It has taken me about a month to write this post and the main reason is because it has taken me that long to process everything that I experienced at Click Away. I will warn you that this might get wordy, but I promise there will be pictures too 🙂 I am also going to break it up into 4 parts to keep it from getting too long.

So here it is- Part One: My journey to Click Away:

I first heard about the Click Away Photography Conference through the Clickin Moms forum. ( On a side note, this forum is awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn about photography or grow personally and professionally). They announced the conference back in December of 2013 and I remember thinking that is sounded like it was going to be amazing, but then all the reasons not to go started pouring in…it’s too expensive, it would mean time off from work, I won’t know anyone, I would have to leave Brinley and Derek home alone for too long. And then the BIG excuse reared it’s ugly head – I’m not good enough! That was the real reason I didn’t sign up right away. I had been on the CM forum long enough to know that there were some amazing photographers out there and I was starting to feel like I wasn’t good enough to be in the same league, much less the same room, as them. So I wrote it off as one of those things that I would never do. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

About a month later I was at a get together and another photographer mentioned that she had signed up. Something about knowing someone else going got me thinking about it again. I went home and told Derek about it and after some discussion I decided to go for it! I signed up the very next day! The conference was still months away so I pushed it to the back of my mind and went about my daily routines.

Over the next few months I found a roommate, booked my flight and started packing (ok, so in reality the packing happened the night before). Before I knew it the time had come to leave. As I sat at the airport waiting for my plane to leave I remember feeling something that I hadn’t felt in a long time – a sense of adventure and freedom! I was doing something for myself, and for the next 5 days the only person I was responsible for was ME! I felt a little guilty leaving my family at home, but I also knew that I really needed this trip….I just didn’t know how much yet!

On the plane ride I watched videos from Sue Bryce’s 28 Days and started soaking up as much knowledge as I could. I was in learning mode and on a mission to fit as much information in as I could. I arrived in Salt Lake City around 5:00pm and headed to my hotel. Several of us from the DFW metroplex had made plans to meet up for dinner so I literally dropped my bags in the hotel room, grabbed my roommate, Leslie, and we headed across the street to pick up our conference badges and goodie bags before dinner. As we stopped at the crosswalk I looked over my shoulder to find none other than Sue Bryce standing beside me. I had a total starstruck moment and said “Oh my gosh! You’re Sue Bryce!” (duh, she knows who she is Kendra….why did you say that!). She was so sweet and as we walked to registration together we talked about big Texas hair and fun accents. She was even kind enough to take a picture with me!

 

After getting signed in, and recovering from my “star sighting”, we headed to dinner at a cute little Italian place next to our hotel. We sat for a couple of hours, eating, drinking, making new friends and chatting about photography. It was the perfect way to start the trip. I was feeling exhausted, excited and ready for what the next couple of days had in store….maybe! 😉

Over the next couple of posts I will share my experiences from the classes I attended, the people I met, and the shooting excursions I went on. I hope you will join me as I relive this amazing event!