I’ve been anxious to learn from my own people. It’s been something I have been rebelling against, pushing back on. And, I feel good about that. I feel like it’s good to take a step back and learn from other industries, from textbooks, from your own personal journey.
But this week I attended the 2021 Hybrid Collective Conference in Utah, and I found a love of learning from my peers once again. I found a renewed apprecation for the education you can receive just sitting side by side with someone and hearing their story, by making a new friend, by listening to a speaker choke up on stage while discussing the failure in his success, in striving for a better life rather than just a better business. I got to stand side by side with one of my biggest photography idols while she helped me navigate and direct the composition of a portrait, and it was such an eye opening two minutes.
There are an infinite number of ways to get inspired, to learn, to improve our craft. I won’t give up the textbooks, the outside sources, the reading, the self exploration. But now I can honestly say that peer education is also a huge inspiration, and I won’t give that up either.