Heather Lilly’s blog – HL Concepts, LLC

I have SO many wonderful ideas racing through my head, I don’t even know where to start. The convention went really well!

I went to a BUNCH of seminars and a huge tradeshow in Tampa, Florida.

What did I bring back?

Friday I arrived in Florida around 3:30 p.m. I got to the hotel around 4:oo.

The first seminar I attended was about editing workflow at 5 p.m.

I have the workflow the speaker has, but learned a couple tricks about making the editing process quicker.

I have to admit, I got up at 2 a.m. Colorado time to get to the airport, so by the time the 5 p.m. seminar was over, I was feeling pretty tired! I had a great Caesar salad and went to bed.

I got up early Saturday and had a great workout in the Grand Hyatt’s 24 hour fitness room and made it to the 8:30 a.m. seminar by Lena Hyde.

I LOVE Lena’s work and must admit I was a bit star-struck! She photographs the rich & famous worldwide…. she used to be a teacher and got into photographing portraits when she & her husband started a family. She’s so inspiring!

I love that she challenged us to find our own style rather than copy other photographers’. She also had some great ideas for getting new clients.

I also really enjoyed Michelle Turner’s seminar on shooting beautiful, artistic images in rather ugly environments! Garages, allies, car washes, bathrooms, etc.  She has gorgous, punchy images and travels world-wide shooting weddings. www.michelleturner.com

Another enjoyable seminar was done by Christa Hoffarth. She spoke about consistency in promotional products. We’ve chatted before about her saavy packaging ideas… she is such a generous teacher. By the way, while she was gone traveling, her studio booked 14 weddings in 14 days. Yeah. Successful!  I saw her on the shuttle to the airport this morning. I hope she makes it back to Tahoe safely!

Another portrait photographer I was extremely excited to hear a seminar from is Tamara Lackey. She books portraiture sessions 6-9 months out. She spoke about being able to work well with kids… something I thought I already did pretty well, but she let me see it in a new light. I really think this new knowledge will help sessions go well for all types of kids.

Jessica Claire is one smart cookie. She’s in her 20s and does high-end weddings in California and world-wide. She had some great ideas on how to get into wedding magazines and also how to get clients who appreciate photography as an art.

The next seminar was with Jesh de Rox. Oh. My. Gosh. It blew my mind. He is such a sincere person, genuinely fascinated with the world - just like a child absorbs new experiences. He sees his clients like snowflakes -no two are alike. He does only 12 weddings a year, by choice, because he wants such a deep, meaningful relationship with his clients. I really want to push my business model towards the direction of Jesh’s. Amazing! You can see it in his work here: www.jeshderox.com

This is just the tip of the iceberg – I can’t begin to describe how much I truly learned. I’m excited to take these ideas and implement them for you!

I’m resting up tonight and will be returning e-mails and voicemails tomorrow.