I have been home for a week now from my favorite photography conference (Imaging USA) in Nashville, and I feel like I have finally caught my breath and can share some of my thoughts about how much this conference and the experience means to me.
I hope that you know what it's like to find your "people". I wish this for you because there is nothing quite like it. I am blessed to feel like I have a few groups of "my people". I have my co-workers who are my therapy people, my chamber friends who are my business people....and then there are my photography people. I think these are most closely my people. I learned this the first time I went to Imaging USA 10 years ago. Whether a photographer is an introvert or as extroverted as me, or somewhere in between...these are my people. We all get it. The struggle to believe in ourselves, the struggle to charge the prices we need to make a living when X's cousin has a camera and will do it all for $200. We all understand never feeling like we are good enough for our prices when we do raise them to what we need to make a living. Everyone has a camera in a pocket so they can take their photos themselves right? No. And not all photographers are the same just because we have a camera that isn't a phone. But a photographer who is seeking knowledge, who goes to classes at a conference like Imaging in order to improve their craft...that photographer is one of my people.
Ten years ago at my first Imaging in Atlanta, I didn't consider myself a "real" photographer because I had a full-time job as an Occupational Therapist. But that first night I made new friends with some amazing photographers who accepted me as one of them. I couldn't be more thankful to Imaging for those and ALL the amazing relationships I have built over the years. Here I am 10 years later, a CPP (Certified Professional Photographer) who WILL get a Master of Wedding Photography Degree next year! (I am determined.) But I know that I will never be ready to stop learning. If I did, then I wouldn't be serving my other people....my clients.
Regardless of whether your people are your co-workers, a specific group you belong to, other introverts or extroverts, people who love a particular activity, or something even more abstract...I hope you find them and you have the opportunity to meet with them and both re-energize and deplete your internal batteries (because you stay up waaay too late talking and continuing to learn and deepen your friendships.) There is nothing quite like that amazing experience!
Cheers!
*Note: the photos in this post do not all have great lighting or professional quality, but they represent the fun times I had and some of the things I learned! (And also my images that got me three steps closer to get my Master's!) Enjoy!
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