Each year the NECCC holds a three day event filled with classes, seminars and photo opts, designed for anyone who’s interested in photography.
The
conference actually started out as a photo and prints competition awards
ceremony for New England camera club competitions in 1949 and has morphed into a
three day event, which is one of the largest photo conferences of it's kind in the entire country. They
NECCC also offers a few pre-conference seminars held the day before the main event. Obviously the
weekend can be costly and is sponsored in part by companies like Canon, Nikon,
Sigma and Tamron and Hunts Photo & Video, just to name a few. These vendors have
setup a special ‘vendors section’ in the main concourse that is open throughout
the weekend to help you find just about any equipment you might be looking for.
There are even special areas where
you can borrow lenses or gear or you can test printers for free! Nice huh?
For
me, the conference is a great time to hook-up with other photographers and my camera
club friends. It helps me keep up to date with what’s going on in the photo
world and get some fresh ideas from some of the best photographers and biggest
names in the industry. Who better to learn from right? The NECCC’s planning
board has the weekends activities split into different categories and skill
levels and they send out speakers notes and schedules when you register to help
you plan out your weekend schedule accordingly beforehand.
On
the first day of the conference (Friday) they offer two time slots in the
afternoon, a dinner break, and then two or three special one-time only speaker presentations
that evening.
The second day is very full, with four time slots during the day with a break for meals, along with photo opts like model shoots and studio setups in different location on campus throughout the day. Then on Saturday night, they hold the annual NECCC’s awards ceremony along with the special keynote presentation, usually held in the college’s huge Fine Arts auditorium.
This
year the NECCC was lucky enough to get Sam Abel (sponsored by Canon) as their special
keynote speaker. Sam has had a fantastic career spanning forty years and holds
the honor of being one of only thirty-five people world-wide to be chosen to be
one of the Canon Explorers of Light. In addition to being an Explorer of Light,
Sam was also a contract and staff photography for National Geographic for thirty
years. His presentation was captivating and he definitely got two thumbs up
from everyone that attended. Then on Sunday morning, the third and final day,
they offer two more time slots in the morning.
If
there are any downsides to the conference it is the fact that they offer way
too many choices and you really have to schedule your time accordingly. For me, I start out weeks beforehand planning out
my weekend. During the conference, at meal time or between classes, I’ll hook
up with my friends and find out what they’ve seen and quite often I’ll fine-tune
my schedule to fit in a particular class that they thought was worth catching
or some that I’d be better off skipping. Of course you never get a chance to
see everything, but they have tons of choices designed for all skill levels. If
you’re into photography, you’ll definitely have a great time.
Over
the course of the weekend this year I actually had a chance to attend eight
seminars, two presentations (Friday and Saturday night) and fit in several shooting
opts. The weekend flies by and is a lot of information crammed in over a short
period, but I’m already looking forward to the 70th Annual NECCC
next year!
Remember,
as always, keep shooting and have some fun!
