Hello Learning … Educational trip to Destin & Nashville!
I believe in Education, in Community, in Friendships both work and life and it’s extra fantastic when you can mix the two.
Each year I try to attend a national conference or education related to business. This year I had the unique opportunity at attending two, just weeks apart in the southern states. Last year I only could attend local/state conferences, so it was fantastic to travel to learn once again.
It was one of those times in life where it all seemed to come together as a fantastic blend of work and pleasure (and lots of travel) We had friends in several towns between the conferences, so the journey began. We had just enough time to get city to city. I also had the opportunity to travel with both my daughters for parts of the trip. I call it the “loop of FUN”…. that’s another long blog post about the towns we explored in between learning.
The first conference I attended was SYNC (which stands for Senior, Youth, National Conference in Destin, Florida!) It was a great mix of learning in a fabulous location. At this conference, everyone is listening to one educator, so it was a room full of crazy photographers. Like many businesses, photography is a blend of creative inspiration and business. Classes are geared to help us learn to run a better business and especially in a creative craft we are in. It was also really special meeting photographer friends that I have been online friends with for years in different groups and forums. I lucked out with a wonderful random room mate, Ana, from Atlanta that is now a fun new photographer friend. We share so much in common, it was a blast connecting.
The classes were good, early days, late nights and especially happy I got my nugget of info to make this year even more special for my clients. (Alright I got many nuggets of info!) We had a large group of wonderful women that connected, laughed, and shared our ups and downs in business. It’s so great connecting with friends that share the same passions. After five days in Florida, it ended…. I only saw the beach for 15 minutes while waiting for lunch (at a great place called Red Bar Tavern!) next year I will take more time to enjoy the Florida sunshine!
Here’s a few of the photo’s of my SYNC friends. Bummed we didn’t get any pictures of our entire fun group!
Jenna, I, Ana, and Our Rival OHIO STATE mom/daughter team….yes, really they are fabulous and the photo below is our duck face photo!
Oh ya, I forgot to say it ended with a great concert from Justin James concert!!! Check out his tunes, he’s a really nice guy. https://www.justinjamesmusic.com
The second conference was Imaging USA which is the national conference through Professional Photographers of America. There were apx. 12, 000 photographers in attendance. We had around a dozen Oregon professional photographers attending, which was really fun building our community of talent.
OPPA Members in Nashville
The classes varied anywhere from business, to technical, creative, to social media, and back to creative business! Some of my favorite artists were: Luke & David Edmonson Check out their work, they recently won International Photographer of the Year! Yes, they are that amazing. https://www.lukeedmonson.com/ They are a father son team that are so passionate about their art and life. Luke spoke so loudly from his heart, it was a fantastic session.
Another fun class was attending Peter Hurley’s headshot class. https://www.peterhurley.com He has crazy energy and we learned the importance of the “SQUENCH” and of course….. THE “SHABANG”! So many great educators, I really could go on all day about the importance of education.
My friend Lisa received her Craftsman Degree, which was so exciting to watch the awards ceremony. I am so honored to know such talented people. It was all very inspiring and was exciting to see my name on the big screen for receiving my C.P.P. this past year Certified Professional Photographer Degree)
It was definitely a fun few days of learning and wonderful to share inspired moments with my roomie Loma!
Well, I am excited about lots of new ideas I have learned and will begin this week back at it. I look forward to another wonderful year with my friends and clients that are so supportive and fabulous. Thank you for taking the time to read about my lil adventure! Here’s a few pic from my I phone (and, yes i need to upgrade the camera is not good!) Starting with Jo.Chan and Denny’s Manufacturing… buying new backdrops at the amazing trade show at Imaging USA!
Okay, the masks as a bit of a joke as the hotel had a virus outbreak, well, everyone should have worn them…. the Norovirus hit again. Luckily I stayed healthy, but so many others did not.
Love this quote, so true and so happy to have support in our photography community from so many mentors and friends!
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