At the end of May, I attended the Lightchasers Nature Photography Conference in Pincher Creek, Alberta. My friend Tracey from Tracey Halladay Photography was speaking. Tracey and I became friends when we participated in a year-long mentorship together. Discovering that we loved the same music and had a lot of the same interests, we became fast friends. She and I meet once a week to keep each other on track with our creative goals. She continually inspires me and I wanted to support her when she shared her extremely emotional journey with a room full of friends and strangers.
Another perk of attending the conference was hanging out with other women from a creative group called the Creative Analyst Unit (CAU). A group of approximately 25 women who cheer each other on but all have different photography and creative goals. Altogether there were six of us at the conference, some I'd met before and some I got to meet for the first time. And after the conference, we added two more to our ranks.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was deeply inspired or highly entertained by so many of the talks. I had wonderful conversations and learned some new things. But the best part was going out to play with my friends or enjoy a meal and thoughtful conversation. Tracey spent an evening showing me Waterton Lake National Park and I returned with other friends from the CAU the next evening. I also visited Lundbreck Falls for an early morning shoot for the conference.
If you receive my New Moon Missives, you will have seen these points (and a few of these images) already but my biggest takeaways from Lightchasers were these:
My biggest takeaways from the conference:
- Spend lots of time getting to know your subject or main interests intimately. The more you know, the more you can get creative.
- Collaborate - no (wo)man is an island. Magic happens when you play with like-minded friends and collaborate with creatives with different passions.
- Remember what your camera (or other tools) and creativity mean for you.
Here are some of my favourite landscape images from the trip. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these because I am still learning the landscape ropes!
