Imaging 2020 Trip – Vancouver, WA Newborn Photographer

Hi friends! As many of you know I took a trip to Nashville for a photography conference! Imaging USA 2020 was such an intense and amazing week of learning and networking.

Packing is always a little tricky for me, since I choose to pack my own food.

Having a strict diet often makes travel a little more difficult! One side of my case was clothes, the other was my snacks!

I traveled with my good friend, Shonda, of Gray Feather Photography.

We had a fairly early flight out of PDX! I was so grateful to fly with a friend!

Very front row on our first flight, thank you Shonda!

Snack time and watching Doctor Thorne for the second flight. I need to finish reading my Doctor Thorne book!

We arrived safely at the Nashville Airport, and took a bus to the Grand Old Opryland Hotel, where the conference was taking place. I was so grateful to not have to travel to and from the conference!

We shared the room with our local friend Julie of Traveling Julie Photography, and Marcela of Lemonshoots Photography. This made the stay so much more affordable and fun!

We had our own balcony too! Lots of breakfast and people watching, phone calls and FaceTimes.

Staying at the resort also gave us a discount on food at several restaurants! Shonda talked me in to eating rainbow trout with the skin left on! It was amazing.

Arriving at Imaging early was such a good plan. About 13ooo photographers were expected to attend! Shonda and I were able to register and get our attendee and vendor badges early before the rush! We we also able to attend Pre Conference classes at an additional fee. The main conference classes were first come and had a limited number of attendees. Taking the Pre Conference classes allowed me to learn in a much smaller class size, which I prefer.

Some shopping was in order before the conference started too!

These boots were so sparkly and gorgeous! I don’t fancy boots like this, but I was tempted!

I also found this amazing journal for taking notes in. I love the soft leather feel to it, and that it zipped closed so I never lost my pen!

The hotel had an amazing amount of gorgeous shops as well. I was particularly excited to visit the Library… and was quite disappointed when I found no books but only whiskeys and wines.

These beautiful grand pianos were found everywhere in the hotel. I was a little sad to find them all with locked lids, so they could not be played. They were still gorgeous to look at.

There were so many water features in the hotel as well! It was like living in a giant green house for a week! There were many large waterfalls, and rivers fill of beautiful fish!

The first class I took at Imaging! This was taught by Kristi Elias. She was such a fascinating teacher, with a wonderful hands on demonstration. I appreciated her openness about photography journey, and her experience as a luxury fine art portrait artist. Kristi is kneeling on the floor on the left.

Pausing for a picture at the Imaging photobooth with Shonda and Marcela!

While at Imaging, Shonda and I were asked to speak on a panel for the non profit organization we both volunteer for. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep is dedicated to helping families who have lost their infants heal through photography.

We were asked to speak about our experiences volunteering, in the hopes of recruiting new photographers, digital retouch artists, and assistants.

Our first NILMDTS speaking panel!

So many photographers in one place! It felt so good to be with my people.

Shonda and I also volunteered to work at the NILMDTS trade show booth! We answered to many questions and soothed so many concerns. Most photographers don’t think they can do bereavement photography, but we find so many times that’s just simply not the case. So we were there to help put all those fears aside.

My sweet friend Michele of Memories by Michele signed up to be a new NILMDTS photographer! Michele and I mentored under the same photographer, Stone Hall Photography. It was such a joy to meet her!

Also note our amazing photobomber in the back. Thanks, Tim.

More trade show stuffs! So many vendors were present! It was really overwhelming! I loved seeing all the vendors that I was interested in, and ones that I had purchased from online.

I checked out all the new flying photography things, which I am actually quite interested in!

And of course all the amazing artwork on display!

I think this guy was my favorite part of the trade show!

During the conference I signed up for business classes only.

I had a side satchel with my for my new notebook and my snacks… and it also doubled for a book sling after hitting the Imaging Book Store after each class! These are two out of the five books I purchased during my conference.

During the opening speech from Professional Photographers of America’s David Trust, I learned that there are no rights for photographers when their work is stolen. We are unable to take someone to small claims court over stolen work. Simply “right clicking” on an image online, or using Facebooks handy dandy “save image” button is stealing. And there are no rights for me to stop people from doing so.

There is only ONE senator holding up the next step of the bill, and it is so embarrassing to say it’s Ron Wyden of Oregon.

You can learn more about this by going to the PPA website and reading the article about it.

My gorgeous cousin Brooke came to visit me twice! She lives in Tennessee and I rarely get to see her. She and her husband and children came to visit me the first night I arrived! Ut was such a blessing to see them all! She came back the night before I left, and we had some good catching up and healing talk about our grandmother who died a few months earlier. I do miss my family.