If you have ever followed college basketball, then you know what the "Final Four" is. In the NCAA Tournament, for the teams that make it through the brackets to become the Final Four teams of the entire tournament, they have accomplished a huge task and have earned some bragging rights.
Well, I made it into the Final Four of the International Print Competition (IPC) of Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and I am HUGELY excited about that accomplishment!
The entire IPC was comprised of over 3000 images across 16 categories, with Boudoir being one of those categories. I decided to enter 2 of my Boudoir images, and actually they both made the cut, getting into the the rankings of the Top 32. However, only one image per photographer could be in the Top 32, so the image ranked the highest stayed in; mine was actually ranked #5!
In January, 2025, all of those Top 32 images in the 16 categories went before a live judging panel at the annual PPA convention, known as Imaging USA. We got to be in the audience and watch the live head-to-head judging of all of the images. My image made it through every single round until the Final Four were determined. Then we had to wait two days for the ultimate head-to-head round. My image completed its journey by being a Platinum round image. PLATINUM! That is HUGE in the photographic competition world and I am ECSTATIC! And so is my client, who of course, gave me full permission to use and enter her image.
As a Boudoir Portrait photographer, to make it into the Final Four, I am happy to have those bragging rights.
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