Retreat

When I got into food photograhy in 2020, I didn’t know any other food photographers in the country. I took this online course at the time hosted by a food photographer Sarah Crawford  in the US. The course itself was great, it taught me everything from the history of photography to styling and editing and provided plenty of resources for client pitching etc. Only downfall of it – most of it was not relevant to Australian market and I had to find my own answers and the way forward. There was no such information available in Australia.

Throughout the years I saw various food photography retreats advertised in Europe and the US. I wish I was able to attend any of those but it was not easy to just jump on the plane and jet off to a retreat in Europe. Costs associated are significantly higher and the time off from work longer. So I thought “what if I just organised a retreat myself?”

And I did, with the help of my friend Shilpi from Between 2 Kitchens.

In February 2023 me and Shilpi hosted our first food photography retreat near Byron Bay in NSW dedicated to those involved in food photography: whether as a blogger, stylist or a photographer. It was a small and intimate affair over the weekend in a scenic country side. We had 11 attendees  and a list of great presenters, everyone an expert in their field.

When I started planning this retreat, I had no idea if anyone would even turn up. I remember when I came across the Wybalena farm as a venue, I knew I had to book it but inside I was scared af. After all, I had to put down a deposit for the venue, which wasn’t a small amount of money, and I didn’t even know if we would sell any tickets. But I knew in order to succeed, you had to take risks, so I went ahead and paid the deposit anyway. I started jotting down ideas for the program. It was fairly easy because I had a list of questions I knew I wanted answers for so the themes came easily to me and I had ideas for presenter too. I did not want it to be some boring conference, I wanted it to be relaxing and casual but packed with value and information we were all craving for. No stages, no microphones, no PowerPoint presentations. Just a group of likeminded people exchanging experiences and learning from each other.

A month later we had an awesome program together with presenters locked in and tickets ready to go on sale.

And then in February we were there.  And, the retreat was a hit. A mixture of networking, meeting new people and absorbing all the valuable information from presenters mixed with wine and fabulous food. From advice on how to run your photography business to professional styling session and hands on practical challenge and a farm tour. It was one of the best weekends I had had for ages and everyone liked it so much that they wanted us to organise another retreat. So, here we are………we will be doing it again in February 2024.

Want to join us? Email “retreat” to hello@lemonandrye.com and you will be first to know more about the retreat.