Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin 2007 Palm Springs Photo Festival

By
Coast CCA
Published: December 10, 2007Posted in: Conference Reports
Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin
OCC

I participated in the 2007 Palm Springs Photo Festival (http://www.palmspringsphotofestival.com/)

The objective of this conference/festival is to “MEET top photographers, curators, art directors, educators and industry leaders.”    Also to “SHOW your portfolios, STUDY with legendary photographers, ATTEND cutting-edge seminars / symposiums and enjoy outdoor evening projections by works famous image makers.  NETWORK with the master photographers, industry insiders and your contemporaries.”

I attended three days and was absolutely satisfied with all of the above.  The event was small in scope so that it was possible to meet and network with either well known folks in the industry or your peers.  I found the Portfolio Reviews to be helpful, informative and constructive.  I learned tremendously from the two 3-hour seminars, such as  Adobe’s Workflow Solution for the Professional Photographer with Julianne Kost and Canon Digital SLR Seminar:  An Advanced Look At Digital SLR Systems, Features and Workflow with Amy Kawadler.  Both of these seminars fit exactly to what my goals were in terms of what I wanted out of this conference.  I wanted to learn more about the new Adobe software LightRoom and learn to use my camera more effectively, a Canon Digital SLR.

The other stellar aspect of this event was the evening slide show presentations by some of the most successful and popular photographers.  Afterwards we were invited to visit at the poolside.
The event also offered workshops which were intensive all-day studies with a particular famous photographer.  I did not go for that reason.