One of the best things about this industry is the people. Not just the brides or the grooms, but our peers. The ones we talk shop with, go to happy hour with, and the ones who push us the most.
A few months ago, I was invited to attend a photographer shootout organized by Jared Rey. He invited a handful of us to share techniques, push each other creatively, and just hang out while we photographed Ashley and Tod. Here are a few photos from the shoot. 🙂
I think this is just about everyone at the beginning. From L-R: Catie Ronquillo, Amy Karp (kneeling), Magaly Abbott, Stephen Brown, Celina Gomez, Andrea Crosswhite (kneeling), Jared Rey, and Stacy Reeves.
This is who they were photographing. 🙂
Here’s Stacy showing Tod how he should pose LIKE A BOSS.
Here he is. LIKE A BOSS.
Here’s another picture of everyone, including Jason Anderson, Josh Littrell, and Allison Davis.
After the shoot, we went over to Babe’s Chicken for some dinner and conversation. Cesar and Tanya showed up and what a coincidence! It was Cesar’s fake 22nd birthday!
Back in October, we attended a marketing workshop hosted by Lawrence Chan of Tofurious. His marketing wisdom, which has helped us finely tune our efforts for long term growth, was held at the fancy smancy Hotel Zaza in uptown Dallas. Here’s a photo of the man himself (and the woman behind him who probably does all the hard work, Julie, lol) during a light test.
Again, this was a great opportunity for Andrew and I to meet other photographers and expand our network of peers. Catie (from above!) is a California transplant. She saw the light at the end of the tunnel and came running. Meegan Weaver from Wichita Falls came here to do some big mall shopping and thought she’d stop by the workshop as well. 😉 Scott Pickering was probably the smartest one of us there, with at least a decade of IT experience, but wanted to build his photography business. It’s normal people like these that make the wedding photography industry so diverse and fresh.
At the beginning of March, we’re thinking of heading back to Las Vegas for WPPI, a huge conference of at least 10,000 photographers from around the world. Sure, it’s about education, but with 10,000+ people from different backgrounds and settings coming together, the real value is adding them as Facebook friends creating new connections. If you’re planning on going, add us on facebook let us know!
Lastly, if you’re looking to build your business, I would highly recommend attending Stacy’s Mind Your Business workshop. It’s a 100% business class geared towards photographers. Had this been around when we first started, I think it would have saved us a lot of trial and error. Stacy is a smart Aggie (irony, I know), who’s been in the business of photography for years. As a wedding photographer, your success depends not only on how good your pictures are, but in your ability to run and grow a business. Stacy’s workshop is designed to teach you how to do exactly that, and I’m sure anyone from any industry can benefit from the knowledge she’ll be sharing.
I hope this post will explain why we love our jobs so much. We love what we do, who we get to do it with, and the people who walk in front, behind and alongside of us as we do it.
Oh, and happy new year!