One day after returning from an informal techies gathering called BarCamp, Alex told Grace, “hey, you should organise an informal unconference for those in the wedding industry who embrace media”. Being married to him, and subservient in every way, she thought it was a good idea to do so, since the wedding media shooters are largely unrepresented in any way.

Several days later, Grace had roped in some interested professionals in the industry who were keen to make it happen and pledge their time towards making ShootFest 001 happen (though it was still nameless at that time). Over an IM session, several names were thrown about that ranged from LoveFest (Jon Low was big on this one!), WedMedia Camp, WedCamp, Unconference: The Wedding and several others. Voting over IM is difficult and it was decided that the name could wait a while longer.

A physical meet up was scheduled, and the initial group that met up consisted of Alex Lam, Grace Tan, Jon Low, Mark Leo and Zach Chin. It was there that the name ShootFest was determined, and that night itself the domain was purchased, and a Wordpress site set up. Others who couldn’t make it for the meeting due to geographical constraints were Ian Chong and Lim Kee Sitt.

The main objectives for ShootFests are to encourage networking, knowledge sharing, education and cameraderie (this has nothing to do with cameras, media people. It means a spirit of friendly good-fellowship). For now, we’re just planning the inaugural meet up which is themed The Wedding, but in the future we hope to have more of these unconferences.

What the heck is an unconference, you may ask… Well, it’s an informal gathering where the participants are involved in planning, and making the event happen. Anyone can put forward a topic they are passionate about and volunteer to speak on it, while not shamelessly promoting themselves. The overriding goal is to learn from one another, and most importantly, have fun!