It was overcast in St. Augustine, the sky a dull dingy gray, and spitting rain. But it couldn’t have been cozier inside J.P. Henley’s, the little restaurant and pub I used to pop into after a day of college classes with friends, and sometimes the occasional professor. On Tuesday, for the first time in years, I was back at Henley’s with friends — photographer friends. There was Christine, my roommate from the Pursuit 31 Conference in Georgia, and Corinna, another friend from the conference. There was Sarah, a new friend I had found at United in California last month. And there was Lauren, who has started assisting Danny and me at some weddings and portrait sessions this year.

As I drove home later, I couldn’t stop thinking about how incredible our photography communities are. If it weren’t for Pursuit 31, Christine, Corinna, and probably never would have crossed paths, even though I knew of Corinna as a photographer, since she had photographed some of my friends in Jacksonville. If it weren’t for United and Sarah’s last-minute decision to attend, she never would have shared a lunch table with Danny and me and made the connection that we only live an hour and a half away from each other and found out that we shared a number of friends in common — including Corinna and Christine, whom Sarah had just met a week or two before, thanks to Corinna.

When I first decided to pursue wedding photograph, I knew I would have a really cool job. I had no idea that I would meet so many wonderful people and make some wonderful friends inside the photography community. I am so grateful for it! Because these people aren’t just other photographers who are willing to talk shop with me. They’ve become friends. Real friends.

Christine grabbed a bypasser, a twenty-something guy walking down the street with his friend, to get a quick group picture of us. I adjusted the settings on my camera, handed it to him, and we all cheesed. And then burst out laughing at our new friend’s shock when he pressed the shutter firmly and the camera rapid-fired three shots instead of just one.

I love it.

Thank you to my friends for a wonderful afternoon of photography talk, girl talk, and some really good baked brie! Let’s do it all again soon!

~ Laura