Blogher Food 2012, held this year in Seattle Washington, flourished with food bloggers eager to learn, link-up and of course, talk food.
I did my fair amount of blogger stalking, trying to act nonchalant as I oh-so casually stared at nametags and wondered if I had lunch in my teeth, placing unfamiliar faces to familiar @usernames and occasionally calling someone by the wrong name completely.
I didn’t arrive in Seattle with much of an agenda besides becoming more familiar with the food blogging community. Yes there were plenty of online faces I was thrilled to meet in person, but what was just as inspiring was meeting bloggers I wasn’t aware of in the flip-flop fashion of how I normally discover bloggers—meeting them in the flesh first instead of via their online presence and then wondering what they’re REALLY like in real life.
Day one’s keynote with photographers/food bloggers Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple christened my weekend with their mantra, “Your eyes are your lens, your heart is your shutter.”
I intentionally left my DSLR at home, wanting to be more spontaneous in capturing the memories of the weekend and my view of the city so instead I shot from the hip with my iPhone. Many of these photos were posted to my Instagram and all were edited with the VSCO app .
Matt’s In the Market, Seattle Washington
Pike Place Market, Seattle Washington
Serious Pie with Kelley, Marie, Marian and some seriously good pizza (via Marie’s instagram)
Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle Washington
My favorite photo seminar from Stephanie of Desserts for Breakfast and Anita of Dessert First
These handmade earrings by Garlic Girl were way more popular than I was at the parties. I should seriously consider becoming her rep.
Marian, myself and Kelley and Seattle by night
Amanda, Kelley, Jaden and myself hugging it out at the closing party. This is the only photo my husband will care about in this entire post. The man has a serious Jaden crush.
The prize winners are…not me. Elise, Jaden and Ree put on a good show to console my broken heart. (Yes Jaden, I think she’s peeking too.)
Two very different window views across the street fron one another: an exhibitionist a la 50 Shades of Grey sends female food bloggers hearts a racing at the Stonyfield Farms Party held at Purple while butterflies lie in wait for a cab.
Thank you Seattle for delivered gorgeous sunny days, perfect for trolling through the city for times of discovery.
Want to see what all the fuss was about? Check out Blogher’s wrap-up of each session thanks to their live bloggers or follow the Twitter feed to see what info your fellow bloggers thought was tweet-worthy.
My Top 5 Blogher Food 2012 Takeaways
#1: Even amateurs can take great photos, and not just of food. Be organic in the photos you take and shoot what you see in front of you, not what you try to create. Yes, posed shots are a great way to create memories, but you’ll often find that the shots that show a side-long glance or crowded hall give far more emotion and sense of place to a situation. Look up, look down, look fast and just shoot.
#2: Create your own photographic style, or how to emulate one you love. I LOVED Stephanie of Desserts for Breakfast and Anita of Dessert First ‘s seminar on Current Food Photography Styles and Trends and was so impressed at the level of knowledge they shared so freely with their real life examples of lighting set ups and nailing the characteristics of photo styles. If you’re hoping to improve your food photography, this tutorial is a fantastic place to start.
#3: SEO isn’t as hard as it sounds, as long as you have a guide. SEO? Now how do you do that again and why do I even care? ZipList has produced a an SEO tips ebook for food bloggers on how to improve your organic search rankings. Read it and just do it, you can thank us later.
#4: Why food bloggers should welcome Google+ to the social media dance. Most food bloggers have Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram so why would we want to bother with yet another social medium to suck up another ounce of our valuable time? Irvin of Eat the Love explains why Google+ might soon be the belle of the ball.
#5: Dare NOT to compare. As my Blogher roomie Kelley commented to a fellow foodie, “There will always be bloggers who get more comments than you, have better hair than you and take prettier photos than you. You can’t compare, you just have to get over it.” I’m a veteran of many conferences—not just food—and no matter what the genre it’s easy to look at luminaires around the room and become discouraged that your “thing”—in this case your blog— will never be good enough or popular enough. But the real deal is that when you deliver quality content in your own style and are authentic both online and in real life you’ll become the blogger YOU ARE rather than who you THINK people want you to be. You’re readers will relate to your uniqueness, you’ll forge new meaningful relationships online and off and your blog will organically grow and prosper. And yes, you might even get a cookie.
Thanks for reading and please keep in touch. Subscribe to Foodie Crush and follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest and check out Foodie Crush magazine and Cookie Cravings cookbook.
kemparaju
There is a reason why I bought a Mac, it was not to be one of the cool kids that wanted the best of the best. No it was because of the music production I do on it. Hours and hours sitting in front of my Mac copying, pasting, moving, deleting, hour after hour just beating on my Mac in a endless assault to get my work done. That is the key part, my work. I work from home, it is great, but even if it is from home it is still work and it still needs to get done. So my Mac, I have it because it is fast, gets the job done and comes back for more.
But what happens when it doesn’t want to do those things anymore?
I move around massive amounts of information and yes even on the almighty Mac this can cause a problem after a while. Things fragment, programs get corrupted issues come up. My light speed Mac slows down to a crawl and all of the sudden I simply can not get any work done. Because I work from home there is no IT guy to call and ask to come fix it. No instead I have to figure out what is wrong. I am lucky, I did, but not after trying everything under the sun first and wasting countless hours looking for one program that can do what I needed instead of ten programs. One program to lead them all….okay that was a lame Lord of the rings reference, but that program was/is Detox My Mac. A simple to use program that did not just fix my issues, it put my Mac on overdrive again. A few clicks and my Mac was clean and ready to rock and roll again.
Read more here:- http://detox-my-mac.com?vhbshygdf398432
Jodi @GarlicGirl
So I was reading about your summary of the EVO conference, Pinterest tips, etc…and then popped over to relive some BlogHer Food and saw our earring photo. That made me smile – what a fun time. And I’m glad you are still enjoying your earrings. : )
The Healthy Apple
Love this post, Heidi. I had such a great time with you at BlogHer Food and was so happy to finally meet you. I miss you already and hope to chat soon.
Enjoy your summer; excited to catch up and chat more.
xoxo
Muahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Jen
I totally agree with #2 and #4! I also think next time I need to make notes on the back of a business card after I meet someone – now that I’m home I can’t remember half of these people!
JulieD
Beautiful photographs, Heidi! It was so nice to meet you on Sunday after the conference and get a chance to just chat over an amazing breakfast! Let me know about that food blogger retreat! :D
So great to have met you too! More of those meet-ups need to happen!
Tamara @jemofthesouth
Lovely recap. I am going to definitely read the SEO info as well as the photography information.
P.S. I would have loved to have been in Seattle. I think it’s a great city. I’m so jealous! :-)
Kevin (Closet Cooking)
Great recap! I am liking the iPhone photos! I need to use mine more for taking photos. :)
Maria
Great recap! It was a fun time! I am glad we got to see you in another city:)
Alyssa (Everyday Maven)
Great recap! I did the same thing – staring at badges instead of faces lol. It was great meeting you there :)
TidyMom
Great recap Heidi! I love that you left your dslr at home.
I hope we can meet some day!
Deborah
Loved this! Especially the take aways. It’s nice to know that there is some learning going on!
Oh the learning is sprinkled in here and there
Cookie and Kate
Thanks for this recap, Heidi. I just soaked it all up, especially those last few sentences. Well said, hear hear!
And you my dear always have the best hair
Aly ~ Cooking In Stilettos
I love this recap and, of course, the photos “shot from the hip”. To be honest, I was on the fence about attending BHF but, after reading this recap, this is definitely going on my culinary goals for next year!
Getting Fresh in the Kitchen w Shrazzi
Thanks Heidi! Those were great tips and I LOVE all your pics of Seattle. Looks like you went to some stellar places, Serious Pie, Purple, Pike’s… I live here and I feel jealous! :) I love what you’re doing on your website. Acknowledging & appreciating other’s work in a field that tends to pit the creative against themselves is rare and beautiful. I always look forward to reading your posts!
Kristen
I think this is my favorite wrap up so far. I missed being there this year but am so excited to see you at EVO. And your IG photos are AMAZING. Love the #shotofcoffee one on your windowsill especially!
What a compliment especially from you! Thank you!
Pattyabr
Great pictures I also did my takeaways check out my blog add http://the fearless cooking club.com
Thanks, will def check it out
Cassie
So sad I missed it. Hope we can meet sometime this year!
Karista @Karista's Kitchen
Heidi great post! It was fabulous meeting you and I love Foodie Crush. I agree with Kalyn, you take great pictures with your phone. I wish my pictures looked that good with my Nikon!
You are the best, and so glad To have met you too!
Jennifer | Mother Thyme
I just love the photos you captured and letting us get a glimpse of the conference through your lens. Thank you for sharing your perspective and round up of the conference and the top 5 takeaways are extremely useful. I was dissappointed I wasn’t able to attend but thankful for all the round ups circulating to share insight on what happened at the conference.
Yvette ~ Muy Bueno
Hola chica! YAY! So happy to finally have met you! You are way more awesome in person!!! Your iPhone photos are beyond gorgeous and truly capture the beauty of it all. So excited to stay in contact and work together soon. We will be in touch with some yummy details. Besos amiga!!!
CHeri
Wish I had been able to go but this is a beautiful and very informative recap! Hope our paths cross some day! Off to check out that photo app!
Holly W
oh how I wish I could have been there. But you know what’s second best? Having amazing bloggers like you who give us not-so-fortunate ones a chance to “hear” the hot topics that were discussed.
I think one of the #1 points to take away from this is #5 – not to compare yourself with everyone else out there! it’s true, there will always be someone who you think is better. it’s human nature. even the “best” thinks there is someone better. just be true to yourself. don’t try to use someone else’s voice because you think it’s cool. when i very first started blogging, i had the desire to be exactly like my favorite food blogger. what a dumb way to think! there’s already a blog like that – and she already has a huge following. why would readers want to come to my blog that’s exactly like another blog + not so experienced?
Anyway, little tangent. just be yourself. and thank you for the key points from BlogHer. I hope I’ll be able to make a food conference sometime in the relatively near future.
kelley
Heidi Ho, you are the real deal. I love you even more after this weekend then I did before. Thank you for the laughs, the eats, the serious talks, the photo tutorials, and more eats. You bring out the best in people and I’m a better blogger for knowing you. A great recap, sista, and when I referred to others having better hair, of course, that doesn’t apply to you. :)
Kalyn
Great post. You’re a good photographer even with the phone!
Christie {Pepper Lynn}
Love this post, Heidi! And such a good reminder not to compare my work to others. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but it doesn’t lead to good things.
We didn’t get to meet formally, but our paths crossed several times at the conference. I didn’t realize at the time that you are the lovely lady behind Foodie Crush – it’s nice to put a face with the name!
Lisa | With Style and Grace
So fun scrolling through all your lovely photos, such a great recap, Heidi!! I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time together, but thank goodness for skype :)
Jennifer
Thanks for sharing the pictures and the experience. I love seeing y’all and seeing the pictures!
Marian (Sweetopia)
Super post, Heidi! Meeting you was one of my main highlights! Can’t wait to see you again!
Marian you are true blue and just as lovely on the inside as the outside and I’m so thankful to have spent so much time with you.
Cookin' Canuck
I loved this recap, Heidi! You caught some amazing images and came away with some very astute take-home messages. Kelley was right on with her comment, and I love the thoughts on capturing non-posed moments.
Carrie
Great overview! That guy….Oh that guy. Makes me wish I had said yes to that party before I had said yes to another. (Also I have really wanted to meet you for a while now. Next conference) So glad you had fun!
Sandy @ RE
Great recap, girl. Loved seeing you. Can’t wait for EVO. xo
Yes indeed! I’ll see you at the Evo Conference where we’ll create another awesome recap!
Lindsey (Cafe Johnsonia)
This is soooo helpful! Next year I have to go. HAVE to. Thanks for a great recap, Heidi!
Jeanine
Thanks for posting this, Heidi! I wasn’t able to go (next year though!), so I love your recap and the helpful info…
Valerie at The Year of Living Healthfully
What a great blog post. I love the five takeaways, especially the last one as I am new at this whole blogging universe. Thanks for sharing your take (away) on things!
Meg
Thanks for all the links to interesring articles… I’ll have lots to read and think about this weekend! Looks like you had a fun time, and your pics look great. I like that they’re iphone-only.
Thank you Meg, choosing which photos to put in the post was hard! So easy to take that you end up with hundreds!
Ali @ Gimme Some Oven
Love your photos!!! Looks like a wonderful week. And I’m checking out the SEO guide too – thanks!! :)
Laura
LOVED your summary. Looks like you had a lovely time in Seattle too. Off I go to read that SEO guide. Search ranking geek-out fun time!
Bev @ Bev Cooks
ABSOLUTELY love this. And I just bought that app! I can’t wait to hang out with you again down the road, for longer than 3.5 minutes!
DessertForTwo
Thanks for the 5 takeaways :)
Lovely iPhone shots!
Averie @ Averie Cooks
Gosh WHAT a great recap with all the photos and your 5 takeaway messages…priceless and thank you. I had not see any of those links in any of the roundups I’ve read to date. Appreciate that you included them.
What was I thinking not attending. Been kicking myself for a week now. And it continues with this post. Glad you had an amazing time!