Education
APPI offers many opportunities for education at its Fall Convention as well as the Mid America Regional Conference in the Spring. In addition many more exist, and after all, knowledge is power.
Mentoring
The mentor program was devised to give photographers a day of individual help. A pool of APPI members who are Master Photographers usually offer a day of their time to a member who has won a "mentor scholarship." At convention, tickets are sold for the Mentor program. There will be several winners drawn at the banquet, with the first name picked getting first choice of available mentors, second picked gets second choice, etc.
While the whole thing is pretty loose and particular arrangements are made between master and student, generally the student goes to master's studio. He follows the master around watching what he/she does and how he/she does it. Some masters have a teaching agenda, some treat it as a job shadowing. There is usually time for one-on-one discussions. Ideally, it is done with customers coming in.
Schools
As a sponsor of the Illinois Workshops, APPI is proud to provide the link to the site here. Illinois Workshops
The Mid-America Institute of Professional Photography (MAIPP) is an affiliated school of the Professional Photographers of America. Established in 1980, MAIPP has a proven record of dedication to the highest quality education at very resonable rates. Visit www.maipp.com to find out more.
Treehaven is sponsored by Wisconsin Professional Photographers.
For continuing education, PPA has a system of affilated schools. Visit their website to see the full list. www.ppa.com
In State Regional Affiliates
Additional Opportunities come along via our friends from the Professional Photographers Association of Northern Illinois (Northern) and The Southern Illinois Art League (Southern).
Northern meets once a month on second Wednesday, except December.
Contact Joseph Weber, 847-670-9834 or info@ppani.org or visit their site www.ppani.org
Southern meets twice a year on the third Monday in February and September.
Contact Kurt Wade, 217-525-2722 or wade@photographer.net
Reciprocal State conventions
The APPI has a reciprocal agreement with the states surrounding Illinois. Look here to find the websites of states whose conventions you can attend for the same fees as their members.
Certification
Certification is the only credential aimed squarely at your clients... but you have to help aim it!
Certification is available through the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). Go to certifiedphotographer.com for more information.
If you are getting ready to take the certification test, be sure to contact PPA at 800-786-6277 well before the test date so that a test can be sent.
For more information on Certification, contact
Illinois - PPA Certification Coordinator
John Metcalfe CPP, M.Photog Cr.
5ive6ixty Photographic
560 E. Broadway
Alton, IL 62002
618-462-6431
Scholarships
Each year at our fall convention, APPI Raffles off a number of financial scholarships to PPA-approved photography schools in an attempt to aid in educating our members
APPI Scholarships:
Jeanne Lindquist Memorial Scholarship:
Jeanne was the first female president of the APPI, and left her mark on our organization and industry. A life member and National Award winner, Jeanne left much of her studio to the APPI. The auction of equipment was used to fund her memorial scholarship. The winner of this scholarship may use the $500 toward any PPA approved school attended in the next year.
APPI Fall Scholarship:
Each Fall Convention, APPI funds two scholarships (up to $500 ) at a PPA approved School. These scholarships must be used before the next convention or they expire.
Additional Donated Scholarships
Illinois Workshops donates these scholarships to the APPI and they are raffled off at the awards banquet. This year IW has provided a number of scholarships to be used towards tuition at this summer's set of classes.
Each year vendors, private donors and PPA schools generously donate additional scholarships to our members. Many of these are vendor specific passes to unique educational opportunities or partial scholarships to PPA affiliated schools.
You can see that we'll be raffling off many scholarships at this years banquet, so be sure to buy lots of tickets, if you're not an APPI member, Join Us
| 
