A couple of weeks ago I attended a mini retreat style conference known as Inspire Boston. The 3 day intimate workshop conference is hosted by the fabulous and extremely kind hearted husband and wife team Matt and Enna Grazier of Grazier Photography. I was first and foremost blown away by the fact that this was only the second year of this conference, but it was so amazingly organized and planned out. I mean, there were coffee and tea available *all times of the day*!!! Amazing.
But what was really honestly the most amazing thing about this conference were the speakers. They all took time out of their busy schedules to come to Concord MA and speak to a bunch of photographers and tell us all what makes them so successful. What makes them so great. And it was eye opening… for a few reasons:
A. We got to learn about their work flow, their style, their methods; all things that help to make them so successful at what they do. That in and of itself is so valuable.
B. We got to see just how kind and open these people are. How much they want to see their peers, their friends… but even more, their “competition” succeed. (And I put competition in quotes because honestly, with this group of people, we’re not… not really. We’re just a friend that we can refer a client to when we can’t book them, or a friend we can call on when we need help and can’t figure it out). How about that? When was the last time you saw a car salesman sharing his “trade secrets” to the rookie who is just starting out, not a clue what he’s doing or where to go from here? Its pretty powerful, the act of sharing.
And really, that was the theme for the week at Inspire. Separately, we’re all pretty good and we’re all, in one way shape and form, surviving (in some capacity). We all have something to offer and we’re here. But together… together we create something great. A network of friends, peers, companions. We learn, we teach, we share, we refer, we coach, we grow.
And that is pretty powerful. The act of sharing is powerful. And I am so thankful for the opportunity to walk away from Inspire Boston with so many ideas, so much info, and especially so *inspired.*
Matt and Enna, thank you so much for organizing such a wonderful event! It has changed my life for the better!
And since no post is complete without a pic, here are a few that I snapped while there. Most of the conference was spent diligently note-taking and not much picture taking occurred. I *did* take an awesome workshop with Amber and Eric Langlois of Raw Photo Design where I learned some awesome off camera flash techniques! It was really neat to see flash in such fun light. Normally I prefer the soft golden tones of natural sunlight, but you can do some amazingly cool things with OCF and it was great to learn some of their techniques.
