Cheesesteaks, Luchador Masks, the Rocky Steps and Some Fine Company
GeekFest 2014: APADers Descend Upon Philly
Editor’s note: GeekFest is an annual gathering of photographers. In 2015, it was recently announced, Oakland will play host to GeekFesters. In prep for that, we wanted to share Kent Nishimura’s fond recap of last year’s event.
The title of this piece sums it up pretty well. The most recent GeekFest, #GFPhilly, went down in the City of Brotherly Love. Each year brings something new … I am told. Because, truth be told, I’d never attended a GeekFest before. Last year it was Minneapolis. I saw photos on Facebook, listened to memories recounted, and heard Melissa and Eve talk about it a bunch. This year I was fortunate enough to go. Here’s what I found.
First things first. You need to know what GeekFest is. Here’s a good primer. It’s basically an IRL version of A Photo A Day, or simply APAD, which is an online community of mutual support for shooters.
APAD started a while back, well before I had gotten engrossed in the world of visual storytelling … some seven years earlier. It was, and still is a way for photographers, young photographers especially, to share their images with other photographers in a somewhat semi-private setting and get feedback and encouragement.
I was drawn to APAD’s foundation of respect when I began making photo-based stories myself. For a while I lurked. I looked at pictures, looked at other photographers comments, their advice offered, their concerns about how the contributor may or may not have approached the situation.
Fast forward five years forward and I am at my first GeekFest.
Being from Hawaii, I haven’t been to many photo workshops — tickets from Hawaii to anywhere there’s a photo workshop are crazy expensive.
Most workshops follow a standard format: lectures / breakout sessions, something involving shooting, a short project or feature hunting / portfolio reviews. Most of the speakers talk about their process / what their career route has looked like up until now / and where they think they’re headed.
GeekFest is different.
The core of GeekFest is that which is at the core of the APAD listserv: Community.
A community of visual storytellers that are good friends hanai family; Hanai meaning adopted in Hawaiian. Being adopted myself, that really resonates with me. It was a great opportunity for me to see old faces I hadn’t seen in awhile, and to meet people face-to-face whom I had known for years but only online and from distance. These were all friends who helped me through tough spots in my relatively short career.
The Speakers
This years GeekFest lineup included some pretty awesome people — Kainaz Amaria, supervising editor at NPR Visuals; Ed Kashi, VII member and all around badass; and Luanne Dietz, then the director of All Things Good at Hipstamatic’s Cause Beautiful, now multimedia producer at CNN.
Also in attendance were stellar photographers Holly Andres, April Saul, David Mialetti and Sara Lewkowicz and so many others.
What really struck a chord with me was Luanne’s encouragement to follow your heart, follow your passion and doing go work. She arrived at Hipstamatic’s Cause Beautiful as the Director of All Things Good after kicking some major butt at the San Francisco Chronicle, for a few years.
Kainaz, who was also an intern at the Tampa Bay Times, hit on very similar themes as she shared a few projects she had a hand in at NPR, like Planet Money’s Shirt Project.
She talked about sustainability in photography, about how “You have to naively fall hopelessly in love with it. Again. And Again. And Again.”
VII Photo’s Ed Kashi spoke about the changing world of photojournalism we’re in, how things aren’t how they once were and how uncertain the future seems for younger people in the industry
“Yet!” he exclaimed, “I’ve never been more excited to be a photographer.”
Kashi cited the fact that when he started there were only a few ways to get your pictures seen — newsprint, some walls or the big circulation the news mags. Now, we are able to interact directly with the public, with the viewers, with the consumers. Directly able to engage them, to share with them what we see and inform them.
An Adopted Family
What really made all Geekfest one of the better experiences I’ve been so fortunate to have is that feeling of family. That sense of unity amongst the band of brothers and sisters that comes together from all across the United States and across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for one weekend.
These people recharge, reinvigorate and rejuvenate each other, and give each other strength and support. A community of photographers is at the heart of GeekFest.
Oh, that and a boatload of alcohol and, at least at the 2014 Philly version, sickening amounts of cheesesteaks. And luchador masks.
Thanks for taking a look. See you in Oakland!
Kent Nishimura is photo intern at the Los Angeles Times. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, TIME, The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, Tampa Bay Times and the Denver Post. Connect with through Instagram, Linked In and Twitter.
