Creative Gathering

Last night the Boston creative community of photographers, stylists, producers and art buyers came together for a social outing. It was incredible and smartly organized by Tanya Mathis and Maggie Yarlis of Fidelity along with Ennis Inc.

The idea of these gatherings is to foster camaraderie, networking and dialogue in our creative community. It's a great idea to get people of all facets together in one room and put the faces to the names and make new contacts.

I had great conversations last night about the industry and how we are being affected by this economy, about other people's experiences, about production value, about the value of a peer's critiques, about putting a photographer in touch with a company that I have a contact at, etc.

Advertising, print and photography - it really is a small world and even if you have never met someone before, you have this industry in common and therefore people in this industry generally want to help you out - this is how it should be.

Thing is, if you want to start this in your community or your city, do it. It's a great concept and it cultivates/promotes new partnerships and networking in your industry close to home.

Here are some of the people I encountered last night (some I knew and had worked with, some I knew their name, some I had never heard of before but am glad I met them last night:
Margaret Lampert
Dave Bradley
Bruce Peterson
Cheryl Clegg
Jonathan Beller
Kate Kelley
Francie Hill (rep for Scott Goodwin)
Mari Quirk - no website but a stylist extraordinaire who has at least 25 years under her belt
The ladies of Ennis Inc
Steve Marsel