I attended my first Shutterfest Conference this year, in 2024. It’s the first photography conference I’ve ever attended and didn’t work at. It’s also the first time I’ve set aside money from my business to go toward self-development. And it was worth it!
First off, Shutterfest is quite affordable. 3 days of classes and workshops for about $400… that’s totally worth it in my mind. Which is also why I chose this conference to attend. And you chan choose from a number of types of workshops, including lectures, demonstrations, and hands on classes. I am hard of hearing and am constantly concerned that I won’t be able to hear in classes, so I opted for mostly lectures and demonstrations in rooms that were more isolated and not in the middle of the hotel. Did I mention this conference was at Union Station Hotel? GORGEOUS. Made for a great space for shooting.
The lectures were honestly the classes I felt like I needed the most. I took classes on how to make a 12-Month Marketing Plan, on how to Expand Offers to Grow Your Business, and even a 3.5 hour class on Instagram (thanks Abbie Gowin for staying an hour and a half late on this one to ensure we got all of the amazing information you had to share)! I filled a notebook with all of the information I collected in these classes. If you want to hear more about the specifics I picked up from these classes, follow me on Instagram @andrews_artistry, I’m planning to roll out more shareable information for business owners there!
Then there were the demonstrations. In these classes, we watched an instructor show us their own lighting or equipment set up for a mock-shoot. I also really enjoyed these, since it gave me some insight to how these incredible photographers approach their work. Gary Box’s class “Lighting Rules and How to Break Them” was MIND BLOWING. It was by far the best lighting class I’ve ever taken in my entire career, including those I did in college! Gary is so good at lighting that he can nail it on the first shot, he knows exactly how to set his lights up every time and and knows the math that makes it work. He finally put it into words that made sense to me. I also loved watching Jordan Bunch work his magic with video, creating video set ups with just his lights that communicated themes the attendees shouted out, including courtroom and candy store.
I only attended a few hands on classes, and to be honest I’m glad that’s all I did. I did the shorter ones that happened in the vendor stations, where most people stood in line to capture the same image. Didn’t seem like it was worth my time to do for more than a half hour. However, I did meet some amazing photographers in those sessions and was introduced to some new equipment that’s now on my wish list.
I brought a ton of business cards, hoping that I could convince some of the photographers to have me help them with their own retouching work, but honestly I was just so inspired to shoot that I forgot to hand most of them out. So if anyone reading this is a photographer looking for some retouching, connect with me so I can justify the purchase of those business cards!
I left this conference with a better understanding of how to market my business and some fun new concepts for mini shoots that I can’t wait to try out (I already ordered a roll of mylar… just wait)! I’m so glad that I attended Shutterfest this year, and I definitely plan to bring Brooke along with me next year… get ready for 12 hours in the car with me rambling on about new business ideas, Brooke! 😉