Each year I have a wedding here or there in what many consider to be “the off season” for weddings. But for the most part, things get fairly quiet on that front. It’s a great time for me to catch up on personal projects or explore some new ones. It’s also a wonderful time to catch up with friends and other photographers. In the first couple months of 2017, I attended Mystic Seminars in Portland and the WPPI Conference and Expo in Las Vegas.

For those of you who don’t know, Mystic Seminars is the brain-child of Walter van Dusen, and it brings together hundreds of wedding and portrait photographers a year to hang out in Portland. This was my first year attending and it was a blast (if you’re a photographer who hasn’t gone, I’d highly recommend it). Aside from listening and being inspired from incredibly talented photographers from all over the world, I reconnected with old friends and forged brand new friendships.

While I kept my camera off during the actual presentations (since I wanted to be a good audience member and actually pay attention and be in the moment…), I took it out while hanging out with my friends and getting a little tour of Portland. For you gear nuts out there, all the photos below were taken with the Fuji X-T2 and the 23 f/1.4.  Anyway, here’s a little glimpse of the trip!