Shutterfest 2025

Union Station - St. Louis, MO

I was able to go to my very first photography convention. This particular one is held yearly in St. Louis at Union Station. It attracts thousands of photographers, hundreds of models, and dozens of vendors. It is organized by Sal and Alissa Cincotta of Salvador Cincotta Photography. He has a wonderful team that puts this together, and it was an awesome yet overwhelming experience to be a part of. I arrived on Monday, April 21st, and left on Thursday, the 24th. I attended several classes and learned all about how to elevate my senior photography both behind the camera and in the business. I didn't take as my photos as I thought I would because it was my first year and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it is common for photographers to plan lots of personal shoots all around Union Station while they are there to beef up their portfolio or try new things. At any given time, all day and through the night, photoshoots are going on all around Union Station. It is a very unique conference that offers so much freedom from the hotel and staff. There were many vendors to see, from print labs to sellers of camera and light gear, and backdrops.

Classes

I took a variety of classes that I believe would help me grow in my business, and focused on sales and senior photography. I took a couple of classes from a photographer I've been following for some time, Jenn Lewis of Jenn Lewis Photography, who is truly amazing. She is an awesome educator and shares my spunky yet introverted personality. She had a very informative class on how she went from shoot and burn (giving all the digitals on a CD) to a highly successful 6-figure income. I took crazy notes in her class and really need time to digest it all. She is incredible and I am so thankful for the chance to meet her. I also took her class on building a senior rep program and went home with some serious gold nuggets of info I never even thought of before. So excited to make some changes in my business in the coming year!

I also went to a class by Ray Alvarez of Shoot With Ray on YouTube. I've been watching him for a few months now, and he's an awesome photographer, and his wife is an insanely talented make-up artist and model. They are always making content together, and his class was a very down-to-earth discussion on the best way we can serve our clients.

The Creator Lab

The Creator Lab was an area of Union Station that they roped off so you could borrow gear and take photos of models in backdrop cubicles to try different things. It was neat, and I just waited in line, and on my turn was able to capture some neat shots.

Night Shoot at the Ferris Wheel

This was an amazing opportunity for me. Kristin Jones at Any Angle Photography is a photographer who has deeply impacted me this year. I watched her posing class at an online senior photography conference called Senior Summit earlier this year. As a part of her segment, she offered a free phone consultation, and I took her up on it and scheduled a call. She is the most genuine person and was such a pleasure to talk to. I took a couple of her classes at Shutterfest, including Cinematic Lighting and a business class. In the cinematic lighting class, she talked about using different objects like prisms, crystals, and filters to give your photo a neat effect. She also taught on using strobes in a way I've never even seen done. The shoot at the ferris wheel took place by invite only for those who attended Kristin Jones' Cinematic Lighting class. We had so much fun, and I got some of the best images of Shutterfest here.

Light Painting

I was able to team up with Kristin again for a special shoot that I've been wanting to try for a long time. Before Shutterfest, I reached out and asked if she wanted to take part in a light painting aftershoot. Light painting is a technique where you shoot in dark conditions and use flashlights and light bars to paint light into your photo while using a dragging shutter, and then using a pop of a flash to illuminate your subject. All of these were done in camera and only slight editing was done on the raw photographs to bring out the colors a bit more. These aren't the most technically perfect images because it was a brand new technique that I've never done before. I can't wait to practice some more here at home!

Senior Photography

I took a senior photography class that spoke directly to photographing guys and after a short lecture the instructors, Kobie and Tyler Lanford of Be Still Photography. They gave us the opportunity to photograph some senior guys to add to our portfolio. Sometimes guys can be a lot more challenging to photograph but I absolutely love photographing senior guys!

I did black and white photographs for the next couple guys and I can say that I absolutely LOVE them! They were so fun to work with! I love the drama!

THE Joel Grimes

This was definitely one of the highlights to my trip. A world-renowned photographer named Joel Grimes (click his name for more info on Joel) would be teaching an advanced class on the last day of Shutterfest, which required an extra fee to attend - a fee I did not pay. I was a bit bummed that I would be missing him as I've bought some of his online classes and he is such a good photographer. But my dreams came true when I was reviewing the classes I wanted to register for on the day of registration. For some background, they release the schedule of classes in advance to registration so you can do your homework and find what you want to be in. There are over a hundred available classes but you can only take 12 so it takes some selective sacrifice to narrow down your choices and get ready for registration day. At a very specific time on registration day you go through the app and join as fast as you can because in some classes there is limited availability. I was double checking my classes and realized for one I didn't have a backup ready in case I didn't get in, so I began looking at the other classes in that time slot. Only class names are displayed in the class list until you click to read more, and there was a class titled "One Light Beauty Portraits" that sounded interesting, and so I clicked to see more. Joel Grimes. (!!!!!) So I ditched my first pick and decided that was my top class - the first one I'd hit "register" under when registration opened. And I got in. I got into Joel Grimes class! This was the last class I took at Shutterfest. It was perfect. He was so normal, and still had to fiddle with his camera and settings and work up to the perfect shot. He told stories and answered questions freely. He talked about how he's dyslexic and hates reading. He's has his own battles to overcome, but he's successful despite his weaknesses. He was a joy to learn from.

Overall...

I had a wonderful time. I met amazing photographers, including my roommate for the week, Brandi, (who I did NOT get a photo with!) I learned SO MUCH and am still trying to process and make the necessary changes in my business that I need to make in order to take my photography to the next level.