I am going to start of this post by announcing to the world that the DFW Clickin Moms Facebook group is by far the best group of photographers ever! I know that is a bold statement, but if you were at our holiday party last night I think you would agree. Let me start from the beginning and explain how we got to where we are today and how 70 practical strangers ended up in room together, and all left feeling like old friends.

A little over a year ago I was perusing the Clickin Moms forum when I came across of post with several DFW area photographers chatting about various locations and ideas for a meet-up. The post was long and hard to navigate with all the back and forth conversation, but I loved the idea of local photographers connecting. As many of us know, photography can be a very isolating and lonely business at times. As much as we love our husbands and family….they don’t always ‘get it’ when it comes to photography talk. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was desperately in need of a place where I could make real connections with other women who would ‘get it’. The idea to start a Facebook page was born and I quickly put together a DFW Clickin Moms group. I posted the link on the CM forum and hoped that maybe 20-30 women would join. Little did I know that I was not alone in my need for connection. Over the course of the next year, my idea of a small group of local women would grow to include a network of close to 300 local female photographers. There would be meet-ups, coffee dates, shoot-outs, a ClickAway group and so much more. Watching this group grow has been such an amazing blessing. After Click Away in September, several of us got together to share our experience, talk about what we learned and just chat. After that meeting the idea of putting together a Holiday Party began. Julie Peveto, Leslie Guy and I immediately got to work finding a location, sending out information, talking to vendors about donations and bringing all our ideas to life. Last night, in an old red barn at a local winery, 70 women gathered together to celebrate the holidays and make new friends. It was amazing to greet the ladies as they entered, most I recognized from their Facebook profile or their name but had never met in person, and see the mix of excitement and nervousness on their faces. Many of the ladies that attended came alone, without knowing anyone….and within the first hour I would find them at the photo booth laughing and trying on silly hats with their new found friends. It was truly amazing to be a part of something so great! We are definitely going to do this again next year…even bigger and better (because everything is bigger in Texas….right?!?)

Here are some of my favorite images from the night:

I want to give a special thank you to all the sponsors/vendors that donated door prizes and gift bag items:

Clickin Moms

Photojojo

Millers

Whcc

Bayphoto

Lensbaby

Click it up a Notch

Female Photographers Association

Mod Straps

SallyKate Photography

Arlington Camera

Strawberry Revolution

Intuition Backgrounds

Jenny Lane Bakery

James Avery

Artifact Uprising

Custom Photo Props

Bittersweet Designs

Breezy Organization