I Heart Faces Photography Conference

Dream Big.

That was the theme of the I Heart Faces photography conference here in Dallas last weekend.

All the speakers, and really all the attendees, encouraged us to do just that, and I left with a renewed feeling of confidence in my photography, in my art.

The fabulous Kelle Hampton

Kelle Hampton, the amazing opening keynote speaker, said it best. "If you have a camera and a story, you are an artist."

Hey - that's me!

I so often struggle with having confidence in my skill.

My photography journey has been relatively short. I barely picked up a camera until Andrew was born three and a half years ago. But now, seldom a day goes by that I don't snap some kind of a photo, whether it be on my dSLR or on my iPhone.

And I'm not a professional photographer. Taking photos for other people makes my stomach churn. Am I really good enough? What if I totally mess these up and they're all out of focus and everyone looks terrible? Why did I want to do this?? These thoughts run through my head every time I take photos of anyone but my children.

But I'm not a a new, budding photographer either. I've spent countless hours reading online tutorials, studying my camera's giant manual and practicing, practicing, practicing with my camera. I can asses most lighting situations and quickly know what my camera's settings should be.

I've certainly invested LOTS of cash money into these skills.

So where does all that leave me?

Just like Kelle said - I have a camera and a story. I'm an artist. And I need to remind myself of this when I'm feeling like I'm not good enough.

What else did I learn?

It's hard to get a newborn to go to sleep in a room full of bright lights and many talking women, even for great newborn photographers like Lori Nordstrom, who often has her clients bring the new baby straight from the hospital to her studio. What a genius idea!

Beautiful mama and her fourth(!) baby.

Sue Bryce is a true inspiration. If you're a photographer and you're not familiar with Sue you should be. Her photos make women feel beautiful in every way. She shared her posing techniques with us, and I wanted to try them out immediately. She's done an impressive job of evolving and being exactly the photographer her clients want her to be.

Sue Bryce totally rocked!

These ladies (Amy Locurto, Holly Homer, and Laurie Turk) shared some great blogging and social media tips with us. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and their blog all the time! I'm hoping to implement some SEO techniques which I've been meaning to do for ages. I may even see a move to Wordpress in my future.

And then of course there's the fact that we were at Southfork Ranch. And the weather was awesome. Chilly, but not raining. I wore boots and a sweater and was a happy camper.



One of the best parts of the conference was just spending time with other photographers, other women who love their cameras as much as I love mine. They were encouraging, hard working and fun! The I Heart Faces girls certainly know how to put on a workshop. I really hope I get the chance to go again.