Finding Your “People” as a Photographer

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Bluebird Chic ambassador Cheryl of Cheryl Cagle Photography shares her best tips for finding a tribe of fellow photographers to connect and grow with! 

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Whether you are a hobbyist or a professional photographer, finding a tribe of people who you connect with is important. Your tribe is there for you to encourage you, push you, ask questions to, or bounce ideas off of, but mostly they just get you! These are the people that are always there for you whenever you need them.

But how do you find “your people”?

I’ve been blessed to find a tribe of women that just get me.  They pick me up when I need them in my darkest moments and are my biggest cheerleaders during my highest.  Here are a few of the ways over the years that I have found my tribe.

Tip # 1 – Attend workshops, classes and conferences (in-person or online)

When I attended Click Away, which is a photography conference, I got to meet some of these incredible ladies in person.  It’s such a high and an awesome experience meeting other photo-obsessed people. 

I met ladies there that have also become part of my tribe.  We’ve gone on photo trips to Toronto, and Maine, together and got together for another Click Away two years later in Florida.  The best part is, I don’t really care where we go, as long as I have this tribe with me, I’ll be happy.

Tip # 2 – Join photo communities or clubs (ie. Clickin Moms, Illuminate, The Unraveled Academy)

I joined the Clickin Moms community back in 2014 and took my first online photography class.  This is such a great way to get to know others in your class by staying engaged and commenting on others threads.  It’s a positive, helpful community, mostly of women, where I felt I could just be myself. 

I continued to take other classes and by about my fourth class I noticed that there were a number of us women who had attended the same classes together.  We formed a Facebook group and that group became my photography lifeline.  We continued to talk about photography but we also started talking about our personal lives too, the ups and the downs.

Tip # 3 – Join Facebook groups and challenges

I also at that time entered a number of Facebook challenges and found a number of other women routinely entered the same challenges.  I reached out to them and would ask them questions or compliment their work and got to know them through Facebook Messenger.  We then became “friends” and cheerleaders for each other.

A few more bonus tips…

Some other ideas for finding your tribe might include:

• going on organized photo walks,
• following your favorite photographers on social media and reaching out to them with questions and compliments.
• forming your own community, facebook group or club.

Good luck finding your TRIBE, that group of fellow photogs that encourage you, challenges you, but most of all GETS YOU and you get them.

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Hi! I’m a mom of two daughters, married to my best friend of 17 years, and chief entertainer and exerciser of our black lab, Maizey Mae. I’m a natural light photographer located in Medfield, Massachusetts. Photography has always been part of my life. As an only child, my mom had her camera out documenting our every move, every event, every milestone. Thankfully she did. Ten years ago she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. The photos that she and I are in together are the ones that I treasure the most. Photographing families, especially the beautiful connections between the mom’s and dad’s and their children, is what I love to do. See more of my work at: http://cherylcaglephotography.com/ .

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