As it usually does, our action packed weekend started off with a beautiful wedding, but instead of making the trip home to Asheville afterwards, this time we landed in Nashville Tennessee for the Imaging USA conference. In a nutshell Imaging USA is a trade show but instead of just promoting products and services (photography in this instance) the conference is filled to the brim from morning to night with educational expos for professional photographers from all across the nation (and the world for that matter) to expand their horizons! You name it, and it’s likely presented on from an industry expert or somebody world-renowned for their amazing work. Some of the presenters are experts in creative portraiture, and others are successful wedding photographers. Some are commercial fashion photographers, and some specialize in landscapes. We met a range of new people from food and product student photographers to industry experts in lighting and editing, but we did get to hang out with some friendly and familiar faces as some of our friends who are also professional photographers from Asheville made the trip and we also spent a lot of time with our good friend Erin whose a professional photographer from D.C.
On top of the education, networking, and all around good times with friends old & new, there is also the photography expo! For people like us, you sort of hear the heavenly ‘ahhhhs’ when you walk through the door. Everyone from Canon, Sigma, Tamron, Paul C Buff, Profoto, etc is present. It’s literally like walking down the aisles of photographer heaven. Want to mount a lens you’ve been dying to try to your camera and shoot for a little while to see if it’s what you really want? You can do that! Need technical assistance on wireless uploading for instant photo previews on location? You can do that! It is row after row of all the latest and greatest as well as small companies and start ups bringing new innovations to the market to help photographers in their businesses as well. We must have spent hours touring the expo observing famous pros give presentations, trying out gear, and gaining inspiration from those around us.
All in all our first trip to Imaging was a hit! The goal was to leave here knowing more than we did when we came. Ultimately to implement new ideas and strategies to keep serving our amazing clients and providing an exceptional experience from beginning to end and we are excited to start integrating some of the amazing things we’ve learned! And of course, we had to take advantage of some of the perks of coming to the conference like the same day deal offered to those in attendance as well as PPA members, so naturally, we got a new lens which most of what you’ll see below was shot with! We hope you enjoy following along with some of our images at the conference and the amazing Gaylord Resort here in Nashville!
Joe & Jenny