Me & Felix Kunze decided to put together INSPIRE photographer meet ups after a brief chat whilst we were in NYC. We noticed that there’s hardly ANY form of networking for creatives in the UK and it’s a shame since networking is one of the most important things to do in the industry we are in. The point of INSPIRE meet ups is to give the opportunity to all levels of photographers to come together, meet, talk, give advice / feedback and critique and share their ideas and thoughts on the industry – the whole point is to inspire each photographer.

We held our first meet up in Hyde Park on the 26th March – we had a great turn out with photographers coming from all over the UK, some from different countries also. It was great to see everyone talking about the industry and sharing portfolios. We started off in the park (which was a typical miserable London day) and then we ended it in a pub near Victoria.

The event wasn’t ‘planned’ as such but an opportunity for everyone to get talking. I’ve been a photographer for five years now and I can say that this has been my best year in the industry because of the contacts and friends I have made through networking. The meet up also give me the opportunity to meet a few online ‘friends’ that I’d been in contact with over the years, as well as fans of my work that came along to tell me I’d inspired them to start photography – it’s moments like this I realize all the hard work and effort has been put to good use. If I can inspire someone with what I do, I feel the late nights, early starts and constant business work are well worth it.
We had some great feedback from people that attended on the day and so many twitter/facebook messages later that week, so many people mentioned that there needed to be more events like this for us creatives..

Both me & Felix are planning to do more workshops in the future, possibly with some talks going on and some events on the day, also. We have plans to do one in NYC when we’re both there from June onwards and also a few around the UK. To keep track of our meet ups follow our twitter page – www.twitter.com/inspiremeetups

Photography Credits: Chris Davies, Oscar May, Tom Messenger, Sam Butler.