Every industry has its conferences. You know, events where hundreds of like minded people get together to network, learn and interact with one another. The “Food Blogging” industry is no different. Earlier this year I attended Food Blog South in Birmingham and had a blast! This past weekend, I attended and spoke at Blogher Food in Seattle, Washington. Here is a little recap of the weekend.

The conference took place at the beautiful Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Downtown Seattle. For two days, this hotel was taken over by hundreds of bloggers from all over the country. Throughout the conference, I had the pleasure to see old friends, meet “twitter” friends in person, and connect with an amazing talented array of individuals for the first time. With this being a blogging conference centered around food, there was of course no shortage of great food. On the second day of the conference, I gave a presentation about “taking your food photography outdoors and on location” If you missed my presentation, I will be doing a post specifically about what I covered in the presentation at a later date so don’t worry.

I could go on and on with stories about the presentations and give you a play by play of everything I did, but I will restrain. In summary, It was an amazing conference! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting a wide variety of talented people and left with new idea and inspired to create a wide variety of new content. If you do have the chance to ever attend a food blogging conference, I would recommend it. I have been to 3, and have enjoyed them all!

What I do want to share with you is a trip to Pike Place. After my session, I lead a group on a photo walk down to the market to show in real life situations, what I had been talking about.

You can spend hours exploring the produce, watching the fish mongers throw the days catch to one another, and of course eating. For lunch, a group of fellow bloggers and I ate at Pike Place Chowder, located next to the market in Post Alley.

There was a long line. Long lines usually mean good food, so the group and I were willing to wait.

There are quite a few chowders to choose from. With this being Seattle, I couldn’t turn down the chance to try a Salmon chowder. Upon my first spoon full, I was quite glad that I waited. If I ever eat salmon chowder again, Pike Place Chowder has set the bar pretty high of what I should expect. Warm, rich, creamy, and no overwhelming fishy taste. In a bread bowl it was a perfect lunch. The table we chose also gave a perfect opportunity to show diffusing and reflecting concepts.

On the left is not ideal lighting. On the right the subject is under diffused and reflected light.

Whether you use a spoon or the bowl itself, a bread bowl is the perfect vehicle for chowder consumption.

After the conference I went to visit one of my college roommates, Dan, and enjoyed the beautiful Seattle weather! I know that Seattle has the reputation for always being cloudy and grey, but every time that I visit there is always beautiful weather! Dan and I did some grilling. Well Dan did some grilling, and I did what I usually do when delicious food is around.

After a healthy dinner there was a trip to Peaks for frozen custard!

Seattle. You were great! I look forward to my next trip and my next food blogging conference!