It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but we’ve just been to Detroit and back. Door to door I think we were gone for a little more than 24 hours. And PS: Detroit is a little bit of a further drive than I thought!
We headed to the Motor City to attend an all-day conference on Wednesday put on by WPPI – an organization for professional wedding and portrait photographers who hold conferences all over the states, and a big one in Las Vegas towards the end of February every year. I’d never been to one of their events before, so I wasn’t entirely sure exactly what to expect. In the back of my mind, I thought maybe I’d feel like I didn’t belong. That maybe I’d think that I wasn’t doing it right, or that I didn’t know enough, or that everyone else was “making it” and I wasn’t. But you know what? I think the biggest thing I took home from listening to the four speakers was that we (photographers) all do it differently. And that that’s ok. Actually that’s more than ok; I think that’s great. I didn’t always resonate with what the speakers were saying (sometimes I did. Lots of things that this girl had to say was like she was reading my mind!). But overall, being there actually gave me confidence in the path I’ve chosen and the way Dave and I do things. It made me sad to think that maybe a photographer would listen whole heartedly to someone else’s advice on what made them successful and think that if they just do the same thing, it will mean that they will be successful. I don’t think it works like that. I feel like Dave and I are successful, because we’ve defined our goals, we’ve met our goals, we’re making new ones, and we’re making the people we work with very happy bunnies. And we’re making ourselves very happy bunnies, doing what we love together.
Quite a few Ontario photographers made their way down and it was great to rep-re-SENT down there. It was awesome to meet in person a few girls I’d been following and chatting to on twitter for the past little while, like Rosita and Sandra. The best part of the whole day was probably when I tapped Krista on the shoulder to whisper something insightful and she turned around to face me with her door prize ticket scrunched up in her eye socket like a pirate and I couldn’t stop laughing. As much fun as we had, it was a whirlwind and after a long drive in the dark trying not to get lost and discussing everything we’d heard, it was so nice for Dave and I to walk into our place and be greeted by a friendly face and a whole lot of purring. No matter where we’ve been, it’s always nice to come back home and have a certain someone waiting for you…
- Jenn xx
by JENN
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