PNW Gather Meetup at the Sou’wester Lodge

May 14

This May, April Burkhart and Jess Buckley hosted 13 community members at the Sou’wester Lodge.

What inspired you to organize the meet up?

Jess: Over coffee one day, April and I were chatting about being in community with more local photographers! We were talking about other East Coast meetups we had seen on Gather and wishing there were something similar closer to us, so we figured why not just make it happen!

April: When Jess and I first met for coffee, I proposed a small gathering for Gather Around members in the Portland area. Then Jess said, why not make it a multi day retreat instead?! After chatting more about it, we immediately agreed on a few things: we wanted the retreat to be free, open to all members, completely nonhierarchical, and centered around connection and inspiration.

What were some of the activities you did?

Jess: Oh boy! We had a round table discussion where everyone shared work, a photo walk in the beautiful little town of Oysterville, group dinners, a movie night turned karaoke night but only for 2 quick songs, beach walks, shucked oysters, and my favorite part was coffee and photobooks! We all met in the cabin for breakfast, had coffee, and had a huge pile of photobooks in the middle of the floor and everyone lounged around for a couple hours looking at books. It was a dream!

April: The Sou’wester felt like the perfect backdrop for the retreat. With its unique vibe, funky trailers, and close proximity to the ocean, we knew it would feel like a dream setting for photographers. We also wanted it to feel very relaxed and self directed, more of a choose your own adventure experience where every activity was completely optional. Some of the activities included browsing photo books, sauna sessions, photo walks, artist roundtables, watching old films, oyster shucking, a field trip to a historic town, and even karaoke inside an old school bus.

What was your favorite part of the meet up?

Jess: Ok oops well, the photobooks! But also, getting to meet and connect with so many folks who I never thought I'd get to hang out with. We had envisioned mostly local PNW folks would come, but we actually had members join from Texas, Washington DC, Chicago, Wisconsin, and LA too. It was so fun that first night at dinner to sit back and watch everyone meeting in real life for the first time. Some folks had been internet friends, some people had know idea who others were, but we all were instant friends and at the end of the week it was sad to see everyone go! And just to sit around with photographers for 3 days and talk all things art, photography, weddings, etc. was the best thing ever.

April: Personally, my favorite part of the retreat was just spending time and nerding out with all of the other members. I was really impressed with how well everybody got along with one another. It was as if we were already old friends and we all spoke the same language. I had no idea how much I craved that sense of community, until then.

Photo and Film By Abbeygale Nichols