Click Away Photography Conference 2020

I’m still on cloud 10 it should be cloud 100. I attended my first photography conference and it was more than I could ever imagine. I want to dive into what I learned, did I get my money’s worth, will I attend next year, and how to deal with conferences as an introvert where I don’t know anyone. Choosing the Photography Conference That is Right for You is what we will discuss today!

Choosing the Photography Conference That is Right for You

Let’s start with what I learned.

I took a total of 5 classes. 2 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. Did I love all of the classes? No, there were two that weren’t very good but the other 3 made up for that in more ways than one.

In Kara’s class, I learned

• to embrace shadows
• how to adapt to any situation
• know the story before I shoot it
• Profoto is life

Here are the pics I took in her class (nothing is edited as of yet)

I have been a long time fan of Kimberly. I do brand photography and I usually hire someone to set up flat lays for me because it’s not my forte. I thought by going to her class I could learn to do this myself and cut the middle man out. I learned that flat lay is not for me and I won’t be adding that to my plate at all. That was a quick decision for me as soon as I saw that it took her a hot 30 min to put the flat lay together…ain’t nobody got time for that.

Now, this class with D’arcy was done on a whim. I was like hmmm high fashion. I might want to see what this is about. It was beyond what I thought it would be. She even said to me as she looked at my image (we had to show her the final image we took) that I had great exposure. Now in my head, I was running around screaming because she has shot for Vogue and countless other magazines and for her to say great exposure…chile.

In her class, I learned to

• build your network and get to know others (makeup person, florist, etc.)
• Don’t cut off the top of your model try to go a few inches above their head
• shooting with film is where your real skills come in because you have to take your time and shoot. You can’t click click click. I love how she explained film and I might dive into that as a hobby soon
• Sell your stuff to magazines or publications first before you put it on Instagram. Companies like the element of surprise if you want to go into fashion photography

Now Mecca Gamble who is a beast down here in Atlanta taught me 3 tricks that I had no idea about. My photos about to be the bomb.

Overall I had a great time. The Click Away will be in Chicago next year and I don’t think I will go but if you are near the area please make sure that you do. For me, I don’t know if I want to pay over 1k again and pay for a plane ticket + hotel. I will have to see how my money is looking. I did it this time because I cut out the plane and the hotel so I was able to save some moolah. I am not a huge fan of spending a lot of money at conferences because it can be costly and sometimes you can learn some of the same things online or closer to home. I will say though if you can afford to go…it’s worth it.

Now let’s talk about not knowing anyone and being an introvert. 

I knew of 4 people met 3 before once but other than that I didn’t really know anyone so I was a loner. That was good for me since I’m an introvert but I did feel kind of isolated at times in certain classes and settings. My tips on how to handle conferences as an introvert are to

• Arrive for the parts you definitely want to be a part of. I got there after the speaker which I avoided because I didn’t want to be in a large crowd setting. I went straight to my classes each day and that’s it nothing more nothing less. This helped me to be less stress about communicating with others on a large scale
• Charge up your batteries before you go. I knew that I was going to have to speak at some point so I set myself up by making sure I was calm, had a nice hot beverage and made sure I wasn’t stressed
• Take a break. I had my computer with me and found a nice room that was empty both days to be able to recharge and be alone
• Use small talk to your advantage

When paying for a conference I make sure that I read the reviews from previous conferences and follow the big hitters to make sure it’s a conference that’s worth my money. Since this was a hands-on conference it worked for me because I learn by doing.

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