I went to my first PUG meeting on January 26th. I was so glad that I went too. I have only heard of Dane Sanders briefly through twitter but felt I needed to go hear what he had to say after I read over the brief summary of what the meeting would be about. Dane Sanders is an inspiring photographer, writer and most of all a father of 4!!
Dane challenged us to be “all in” to stop letting other people tell us who we really are….because we are all individuals AND we are all UNIQUE. He said to dig deep and find the real you…to be destined for greatness. The part that stuck out the most for me was…stop being afraid to fail, to stand out, to believe the truth because everything is already inside and if I set my mind to it…IT IS POSSIBLE (and yes, it will take hard work). The thing that I love most about Dane is that he was REAL!! No if, ands or buts…he had so many things that could have prevented him from even coming but he chose to be here for us that night. I must admit that I got very teary eyed listening to him and watching the clips that brought during the presentation. I think every photographer in Jacksonville should have been there that night to listen to his message. Dane said he dared us to get off automatic…because automatic means you arent trustworthy….whoa! And he didnt mean “auto” on our cameras

If I ever have the opportunity to meet Dane again….I am going to do it! What an awesome, awesome guy. I found it so easy to talk to him…and was so relaxed. After the meeting, I put my fear aside and introduced myself to other photographers. And was shocked when some already knew who I was and gave me praise on my work.
From this meeting, I have decided to stop being my own worse critic and to just be me. I will put my heart into my work and give 100%. If another photographer doesn’t like my work…that is them. I will only please God, my clients and myself. I have met and have been keeping in contact with some awesome colleagues who I know will help me instead of bring me down. Their uplifting words and advice have been great.
I would also like to thank Scarlett Lillian for making this all possible and for choosing to be bold and to be our fearless leader here in Jacksonville. It was great talking to you…again and talking to Stephen Knuth on the phone…lol! ( i felt like a dork, by the way)

P.S. I HATE photos of myself so I am stepping out big time by even posting these…lol

Dane And I

My colleague and friend, Dawn McCarthy