International Photography Hall of Fame & Museum Blog

PPA Magazine Article on Dorothea Lange

2012-02-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

We are currently working to process all of the new memberships that was signed up at Imaging USA. We want to thank everyone who decided to join IPHF there and support our mission in educating and preserving the history of photography.

We want to thank PPA for the wonderful article they published in the February issue of the "Professional Photographer" Magazine, featuring one of our inductees. This first article features Dorothea Lange.

They are planning to feature more of our inductees in future issues of the magazine. We are so appreciative of their support and the exposure their magazine distribution will provide for IPHF.

PPA National Convention

2012-01-26T14:23:00.000-08:00

It was nice seeing everyone at the Imaging USA national convention in New Orleans last week. The last numbers we got was that the event would exceed 10,000 attendees. The Inductee Panels on display in the International Print Exhibit was a huge hit. Every time I visited the display, there were attendees viewing the panels, taking pictures of them and several were taking notes on the history of the inductees. It was great exposure for our museum.

Also the booth we had was visited by many and we signed up a number of new members at the show. Ken Whitmire, one of our longest tenured board members, worked the booth several hours each day. Also Twana Scalf spent lots of time there each day with and often in Ken's absence. We appreciate the support that PPA provides IPHF each year by providing us the booth and exhibit locations for no charge. It allows us to continue to spread the word regarding our mission in photography.

Imaging USA Convention in New Orleans

2012-01-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

We hope that everyone has enjoyed a wonderful beginning to this new year. We want to let you know that IPHF will be exhibiting at the Imaging USA meeting in New Orleans this weekend. If you are attending the Professional Photographers of America's national convention January 15 - 18 in New Orleans, look for our exhibit. We will have a separate exhibit, of our Inductee panels, on display in the area where the 2011 International Photographic Competition exhibit will be displayed in the convention center. Viewing these exhibits is free for anyone. There is a fee for attending the Trade Show or the annual meeting itself. IPHF has enjoyed a long and close relationship with PPA ever since this foundation was formed in 1965. We hope you can drop by the convention center and enjoyed the incredible exhibits.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

The staff and board of IPHF want to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year. The year of 2012 will bring a lot of new and exciting changes for the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. We have a wonderful new option to advance our plans for relocation from the Science Museum Oklahoma and we plan to be reopened in a new facility and gallery later this year.

We will also resume our regular updates online here at our blog spot regarding the timing of our relocation along with the progress of our fund raising campaign. We also will keep everyone posted on other activites that IPHF is involved in along with events we will be supporting.

Email us anytime with your questions at info@iphf.org.

Campaign Progress

2011-04-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Capital Campaign to raise funds to purchase and renovate the building on N Lincoln is coming along, just not as fast as we need for it to. I guess that is always the case. During this campaign, I have been meeting with a number of sigificant developers and city administrators about keeping IPHF here in OKC. The meetings have been very possitive and has led to a number of follow up meetings with other individuals around the city. We have even met with Devon, Chesapeake and SandRidge regarding our situation. I hope to have more positive information to post in the weeks and months to come. I encourage you to go to www.iphf.org and make a donation today. You can do so with any major credit card or by using PayPal. You can also become a member online the same way. We cherish your support.

2011 Capital Campaign

2011-01-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe time bringing in the New Year. Now we have some exciting news regarding the IPHF!

We are officially kicking off our Capital Campaign to purchase and renovate a building in Oklahoma City, just north of the State Capitol Building on Lincoln. When we complete this campaign, we will have an awesome new permanent home where we will be able to showcase our Inductee Hall, galleries for continuous photography exhibits and rooms to hold training seminars. We will begin to posting updates on a regular basis now that we have succeeded in contracting this property for our new location.

You may also visit our website at www.iphf.org for additional information. You can also make an online donation toward the campaign through the website! Stay tuned!!!!

Michael Scalf Sr
Executive Director

OKC Fund Raising Chair

2010-05-10T07:09:00.001-07:00

I want to welcome Karen Belch, who is our new Fund Raising Chair for IPHF. She is going to focus on raising the needed capital to acquire and build out a building in OKC for IPHF to move into! She is very excited about this challenge and has many great contacts around the state that she feels she can tap into. She and I are formulating a plan of action for a couple specific events she has in mind. I will keep everyone posted on the progression of these events as they are going to be very special! long with that, I am building the donor program structure and segmenting the needed capital to fulfill the campaign goals! More to come in the very near future.

Michael Scalf Sr

Oklahoma progress

2010-04-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

I have had discussions with several art gallery directors during the past two weeks regarding our relocation progress. I also met with a lady who has signed on to be the chairperson of our fundraising efforts here to raise the capital needed for the potential build out and purchase of a building.

Also I have a meeting in Norman on April 14th with the President of the CVB along with other city officials, civic leaders and community developers to see if we could be included into the arts district of Norman! We continue to explore any and all options for our relocation!

Michael Scalf Sr

St Louis making effort to renew interest

2010-03-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

I have been informed that the former Mayor of St Louis, Vincent Shoemehl, who is also the head of the Grand Center complex development in St Louis, has identified new potential property in the complex that can potentially house the IPHF facility. He has gotten the leadership of the Pultizer Foundation for the Arts to allocate a staff member to come to Oklahoma City and review our collection and operation. She will report back to the Pultizer management regarding the extent of the IPHF collection and if she feels it would be a good fit for the building they have available there. Our National Board of Director will be meeting the end of April to discuss all options being offered to us here in OKC, Tulsa, St Louis or any other location that might be presented from other board members.

Meeting with local Architect!

2010-02-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

This past Friday I met with Mr. Rand Elliot, a prominent local architect who frequently works with the art community. We were looking to determine the required renovations we would encounter at one location here in town that we have are considering as a potential new location. The preliminary review is very favorable and we are moving forward to negotiate with the building owners to see if we can come up with a workable lease / purchase agreement that will allow us to afford this facility.

We are also in need of your support in order to assist us in planning for such a move. I encourage you to visit our website site. There on the home page you will find a big green button that welcomes you to make a donation toward this wonderful non-profit foundation. Please consider supporting us today.

Michael Scalf Sr
Executive Director

More OKC Location Options!

2010-02-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

I am getting more excited about our options of keeping this fantastic facility here in OKC. Just this past week I was contacted by individuals, with whom I am working with, and two more significant community investors sent word to me through a mutual contact, for me to contact them. They are interested in scheduling a meeting to discuss our situation and to see how they can help us stay in OKC. This if fantastic! I already have a option being put into writing as I type, for a location here in town and for another location in downtown Tulsa. I am anxiously waiting those detailed proposals. I will keep everyone on top of the occurrences as everything progresses.

Michael Scalf Sr
Executive Director

Looking at OKC locations

2010-01-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

This past week was an active week as far a looking at several new potential locations around the downtown OKC area. I was privileged to look at a couple of locations in the Automobile Alley area along with a building in the Film Row district. All of these have great potential for us as a new location but one was much more intriguing than the others. Regardless, we will continue to follow up on every lead and location we are provided with until we have something secured for our new location. My plan is to leave no stone unturned nor any tree unshaken, in regards to finding and opening up every option possible.

If anyone of you know of someone who has a special interest or love for this art and science we all know as "photography", please have them contact me. Better yet, notify me with their contact information and I will get in touch with them. I would love to see how they might be able to assist us in the massive project we have undertaken.

Michael Scalf Sr - Executive Director

Imaging USA in Nashville

2010-01-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

I just returned from Nashville where the Professional Photographers of America held their annual national convention this past weekend, known as Imaging USA. What an outstanding success this conference was. The largest attendance PPA had ever experienced at previous conventions was 8000 but this year they had over 10,000 attendees! Wow, I hope that this is another sign that the economy is turning the corner and things are looking up for the small businessman. I hope you got to visit Imaging USA and experience some of the energy that was present there.

IPHF had a booth in the trade show and our President, John Nagel and his wife, Rosemary, worked the entire show. Our exhibit generated a lot of interest and we also signed up a lot of new members. If you are not a member of this wonderful institution, who need to be. Each individuals membership is vital in order to maintain our existence and to help us fulfil our mission. We ask you to go to the website and join us today! www.iphf.org Thanks!

Michael Scalf Sr - Executive Director

Welcome to 2010!

2010-01-07T06:06:00.000-08:00

I want to wish everyone a very safe, happy and prosperous New Year! 2010 will be ushering in a lot of interesting changes here at IPHF, one of which will be the selection and relocation of our headquarters, inductee hall and galleries! We have looked a several potential locations here in OKC and also in Tulsa, with several more to review. We will provide you news on our progress as soon as we have something definite.

Also if you are a photographer, I trust that you are attending Imaging USA 2010 in Nashville this coming weekend, please come by our booth, #784 in the trade show. The Professional Photographers of America's annual convention is always a fantastic conference with thousands of attendees and hundreds of vendors! The actual show dates are January 10-12 at the Opryland Hotel. Stop by and say hi to our President, John Nagel and his wife Rosemary, who will be working the booth, along with other national board members and volunteers.

If you are not a member of IPHF, you really should be, especially if you are a photographer. I encourage you to go to our membership link in our website and join today! You can also stop by the booth in Nashville and we can sign you up there!

Michael Scalf Sr - Executive Director

Postings from 2009

2010-01-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

Below are a collection on blogs, formerly posted to IPHF's personal blog page. We have since stopped posting on our site, and have become a "blogger". Hooray!

Fall 2009

Hello membership, patrons and community! IPHF has had its hands busy archiving, grant writing and photographing. We have also managed to facilitate a workshop & lecture series called:The Art of Photography and the Science of Digital & Vice Versa.

The first of our workshops will begin on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 9 AM. This particular workshop and lecture series is being partly underwritten by Canon USA. Canon's Explorers of Light photographer Nick Vedros will discuss commercial photography as well as his own secrets to success. In addition, portrait photographer Doug Box will share lighting ideas and keys to making great portraits. We would love to have you participate! For more information check out our homepage.

If you were not already aware, IPHF galleries are currently closed to the public. We are relocating our displays and archives into another area of Science Museum Oklahoma. During this transition, the awesome Grand Canyon diorama exhibit will still be open as well as our offices, Monday through Friday 10 AM until 5 PM.

IPHF will eventually be relocating to another facility by January 1, 2011. We have been offered a wonderful opportunity to move to a new arts center center being developed in downtown St. Louis, MO. Although the board of directors is considering this offer, no lease or legally binding documents have been signed at this time. We are still aggressively exploring any opportunities within the Oklahoma City and Tulsa area for a similar opportunity to remain in Oklahoma. Any further questions should be directed toward Executive Director, Michael Scalf, Sr. 405.424.4055.

Summer 2009

Hello membership, patrons and community! It seems that the months are going by faster and faster for IPHF. The past two months have brought new challenges that IPHF has assiduous in undertaking.

In lieu of some unforeseen personal circumstances, Rick Sinnett, stepped down as Interim Director. IPHF will miss Mr. Sinnett's contribution to and enthusiasm for the arts. IPHF wishes him the best of luck on his future endeavors.

The past several weeks, IPHF has been looking for someone to lead the foundation into the next generation of its' existence and we believe we have found just the right person. Beginning, Monday June 22, 2009 Mr. Michael Scalf Sr. took over as the Executive Director.

Mr. Scalf got his start in the photography industry as photojournalist for Houston area newspapers in 1980. Michael worked in corporate private industry as a supervisor and manager, until 1988. That same year, he opened a full time photography studio in Houston, Texas. He provided, not only high-end portraiture and wedding coverage, but also commercial and industrial photography.

After sixteen years, Michael sold his studio, where stayed on for the following two years to ease the transition. In 2003, he was named Executive Director of a regional non-profit association, which he is currently still serving. Michael has been active in the photography community for over 20 years. He served on the National Board of Directors for the International Photography Hall of Fame & Museum from 1999 to 2007. We welcome Michael to his new home at IPHF.

In more news, the necessity to focus on the proper accessioning and moving of the collection has caused IPHF to close all galleries to the public. This saddens us very much, but we hope to start pairing with different local organizations in the coming months to hopefully continue to bring you exciting works from IPHF collection. More news on that as it develops.

Spring 2009

Good day members, patrons and community! Life at IPHF has been exciting and is bound with new possibilities and tremendous developments. Just as last month, IPHF continues to build its momentum and things are looking very promising for the future.

As of the beginning of April, IPHF has decided to limit the gallery to only exhibit in the main gallery. Galleries A & B will be closed to the public, until otherwise posted. The main gallery, however, will still be hanging works of art. Moreover, the 360˚ photographic view of the Grand Canyon will still be open!*

*Update: As of May 20th, the IPHF galleries have been closed to the public.

IPHF, in the coming month, will be teaming up with the Oklahoma Zoological Society, to teach children to take photographs. This is program will be in conjunction with the Zoo’s Walk-About Workshop. What is being coined as, Capture the Wild Photo Contest, will have age group winners. Winner’s photographs will be posted on the website upon completion of the contest. For more information, look to the Zoological website, www.zoofriends.com

Finally, in an on-going effort to keep a relationship with Oklahoma City, our home for more than 25 years, we are continuing to look at options for potential satellites here. We have more than a year before IPHF plans to move, and in that time we will look at all options and weigh the feasibility of keeping a portion of our collection in Oklahoma City.