This past week I had the incredible opportunity of attending the SPE National Conference in Philly from Thursday-Sunday, with fellow students Amy & Charity, and photography professors Doug Clark & Sarah Miles.
I cannot begin to adequately express how amazing the conference and trip were. I had so many first time experiences and did so many different things I feel like I was in Philly much longer than just a few days.

My family has never been well off financially, and as a student of little financial means I haven’t had the opportunity to travel much, or very far. When I heard about this conference I jumped on the chance to not only travel somewhere new, but to also have the opportunity to see what goes on in the world of professional photographers and fellow artists. So I was really excited about this trip for many reasons. One reason was that it presented what I felt to be a safe opportunity for me to visit a very large city. Despite my current successes, I still struggle with overcoming various fears, a few of which I got to face during this trip. I was a little afraid of what was my first plane ride, and I was very afraid of visiting the city, and especially of walking around in it. Before this trip, the largest city I had been to was Atlanta. The first few visits scared the hell out of me so I’ve avoided visiting the city as much as I can. Unfortunately, I tend to let the fear of the unknown and the fear of getting hurt get to me  and in my way very often, so I’ve slowly been trying to face my fears in order to overcome them. ‘Fear is the mind killer.’ I am so happy to calmed some of my fears while on this trip. I feel so much more confident in myself and a bit less intimidated by the world. This result of the trip was definitely one of the most personally rewarding.

My first Plane Ride:
We left from Atlanta on Thursday afternoon and I was really happy with myself for not feeling afraid before and during my first plane ride. The take off was so much smoother than I expected, I hardly noticed it. I had never really thought about the possibility of a plane flying above the clouds and what it would look like, I think I sort of expected to either be below the clouds or in the clouds, but not above the clouds.
It was cloudy the entire way to Philly, and flying above the clouds was so amazing. I felt such a strong surge of possibility and hope while looking at the fluffy white ocean and realizing I was literally ‘above the clouds.’ It was a really positive, almost spiritual feeling.

A short video of my first trip on an airplane.The Conference:
Never having been to a professional conference I only had a vague idea of what to expect from my one day spent at DragonCon last fall (amazing!). I was really pumped, and intimidated by this conference, and I am still a bit nervous and intimidated by the experience. I listened to many different speakers, sat in on a couple of software demonstrations, presented my work at portfolio critique, and looked at tons of current work by other students and professionals. I felt incredibly out of place due to the fact that I am not a photo major, though my brain frequently reminded me that I am a photo student so it’s definitely ok for me to be there. This irrational fear haunted me quite a bit, but I got through the portfolio sessions and while I was exposed to a lot of new things, I am pleased that I already knew, understood, and had previously heard the fundamentals of what I consider the more important topics. There were way too many wonderful events happening during this short amount of time so I only really had the opportunity to sample the conference. Below are the major events I attended.

• Industry Seminar: “What every Photographer Should Know About Copyright” with Susan Carr and Richard Kelly
  Industry Seminar: “Breaking into the Biz: What Every Student Photographer Should Know” with Judy Herrmann
  Keynote Speaker: Kip Fulbeck, “I Hope You Don’t Mind Me Asking, But…” (Really awesome presentation about multi-racial heritage, the theme of the conference was ‘Diversity’)
  Student Portfolio Critiques (I spoke with Deirdre Visser, an artist and educational consultant from San Francisco California, and Greg Strelecki, Image Department Chairman at The Creative Circus in Atlanta)
  Adobe Demo Session: “Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: From Shoot to Image Library” with Rick Miller
  South Central Regional Meeting (Amy, Charity, and I all received student scholarships to help cover travel expenses to the conference.)
  Adobe Demo Session: “Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: From Image Library to Finish” with Rick Miller
  Pin Up Show Opening at the University of the Arts (Mr. Clark, Ms. Miles, Charity, and I also submitted and had work in the show.)
  Featured Speakers: Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie and Veronica Passalacqua, “Visual Sovereignty: International Indigenous Photography”
  Bus Trip/Gallery Tour: First Friday Events, Photo Centers Mixer “The Photography Center’s Role in the Photographic Community” (So much fun!)
  Awards Presentation: Honored Educator, Student Scholarships, Awards for Excellence in… (Ms. Miles received an award, yay!)
  Featured Speaker: Dawoud Bey, “Beyond Diversity and Toward Inclusivity”
  Informal Portfolio Review (A massive gathering of students and professionals sharing their portfolios with one another.)

Philly and the Museum
The conference hotel was in the middle of the city. I was the most surprised and delighted by the many ornate, historic buildings surrounded by skyscrapers, which still seems like a really amazing visual contrast. I went to my first Thai restaurant, got a Philly Cheesesteak at the Reading Market, and saw a bit of China Town and the Downtown areas. However the highlight of this trip was definitely the Philidelphia Museum of Art, the largest and most wonderful museum I have ever visited. The scale of the building seems monumental and is modeled after Greek/Roman architecture. I first checked out the museums visiting Picasso exhibit and then explored the rest of the museums 3 floors and I can’t count how many rooms of art. I now have a new appreciation of cubism and Picasso and friends. I was so amazed by the museum I chose to remain by myself and miss out on a few conference events in order to finish exploring the museum. There were so many amazing works of art, architecture and environmental design that I was too overwhelmed to feel overwhelmed. Instead I felt amazed and enlightened. I recognized quite a bit of stuff from textbooks used in my classes. I was amazed at how much more incredible the objects were in person, and at how effective and inspiring the objects were in spaces that were designed for them which sometimes reflected or supported their original atmosphere. Though I really hate sounding sappy, this museum visit was quite magical.

We packed so much stuff into only 3 full days and 1 half day in Philly that I feel like we were there for weeks. There was so much stuff I didn’t get to do at the conference and so much more stuff I didn’t get to see in the city. I definitely want to go back and I am so proud of myself for walking around in the city on my own, especially my walk from the museum back to the hotel. I am also really happy about having the opportunity to spend so much time with Amy, Charity, Mr. Clark, Ms. Miles, and our roomie Lupe. Learning more about each of them was a real pleasure, especially since we all got along so well. I am really thankful to Mr. Clark for making this trip possible, and to my mom and dad, the South Central SPE Chapter, and the Art Department at JSU for helping to fund most of the expenses of the trip.