Gregg Martin Gregg Martin, CPP, AFPh of Gregg Martin Photographic Design in Columbia has earned a Platinum Level Photographer of the Year Award from Professional Photographers of America (PPA). He will be honored at PPA's annual convention, Imaging USA, in January in Nashville, Tennessee.

A PPA member earns a Photographer of the Year Award by earning a merit for each of the four images included in their print case — an incredible accomplishment. All merited images enter PPA's renowned General Collection.

The level of the award is determined by how many of these four images receive the highest possible honor: acceptance into the PPA Loan Collection. The Loan Collection travels the world for one year and is displayed at print exhibitions, conventions, and other photography events.

Martin received a Platinum Level Photographer of the Year Award, meaning that three of his four merited images were accepted into PPA's Loan Collection. In 2009 Martin was one of 22 and the only South Carolinian to earn a PPA Platinum Photographer of the Year.

"Paw Paw's Passion" by Gregg Martin 2004 was the inaugural year for PPA's Photographer of the Year Awards. They were developed as a way to encourage photographers to improve their artistic and technical skills and demonstrate their talent through competition, as well as a way for the public to discern the best of the best.

"These awards are among the most prestigious in the industry" confirms PPA Print Exhibition Committee Chairperson Helen Yancy. The recipients of these awards have proven the quality of their work on a consistent basis in one of the highest quality image competitions in the world, PPA's International Print Competition.

PPA, a world wide association, exists to assist it's more then 22,000 members in achieving their professional, artistic and fraternal goals, promote public awareness of the profession and advance the making of images in all of its disciplines as an art, a science and a visual reader of history.

To view more of Gregg's work, please visit www.GreggMartinPhoto.com.

"Gridiron Gator" by Gregg Martin