25 of World's Leading Photographers Meet In Maine

Rod just returned from a phenomenal week with some of the world's best photographers in beautiful Portland, Maine. The Society of XXV is a group of 25 of the finest photographers from all over the world who gather to share and exchange ideas to raise the level of their craft. Rod is humbled and honored to be a member of this prestigious group. Each distinguished member brings so much to the group with their ridiculously amazing talents and expertise. There's Marcus Bell from Australia, Idra Leonardi from Jakarta, Henk Van Kooten from Holland, the list goes on and on. When they gather to share ideas, there's an explosion of creativity, learning, and inspiration. It's an incredible opportunity to grow as an artist and businessperson.(and some good lobster) Although each member has their own, unique, areas of expertise, they come together as a family and share freely elevating everyone in their artistry and business. Rod has returned with more awesome, fun, innovative ideas for our terrific clients. We are blessed to have the best clients at Evans and are so happy to continually give them the best.

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The Big Grape 2009

Evans is proud to once again be a sponsor of Avera Children's Hospital and Clinics Big Grape Event. Each year we are moved by the hospitalized and special-needs children Rod photographs. Helping families turn tough times into images that reflect the strength and essence of their amazing children is a great way to tell a story while giving back to the community. We are truly blessed to help Avera and these heroic families.

The 10th Annual Premier Wine Tasting event of the year, The Big Grape 2009, will help infants and children from our community, state and region to stay close to home to receive life-saving treatments and experience greater family support. Your donations will benefit these small children and their families through equipment acquisition, staff education, training, and charitable health care. We invite you to join all of us at Evans in supporting this great cause!
http://www.averafoundation.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=272&srcid=281

Evans in New York, Wisconsin, Colorado

A lot of photographers have been asking where Rod will be speaking next. We're pleased to let you know he'll be speaking in Albany, New York at the PPSNYS 2009 Annual Convention on March 29th. Following that he will be speaking for Wisconsin's South Central Photographer's Association in Madison, WI on March 30th. Then on April 5th Rod will be speaking for the Professional Photographers of Colorado at the Omni Interlocken Resort near Denver. With all the great information Rod has to share, these are definitely going to be incredible programs you won't want to miss.
http://www.ppsnys.com/conference.html
http://www.southcentralppa.com
http://www.ppcolorado.com/2009events/evans09/index.html

SPA Family Circle/Kansas

Even though our studio is busier than ever, I managed to get away for a couple of days to do a presentation in Kansas for the Senior Portrait Artists Family Circle. It was a blast sharing ideas and photographing with a great group of photographers at Antisdel.s' incredible studio. I enjoyed staying in their cute little cottage; it was so quaint and made me feel like I was back home at grandma's house. I even brought back some funky new chairs to photograph with! Thanks Andy and Kia for asking me to be part of your fun gathering.

Speaking at Red Rock/Vegas

The 2009 Senior Portrait Artist's Event was held last week at the beautiful Red Rock Resort near Vegas. Photographers come from all over the US each year to get inspired and learn the latest techniques, trends, and fashions in high school senior photography. I had a blast speaking and photographing at this incredible event. I'm so excited about the awesome things we have planned for our upcoming Seniors!!!

EVANS Promo Code for PhotoVision 2009

PhotoVision is an excellent resource for photographers. Their DVDs show you the industry's leading image makers revealing secrets to success in their studios and on location. They provide you with a great opportunity to learn some of the latest techniques in the industry--all on DVD for viewing at your convenience. The regular price for this is $149. Evans was fortunate to be featured on PhotoVision last year and now we're pleased to extend an excellent offer for PhotoVision 2009 to all of our photographer friends. Go to www.photovision2009.com and type in the promo code EVANS to receive the 2009 series for only $39!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and thanks again to all of our great family, friends, colleagues, our incredible staff, and most of all to our wonderful clients for making 2008 a fabulous year at Evans! Thank you for allowing us to capture so many important moments in your lives. We have a lot of exciting things planned for 2009. Amidst all of the great things we have planned at the studio, and Rod's traveling and speaking engagements, Rod is volunteering some time to teach a photography class at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science for 10-14 year olds. With 4 children of his own, Rod knows how important it is to share the talents we have with our youth. If you have a child or know someone who would be interested, visit the Pavilion website at http://www.washingtonpavilion.org/CommunityLearningCenter/ for details and to register now before the class is full.

Miss South Dakota 2008

Facebook Marketing Tutorial

For Professional Photographers on Viral Facebook Marketing to High School Seniors

Ovation and Knightlights

We had a blast photographing the extremely talented Ovation and Knightlights Show Choir groups from O'Gorman High School.

Dominic's Wish Wins Emmy

KELO-TV recently won a Regional Emmy Award for coverage of "Dominic's Wish," a story that has touched countless lives. KELO photojounalist Kevin Kjergaard stopped by the studio to show us the award and Rod was able to hold an actual Emmy. Congratulations to KELO photojournalist Kevin Kjergaard and former KELO reporter Lou Raguse on receiving this prestigious award.

All of us here at Evans feel so blessed for the time we were able to spend with Dominic and his wonderful family. We know their story will touch your heart as it did ours:


The Sioux Falls Business Journal recently interviewed Rod about photographing Dominic. Here's the story from the Sioux Falls Business Journal/Argus Leader: http://siouxfallsbusinessjournal.argusleader.com/article/20081112/BJNEWS08/81111051
Dominic's story has inspired so many people and he is forever etched in our hearts.

Back to Back Design Cover

Evans is featured on the cover of Back to Back Design Works new 2009 Catalog. If you're a photographer interested in studio sets order your copy today at www.backtobackdesignworks.com

Back to Back Design Works, Inc.
Designer Sets & Displays Systems for Professional Photographers
2009 Catalog

Rod Featured in Rangefinder Magazine

Rod is featured in this month's Rangefinder Magazine, a premier magazine for professional photographers. Check out this great article written by Peter Skinner.

Rangefinder - The Magazine for Professional Photographers
October 2008, "the Fine Art issue"
Volume 57, Number 10

The Charity Home

Recently, Evans was asked to photograph the KSFY Charity Home in Support of the Children's Home Society. The Children's Home Society provides a home school and therapy for children primarily ages 4 to 13 who often times have a history of abuse or neglect. They also have foster care and adoption services for children who are unable to return to their birth families, and emergency shelter services and counseling for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. We invite you to join us in supporting the Children's Home Society by purchasing tickets to view the Charity Home. Tours are available from noon-5pm each Saturday and Sunday beginning Saturday, November 1 and running until Sunday, November 23. Tickets are $5 at all Lewis Drug locations and $6 at the door with all proceeds given to the Children's Home Society.

Check It Out

Come check out the awesome new paintings and photographs at the Evans display in the Empire Mall along with some great Fall and Holiday Specials! Stop by our studio to visit and the see the fun, new photographs and paintings in our windows and Gallery. We've been having a blast creating so many great images for our clients and invite you to join in the fun. It's a great time of year to come in and capture these special moments and our Fall and Holiday Specials make it even better!

Autumn Outdoors

New Fall and Winter specials at Evans:
-Linens & Leaves: $50 session (save $100) and 25% off order from Oct 15-Oct 28
-Halloween: packages available from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm on Oct 31
-Veteran's Day: Free family sitting for military & 25% off order on Nov 10 & 11
-Narnia: $50 session (save $100) and 25% off order from Nov 17-Dec 1
-Black Friday: double value gift certificates for sale on Nov 28
-Home for the Holidays: $50 session (save $100) and 25% off order from Dec 29 to Jan 2

Fabulous Fine Arts Trolley Tour

We had a great time participating in the ninth bi-annual Fine Arts Trolley Tour last night. It was fantastic evening of fun, good music, great conversation, fine wine and delicious food. We unveiled a new gallery of fabulous paintings and even had a live painting demonstration! It was great to see so many of our clients and to meet so many new friends who appreciate and enjoy fine art.

A Thousand Words...

Avera McKennan Foundation's publication "The Grape Vine" had this article recently:

A Thousand Words
Evans Portrait Captures The Spirit of Children
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then receiving a complimentary portrait from Rod Evans speaks volumes. For the last couple years, Rod Evans has photographed hospitalized and special-needs children whose families say the photo shoots changed their lives, turning tough times into images reflecting the strength and essence of their children. "I love doing this--it really elevates me as an artist," he adds. Inspired by these young heroes, Rod Evans offers his services for free as a way to tell their story while giving back to the community. "I get so much more back than what I give when hearing what these children have gone through," he adds.

Now you can see some of these amazing children's stories and photographs on display on the 3rd floor at Avera McKennan Hospital. Avera held a reception unveiling these images in September. Evans is blessed to help Avera and these wonderful children and their families.

PPANI Speaking

Rod had the pleasure of speaking for the Professional Photographers of Northern Illinois on September 10th. We received so many wonderful comments. Here are just a few: "Thanks soooo much for today! My brain is so full and oh so happy!! You really were just what I needed today!"-Sarah...."You were FABULOUS at N IL PPA today! Such an inspiration!"-Michelle..."Thanks for the excellent program!"-Linda..."I had the very great pleasure of seeing Rod Evans program for the first time yesterday! He hit it out of the park....He had everybody in the room pumped and hyper-ventilating with excitement..."-Thom. Thank you to everyone in PPANI for being such a great group to work with.

Evans on PhotoVision

I am delighted to be featured as part of PhotoVision Video Magazine 2008. Each year Master photographer Ed Pierce and his extremely talented crew travel around the world interviewing leading photographers to create this fantastic educational resource for photographers. They have over 10,000 subscriber studios. We had a great time--thanks Ed, Brian and crew!

Evans Showcased in New Book

For all you photographers out there check out Christopher Grey's new book "Canon DSLR: The Ultimate Photographer's Guide". It's an awesome book. I may be a little biased because I'm one of the photographers featured in the book---very cool! Check it out on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com , as well as a variety of other sources. Thanks Chris for including me in your book. It was great working with you!

Oprah's Big Give

All of us at Evans were excited and happy to photograph 3 year old Ayden Konakowitz and his family as part of Oprah's Big Give Dakota. Ayden has a rare form of kidney cancer called nephroblastoma. The community has really pulled together to help this remarkable family who were presented with a new home complete with their new family portrait yesterday. Around 500 people came out to share in the "big reveal" of their new home. We are blessed to be a part of this beautiful family's inspirational story.

25 Top Photographers meet to Make-A-Wish

Earlier this year I was honored with the invitation to be a member of the Society of XXV, an exclusive group of 25 of the world's finest photographers. Each year this prestigious group meets somewhere in the world to learn and share information and ideas so they can collectively continue to improve their craft. Last week we met California. It was amazing to not only spend the week with some of the top photographers from around the world, but to be able to give back by sharing our gifts with the San Diego chapter of the Make-A-Wish foundation. We photographed these wonderful children and their families(many of whom had never had a professional portrait done before). It was fun working together to photograph, print, stretch, and frame these canvas portraits to present to such inspiring families.

The Big Grape 2008

Evans is proud to help sponsor the Big Grape 2008 benefiting Avera Children's Hospital & Clinics. Their goal for The Big Grape 2008 is to raise funds that will benefit children and families through Avera Children's Hospital & Clinics and the Pediatric Oncology Program at Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center. Visit their website at www.thebiggrape.com We hope to see you there!