Members.

TPPA Member, Roy Nierdieck, is the TPPA Featured Photographer for February.

Roy has served on the TPPA Board of Directors and has this to say about TPPA: "I believe that if you are serious about your craft and want to be considered a professional, then you need to be associated with the organizations that represent that profession at local, state and national levels. TPPA has provided an avenue to improve my skills through Texas School, IHeart, print competition, workshops and online videos. By giving me the opportunity to interact with my peers on more than a local level, I have been inspired and committed to working harder to attain and maintain a presence worthy of my fellow photographers and associates."

Check out his gallery at https://tppa.org/photo-albums/tppa-featured-photographer-roy-nierdieck

Bird Photography Excursion with Roy Nierdieck
Saturday, April 11
9AM
High Island, Texas

Join TPPA and PPA Master Photographer, Roy Nierdieck, for an unforgettable bird photography workshop at the stunning Smith Oaks Rookery on High Island, Texas.

This hands-on workshop offers numerous photo opportunities at various prime locations around the rookery, where you'll capture stunning images of diverse bird species in their natural habitat. A special presentation will cover essential tips on both shooting techniques and post-processing, followed by personalized photo critiques to help you refine your skills. Whether you're a beginner or experienced photographer, this workshop will enhance your ability to capture breathtaking bird photography.

REGISTER NOW at https://tppa.org/events

Registration is now open for the TPPA Annual Image Competition. The purpose of the competition is to allow the entrant to measure their skills against a standard of excellence. TPPA judges use 4 elements– Impact, Technical Excellence, Composition and Creativity to determine whether an image meets the level of a High-Quality Professional Image. The TPPA Competition has four divisions: Photographic Open, Artist, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Wedding.

TPPA is proud to announce our new TPPA Visual Artisan Degree!

The new TPPA Visual Artisan Degree recognizes image makers from multiple disciplines for their consistent creation of outstanding visual imaging. This degree celebrates TPPA Member photographers, digital artists, and AI visual creators whose work is consistently recognized by the jurors in the TPPA Annual Image Competition.

Learn more at https://TPPA,org/events

Join photographer and Trailblazer Megan Heinen for a creative journey into the expressive world of Lensbaby lenses. In this inspiring presentation, Megan will share her own artistic journey with Lensbaby and how these unique tools can transform the way you see and capture the world.

Discover the distinctive personalities of each lens, from the dreamlike glow of the Velvet series to the cinematic drama of the Edge optics and the playful versatility of the Sol 45. Megan will demonstrate how each Lensbaby creates mood, emotion, depth, and story, offering photographers a fresh way to interpret light and focus.

You'll also learn how Lensbaby lenses work across different camera systems, including DSLRs, mirrorless, and micro four-thirds. Whatever subjects you love to capture and camera you have in your hands to do so, you'll gain the knowledge to choose the right Lensbaby for your creative vision.

Come ready to be inspired, the see beyond perfection, and to rediscover the joy of experimentation. This presentation will leave you with new ideas, practical insights, and a renewed excitement for creatively capturing the world through your own unique lens.

Register at https://TPPA.org