I spoke at the national photographic conference, ImagingUSA in January, and had a jam-packed room! It was awesome! The event was held in San Antonio, TX and my hotel was just a block away from the Alamo.
I actually spoke twice, doing a lighting demo at pre-convention and then later on the main stage during the main convention. The lighting demo was actually 3 classes repeated throughout the day. Then later that week I spoke on the main stage. Here’s a photo of the room looking from the main stage, as I was setting up.
I’ve spoken to some big groups before, but this is probably the biggest room yet! The problem with a big room is that you can have hundreds of people and it will still look empty. In fact some speakers that week only filled it half way. But I was so happy to see it packed all the way to the back, with people standing too.
I was later told that I had about 1100 people — a full house!
The room was set up with four projection screens, 2 up front, and 2 half way back so that everyone could see, no matter where they sat. My friend took this photo of me on her phone from the back of the room before it all started.
I like this photo because it shows the incredible depth of the room. The brown podium and stage at the front of the room look so small and tiny from the back of the room, and here you can see all four projection screens.
While I was there, I also was presented with the national Photographer of the Year Award (silver level). I barely made it in time for the group photo with the other Photographers of the Year. I ran up on the stage just in time. I’m on the far right.
On the national level, there can be more than one photographer of the year, and there are levels, bronze, silver, gold, and diamond. I won the silver. This is based on how well your images do in national competition. I’ve previously won 2 other national photographer of the year awards too, in the bronze catagory.
On the state level, there is only one photographer of the year and one Master photographer of the year. This year I am the Master photographer of the year for Utah, which you may already know from this past blog post.
So all around this was a great trip! I packed my seminars, won more awards, and had a great time with my photographer friends from all over.
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