Alt Summit Highlights

Alt Summit was amazing. I had the best time and left overflowing with inspiration for my blog, my photography business, and life in general. It was crazy to be in a place with so many creative and successful people.

My favorite part of the conference was traveling with my next door neighbor/friend, Ashley of Lens and Needle. (Her mom was supposed to come, too, but ended up getting sick. We missed her so much!). Traveling with someone and having a buddy when you know only know people online is so nice. I loved our late night (and all day) chats and just having someone to enjoy the conference with. The Hello Social (the very first event we went to right after we landed) would have been so awkward without her. At least we were able to be awkward together. Oh, and did I mention that we like photobooths? Yeah, we do. (Most of you already know I'm obsessed.)

There was another lady that I was SO excited to meet- Kendra of Adornme Girl. Kendra and I have been blogging friends for quite awhile now, so it was so fun to become real life friends. We also got to hang out with her daughter, Sailor, and both Kendra and Sailor are as beautiful, sweet, and fun as they seem on Kendra's blog.

The sessions were amazing. They ranged from incredibly inspiring to incredibly hands-on and applicable to the technological aspect of blogging. I loved all of them that I attended, but here are a few of my favorites:

Jasmine Star is one of my all-time favorite wedding photographers. Just to be in the same room with her was so exciting, but I left her session ready to take on wedding photography and the world. She talked about branding and, specifically, being your brand. If someone loves you great, if they don't then someone else is probably a better fit, but you should always put the real you out there.

Karen Waldrond of Chookooloonks was SO inspiring. She talked about Finding Your Voice. I loved her recommendations like, "practice seeing" the beautiful in your life and make an exhaustive list of what, "lights you up" (what you love to do). I came home with a lot of very fun things that I have to do (like more traveling!).

I loved hearing and learning from Matt and Julie Walker from Tiger in a Jar film production. I have been wanting to incorporate video more into my blog and photography business, so I will be putting to use everything I learned. (Their videos are so beautiful, check them out!)

Stefan Stagmeister, amazing graphic designer, was hilarious, engaging, and so real. I got to see Heather Armstrong from Dooce in person and hear her speak (!!!!!!). Although, James from Bleubird wasn't there meeting her husband Aubrey was a (not so close) second.

Alt Summit was such a great experience and I'm already thinking about next year. Will you be there?