Porto Travel Photos | Fearless Conference Europe 2016

April is probably my least favourite month of the year because of one thing — taxes. I mean, if you think about it, there are so many things I should be excited about April. It’s Spring. The new Game of Thrones season premiere is right around the corner. And my wedding season is starting. But man… I’m just not fond of bookkeeping and paperwork. Bleh.

So instead of just finishing it all completely (I only need to visit my accountant now anyway), I’m just going to go ahead and procrastinate some more and show you a few photos from my recent trip to Porto. Because that’s more fun.

Last month, I attended the Fearless Conference Europe 2016 in Porto, Portugal. Fearless Conference is an intimate photography conference that features speakers from around the world and caters mainly wedding photographers drawn to photojournalism. This year’s line up included Virginia Gimeno, Mike Garrard, Brett Butterstein, Dennis Berti, Damon Pijlman, Citlali Rico, Franck Boutonnet, and Erika and Lanny Mann. All of them poured their hearts out, shared their inspirations, and got us all pumped to try something new. I can’t explain everything in words, but somehow, all the main questions I had in my head that involves  wedding photography had been answered. I am excited for my 2016 season.

The only other photography conference I’ve been to is WPPI, which is the biggest one in North America and has speakers from every different genres of photography. When I was starting out, WPPI had been great to help me see all the types of photography out there. But now that I know where my heart is, I feel that smaller conferences are a better bang for my buck. Fearless Conference is more focused and so I think I’ve benefited more from attending it once than all the years I’ve been to WPPI.

Also, what makes Fearless Conference unique is the community that built it — the people from Fearless Photographers led by Huy Nguyen. Going to the conference felt like coming home to a family reunion. I met up with old friends and made new ones. I didn’t have to deal with people with huge egos, even though the people I’ve met there have every right to do so. I don’t think I’ve been surrounded by so many awesome photographers all at once.

I had a couple days by myself to explore Porto. I love the architecture, the people, and most especially, the food. Oh, the food was delicious! Most of the time, I didn’t know what I was eating because the dishes didn’t look familiar, but whatever they were tasted great. I’m now in search for a good but easy Portuguese recipe book. If you have any recommendation, please let me know!

Here are a few photos from my travels to Porto!