Last night was the February meeting of the Orlando Pictage User Group (affectionately nicknamed the “PUG”). And last night Nate and I lost our photography public speaking virginity. Our good friend Tim invited as guest speakers for this month’s PUG meeting. It was perfect timing too since Nate and I just made the switch to Pictage for all of our proofing and are now card carrying members. (Well, we don’t really have cards, we have ID numbers, but “ID-number-having-member sounds much less exclusive.) And luckily for us, the topic we had planned for our presentation in Iowa fit perfectly as a topic for the PUG as well. And graciously, everyone that came allowed us to share it with them. We got to meet some really cool local people and also put faces to names of some that we had only heard of through mutual friends or the interwebs.

I’ve been asked a few times if I was nervous about speaking (at both the PUG and in Iowa) and to be completely honest, I’m not nervous about the actual speaking in front of people. Nate and I used to be in a band together so being in front of people and performing doesn’t rattle me that much. What does make me shake in my boots heels is the thought of people not finding any value in what I am giving them. When I used to sing in the band I would be terrified that I wasn’t going to be able to communicate the emotions and meaning of the song to them. That they would think I sounded bad, or that they just wouldn’t care about the songs that we had put so much of our hearts into writing and practicing. With speaking on photography, I don’t get nervous about being in front of people but I do get nervous that they will think that what I say is stupid or boring or has no value. So all afternoon I pretty much freaked out and second guessed everything we had written into our program. But, once we were able to start talking and connecting, I felt much better. And even if someone thought that what we were saying was boring, I know that there were others who found a lot of value in it. And to us, if even one person can improve their business or their art or their mental well-being because of something that we shared, then the entire thing is a success. At least, that’s how Nate and I feel.

Now we’re making a few little refinements (and I’ll be working on my posture) for our trip to Iowa. And we couldn’t be more excited right now about going and getting to do this program again and getting to meet so many new people. To everyone we met last night, thank you so much for coming and giving us some of your time. Thank you for your vulnerability and for opening your minds and your hearts to what we had to say. We are so happy to have made so many new connections and we can’t wait to hang out with you all again and hopefully work with some of you in the upcoming year! Thank you especially to Tim Beckford and Brian Adams for inviting and hosting us and also for keeping the Orlando PUG running so smoothly. And thank you to Timco for taking the following photos as proof that last night even existed at all. ;)