focus-ED
Last weekend, I went on a retreat. No, I didn’t travel to the islands to have mojitos on the beach. Although that would have been amazing! Instead,I traveled to Hammondsport, New York for a retreat all about photography and collaboration. The retreat was created by Professional Photographers’ Society of Central New York.
I had to take a blog post to share the reasons why I LOVED this retreat and why learning is my fav pastime!
Friendship in Collaboration
This is FOCUS! This is friendship and camaraderie. One great thing about this retreat was the presentations by fellow Central Members. From posing, to planning sessions, to computer security, we learned a little bit of everything at the Retreat.
One fun activity we did was shoot photos within a specific time frame without looking at the back of our camera. Below you will find my photos. This project made me put on my creative hat while exploring the manor house.
Trying out New Things
Crystals and prisms! I’ve always wanted to try some of these ideas out but I don’t have crystals at home. We not only learned how to use these fun items but I got to play around with some of the crystals. I’m so in love with these few images with the crystals and prisms.
Sharing Tips, Tricks & Knowledge
Amy & Guy from
Keech Photography
Photog: Dani T Photography
Constant light plus a Hollywood inspired mood board equals some stunning photos. Amy Davis is the fun and fabulous president of Professional Photographers of Central New York. It was a blast capturing photos of Amy to showcase her incredible style and personality. It also gave a few of us an opportunity to try new lighting set ups and try to shot photos to look like the old Hollywood images on our inspiration board.
Presenting to the Group
On Wednesday, retreat organizers put out a call for some more members to do a presentations. I saw the message and told my hubby, “I’m going to do a presentation.”
My hubby, the more logical one asked, “What are you going to do the presentation on, and will you have time to prepare for it?” I immediately thought challenge accepted!! Tehehhehe… but really, I had to think about what I would go over and then the lightbulb turned on!
Planning! That’s what I would chat about. I already had the frame work for a document I was working on for a sales class. I tweaked the document and went over my two fav tools for getting things done!
The The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington and “The One Hour Content Plan” by Meera Kothand. These books should be get married because they go so good together!
Originally, I had an outline of how I wanted the presentation to go, but that all went out the door. I started the presentation with DMX “Ruff Ryders Anthem” and took off from there! It was so much fun to share my love for planning with my fellow photographers. It was also a great way to wrap up the retreat as a way for us to put all we learned into an action plan for the following months.
Enjoying Food with Friends
From Amy’s homemade hummus, Sarah’s Buffalo Wing Dip, to Chicken Riggies, we had a delicious assortment of foods and snacks not to forget the yummy beverages thanks to Steve!
I love this photo by Traci Winter McLaughlin. She said “I loved looking through at the light in the kitchen and how you were smiling and enjoying yourself.” At this retreat, we didn’t make friends, we built our family up!
We shared our fun on Instagram!
Adam & Katie practicing the “Cookie Monster” while we practiced shooting with a glass frame.
Big thank you to the committee of members that helped put on this event. From finding the house, to creating the shirts, agenda, to finding sponsors for the event. I’m looking forward to helping the team build on to this concept and create an incredible retreat for 2020!
When education & collaboration come together you get focusED!
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What’s your favorite way to learn new things things?
Retreats, Books, Classes, Convos with friends, Pinterest?
Leave a Comment below and let me know!