Wedding Photographer Retreat: Potluck

For the past few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a week with some of my favorite people in the world.  With such a large group of wedding photographers, we can rent an incredible house in Nags Head, NC and get away from deadlines.  We named our retreats “Potluck” as a reminder that this is not only a group of people who love spending time together, but we are also committed to helping each other with our businesses, and there’s a lot to learn with this incredibly talented crew!

I’ve never shot any images at any of these gatherings, only a few iPhone photographs, I’ve just spent the week with my friends.  This year, I pushed myself to shoot with my Olympus OMD EM1 as I’m still inspired from shooting in Madrid last month after the Fearless Photographers Conference, and am making a commitment to myself to shoot regularly throughout the week, not just on weekends.  🙂  I also set the Olympus viewfinder to black and white, which was a wonderful game changer for me.  To simply focus on light and contrast was so much fun, something I need to do more of in my regular work.

It’s a bit strange shooting something personal, my friends, during our fun week together after years and years of shooting daily photojournalism for the Chicago Tribune.  For the first time, I felt I could document the scene and still be a part of it, instead of being truly separated and protected by my shield of a camera.  I photographed my friends, waited for moments during our portrait sessions and kept my camera in my hand instead of stowing it away.  It felt great.

I’m so thankful to have these people in my life.  Thank you Kate McElwee, Kari Herer, Mike Garrard, Jenny DeMarco, Joe Appel, Derrick Rice, Sherry Pickerell, Jennifer Tai, Mark Jenzen, Jenny Wohrle, Katherine Emery, Julie Lowry, Nadine Latief, Verna Pitts, James Collier, Cliff Brunk, Jeremy Minnerick, Genevieve and James Nisly, Gulnara, Ben Godkin, and Katrina Wallace.  Can’t wait to see you all again!