Jen Swedhin Photography

So far this year has been all about learning, and growth in my business.  In February I was invited to attend WPPI, a HUGE conference for photographers in Las Vegas.  ProDPI, my very favorite super amazing printing company chose me to go, and supplied me with a free pass.  I didn’t only say yes please to this opportunity, I shouted a big ol’ “Um, yes please in a major way I’ll walk there if I have to.”

Let me tell you, it was fantastic.  There are short classes that are available to everyone presented by some of the biggest and most respected names in the industry, and the topics covered range from marketing to lighting, posing, editing, thinking big, street photography, and more.  Lots more.  A few that I attended were: The Language of Lighting and Posing by Bambi Cantrell, Beyond the Blog by JP Elario, Lighting Secrets Illuminated by Kevin Kubota, My Best Marketing Idea by Sarah Petty, Dare to Dream by the Boudoir Divas….and there were more.  I attended so many classes and took so many notes that I can’t even remember them all.

There is also a trade show with hundreds of booths featuring all kinds of exhibitors – printing companies, camera stores, lighting, backdrops, royalty-free music, online galleries, editors, equipment, specialty items like prints on wood, bags and accessories…it was huge.  Huge.  Took me a full day to get all the way through it, and by the end I was barely able to carry my tote because it was so stuffed full of wonderful samples and goodies.  There are speakers throughout the trade show, as well, so I was able to cram in a little bit more learning just as I walked through.  And I got a sweet deal on a ShootSac.  Total gamechanger.

I want to send out a massive thank you to ProDPI for hooking me up with a full registration pass, you truly did change my business.

This month I attended The Fix by Jasmine Star in Denver.  If you haven’t heard of Jasmine Star, she is a wonderful, and ridiculously successful, wedding photographer out of Orange County.  She is in her 6th year of business, and has grown so much in her business that she is now able to travel all over the place teaching people how to grow their business as well.  She is thoughtful and super smart, and reminds all of us that we can’t grow our industry without sharing information and helping each other to grow.  It was an amazing night that gave me a lot of great things to think about.

Most recently I listened in on Kristen from Brand Camp’s In-Person Sales Seminar.  Man, that was a whirlwind of awesome.  She taught the secrets of in-person selling, and how it not only benefits me, but my clients as well.  She shared some incredible tips that I will most definitely be putting to use from now on.

So much new information has seeped into my brain, and I have so many new ideas to implement.  Changes in a business like mine are hard – clients have grown to expect certain policies, and most of those policies will be going right out the window.  I will also be gradually changing my focus from weddings to boudoir photography, so watch for that!  It is a big jump, but a jump I am very ready to make, and a change I am excited about.

Thank you all for sticking with me through these changes, and I look forward to taking my business in a direction that will make all of us more satisfied!

A quick shot from the beautiful city of Denver: