Pink puffy hearts all around today! I was featured on the Digital Wedding Forum (DWF) Blog!!!
I joined the DWF in November of 2006 upon the recommendation of some of my peers, especially the wonderful Humza Yasin. When I joined, it was a little scary jumping into a community where everyone seemed to already have their inside jokes and know each other very well. Yet I felt really welcomed and I just started posting. There were days were I got big internet hugs and days when my peers told me flat out I was wrong. And yet those were the days the best days looking back because someone cared enough about me and my business to guide me in the right direction.
In 2009, I attending my first convention in Arizona. I was lucky that Nathan came along (his company had a site based in Scottsdale so he worked the week that I was there) and I thought that I would attend classes during the day and hang out with Nathan in the evenings. The thing is that you quickly realize that the convention is so much more about the people after the classes are over and I was getting back to the hotel later and later every night. These internet people were becoming my real friends. That was the year that I met some of my favorite people in the industry: namely Ryan Brenizer and Brian Tao. In future conventions we became part of a crazy crew that would cause mischief (and fun) wherever we went.
The following conventions (2010 in Nashville and 2011 in San Antonio) were reunions and beginnings of new freindships – a great way to start the new year with friendly faces and a new energy for a new season of this crazy career that we all choose.
Becoming part of a community of photographers was one of the best decisions that I have ever made for my business. I urge every new photographer to meet local photographers in their area or to join an online community such as the Digital Wedding Forum or the free Pixtus (formerly Texas Photo Forum). It’s an amazing thing to be able to call these people my friends.