After much brainstorming and discussion with our board, other affiliates, and PPA, I am delighted to announce that we have decided to live stream our TNPPA Spring Workshop! We will be using the same Zoom platform that enables our monthly webinars. Our wonderful and amazing speakers have agreed to present their programs online in real-time. You will be able to interact and ask questions all from the comfort of your home. All speakers plan to appear except Dr. Jose Quintanilla whose hands-on program has been rescheduled to our Fall Convention in October. 

While this venue may not be quite as lively as our in-person events, we feel it is a great alternative for our members to keep the Spring Workshop alive, highlighting our commitment to continuing education and photographic excellence.

Keep an eye on your email for an updated schedule arriving soon!

I am also thrilled to announce that in addition to our live stream, we will also present our Annual Image Competition on April 3, 2020.  Due to the evolving situation with COVID-19, we have extended the early rate through March 28, 2020 and registration deadline is extended to March 30th.  Our competition will be converted to an online judging platform. While we understand we cannot control all variables in an online platform, we feel that the Image Salon is an integral part of our workshop and should continue using the tools we have available. We encourage you to enter today! Please see the TNPPA website for official competition rules.

We plan to hold our Auction on Friday, after the competition has been judged.

Looking forward to seeing everyone online soon!

We take great pride in providing our members with quality educational content and resources, but it is the people who are the best part of TNPPA. The well-being of our entire TNPPA family is always at the forefront of our concern. As anyone who has attended in the past is aware, the highlight of membership each year is the Spring Workshop and Fall Convention. It is a wonderful time to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones; to share our successes, our trials and our expertise with those who are just getting started and those who’ve been in the trenches for decades.

Given the current situation with COVID-19 and recent recommendations to restrict group gatherings to ten persons or less, it is with sincere regret that we feel the only responsible decision is to cancel the Spring Workshop in Cookeville.

While this is a grave disappointment for many, we feel it is in the best interest of the health and safety of our members.

So where do we go from here? It’s not all bad news, just a temporary delay!

At this time, we are gathering information for possible alternatives. We welcome your input and suggestions.

Image Competition: We are researching the possibility of an online forum for print competition but do not yet have all the details. This may not prove to be the most efficient option, but we will keep you updated in the next few days how this will proceed. The board is weighing the possibility of holding the competition online or simply reschedule it to the Fall Convention as we have done in previous years.

Our Fall convention is still slated for October 16-19th at Henry Horton State Park in Chapel Hill, TN and we hope to see you there! We will all have lot of catching up to do by then.

Our Monthly Webinars will continue as planned and we hope to see you there! We have some wonderful speakers lined up with a wealth of information to share.

We are all together in this uncharted territory but are here for you as always. Please feel free to message us or reach out to any board member if there is any way we can be of assistance.

Please cancel your reservations with our Cookeville hotel.  They have been made aware of the situation but need each reservation individually canceled.  (931)525-6668

Best wishes,

TNPPA Board of Directors

If you would like more information here are some very reliable sources:

Tennessee Department of Health:

https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html

CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

World Health Organization:

https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

If you have further questions for me, feel free to contact me at tnppaonline@gmail.com