Texas Homeschool Coalition Conference 2011: I Heart Conference Photography

Once upon a time I took pictures. And then there was a conference (Type-A Mom); at which I took photos - for free. And another conference (Blissdom). And another (Relevant). And then finally, I was 'hired' to do it (THSC). Which is so much 'funner'. Because if you are going to drive insane distances to go to a conference, you might as well get paid back some of your travel expenses. Right?

And now, after all these years, I finally found my dream job. Right under wife, mother, homeschooler, and eater of dark chocolate. I think conference photography might even trump blogging. But that's too deep of a subject for tonight.



It was so much fun taking pictures for THSC. I'm counting the days off until next year when we can do it again! Maybe somewhere in-between now and then I can upgrade my camera. Playing with so many great cameras has extended my wish list. Jennifer and I both had 2 cameras dangling from our bodies all weekend. It was a photographer's dream come true.

Later this week, I'll share the slideshow that they made from mostly Jennifer and my photos of the event. 



And this is my new best girlfriend that hired me to take pictures. Did I mention that I love her? And one day she's going to be a famous blogger. She's like Pioneer Woman mixed with Ann Voskamp - just waiting to happen online. You should have heard her tell the story about the missing barbed wire fence. Southern women are the best of the best. I love me some Texas twang, too. I can't wait to introduce you to her as soon as Jenn and I talk her in to starting her own blog. Give me a second and I'll let you know when we convert her.

The nice dude in the picture above tried to fix my hard drive that crashed. You know that "what can go wrong, will". And it did. My week-old hard drive crashed - along with all the photos of Jennifer and my trip to San Antonio (the Alamo and Mi Tierra's), the Bob Bullock History Museum, and our twitter meetups.

Thankfully, we have a few Instagram shots for the memories:



There's no telling what else was on the hard drive that I lost. Family reunion photos from June -- I can't even bring myself to think back to what photos I took in the past few months. Partly because I haven't slept good enough for deep thinking in nearly three years. But I digress...

Oh, yes - lost pictures.

I'm still not talking about it. The trauma is deep, people.  DEEP and wide.

I made a vow to back up my other hard drive this week on two different computers. And I'm probably buying a subscription to Carbonite. It pays to have multiple copies of your photos. I learned that this weekend THE HARD WAY.



Blog conferences -- especially ones in which you must be everywhere at once -- are much easier to do with some assistants. These girls helped care for the nursing baby and kept us in stitches. And nearly made us pee our pants when they jumped out of the curtains in our room.



Blog conferences -- especially ones in which you must be everywhere at once -- are NOT much easier with milk ticks. But you might have guessed that a 25 lb chunk of slobber might slow down a photographer. However, they make great subject material when you are testing your camera settings. One of the other photogs took this picture with a dreamy professional Nikon. He didn't have a business card. Someday I'll come back in here and give him proper credit. The baby, of course is my own property - but credits go to the Big Guy in the Sky for his creation.



Isn't he cute? His mama, however, needs to go on a diet. Thankfully Jennifer knows to take photos from the waist up. God love her.



And then there was this guy. Some of you may know him. He's like a homeschool rock star. TIM HAWKINS - the comic: @timhawkinscomic on Twitter. I had so much fun photographing him - and enjoying the show at the same time. He's even funnier in person than he is on YouTube. I couldn't believe that Jenn's little girl slept through his show.



So did this guy. He and Maggie had their own laughs, though. They are the bestest of buddies. In fact, we tried to talk Jenn in to leaving Maggie in Texas, but she wouldn't hear of it. Apparently Maggie is a pretty good navigator - and Texas is a long way from Florida. I'm still crushing over the fact that Jenn drove so many thousands of miles to hang out and take pictures with me.



What a Texas sized bunch of conference photographer fun we had. I can't wait to take peekshurs with her again in October.