Perhaps the best part of Summerfest is spending evenings around the pool catching up with old friends and making new ones.

The Inn of the Hills Hotel and Conference Center is like a vacation in itself.

Rustic native stone architecture and custom ironwork enhance the beautiful courtyard and pool area, creating a nostalgic, relaxing getaway.

With a 21,000 square foot conference center, a full-service restaurant, pub with live music on the weekends, and the Guadalupe River and park within walking distance, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

The schedule offers enough to keep you busy, and plenty of time to relax by the pool with friends and family.

Friday, June 23

7:00pm  – TPPA Poolside
9:00pm – President’s Hospitality Open

Saturday, June 24

8:30am – Registration Desk Opens
9:00am – Creating Personal Art – Presented by Julie Savage – Sponsored by Bay Photo
10:15 – Break
10:30 – Program Resumes
Noon – Lunch on Your Own
1:30pm – Creating Personal Art – continues
2:45pm – Break
3:00pm – Program resumes
4:30pm – Program ends
Dinner on Your Own
7:00pm  – TPPA Poolside
8:00pm – Night Skies Program with Alison Carlino (First 20 to register)
9:00pm – President’s Hospitality Open

Sunday, June 25

7:30am – Past Presidents Breakfast
9:00am – Competitive Business Strategy – Presented by Tim Babiak
10:15 – Break
10:30 – Competitive Business Strategy – continues
Noon – Program Ends – Have a safe trip home!

If you are new to TPPA, Summerfest is a family-friendly* weekend where photographers take in outstanding programs while the family enjoys time in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. 

There is so much to see and do in Kerrville including river rafting, wine tasting, the James Avery Foundry, Enchanted Rock, horseback riding, golf and the Kerrville-Schreiner Park. There is even a vintage Gibson’s store that is a must see!  Perhaps the most popular option is to simply hang out at the beautiful pool at the Inn of the Hills. 

*While this is a family-friendly event, this scaled-back version we will not offer the Kids Kamp as we did in years past.

PLEASE NOTE:  This class has now sold out! Register for Summerfest today and get on the waiting list for this class.

Interested in photographing the stars at night but not sure where to start? Photographing the Milky Way and capturing star trails have not only expanded Alison’s fine art portfolio but have also helped her to reconnect to nature. This is a 100% hands on, “in-field” workshop where you will learn how to use PhotoPills to plan the adventure, how to overlay the Milky Way using live augmented reality, how to focus in the dark, and the exposure settings needed to capture night sky images. She will also teach you the basics of light painting in order to produce a more story-telling image with levels of composition.

Minimum Gear Needed:
Sturdy tripod, DSLR or Mirrorless camera, wide angle lens, f2.8 or faster
A full gear list will be provided to registered students in advance.

General Details:
Strictly limited to the first 20 students that sign up!

Arrival is 8pm in order to review the basics while it’s still light.

Location will be within 30 min – max 1 hour from Kerrville

Milky Way core visibility & star trail captures can begin at 10:02pm. Alison will run two rigs – one for star trail and one for Milky Way. We will light paint between 10pm-12am and then the star trail rig will continue to run until about 3am.

If you cannot make it the whole night, you are welcome to come for just the initial instruction and the Milky Way capture between 10pm-11pm.

Optional Image Processing Session:
Join Alison on Sunday at 1:00PM as she shows you how to process your images to get outstanding results.  Bring sure to bring your laptop to process your own images.

“Prepare to learn new, elevated, actionable concepts that you can apply to your business today to position for long-term success.”

–  Tim

For working photographers, today’s business climate is more competitive than ever. Numerous low-cost players set market expectations (“can I just get all the digitals?” and “looking for an affordable photographer who doesn’t cost an arm and a leg”) and there is virtually no barrier to entry.

To succeed in this climate, we’ve all been given a wealth of advice such as:

• Raise your prices
• Perform in-person sales (IPS)
• Sell prints
• Make it about the client experience
• Use payment plans
• Use language associated with higher prices such as “luxury”, “portrait artist”, branding session”, “wall art” and more.
• Know your ideal client
• Focus on a specialty – be different!

Some photographers adopt these pieces of wisdom and do well while other photographers continue to struggle. And some successful photographers see their businesses plummet without understanding the underlying causes.

For many photographers, there’s a key missing piece – business strategy.
Business strategy originates from an understanding of the market and the competition. While many photographers develop business plans, few deliberately formulate a business strategy. Despite the absence of a deliberate business strategy, every business has a strategy – whether they know it or not! Photographers without a business strategy can be successful but most would be better served with this key overreaching approach to success.

In this program, you’ll learn advanced concepts to apply to your photography business to elevate your success and long-term performance.

Concepts covered include:

• The five fundamental business strategies and their value
• The distinction between strategy, tactics, and execution
• Developing a business strategy based on market conditions
• Aligning sub-strategies with the main strategy
• Aligning tactics with business strategy
• Understanding well-known businesses’ strategies (you might be surprised)

Participants will then work in small groups to start the process of developing their own business strategies to share with the overall group.

Prepare to learn new, elevated, actionable concepts that you can apply to your business today to position for long-term success.

The Inn of the Hills Hotel and Conference Center is like a vacation in itself.

Rustic native stone architecture and custom ironwork enhance the beautiful courtyard and pool area, creating a nostalgic, relaxing getaway.

With a 21,000 square foot conference center, a full-service restaurant, pub with live music on the weekends, and the Guadalupe River and park within walking distance, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

TPPA Group Rates: 
$ 129.00  Standard King or Queen, queen Room
$ 139.00 Cabana Rooms

Add discounted breakfast when reserving for $11.95 (normal rate is $12.95)

Cut Off Date: May 24- 2023

Make your Reservation here.

Driving Directions:
From the North:

Take exit 505 for Harper Rd/FM Rd 783 S                               0.3 mi

Turn Right onto Harper Rd/FM Rd 783 S                 2.5 mi

Continure to follow Harper Rd

Turn Left onto TX-27 E/Junction Hwy

Destination will immediately be on the right.

From the South: 

Take  Exit  – Kerrville –  turn left onto Sidney Baker Street

Turn right on to Junction Hwy                                                     2.5 mi

Continue on Junction 2.5 miles and destination will be on the left side of the road

“This will be a class where you listen and process some and then collaborate together in teams to create art pieces.”

– Julie

Julie Savage will guide you through how to find inspiration for your photography and art in your own life and surroundings.  She’ll talk about where and how she has found inspiration for her own art, how to inject something personal into every single image, and improve the impact and storytelling in your images.  Do some homework before class and think about who your favorite artist inspirations are…you may have a chance to share that artist and how they inspire your work.

Bring your cameras, a small OCF light if you have it (no biggie if you don’t), and your laptop with Photoshop and a raw editor if you have it.  It isn’t a big deal if you don’t have or don’t want to bring these items because you can follow along and still be part of this interactive class.  This will not be a class where you sit and listen all day. This will be a class where you listen and process some and then we will get up and collaborate together in teams to create art pieces together based on a guided concept.  You will have the opportunity to model, shoot, and edit or stand aside and help with creative direction or just watch and learn.

This class will have energy and laughter along with some personal digging and technical nuggets.  You will leave this class with the opportunity to create something that you haven’t created before. You’ll have the opportunity to even model and star in an image.  You’ll learn some editing techniques.  You’ll evaluate your processes for creating (versus client work).  Hopefully you will walk away bursting with ideas about what you need to create next.