12 Days of Tips!!

Make 2025 your best year yet!!

 

The new year is just around the corner, and it’s the perfect time to align your vision, set intentional goals, and create a roadmap to success. That’s why we’re thrilled to present 12 Days of Tips—a daily dose of inspiration and practical advice to help you achieve healthy, sustainable business growth in 2025.

Day 3 – APNPI Ambassador Lisa Digeso

Day 6 – Trayc Dudgeon

Day 9 – Tara Graham

Day 12 – Stay Tuned!

Meet the Experts Behind the Tips

This year’s 12 Days of Tips is extra special because it features contributions from members of the incredible APNPI community! Each tip is brought to you by passionate professionals, including:

• Ambassadors who are dedicated to uplifting and supporting the community.
• Judges who bring a wealth of expertise from evaluating top-tier work.
• Educators who are committed to helping others learn and grow.
• Competition winners who share insights from their award-winning strategies.

These contributors bring a unique blend of experience, creativity, and actionable advice to help you thrive in 2025. From developing smarter marketing strategies to streamlining your processes, these tips are designed to meet you where you are and help you take the next step confidently.

Start Strong in 2025

Bookmark this page and check back daily for fresh updates! Each day, a new tip will be added to help you stay on track and motivated as you set goals for your best year yet. Share your progress with us on your social media platforms, e.g., Instagram using the hashtag #12DaysOfTips, and join a community of ambitious professionals working towards success in 2025.

Let’s kick off the new year with purpose and clarity. Your business deserves it!

Airing Nov 19!  Join us to Watch the APNPI Image Competition Judging event!

Curious about the winners of our latest photography competition? Join us to watch the APNPI Image Competition Judging Event! We’re thrilled to share the official judging results video, where you can watch each award-winning image unfold and gain insight into what makes each piece stand out. In this post, you’ll also meet our panel of distinguished judges, who bring decades of expertise in newborn and maternity photography. Learn about their backgrounds, unique judging styles, and the criteria they used to evaluate this year’s impressive submissions. We hope you enjoy and are inspired by the artistry that continues to shape the photography community!

A warm congratulations to all of our makers for bravely entering this round of accreditation submissions! We hope you’ll find the judges’ feedback helpful in the advancement of your journey as maternity, newborn or baby photographers and thank you all for your submissions. Best of luck to all of our members who have submitted for this round of Accreditations!

*Are you an accredited member of APNPI and interested in our judge training program? Email us at admin@apnpi.com

Shailee Connolly is an accomplished professional photographer who specializes in Newborn and Maternity Portrait photography. Based out of her commercial studio in San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, she has received awards and recognitions for her work. In 2020 and 2022, she was awarded first place in the APNPI competition in the newborn category, as well as a PPA silver photographer of the year award in 2017 and a bronze photographer of the year award in 2018. Additionally, she earned second place in the Children’s Portraits Category of the Professional Photographers of America’s Western District print competition in 2017. Shailee holds bachelor’s degrees in Fine Art and Education, with a major in painting. Her previous career as a high school Visual Arts teacher in her hometown of Brisbane, Australia, gave her a solid grounding and passion for creating art in a variety of disciplines. When she became a mother in 2011, she transitioned her skills to newborn and maternity portrait photography. She has been photographing bellies and babies since 2013 and has been a professional photographer for over 10 years after relocating to the US with her family from Australia. Shailee always aims to create stunning, timeless images that her clients will cherish for a lifetime. Her style blends fine art with a more natural, organic approach to photography, and she works closely with her clients to ensure that their vision is brought to life. Her clients receive heirloom quality, archival printed artwork that they can proudly display in their homes.

Tara Graham:
I am mom to one wildly creative and stong-headed little boy. I started photography long before he came along though, having gone to college for Creative Photography, and then working in various studios doing portrait, commercial/editorial, and wedding work. One day I decided to tell my husband we were moving so I could have a home studio, and that really allowed me to grow my newborn business, having a dedicated space for it. I also love to photograph families! I love the interactions and being able to get those photos that parents say really captures their child’s essence or personality.

Trayc Dudgeon: I’ve been passionate about art my whole life and after taking my first photography class in High School I fell in love. I furthered my photography education at Humber Collage and 20 years later I am still just as passionate as the day I began. I’ve since become an award winning Accredited portrait photographer with PPOC (Professional Photographers of Canada) specializing in Maternity, Newborn, Children, Family as well as Corporate portraits and Weddings. I am also newborn safety trained and Internationally recognised as a qualified Newborn photographer with the APNPI, an international photography association. I have recieved several accreditations, awards and have become on of their mentoring photographers.

Tamarind Spender:
Tamarind’s passion for photography ignited at the age of 17 when she began working at Black’s Photography, where she fell in love with capturing the world through her lens. This passion led her to turn her hobby into a profession after the birth of her daughter in 2013, founding Azure Photography to show her daughter that following your dreams is possible. Starting from her home, Tamarind poured her heart into every shot, eventually expanding to a grand studio in downtown Guelph. Here, her vision of creating unforgettable photography experiences for her clients has truly flourished. For Tamarind, photography is more than a profession—it’s a way to freeze time and encapsulate the beauty of life’s moments. She specializes in capturing the authentic emotions of pregnancy, newborn sessions, cake smashes, and family portraits, believing that each stage of life deserves to be treasured and celebrated. Tamarind’s goal is to create a comfortable and genuine connection with her clients, crafting images that speak volumes and touch hearts. Whether you’re celebrating pregnancy, welcoming a new baby, or capturing family memories, Tamarind is dedicated to creating cherished moments that will last for generations.

1st Place Winner – Milestones – “Porcelain Doll” by Marcela Limon

2nd Place Winner – Child – “Pure Innocence” by Marcela Limon

The Story Behind the Winning Image

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes in some of these amazing images, particularly those that are competition winners?

Marcela Limon is a Certified Maternity and Newborn photographer servicing the San Francisco Bay Area from her beautiful studio in Alameda. She’s been specializing in motherhood images since 2015 and has won prestigious awards at international print competitions in the last few years, including APNPI, WPPI and PPA, where she recently earned her Master of Photography degree. She’s committed to newborn safety and that’s why she is Infant CPR trained and has had in person mentoring with renowned photographers from around the world. She’s always looking for education opportunities to make the industry better for both her colleagues and her clients.

To see more of Marcela’s work: https://lemonshoots.com/

To learn more: APNPI Image Competition

Did you know…

All members receive one free entry – so go ahead try it out, you have nothing to lose!

Each image is up for an award, whether it’s in the top 3 or not.  Every submission competes against itself to earn a Merit Award (score of 80 and above).

Merit Awards are prestigious accomplishments!  They denote a level that stands out above the Accreditation level.

Competing is an excellent way for members to sharpen their skills and elevate their work.

Members learn a ton from entering their images and receiving feedback from the judges.

For more info and to enter, visit: www.apnpi.com/image-competition