I have always.....

I have always made it part of my wedding photography business strategy to mingle with other photographers. I attend seminars relating to photography and when there always make a point of striking up a conversation or two with my fellow togs. When I get the chance, I will go to get 2 gethers that occur within the industry (the latest I wrote about on this blog - The Photography Parlour G2G in Bristol), all of which I have learnt from and all of which I have enjoyed. Add to this, I have met a great number of wedding photographers whilst attending courses and over the years have made many long standing friends.
Today was slightly different. Following a chance comment on a photography forum, I met up with a Birmingham and Worcestershire based wedding photographer called David Purslow. For no other reason than to have lunch together.
When I mentioned to my wife that I was having lunch with a fellow tog, that we were meeting in a pub and that I would be leaving my car at home - she feared the worst.
She was wrong to fear for my safety - we had a simple, sober lunch that was in fact just the catalyst for a really good conversation between two photographers.
We talked about everything that related to our businesses and a lot more. David told me about attending a course with Yervant, I believe that Nikki McLeod was on the course too. He gave me some great ideas that he was using in his business, and was willing to share them, we talked about websites, blogging, pricing... you name it - if it was related to wedding photography, we talked about it.
So from a point of view of meeting a fellow photographer on a one to one basis, as far as I am concerned it was a success. I know that I have benefited from the meeting, in fact I hope to have more of them, and I hope that he benefited too.
When you meet a fellow tog like this, it goes to show that we need not be cagey about what we are doing... I was open to suggestions and I believe that he was too. I was honest with him, telling him often "I'm going to use that idea" and trusted him enough to show him the exact location of a project that I have up my sleeve. I hope that some of my ideas were of use to him too.
The only fly in the ointment was that David is going to a seminar with Joe McNally in London tomorrow and I'm jealous that I can't make it.
So the point of this blog post is?
If you are a photographer, pick up the phone and arrange to meet a peer and do it today. You will both benefit immensely.