Meet our YBS 2012 Judges

We have now moved on to the next level of our contest Your Best Shot of 2012. We have asked some amazing, award winning photography judges to lend their expertise in helping us narrow down the top 100 images to the top 25.  With years of experience behind them, they offer some great insight and skill into choosing the best of the top 100 gallery.
Meet Joy Vertz.
Joy Vertz, has grown in just a few short years from a one-woman show in her basement to now running 2, thriving high end, boutique style studios with a team of 7 employees and having sustained this growth for 10 years! She is a self-proclaimed numbers girl with a firm grasp on the business aspect of running a photography studio at all levels. Joy’s studio, Shoot the Moon Photography has maintained a steady profitability despite the decline in the economy and continues to flourish. It is incredible to hear the organization system that Joy has implemented to ensure that thousands of clients think they are her one and only!
She has judged prints  for several PPA State Conventions as well as the NAPCP quarterly image competition and has a degree in Studio Art from Lawrence University. She also runs an educational website for photographers. You can view it HERE.  She has also been kind enough to give our members access to her  free Pricing for Profit Guide.  You can find the free download HERE.
You can see more of her fabulous work HERE. 

 
Meet Dan Frievalt
Dan Frievalt of Frievalt Photography is a photographer that enjoys blending creative light with graphic design to create artistic images that evoke drama and tell a story. Dan’s formal education includes an Associate degree in Marketing Communications and has worked as a Graphic Artist for 12 years before changing his career path to photography in 2005. “I always enjoyed photography but ever since digital capture I have found a new voice in creating images by combining my design background with my eye for photography.” He has a list of awards behind his name, the most recent being the 2013 Wisconsin Photographer of the Year and 2013 Wisconsin Outstanding Achievement Aware.
You can check out his amazing work HERE. 
 

 
Meet Michael Mowbray, M. Photog, Cr.
Since opening Beautiful Portraits by Michael in 2001, Michael Mowbray has gone on to win many awards for his portraiture and was  named International PPA Photographer of the Year in 2011 and 2012.  He has had the highest scoring wedding portrait in Wisconsin five out of the past six years, including Wisconsin Best of Show-Wedding 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. He has won the prestigious Kodak Gallery Award five times, and the Fuji Masterpiece Award for Outstanding Wedding Portraiture three times. Michael has also been named one of the Top 10 photographers in Wisconsin multiple times and “Best of Madison” by the readers of Madison Magazine.
You can check out his amazing work HERE. 
 

 
Meet Pierre Stephenson, Cr. CPP

Pierre Stephenson, Cr. CPP  is the owner of the multi-photographer studio Pierre’s Portrait Art Company which, over the past 18 years has come to be recognized for its
innovative style. His training started out in the commercial large format studio arena, miles away from the Urbanist Portrait Journalism that has become his passion.
Pierre’s unique approach has led to international awards, media attention, and his work has been published nationally in magazines including Professional Photographer, Modern Bride, PDN, Rangefinder, and more. In 2006, he founded The Wisconsin Pro Photographers Forum and has taught seminars and workshops to professional photographers from around the world. He is a regularspeaker at WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) holding Masterclasses and “Night on the Strip” shoot outs at the MGM Las Vegas for the past four years, and lectures around the country. Pierre teaches advanced location lighting classes at Madison College and is a founding mentor of the LIGHTn Tour.  He is a PPA Certified Professional Photographer and was awarded PPA Silver Photographer of the Year 2010, Best of Show Weddings at WPPA 2009, received his Craftsmen at Imaging USA 2010, and will be receiving his Master Photographer at ImagingUSA in 2014.