A lesson in connection : friends to be found in the most unlikely places.

For the last four days I have done something I thought that I would never do : I photographed a pet blogging convention.

You heard me right. Before I met Chloe, Yvonne and Tom (founders of BlogPaws), I didn’t even know such thing existed! I did not expect anything in particular, I walked in trying to figure out how on earth I was going to be working to cover a whole convention, by myself, for 3 and half days.

I am a wedding and portrait photographer. I photograph dancers, fine art, underwater. I photograph extreme people with extreme passions,  I spend hours editing to perfection, I only deliver completely perfect images. AND I TAKE MY TIME.

And then this :

BlogPaws expected me to cover a collection of events and products and candids and vendors and sponsors and signs and dogs, cats, ferrets, one rat, people, etc etc etc etc ad infinitum. Be at 4 places at once, capture, capture, capture.

Deliver all the selected images at the end of every. single. day. which for me was about 300 images a day. If you are a photographer you are probably starting to roll your eyes. Impossible eh?

By now, some of you know me well enough to guess that I am up for challenges in any shape or form. Challenges are what I live for, I put a little in my coffee every morning. A no challenge day is a bad day and several days of mundane life turns me into a restless evil monster (ask my husband!)

And so all I thought was : watch me. I shall kick ass.

What I knew was that it was super exciting to be traveling to Phoenix like a grown up without children, be with people, be challenged.

What I didn’t know at the time was what a BLAST I was going to have. Yes it was exhausting. Yes I was on my feet 12 hours a day, running from one side to another, with two cameras, hanging from my trusted HoldFast camera holster.

However I felt so pumped up for 4 days that I hardly slept, running on the electric energy I felt constantly run through the entire convention area. I never really felt the exhaustion until the day I left.

Most importantly I found a community of passionate people who’s business was far from what I do (Dance/wedding versus pet blogging? hello?) but no matter how different we were, we spoke the same language, the purposeful language of people who love what they do, are passionate about it, are dedicated to their craft.

And so I have found a very new and unlikely tribe : Animal advocates, bloggers, educators of the pet industry.

And so for four days I connected with most of the 500 attendees, their pets, their blogs, their passion. And it was EXCELLENT.

I am home now with all images delivered on time (yay!! mission accomplished!!!) a suitcase full of gifts from the sponsors, vendors and BlogPaws, a bunch of business cards and new friends.

And new ideas.

<3

 

BLogPaws Convention at the Sheraton at Wildhorse Pass
BlogPaws was hosted at the Sheraton at Wildhorse Pass in Phoenix, Arizona. A gorgeous area with golf courses, a casino and a beautiful hotel and convention center

 

Inside the Sheraton Convention center in Phoenix
Inside the convention center we were fed by attentive and friendly staff at the Sheraton

 

Bloggers and a Petsmart employee! with our four legged friends
Bloggers with their pets

 

Dogs and Cats fashion
Pet Fashion

 

Events and Classes at BlogPaws
Events and Classes at BlogPaws

 

The BlogPaws Nose to Nose Award dinner
The BlogPaws Nose to Nose Award dinner