Aired Package:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Web Only Package:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

About PMDA Soldiers’ Angels Portraits of Love Project

The PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) has teamed with the Soldiers’ Angels volunteer organization to create the PMDA Soldiers’ Angels Portraits of Love Project. The goal of the Project is to provide 10,000 U.S. soldiers around the world with portraits of their families and loved ones this holiday season, taken by the incredibly talented photographers within our industry. What better way to make our soldiers feel at home than by providing them with a beautifully photographed and printed portrait of the ones they love and miss the most?

The PMDA Soldiers’ Angels Portraits of Love Project will help soldiers create their own private world – one in which when they lay down at night, in the barracks, in the tents, or wherever they are, that they are with their loved ones. At the recent PMDA Person of the Year dinner, Sergeant First Class Toby Nunn spoke about the incredible motivation a simple photograph can provide to a solider away from home. We are looking to use the strength and commitment of PMDA member companies to help support this Project and provide the men and women defending our country with a piece of home during these difficult times.

PMDA has designated the month of September to set up photo shoots and gather soldiers’ families in specific cities, on military bases and in other locations across the country. We are working with individual photographers to set up these locations. The goal of the project is to create 10,000 portraits of soldiers’ families and to send these portraits to the soldiers overseas and to their families here in the United States in time for the holidays.

The PMDA Soldiers’ Angels Portraits of Love Project is the imaging industry’s way of giving back with gratitude to the men and women who defend our country each and every day.

Other recipients to be honored at the gala event include: Choong-Hyun Hwang, Vice President, Strategic Marketing Team, at Samsung Digital Imaging Company for Technical Achievement; Jason Schneider, a longtime writer and editor in the photography industry, for Lifetime Achievement; and world-renowned photojournalist Walter Iooss with the Professional Photographer Award. In addition, Vyomesh “VJ” Yoshi, Executive Vice President of Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group, will receive PMDA’s Visionary Award.

The PMDA awards are given annually to the persons or organizations that have significantly contributed to the imaging industry throughout the year, or throughout their careers, and have had a positive and meaningful impact on the business of photography.

Michio Kariya, Nikon Corporation – Person of the Year

Michio Kariya earned his master of science degree in Applied Chemistry at the Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, in 1967, which also marked the beginning of his successful career with Nippon Kogaku K.K., the company now known as Nikon Corporation.

As an engineer, Kariya-san was personally responsible for the successful development of Nikon’s first ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) lens. ED elements remain a core NIKKOR lens technology—contributing to extraordinary photographic performance and enabling a level of optical precision that, without which, the highly successful development of Nikon Stepper technology would not have been possible.

Decades of hard work, seasoned with a long string of engineering and business achievements, contributed to Kariya’s executive promotion to Director, member of the board and President of the Nikon Imaging Company in 1999. In the 11 years since, Kariya continued to demonstrate extraordinary leadership and vision that was rewarded with ever-increasing responsibilities, leading to his present position at the helm of Nikon Corporation.

Kariya was honored to serve as chairman of Japan’s Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA), where he played a significant role in the development and adoption of a unified measurements system, providing many of the standards necessary to support healthy growth across the digital imaging industry. He was inducted into the PMA Hall of Fame in 2009.

Choong-Hyun Hwang – Herbert Keppler Technical Achievement Award

Choong-Hyun Hwang is Vice President of the Strategic Marketing Team at Samsung Digital Imaging Co. Ltd. He currently leads the product planning group for digital cameras and digital video cameras. Hwang has been with Samsung since 1983, holding a variety of leadership positions within the organization. In 2005, he headed the global team for the digital camera business and in 2006 played a key role in successfully launching the NV series, Samsung’s first premium digital camera line. Recently, he successfully led the project that just launched the Samsung DualView cameras.

Hwang, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Hongik University, also served as Chief Manager for the Tianjin Samsung Opto-Electronics branch in China from 1997 to 1999, where he contributed to positioning Samsung digital cameras as the top-tier brand in the Chinese market by innovating on the distribution system.

Jason Schneider – Norman C. Lipton Lifetime Achievement Award

Jason Schneider has been an avid photography enthusiast since he was 14. Over the course of his long career, he has worked as a wedding and studio photographer, a photojournalist, a retail camera salesman, and a camera store manager. However, he is best known as a prolific writer and editor on all aspects of photography who helped shape and direct the editorial coverage of two leading American photo magazines for more than three decades.

Schneider began by creating the “Camera Collector” column for Modern Photography magazine, which first appeared in mid-1969. Shortly thereafter, in October of that year, he joined Modern’s staff as Assistant Editor and, under the astute and affectionate guidance of his friend and mentor, the late, great Herbert Keppler, rose through the ranks at Modern Photography to become its Editorial Director in 1985.

After leaving Modern in 1987, Schneider became Editorial Director, then Editor in Chief, of Popular Photography, the world’s largest imaging magazine, a position he held for nearly 16 years until stepping down in 2003. Considered an authority on the history of camera design and technology, he has written three books on camera collecting and is currently a contributing editor to Shutterbug magazine and Senior Editor of Photo Industry Reporter, the industry’s leading trade magazine.

Vyomesh “VJ” Yoshi – Visionary Award

In the last seven years, under Yoshi’s leadership, Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group has grown revenue from $19 billion to $25 billion and doubled its operating profit to more than $4 billion. Yoshi, who now spearheads HP’s drive to become the world’s premier printing company, joined HP in 1980 as a research and development engineer and has held various leadership positions. He has a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State University and has been a member of the Yahoo! board of directors since 2005.

Walter Iooss – Professional Photographer Award

Noted photographer Walter Iooss’s photos of athletes and swimsuit models are recognized around the world. By the time Iooss graduated from East Orange High School in New Jersey, he was already shooting pictures of athletes. Iooss received his first assignment from Sports Illustrated in 1961, and he was shooting at Yankee Stadium when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s home run record with his iconic 61 runs. Iooss has been working for the magazine ever since.

After two years of hard work, Iooss achieved masthead status at Sports Illustrated, and he was only 20 years old when he got his first Sports Illustrated cover, a photo of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Art Mahaffey. Among the highlights of his career was shooting the cover of Sports Illustrated on January 18, 1982: The image shows Dwight Clark, then the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, catching a pass from quarterback Joe Montana. That photo depicted the historic catch that got the 49ers into the Super Bowl that year.

Walter Iooss has also been one of the principal photographers for the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. While this is a highly enjoyable part of his job, working on the ever-popular issue takes long days of shooting for over four months.

In addition to his sports photography, Iooss is known for his photographs of musicians. Although he doesn’t remember exactly how he got the job, Iooss became an in-house photographer for Atlantic Records, where he photographed many famous musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin. Walter Iooss has written 14 books that are photographic collections of models and singers, and his work has been honored with a Lucie Award for lifetime achievement in the industry

About Attending the PMDA Awards Dinner

The PMDA Person of the Year Dinner will be held on February 20, 2010 in Anaheim, California. For information, please contact Gen Christo at Christo@pmda.com.

About PMDA

Founded in 1939, the PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) has promoted the photo and digital imaging industry for over 67 years with an emphasis on photo-imaging manufacturers and distributors. PMDA provides an open forum for its members to exchange ideas and learn new technologies and business trends, in addition to administering programs that promote photography to the general public. The member companies of PMDA have a box seat on the changing product and business developments of the photo industry and a unique opportunity to network with other industry principals and managers in the receptions preceding each meeting and special event. PMDA has also teamed up with PMA to create the Photographic Information Council (PIC) to promote photography to the general public. PIC’s website (http://www.takegreatpictures.com) provides great photo tips and techniques, celebrity photographers, contests, new product releases and projects. See PMDA’s site, http://www.pmda.com, for more information.

Designed to help bring a piece of home to soldiers around the world, the project is utilizing the talents of over 275 volunteer photographers across the country who are opening their studios this September, to offer free family portraits to military family members who have a soldier deployed overseas. The portraits will be uploaded to a website, http://www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com, and a print will be sent, free of charge, directly to the soldier in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever they are deployed around the world.  The goal of the project is to send 10,000 free family portraits during the month of September.

“This project is the photo industry’s way of giving back to our soldiers, and thanking them for the sacrifices they have made for our country,” said Jerry Grossman, the president of the PMDA who has spearheaded the effort. “Our industry is uniquely qualified to bring an important piece of home to our soldiers, and we’re pleased to be able to organize this effort.”

“It’s incredible how motivating a simple family photograph can be to a soldier who is far from home,” said Sergeant First Class Toby Nunn, who has served two tours in Iraq and has worked with Soldiers Angels on a number of projects. “This volunteer effort is one more way that we can help our soldiers cope with their situation,” he said.

The PMDA has asked photographers nationwide to volunteer their time and talent to take professional family portraits during the month of September. Military family members can find participating photographers living in their areas on a special website, www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com. Photographers are listed by state, and in order for family members to participate they will have to show a proper military ID to the photographer. The website was developed by Fujifilm, a PMDA member who has underwritten this effort, and SeeHere.com from Fujifilm is supplying the free prints to the soldiers and their families.

Those photographers interested in volunteering their time can also sign up online at www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com.

About PMDA

Founded in 1939, the PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) has promoted the photo industry for over 70 years with an emphasis on photo imaging manufacturers and distributors.  PMDA provides an open forum for its members to exchange ideas and learn new technologies and business trends, in addition to administering programs that promote photography to the general public.  The member companies of PMDA have a box seat on the changing product and business developments of the photo industry and a unique opportunity to network with other industry principals and managers in the receptions preceding each meeting and special event. PMDA has also teamed up with the Photo Marketing Association to create the Photographic Information Council (PIC) to promote photography to the general public.  PIC’s website (www.takegreatpictures.com) provides great photo tips and techniques, celebrity photographers, contests, new product releases and projects. See PMDA’s site, www.pmda.com, for more information.