So last year I had really wanted to attend a conference but I wasn’t quite sure which one to attend. I LOVED attending WPPI the past few years and there were a handful other other photography conferences that I contemplated, but the year slowly crept away from me and I had realized that I hadn’t picked anything. I was also trying to secretly save cash for my anticipated move to Florida (though no one knew at that time!) so I didn’t want to go spending big money! Well luck fell into my lap when Clickin Moms in combination with Adorama held a contest on Instagram back in May to name a newly designed camera strap. I put in my guess along with the mass of other names and a few days later I received an email saying my “blue royale” name actually won! And the prize in that contest included registration to Clickin Moms first ever Click Away conference that was going to be held in Salt Lake City. There was an amazing lineup of presenters and instructors and I was pumped!
I had never really thought to visit Salt Lake City before, so I had no idea what I was in for. But when I hopped of the plane, I was utterly taken back by the beauty that this city (and state in general) had to offer!
After I landed, I hopped on the train into town, dropped my bags off at the hotel and headed to lunch with some lovely ladies that I’d met via (where else other than social media) on Instagram. The one lovely lady – Meagan – lives in the area, so she showed us around Memory Grove Park and took us to check out Saltair and the Great Salt Lake.
Then later that day I went to pick up my badge for the conference and ran into my roommate and met some more amazing friends (seriously one of the best parts about this conference was how friendly everyone was upon arrival!)
The next day before my classes, I actually had the opportunity to meet up with a friend (and her beautiful daughter) from high school that I hadn’t seen in probably a decade! It was so great to catch up with Andrea. I love friends that no matter the time in between, you can still catch right back up from where you left off. And we met up at this amazing spot – Bruges Waffles and Frites…absolute heaven!
On one of the photo walking excursions at this conference, a few of us did some exploring around the grounds of the Salt Lake Temple. What a beautiful area Temple Square was!
But let me get to the good part about going to this Click Away Conference…it was the small group demonstrations that I really loved being a part of! Here’s some images from a Senior Portraits demo with the fabulous photographer Michelle Moore and our beautiful model for the day – Shelby Halls.
I also attended a small group class with the lovely photographer – Elena Blair where I learned some great tips about keeping the flow of a family portrait session going smoothly and how to get all those important moments that the family wants captured.
I had the opportunity to head back to Saltair for golden hour head shots lead by Lauren Anderson (if you go check out her page you will notice an image that looks very familiar on her bio page after you scroll down through the images below. 😉 ). The sunset that evening was magnificent and perfect for the portraits and scenes I was able to catch.
Below are some fun images from the Click Away cocktail reception. It was a fun evening to check out work from those that entered the photo competition and to network and mingle with our fellow photogs. These images are curtesy of PhotoBooth Supply Co.
And the last little bit is from a day up into the mountains to Silver lake to explore around this pretty neck of the Utah woods with our cameras. Here’s some of my favorite images from that day.
On our final evening of Click Away 2014, we headed to the Red Butte Gardens Amphitheater where we got to enjoy a show from Westward The Tide. What a fun send off!
So if you can’t tell, it was an A-Maz-Ing trip! Definitely looking forward to hitting up Click Away 2015 in San Antonio, Texas…who’s joining me? 😉
