2027 PhotoMax Pre-Con | The Business of High School Seniors with Jenn Lewis (12 Feb 2027)

Fri, 12 Feb 2027 15:00:00 GMT

Kick off PhotoMax weekend with a full day of focused education at the 2027 PhotoMax

Pre-Con, presented by the Professional Photographers of Michigan.

Join us Friday, February 12 at The Kensington Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan for The Business of High School Seniors with Jenn Lewis, CPP, Cr. Photog. This full-day program takes you through the senior portrait experience from inquiry to image to income, connecting the creative, client-experience and business sides of a successful senior photography business.

From inquiry to image to income.
Take a deep dive into the complete senior portrait experience—from the first client conversation through shooting, sales and everything in between.

Jenn Lewis

The Business of High School Seniors

A successful senior photography business involves far more than creating beautiful portraits. From the first inquiry to the final sale, every part of the client experience plays a role.

During this full-day Pre-Con program, Jenn Lewis will take attendees through the senior portrait process from beginning to end, including inquiries and consultations, lighting, posing, working with teens, workflow, sales, marketing and pricing.

Rather than focusing on one isolated piece of senior photography, Jenn will connect the creative and business sides of the experience, giving attendees a look at how the entire process works together. And while the program centers on high school seniors, many of the strategies surrounding client experience, workflow, sales and business can translate across portrait genres.

Jenn's Bio - Jenn Lewis, CPP, Cr. Photog., is a portrait and headshot photographer based in Clemmons, North Carolina, with a particular passion for photographing high school seniors. Her work focuses on bringing out each senior's personality and creating meaningful portraits before they move into the next chapter of their lives.

Jenn is a Certified Professional Photographer (CPP), a designation recognizing demonstrated artistic and technical competence, and holds the Photographic Craftsman (Cr. Photog.) degree, recognizing her contributions to the photography industry through teaching and mentoring.

Having grown up as an Air Force kid and later worked for the airlines, Jenn also has a lifelong love of travel—an adventurous streak that carries into both her personality and her approach to creating experiences for her clients.

LODGING is available at the Kensington Hotel. To reserve your room online, visit the link below. Need to call the hotel directly? Be sure to mention PPofMI / Professional Photographers of Michigan when finalizing your reservation.

BOOK HOTEL HERE

2027 Great Lakes PhotoMax (13 Feb 2027)

Sat, 13 Feb 2027 15:00:00 GMT

Great Lakes PhotoMax is Michigan's annual photography conference presented by the Professional Photographers of Michigan, bringing photographers together for two days of education, inspiration and community.

Join us February 13–14, 2027 at The Kensington Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan for education designed to strengthen both your photography and your business.

Early Bird Registration: $159 for everyone through October 31

Register by December 15 to receive your annual PhotoMax T-shirt!

PHOTOMAX 2027 EDUCATION

Explore this year's featured programs designed to strengthen your creativity, your craft and your business.

Julie Collins

Grow Your Business Through Community

Building a successful photography business doesn't always mean finding more ways to advertise—it can mean becoming more connected to the community around you.

In Grow Your Business Through Community, Julie Collins will explore how intentional networking, community partnerships, strategic charitable giving and authentic relationship-building can create new opportunities for your business. Julie credits these strategies with generating more than $50,000 in additional studio revenue in 2025, demonstrating how genuine community involvement can translate into meaningful business growth.

Attendees will leave with practical ideas for building stronger local relationships, identifying opportunities for collaboration and creating connections that can continue working for their business long after the initial introduction.

Stop chasing leads. Start building connections.

Julie Collins Bio - Julie Collins, M.Photog., CPP, is a creative entrepreneur, educator and award-winning portrait artist with more than a decade of experience building a multi-six-figure photography studio rooted in connection and service. As the owner of Julie Collins Photography in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, she is known for blending artistic excellence with an exceptional client experience and creating custom artwork designed to become lasting family heirlooms.

Julie serves as President of Professional Photographers of Southeast Wisconsin and Chairperson of Education and Activities for the Wisconsin Professional Photographers Association. She is also the co-host and creator of Love Your Belly, an annual community event supporting pregnancy, motherhood and local women-owned businesses.

A former teacher, Julie brings her background as an educator together with her experience as a photographer and business owner to help other professionals build stronger businesses through authentic relationships, strategic collaboration and meaningful community connections.

Sondra LaRay Miltenberger

Transforming Wedding Moments into Masterpieces: Crafting Art without Sacrificing Story

Wedding days don't stop for the perfect photograph. Moments unfold quickly, emotions are real, and photographers have to balance creating something extraordinary with allowing the story of the day to unfold naturally.

In Transforming Wedding Moments into Masterpieces: Crafting Art without Sacrificing Story, Sondra LaRay Miltenberger will explore how she creates bold, artistic wedding imagery without losing the authenticity of the moment. Through composition, creative lighting, natural posing and learning to trust your instincts, attendees will discover ways to create photographs with greater depth, emotion and purpose while remaining present to what's happening in front of them.

While rooted in wedding photography, the creative principles explored in this program extend well beyond weddings. Portrait photographers working in any genre can take these ideas back to their own work and use them to approach people, light and moments more intentionally.

Where real moments meet creative vision.

Sondra's Bio - Sondra LaRay Miltenberger is an award-winning Michigan wedding photographer and the founder of Sondra LaRay's Photography. After years as a hobbyist, she established her business in 2017 and has since grown it into a team of photographers and second shooters dedicated to preserving once-in-a-lifetime moments.

Her work blends authentic emotion with fine-art portraiture, using creative lighting and dramatic techniques to create images that are both meaningful and visually striking. Sondra's photography has been published in more than eight magazines and featured by industry brands and publications including Canon, AfterShoot, MagnetMod and PPA Magazine.

At the heart of her work is a belief that photographs should do more than document a moment—they should preserve its story for generations to come.

Two days not enough? You'll also want to check out Pre-con on Friday, Feb. 12, 2027, with Jenn Lewis!

The Business of High School Seniors

For more info or to sign up:

Precon Registration

LEARN & GROW: THE FUN WAY!

PhotoMax offers hands-on photography workshops led by nationally recognized photographers from across the country. Join us for a weekend of insightful education, inspiring conversations, and game-changing networking with fellow photographers and vendors. Elevate your photography business while having fun.

Staying Overnight?

Book your hotel with the special pricing at the link below:

Book your room with Kensington Hotel

PhotoMax is a PPA Continuing Education merit event! Working toward a PPA Degree? Attend the Pre-Con Feb 12, and the Conference, Feb 13 & 14th, 2027 and earn TWO Merits in ONE weekend!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

PPofMI upcoming events

2027 PhotoMax Pre-Con | The Business of High School Seniors with Jenn Lewis (12 Feb 2027)

2027 Great Lakes PhotoMax (13 Feb 2027)

PHOTOMAX 2027 EDUCATION

Grow Your Business Through Community

Sondra LaRay Miltenberger

LEARN & GROW: THE FUN WAY!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS