This past week, Shoppman and I went to the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers 
We first met up with the group after sleeping on the side of the road the night before (hey we got in at 2 a.m., drank some beer and didn’t want to pay for a campsite) for a nature talk and walk through a wetlands preserve that was probably one of the driest wetlands I had ever been in. I think the group was a little apprehensive of the appearance of Shoppman and myself, because we definitely looked like a bunch of dirtballs. We were also significantly younger than the median age of the group members. They probably thought we were there to take their cameras… not pictures!
After we got our official ID badges and attended some more information sessions, including a great presentation by local resident and internationally known photographer Tom Till, we began to assimilate into the group. There were some interesting presentations related to migrating to digital photography and a good critique session which pointed out some of the do’s and don’ts of photography. We even got to take a jetboat ride on the Colorado river which was pretty sweet. Shoppman is pretty experienced in the area of photography due to his background in graphics and multi-media, but I learned a lot from the conference. Not to mention the fact that we were in some pretty beautiful country in southeastern Utah. All in all, it was a great experience and we met a lot of interesting and friendly people.
