(I left you yesterday in Kanab, Utah, preparing for my first day of the Outsiders Conference).

First day of the conference! So excited for this day! The reason I came to Utah in the first place was to attend the Outsiders Photography Conference. The inaugural conference was supposed to be in March 2020, but we all know what happened then. I was so excited for the trip last year, the first time ever in the desert southwest, I had been planning since May of 2019, basically right after I came back from Paris, I started planning this trip. Then, 2 days before I was supposed to fly out, the conference was cancelled. The COVID had shut down the world that weekend, and the conference was postponed. But, it was on again for 2021, but in April instead of March. I had another year to plan and prepare. Some of you might remember I did a VIRTUAL vacation last year on Facebook, using internet and Google Maps images and creating a work of fiction each day to make the missing of the trip more bearable. It was fun, and is the reason I’ve created this blog, to document the real trip, as opposed to a fake one. FYI – the real one was much more fun.

This morning I had to drive the RV to the conference and then I’d drop it at the service garage during the lunch break. After getting up early as I’ve been doing, I had breakfast and got ready. Unplugged the electricity and headed out to the brand new Kanab Conference Center. Not quite sure where I was supposed to go, I kind of just followed other people. Got turned around a bit and went the wrong way, but eventually found the parking lot. Turns out it’s the same place where you go to enter the lottery to get permits to see the Wave. Parking lot was packed!

I walked in and found the registration desk. Retrieved my name tag and lanyard and a very cool water bottle. That was unexpected. I looked at some of the vendors, I knew something would attract my eye, so I quickly walked away to the conference room. There were so many people. I recognized some from social media, IG & Facebook, most people though, I did not. I felt like a giddy schoolgirl seeing so many photographers that I had looked up to for years. I have to admit, it was pretty cool. But, I did what I normally do when in an unfamiliar situation, I retreated to an empty table in the back so as to melt into the background, and just sit and observe. Everyone seemed to know someone else. I didn’t know anyone. The one person I did know that was supposed to be there opted out when they offered the virtual viewing for a reduced rate. Delfin was in town but had to watch online rather than in person. So I occasionally messaged him to tell him what was going on. Thank god for cell phones, the introverts way out having to talk to people. Haahaa

First session was the general opening session. Then we had a talk by two people (sad to admit I never heard of before) who were married, and they discussed couples in photography. Not something I was particularly interested in, haahaa, but it was the only talk happening, so I sat in. After that was a talk on proper tripod use by David Swindler. He was the owner of the local photography tour company, Action Photo Tours (who I booked a tour with a few days later). And you know, tripods aren’t rocket science, but he offered some pretty helpful tips. After that, it was lunch time! So I skedaddled out of there and took the RV down to Little’s to get it repaired.

The guy recognized me right away. I told him I needed a ride back to Kanab for the conference and would be back later in the afternoon to pick up the RV. I gave him my phone number and asked him to call or text when it was done. Then, I think it was the owner, gave me a ride back to the conference center. They were so nice and very helpful. They didn’t have to offer me a ride, but they did just the same.

I got back to the conference with plenty of time to spare. I even had time to have the box lunch they provided. I chose the “gluten free” option for all of my meals there. Gluten free isn’t exactly low carb or Keto, but I figured it would have less carbs than the regular meals. Lunch was a sandwich, cold cuts and cheese, chips, pickle, soda, and a Kind bar. I took the bread off and ate the meat and cheese roll-up style, ate the pickle, and the Kind bar (uh oh), and gave away the chips. It was a good lunch.

After lunch it was a panel discussion about creativity and artistic vision, with David Johnston moderating. I needed all the help I could get out of this talk. 😊 Afterwards was a talk by Eric Bennett, a very talented photographer, who, before this conference was announced in May 2019, I had never heard of. After they announced the conference, I went to follow all of the presenters on social media to get to know their work. Since I started following him, I have become a big fan. Its amazing. I was excited to hear him speak. After that was Phill Monson, who was one of the founders of this conference and a great advocate for nature and the environment (he may be better known as Nigel the Litter Hunter). But his talk was about being a better steward of nature. I think there were less than 10 people in that talk, and that bothered me. Not sure what else was going on opposite this, but I really thought that being nature photographers more people would be interested in this. Guess not…

After Phill’s talk, I got the nerve to talk to him about Nature First. I told him I was one of their advocates and that I had brought with me a bunch of stickers and principles cards that Scott Bacon had given me in November; and that if he wanted, I’d give them to him to put out on the display table. He said “absolutely!” I explained that they were in my RV which is getting repaired now but would bring them to him when I got my RV back.

After the last session, we had an hour break to peruse the vendors’ tables and mingle. I took this opportunity to give Little’s a call and they said my RV was ready. I asked if they could send someone to pick me up at the conference center, and they said they’d send someone over right away. I met one of the ladies out front about 20 minutes later and she drove me back. I spoke with the RV guy, and he said my stove wasn’t broke, but that it needed to be lit it in a specific way to get it started. Something the Cruise America guy neglected to show me, and they neglected to provide a lighter, which was also necessary. I assumed it was an easy turn, click, ignite, like a gas grill, but it was more complicated than that. He also said the spare tire on the vehicle only needed air, and the original tire had a bad valve stem. They fixed the valve stem and put that tire back on the vehicle. Then returned the spare to the spare-tire mount on the back to be used as a spare again, if needed. That was a load off my mind. I thanked them very much and went on my way. Back to the conference center for their special dinner and talk by none other than the great Art Wolfe!

Back at the conference, I remembered to grab my Nature First stickers and principles cards to give to Phill. I made it there just in time for dinner. I was supposed to get chicken but had roasted beef filet tips instead, with a salad and mushrooms. There were potatoes and cornbread muffins, but I didn’t eat those, nor the dessert, but I had plenty with what they did serve. It was very good. Then it was time for Art! He’s been to just about everywhere in the world, and photographed just about everything, landscapes, people, wildlife, abstracts. You name it, he’s photographed it. His presentation went for nearly 2 hours. What an amazing life he’s led so far, and still continuing to lead.

While watching in the darkened room, I noticed people coming in the doors behind me. I noticed one behind me was David Johnston who I had been watching on YouTube for a while now, ever since Jason Eldridge from my camera club had him on his podcast. When the talk was over, I introduced myself and we chatted for a minute. He mentioned that he woke up at 4am to drive up to Bryce to photograph the sunrise and ran into snow! That’s dedication! I figured he wanted to meet up with the rest of the presenters and meet Art so I thanked him for being at the conference and to enjoy the rest of his trip.

Afterward people gathered around to get his autograph and chat, but I needed to get back to the campground so I could get my RV parked and hooked up before it got too dark. Made it in time. Stopped by the office and picked up my rental lens that had been delivered earlier in the day. I got backed in with no issues, and level on the first try! YAY! I hooked up the electric and water and hurried back in to get that furnace started. It was COLD! The rest of the night I enjoyed the free wifi and processed some images from the past week. Then it was on to bed. Early morning and I was walking to the center. I needed to have my cold weather gear ready.