Heck Yeah Photo Camp

One year ago exactly, I was here. Joshua Tree. Learning everything under the sun, meeting 100+ new photographer friends, freezing my butt off in the desert at night, listening to the sound of howling coyotes, trying not to step on cactus, drinking more whiskey than I probably should have, getting hardly any sleep, talking until my voice was hoarse and crying from the inspiration of it all. Oh yeah, and taking photos. That. This was Ben Sasso’s Heck Yeah Photo Camp. It kick-started my 2016 into high gear. As I look back on last year and look into 2017 now, I spend SO much time with the people I met at this event. Whether its texting them, talking to them on facebook, hanging out together, living together, flying to the other side of the world to see them, etc, the connections I made in this 3-day event changed my life forever. And I am so grateful for that. There are so many workshops out there for photographers. Sometimes people ask “is it worth it?” My answer is yes. Every penny. I had been a photographer for 7 years already when I attended this event and I came away learning way more than I thought I would. You are never too experienced to learn more, to see new perspectives on old issues, and to meet people who do things differently than you. Yes, you might not love every “big name” speaker that you meet. They might be more of a jerk, or just kind of aloof, or just generally disappointing in real life. That’s okay! Some people are better teachers than others! But if you do your research and choose a workshop with several people who you can’t wait to learn from, with a size that inspires you (I liked that Heck Yeah was huge! More people to hang with!), you’ll be good! I can’t recommend it enough. So, a whole year later, here are a few of my favorite images from this awesome event. Better late than never