A WEEKEND AT THE PP OF OHIO CONVENTION

I'm just back from the Professional Photographers of Ohio convention, and my feet are still catching up.

As president, this weekend is really the finish line for a project that runs most of the year. Setting the schedule, lining up speakers and vendors, managing the logistics on site... by the time everyone else walks in the door, I've already been living with this convention for months.

Everything happens onsite, meals included, and speakers and vendors are right there with everyone else through classes and mealtimes. That's by design. It keeps everyone in the same space all weekend, which is really what makes the convention work.

Because honestly, my favorite part isn't any single session. It's the people. Meeting photographers I've never talked to before, catching up with friends I only ever see in person once a year, all of it at meals, between classes, during setup, all weekend long. That's the whole point of gathering like this, and it's the part I look forward to every year.

I did speak this year too, a short program on AI assistants for photographers, and it was well received. And I got to spend a full day in a workshop with Marisa Balletti-Lavoie, which was a good reminder that there's still plenty to learn.

Saturday night was our annual image competition awards ceremony. I took home Artist of the Year, along with two first place trophies in category, and it capped off a weekend I'd already call a good one before a single award was handed out.

Read the full announcement about the Artist of the Year win here.