Imaging USA- where photographers go to play!

Last month I traveled to Atlanta to attend three days of Professional Photographers of America’s annual conference, ImagingUSA, to learn as much as I could about both.

Initially the most amazing part of the trip?  Traveling to another city for the first time in four+ years, all by myself.  I felt like a grown up again.  When I first arrived in my lovely and very quiet hotel room on Saturday evening, I quite literally did not know what to do with myself.  All I could focus on was the quiet.  There was no one to make dinner for, to clean up after, to make sure teeth were brushed, jammies were on, and each of the stuffed animals were tucked in… and did I mention it was so quiet?  I spent that first evening thrilled to just order room service, complete with a large glass of wine, texting all of my (mommy) friends about my lack of responsibility for the following three days, and feeling really excited that I could watch tv, without once having to hit pause!

It. Was. Awesome.

But alas, I did not travel to Atlanta to sit in an empty hotel room soaking up silence, and after that first night, I really did not see much of it.  I did not see much of Atlanta either.  The days at Imaging were spent attending talks given by many industry leaders- covering both shooting and editing techniques as well all aspects of business development.  The days were broken up by a *huge* Expo where you could probably buy anything photography related that your little heart desired.  (I put myself on a spending diet and exhibited emmense restraint despite all of the gleaming lens surrounding me that were just aching to be taken home.)  Finally, the evenings were spent meeting and chatting with lovely new photographer friends.

Day 1 included a lunch get-together with new friends from Clickin Moms– a wonderful online community of photographers that I have loved being a part of for the past year.  It was really cool getting to meet many that I felt like I already knew- some that I have chatted with in our online forums and others who’s blogs and photos I have followed from afar.  Here we are, a group of women who rarely get on this side of the camera:

 photo courtesy of Ashlyn Perkins

I also had the honor of attending the Click Magazine launch party.  Click is a new publication which focuses mainly on children’s photography (although other topics are covered as well.)  If you haven’t already, check it out!  It is highly worth the very low subscription price for both professionals and moms (or dads) just wanting to capture better photos of their kids!  The party was beautiful and so much fun, although somehow I managed not to take any photos of it. (I lugged my camera and not one but two big lenses to Atlanta, what was I thinking?!  Once I figured out how to use the hotel safe, that is where my gear remained.) Thankfully others DID manage to capture this lovely event (and other aspects of the conference) which you can see here.
While at the party, I was thrilled to (literally) bump into one of my favorite images!  Seen here in the post, on the right side about half-way down- it is a black and white shot I took of a friend’s son, sweetly playing in the dirt with a shovel.  It made me smile to see it at the party!

So socializing aside, what did I learn at Imaging?

*This is a ridiculously hard industry to be a part of.  Okay, I actually knew that before flying down there, but this is a concept that speakers repeatedly brought up in their talks.  (One went so far as to say- “look around you.  85% of you won’t be back next year.”  Implying most of us will fail miserably, go out of business, and retreat to a dark corner of the universe.  She wasn’t sugar coating it.)  Hammering home the concept that you continually need to work to be at the top of your game, both technically and business-wise.  This is not something I’ve written about on my blog before, but- as those in the industry know all too well, the industry is over saturated.  The decrease in cost of gear has resulted in an increase in accessibility and the industry has seen a huge influx of individuals who buy a “nice camera” and think that six months later it is time to open up a business.  Essentially “hobbyists” calling themselves “professionals” which has been driving down both the quality and the perceived value of professional imagery.   Again, this is really not new information but it was interesting to hear a proper discussion on this issue by so many of the industry leaders.  It is a strong reminder that we must always continue to learn and work at our craft, both through continuing education and daily practice.  For me personally, this lead to the motivation to begin perusing some long term educational goals that I have been wishing to do for quite some time.  Score one for Imaging!

*A clearer vision of where I want my business to go and what I want it to be about.  This probably sounds like a vague statement, but a second point that I heard repeated many times- spend the time to WRITE DOWN what you want the future of your business to look like.  This is a concept that we hear often, but kind of hate doing (along with the dreaded pricing issue and making sure our financial house is in order.)  It is one of the most important things we must do, yet we always find something else that must be done first (like editing images, or returning emails, or walking the dog and yet again checking Facebook and oh my god I have to pin a new inspiration board on Pinterest right now before I can do anything else!!  And honestly, I would rather wash all of the baseboards in my home before writing down my vision.)  But ultimately, writing it down is critical.  Walking around with all these great big ideas in our heads is not enough.  We must write it down, with specific deadlines, so that we are held (at least loosely) accountable to this plan.  I had not revised my business plan in a year, and so much has changed during that time.  Imaging gave me the motivation to sit down and very specifically outline what I want my business to look like, and helped me write a to-do list for the next year.  It is a lot harder than it sounds, but it feels fantastic when you have completed it.  You are not bound to this plan, but without it, you have no yardstick by which to measure how well you have succeeded in accomplishing any of your plans, or if you have succeeded in keeping in line with your vision.

*Light.  Ok, we could talk about light for days.  And of course, many of the speakers did.  The number one rule- light first, location second.  I may have lost all of my non-photographer readers at this point in the post, but if there are any of you left, I must share this with you- light is always what I (and most photographers I know) look for first when choosing a location.  I often get requests to do sessions based on location (skyline shots are a common request)  Don’t get me wrong, skyline shots can be great, skyline shots can be epic- but if the lighting is bad and your skin looks gray or washed out, the image will fail.  It is more important that the light falls on your skin in a certain manner, producing the right color and shadows that evoke the emotion or mood we are working towards.  Good light will always trump location.  I learned a lot here and returned home seeking out models to pose for me while I practiced working with different kinds of light.

*Jerry Ghinois and Dane Sanders are just as fantastic in real life as I imagined them to be.  I saw so many great speakers but these were probably my two favorite talks.  I have followed both of these guys for the past few years and this is the first time I have seen either of them speak.  Follow them if you don’t already.  I read Dane’s books (“Fast Track Photographer” and “Fast Track Photographer Business Plan”) when I first, first thought about starting this crazy adventure and I quite literally felt like I was meeting a celebrity.  Here I am below- super star struck and feeling a little dorky with Dane Sanders (this was my ‘meet a celebrity’ moment):

*Dave Ramsey.  Not a photographer but a financial guru whose name was mentioned many times.  Follow him too!  As I mentioned, as photographers, most of us hate thinking about the financial aspect of running our business, because we “really just want to take pictures!”  Bottom line, if we do not devote serious attention to our financials, we won’t be in business for very long.  There are a lot of really fantastic professional photographers out there.  I believe the ones that have been able to really make their business succeed are not necessarily better photographers than those that fail, they are better at business.  They have their shtuff together.  I started following Dave Ramsey on Facebook and love being greeted with his daily nuggets of advise each morning.  Yesterday’s quote that I could not love more? “Don’t buy things you can’t afford with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t like.”  True in business, true in life.  Don’t buy gear that is more than you can afford just because you think you have to have it and stop charging less for your services than you can afford (or deserve!)  I am now stumbling into what could and should be a whole separate blog post here, but the take home point- to run a business successfully, properly managing your financials is what will determine if you are able to stick around for the long haul.

So there you go, a long post and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface!   I can’t wait to return to Imaging in 2014- in sunny Phoenix!  Photog buddies, who is joining me?!

And for the record, despite LOVING the peace and quiet of my empty hotel room, I was of course thrilled to return home to the arms of my boys.