Earlier this month I made the trip to Nashville, TN to attend my first photography conference- Blink!  I knew that in 2013 I wanted to take my business to new levels and increase my understanding of photography, marketing, legal, and branding, so I felt like attending a conference would be a great way to achieve some of these goals.  When I saw the announcement for Blink!  from Ike & Tash I knew that it was something that I should look in to a little further.  I think the irony of me writing out my business goals in January combined with their conference announcement in February spoke to me on a level higher than my understanding.

What attracted me to Blink! first and foremost was that it was a boutique-style conference, which meant that I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the number of attendees for my first conference experience.  As a photographer, everyone says that you have to attend WPPI, but in the very next breath they say that the many thousands of people in attendance make it so overwhelming and let’s not forget about the limited access that you have to the presenters because they are focused on selling their products.  Since I don’t know this from first hand experience, I would never knock what WPPI has to offer and while I haven’t ruled out a WPPI attendance, I have to say that Blink! is already on my schedule of conferences for 2014!

So what’s the big deal?  Here we go….when I saw the line-up and names like: Ike &  Tash, Dawn Davis, Joshua Dwain, Zach & Jody, D.Finney, Imaginale Design, and Audrey Woulard to name a few, I couldn’t fathom how these industry leaders could attend a boutique conference, especially when I am used to seeing some of their names on much larger platforms, but they were there! Not only were they there, but they were friendly, approachable, and ready to share their knowledge! This conference was the vision of Latasha Haynes with the support of her amazing husband Isaiah- Ike & Tash! God placed this vision on her heart and she was obedient in seeing it through.  If I learned nothing else from this, I’ve learned that you have to trust God!

So, here are the highlights of my weekend in Nashville!  The first night was an industry mixer with an ah-maze-ing performance by Laura Reed and sponsored by Photographer’s Edit  All of the attendees and speakers were in attendance, including Jody Gray who was due with her first child.  Photographer’s Edit did a quick presentation that really made us look at our business models and see how much time editing photos costs us and why it makes since in some instances to outsource.  “We need to focus on being photographers, not editors who take photographs” as Levi from Photographer’s Edit put it.  Later that evening a group of us headed to dinner for good times, good laughs and industry talk…and a bunch of Instagram photos #blinkconference.

The second and third days we listened to the presenters teach us how to grow our business in specific areas where they specialize and also had time to shoot with our choice of photographer.  I have tons and tons of notes and would not do the speakers any justice to try and summarize each talk in this post.   I think one of the big takeaways was that each photographer/presenter credited their success to God. While this wasn’t a spiritual conference, it was evident that everyone there knew that their success wasn’t achieved alone!  I love that!!!

Here are a few photos to recap the weekend:

The conference was held at the Aloft Hotel in Nashville.  The hotel offered a myriad of photo opportunities!

First night industry mixer prior to heading out for dinner.

Notes that I was taking during Dawn Davis’ presentation!  I love the first bullet point!!!  Thank you Dawn!

Oh, I can’t forget to mention the awesome giveaways and discounts from the sponsors and supporters, such as a Triple Scoop Music giveaway from Dawn Davis, a discount on legal forms from TheLawTog-Rachel Brenke, a FREE registration to Sync Seniors Conference, music from The Music Bed, and a pair of photography pants from Photo Pantz, to name a few!   Black River Imaging also had their cool line of products on display during the entire weekend.  It’s always better to touch and see the products in person in order to know what will work for your business.

Some of the speakers and attendees!  Cheers to new friends in the industry and taking our businesses to greater heights!

We also had an opportunity to shoot with one of the presenters that we selected.  It was so hard to choose, but I spent the afternoon with Joshua Dwain and tried to understand how he comes up with some of his creative out-of-the-box compositions.  We had Nicka and Rashad, pose for us while we praticed.

Here, Robyn explains how she would compose a shot using the pool table and available light.

Group photo before heading inside for our catered lunch and to hear D. Finney’s talk on branding.

When wrapped up the weekend with a group photo, hugs, exchanging numbers, setting goals and on a photography high!  The Blink! attendees have continued to keep in touch through our Facebook group and we even chat on GroupMe to share goals, ideas and to continue to encourage one another.  We call ourselves Blink Alumni or Blinkees!!  I am thankful for the friendships that have been formed and look forward to forming even more next year.  For more information, please visit www.blinkconference.com.