Wow, I just got back last night from Pictage Partner Con 2008 and it was awesome! It was two days of meeting other photographers and getting re-inspired by some amazing talks. The speakers there were amazing including Mike Colon, Dane Sanders, Will Jacks, and of course Sara France. It’s a two day period where not only do you pick up on a few things about the business, but you meet other people in the business!
If you know much about the “old-school” approach to photography then you understand that photographers used to be very secretive about their techniques, lighting, or business in general. Well all of that is changed! The “new-school” attitude is one of sharing and helping. Getting to the next level of the business and looking down to give someone else a hand up. I absolutely love the “new-school” way. So meeting other photographers is no longer sizing up the competition, but sharing and listening and building friendships. I met a TON of photographers at this year’s Partner Con and I’m so excited to get in touch with them all!
Here are some shots from the pool party night. They had a Photo Cabina (photo booth) setup right on the pool deck. While not a lot of people brought their cameras (which is strange for a photographers conference right?) who doesn’t love a photo booth?
This first on is the incredible Jeff Youngren of Youngren Photography! I think this is my favorite from the whole night! And yes, it was very tricky getting turned around so fast in that tiny booth…
Here are the GO|BEE ladies themselves! Sara France and Lauren Hillary are the creators of GO|BEE bags and you should totally check them out. I was up there hanging at their booth being a male model of the awesomeness. So after the first shot I was laughing so hard that I tried to hide my face, but Sara and Lauren fought me back into frame!
Here’s some more uncontrollable laughter. So right after it takes your shot, the picture pops up on the screen in the booth, AND on the screen outside of the booth! So after Xavier (in the middle) did that tongue thing at Jeff we were done for. The laughter exploded and the fourth shot captures it all.
Okay, so like I said, there is a screen on the inside AND on the outside! So I said I wanted to throw down some solo action and everyone else watched from the outside. I wanted to do three straight faces, then on the fourth think of something last second throw it out there. Well two pictures in people on the outside were laughing so much I couldn’t keep a straight face. Then as the countdown hit 1 I locked it up as best I could and hence the bottom left picture. The fourth picture? Well, that’s what I came up with as the countdown hit 1 again…
So thank you to old friends, I’m so excited about new friends, and I can’t wait until WPPI in Las Vegas to see you all together again! Yay February! And a big shout out to Jeff Shipley who was the first of many to contact me after Partner Con. Keeping in touch and networking in this industry is so important and that guy was on it! If you guys are ever up in the Santa Barbara area, hit him up for some photos; super cool guy!
I have a little video documenting some of the trip that I’ll try to get up on here later today. So check back in!
by David Manning
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