I had the awesome privilege of attending the CLIC Conference in Alexandria, VA this past weekend. As many of you know, myself and three others interned for Kelly Martin this Summer. If you missed it, you can read about the internship here. Together, the five of us pooled our time, talents and energy to make this conference a success, and it was!!! It was an amazing time, filled with a wealth of knowledge, other creatives and the charming town of Alexandria.
Shantelle and I, one of my fellow interns, and now roadie, made the four hour drive from Raleigh to Alexandria. There were lots of laughter, singing and picture taking along the way. We also ran into that notorious DC traffic. Needless to say we were happy when that cleared up!
Most of the CLIC group stayed at the Hotel Monaco, which is a cute boutique hotel located a few blocks from the conference venue. The staff were really attentive and kind, especially Rachel. She made sure that Shantelle and I were well taken care of. Kudos! So after getting settled in our room and taking selfies in the wonderfully wallpapered bathroom, we got ready for the next day; the first full conference day.
The conference was held at the Athenaeum Museum, a beautiful natural light venue. Each attendee received a swag bag filled with goodies as well as a cute favor filled with chocolates. Yummy cupcakes were also provided by Lavender Moon Cupcakery.
On day one, we heard some great talks about networking from Kelly Martin…
…branding from Katie Durski….
…and work/life balance from Amanda Hedgepeth. We also heard from Rachel Boer on pricing and Rachel Brenke on all things legal.
Katelyn James, her husband Michael and their adorable pup/babe, Bokeh the Bich-Poo, also joined us! (So in love with Bokeh!)
Day one was chocked full of useful information. I left feeling rejuvenated and ready to conquer some of the challenges that I face as a business owner and a photographer. Day two opened with a bang and torrential downpours. Alexandria was under a flood warning. We didn’t let that stop the show though. Kaitlin Holland was the first speaker of the day. She is incredibly passionate about styling the details and so she brought her expertise on wedding styling to the conference. Great talk! She also set up an amazing spread for our styled shoot that would be happening later that day.
Katelyn James spoke next and talked to the us about posing the client. It may sound simple but there’s an entire philosophy behind it, trust me! There’s so much more to it than just the posing. Then Tyler Corvin chatted with us about standing out from the crowd. I left the session feeling full and ready for the world!
We then got the groups ready for the styled shoots, which I will blog about in the second part of this post. Let me just warn you that the models are newly married and extremely adorable. Though the shoot was styled, their love for one another was evident in their interactions. Till then, here are some images from my time in Alexandria.
Bokeh the Bich-Poo.
Always the explorers, Shantelle and I had fun hitting up the local restaurants and walking the streets of Alexandria with our cameras.
I learned so much at the CLIC Conference! Interested in attending one? No worries, CLIC Charleston is going down this November. Click here for more details! Also, stay tuned for part 2, where I will be sharing the images from the styled shoot.
