December 2002

As a result of print competition scores with the Maryland Professional Photographer’s Association throughout the year 2002 Joe Campanellie achieved “Photographer of the Year” Honors in the Portrait Category.

Named Illustrative “Photographer of the Year” for 10 consecutive years by the Maryland Professional Photographers Association. In the history of the organization no other photographer has ever accomplished this before.

July 1996

At the National Convention held in Orlando, Florida Joe Campanellie received the Master of Photography Degree from the Professional Photographer’s of America.

August 1998

At the Professional Photographer’s of America annual convention held in New Orleans Mary Jean and Joe Campanellie received the Photographic Craftsman Degree. This degree represents their dedication to education.

July 2002

At the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) National Convention held in Atlantic City, Mary Jean Campanellie received the prestigious Master Artist Degree during the black tie awards banquet. Mary Jean is the only individual in the state of Maryland who has demonstrated the skills necessary to earn this advanced degree and was the only recipient of this degree in the country this year. The Master Artist Degree is awarded to only those individuals who have shown before a National panel of judges their accomplished skills in the areas of photographic retouching, print enhancement, and hand coloring.

The Professional Photographers of America is the oldest and largest association of professional photographers and artists in the world with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The association provides services and establishes standards of professional performance for it’s more than 14,000 members and 214 affiliated organizations worldwide.

Mary Jean Campanellie has an extensive background in fine art and fashion design. She spent ten years as an International Bridal Designer before combing her talents as both an artist and designer and directing them to their portrait studio.

April 2002

During the design consultation with the mother and grandmother of the subject we soon learned that we had the opportunity to create a very special portrait. The grandmother had brought a photograph with her that had been taken of her at approximately the same age as her grand daughter. It was her idea to emulate that photograph but at the same time through our own personal style and creative approach to bring out her grand daughter’s unique personality. A lot of care went into the planning of this portrait by the mother and grandmother especially in regards to the clothing and the props that were to be used. The most important of which was a shawl that belonged to her great grandmother.

It’s not every day that we get the opportunity to create a portrait that has such strong emotional ties to both the past and the future. We photographed this image in our studio in a very classic style that would reflect the romantic feeling of her grandmother’s portrait. This was indeed a challenge but as soon as the film returned from our lab I knew that we had some very special images.

Mrs. Gemeny was thrilled that “My Grandmother’s Shawl” was not only awarded a Fuji Masterpiece Award at the Pennsylvania Convention but that it was also selected to hang in the General Collection of the Professional Photographer’s of America 2002 International Print Exhibit. It’s an image that we are sure they will treasure for many years to come.

To date Joe has now won four Masterpiece Awards.

April 2002

“The Flower Girls” was awarded the Masterpiece Award at the Pennsylvania State Convention. I picked this image as an art/tech submission because it presented me with a number of challenges. When the image was originally photographed it was done with a 150mm soft focus lens on our Mamiya RZ67. Not being used to this lens I missed somewhat on the focusing. I had a beautiful image of these two little girls but it was just too soft. I felt that the image had a lot of good qualities such as the mood and the expressions of the two little girls and that it was worth the time and effort needed to fix it with traditional artwork. The final image that resulted is one of my favorite styles to create. I enjoy creating these Victorian style pieces that incorporate my own contemporary style of interpretation.

The first artistic challenge was to bring the girls eyes back in focus by sharpening them and enhancing them with photographic oils and dyes . One of the girls had a large piece of stray hair that also had to be removed that went across her face. I then enhanced their faces to give the portrait more the feel of an oil painting by adding highlights to their skin and cheekbones. I then began to work on the fabric and material that was used in the photograph. Again, I added photographic oils to the background and foreground materials to enhance the folds of the materials and bring out more texture. This same technique was used in their dresses. I also added the flowers to their halos as well as the pink lace to their dresses.

All of the artwork was done with Veronica Cass photographic oils and dyes which I find particularly well suited for a project such as this.

To date Mary Jean has been honored by the Fuji Film Corporation for an unprecedented 6 times as the recipient of the Fuji Masterpiece Award for photographic print enhancement. As the creative half of this husband and wife team, she adds a unique blend of feminine insight and sensitivity necessary to create the distinctive style that has become a trademark of their studio today.

April 2002

Mary Jean and Joe Campanellie sure made the presence of MPPA felt at the recent convention of the Professional Photographers of Pennsylvania. For those of you who are not familiar with the Pennsylvania organization it consists of a lot of Master Photographers so competition at their convention is always very stiff with a lot of high scoring entries.

Joe brought home a Fuji Masterpiece Award in the portrait category but it was definitely Mary Jean’s turn in the limelight as she was awarded four major awards during the course of the banquet. She won first place trophies in the Art/Tech category for Best Combination and Best Freestyle as well as the Fuji Masterpiece Award for Print Retouching. As if this wasn’t enough she also took home Pennsylvania’s top honor as “Image Maker of the Year” for the highest scoring print case. This was the first time that an artist had ever won this honor.

Both Mary Jean and Joe were also among the six individuals out of the entire convention that were awarded the “320” Club of Excellence. This is given to an individual whose print case is comprised of all blue ribbon prints scoring “80” or better.

February 2002

At the 2002 Maryland Convention “Come Dream With Me” by Joe Campanellie received the Kodak Gallery Award in the Portrait Category. This marks the ninth time that Joe has received this award. Since it’s inception in 1985 the Kodak Gallery Award has come to recognize the photographic excellence created by those using Kodak professional photographic products. Images that are considered for this very prestigious award at affiliate print competitions must adhere to several exacting standards. The original image of each entry must have been exposed on Kodak film and the final presentation must be printed on Kodak photographic paper.

The acceptance of a Gallery Award is indeed a coveted prize. The crystal pyramid shaped trophy has come to be known as the “Oscars” of the photographic industry. Each Gallery Award winner receives several items including the crystal trophy, a commemorative lapel pin, and an invitation to send their winning image in to Kodak Professional where it will join that year’s collection and be showcased as a part of the most exciting photography of that year. All of the Gallery Award winners are also invited to a special reception, given in their honor, during the Professional Photographer’s of America annual national convention.

“Come Dream with Me” was also included in a very special exhibit at Epcot in Orlando, Florida. This exhibit is displayed annually at the new Kodak Pavillion at Epcot for an extended period from September until December. Each winning image is also included in a table top book that showcases all the winners. This publication marks the latest in a long list of reasons why Kodak’s Gallery Award is the most prestigious and sought after award in the professional photography industry; and, why its become the benchmark for saluting technical execution and visual impact in the photographic arts.

February 2002

Joe Campanellie was recently honored with the Professional Photographers of America, Inc., National Award for outstanding service to professional photography. The bronze and walnut plaque was presented by the Maryland Professional Photographer’s Association, a PPA Affiliated Association, at their annual convention held in Columbia, MD.

The National Award is offered by the PPA to State, Regional, National, and International affiliated organizations on a yearly basis. First made available in 1958, the award recognizes those persons who generously contribute their time and talents to the service of their profession, their affiliated organizations, and their fellow photographers. Selections for this award are determined by the recipient’s peers which adds to its distinction and value.

The PPA is the oldest and largest association of professional photographers in the world with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The association provides educational services and establishes standards of professional performance for its more than 14,000 members and 214 affiliated organizations worldwide.

Senator Don Munson was on hand to help present the prestigious National Award to Mr. Campanellie as well as recognize him with a Resolution from the Senate of Maryland as Maryland’s Illustrative Photographer of the Year for the Tenth straight year. This is an accomplishment that no other photographer has ever achieved in the history of the Maryland Professional Photographer's Association.

February 2002

“Reservations For Two” by Mary Jean Campanellie was created during the course of an all day seminar. Normally, when we do posing and lighting demonstrations it is very difficult to get merit quality images with all the distractions that you have to overcome. In a situation like this you’re at a real disadvantage because there’s very little time to get to know your subjects so we can get them to relax in front of the camera. It’s hard enough in a controlled studio environment but on stage in front of a large audience it can be very intimidating for children of this age. These two sisters however were quite the exception. I felt very fortunate to have received the Masterpiece Award for this image at the Maryland Convention.

This image represents one of our favorite studio sets. We don’t like to do very stiff, posed images of young children. Rather, we like to just let them play and watch the images unfold before our very eyes. The resulting images have a more natural feel to them as well as being more realistic. Our tea set is just perfect for little girls of this age and they always have a lot of fun.

Once the basic image was printed I wanted to take this photograph to the next level and create an original art piece. I wanted the final piece to have the look and feel of a classic Victorian photograph. Through the application of artists’ oils I enhanced the image to achieve this goal. The fabric and the flowers were enhanced to bring out more of their texture as well as the facial features of the two little girls.

2001 Maryland Convention

During the year of 2001 “Chiseled In Stone” by Joe Campanellie won a number of very prestigious awards in state and national print competitions. At the Maryland Convention it was named Best Commercial Photograph of the Year and won the Kodak Gallery Award for photographic and technical excellence. At the Southeastern Professional Photographers Assoc. it garnished a Distinguished Award in the portrait category.

On the National level this image was selected for the American Society of Photographers Traveling Loan Collection. This collection of images is comprised of the top 100 entries out of over 6,000 images at the annual PPA print competition. After traveling throughout the United States as a showcase of some of PPA’s best photographers this image became a part of a permanent exhibit of the International Photography Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The subject of this particular photograph was professional body builder Yohnnie Shambourger who has won many body building titles.