Colin Breece is the co-founder of ShootProof.com, the photography industry's leading provider of proofing galleries for wedding and portrait photographers in the world.

When I first heard of ShootProof, I was stunned by their business model.

“We empower photographers to upload, share, sell and have products printed for their clients without taking commission from their sales.”

What? No double dipping? I was truly gobsmacked by their move. Intrigued, Colin and I set up a time to chat and in the course of getting to know each other, I boldly asked Colin to sponsor a Gary Vaynerchuck interview. He didn't blink once. His response was, “Sure, ShootProof would love to do that.”

I was floored again.

About a year later, I ran into Colin at Inspire Photo Retreats. He had a relatively small booth, but what I noticed was how he engaged with those who stepped up to speak with him. He was excited to speak with photographers about ShootProof; not in a hard-pitch kind of way that one would expect at a conference, but more in line with how his product could really help photographers make a difference for their businesses. I knew then that ShootProof was a natural fit for Inspire and I am thrilled to know that he and ShootProof will be back again.

We sat down to chat about his experiences in the past and I asked him what motivated him to come back to Inspire Photo Retreats.

You still have an opportunity to be a part of Inspire Photo Retreats. I do hope you will come. Not only will you network with other photographers, but you will get a chance to step up and chat with people like Colin Breece about how ShootProof can benefit you. That kind of access is often hard to come by at large, crowded, tradeshows or conferences. That's how Inspire Photo Retreats is different.

Do yourself a favor and register for it now. The conference takes place from February 9th through the 11th in Portland, Maine.

I am incredibly fortunate to have two amazing photography conferences within stone's throw of each other and my home in Connecticut. I just came home from the Mystic Seminars. The other conference I enjoy attending is Inspire Photo Seminars. As a photographer who is eager to keep abreast of all that is happening in this industry, I have found going to these two local or regional conventions (and they are tiny compared to WPPI or Imaging USA) to be refreshing. I asked my friend Mark Higgins to give us an idea of what to expect at this year's Inspire Photo Seminars.

Inspire Photo Seminars is an intimate retreat-style conference of 150 people with an emphasis on building a stronger community. The conference is designed to establish professional relationships and even create friendships among your peers – which can be a sustainable support system to help you grow your business over the years to come. We do this by designing the conference around networking, education, and fun community time. This year, the conference runs from February 11 through February 13 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

We will be kicking the conference of Monday afternoon with some intensive pre-conference classes that are free to all attendees. This will be a great afternoon including “Building an All-Star Team” with Jason Aten, “Portfolio Hack” with Allana Taranto, “Lightroom Workflow with Tim and Chris Riley from RPG Keys, and ”Pricing for Profit” with Jared Bauman.

Amy Deputy will be the keynote speaker Monday night after dinner setting the tone of the conference with her talk on “Creating authentic imagery in the land of eye candy: a discussion of seeing clearly through the heart with a camera.”

There will be a talk by Abby Larson of Style Me Pretty on how and what it takes to get published Wednesday afternoon and this is something we’re really excited and proud to offer the studios attending Inspire.

We’ve designed Inspire so you can learn what you need to learn. The schedule is set up so that attendees can choose between sessions in different tracks for each time slot (Business, Technical Skills, and Inspiration). We realize everyone has different needs when it comes to photography and business education so we provide choices to ensure you’re not sitting in a class that doesn’t fit your goals and needs.

Check out the schedule here.

This year we’ve broadened the focus outside the business of wedding photography. You may be looking for more creative outlets or a new type of photography to rejuvenate you and your business. Make sure to check out speakers like Brian Friedman, Christa Acosta and Nicole Taylor, Michael Connor, and Tomas Flint.

We’re also excited to have David Murray as a speaker and David will be doing an Intensive Critique/Editing Process. I have seen David do this on the Fearless Photographers Forum and it was one of the most enlightening and educational three hours I’ve had in during my 8 year tenure in wedding photography.

On Tuesday afternoon we will offer an intimate tradeshow that’s a hit every year. Come see the latest offerings from Pictage or the folks at LensProtoGo and their technical demonstrations. Check out what Couture Books has been cooking up and see how Shoot dot Edit can help optimize your business giving you precious time back with their great editing service or see how to design an album quickly with Fundy Software.

On Wednesday afternoon we offer extended shooting courses with everything from baby portraiture, shooting headshots, intimate posing for boudoir, stepping into the light, learning how lenses affect your perspective.

We include all meals from Monday night until the conference ends, and plan fun late night activities because we want to maximize the opportunities for everyone to come together and connect outside the classroom. We encourage everyone who comes to step out of their comfort zone, and their circle of friends, and meet some new people each day. What better way to break the ice than to sing karaoke with some of your new friends!

This year one of the new things we’ll be doing is assigned seating for the staff so that an Inspire Team Member or Speaker will be at every table. We realize that sometimes it’s intimidating to walk into a room full of strangers so we hope a friendly face at every table will get the ball rolling.

We really hard to create a unique retreat style conference where we all get to know one another while accessing education that will help propel your studio forward. We want to grow this year, and we can’t wait for you to join us on the journey!