Ahhhhh! I’m here! BlogHer Food 2009! I’ve died and gone to food blogger heaven!
We woke up bright and early to drive back to San Francisco for the conference.
At our hotel, we grabbed a quick bite to eat from the continental breakfast to hold us over until we got to BlogHer Food.
Breakfast
The BlogHer breakfast was already bumpin’ when we arrived.
Everything looked so delicious (as expected!) and we dug right in.
There were so many choices! It was a difficult decision.
In the end, I went for a Peach Smoothie.
Holy yum! I almost went back for a second one, but I restrained myself. 
Then, I grabbed a cup of coffee. I loved the fancy dishware! 
Mmmmm… coffee!
Yay! Food bloggers at BlogHer Food! 
Welcome
The event started with a welcome and some opening remarks from the BlogHer founders. They briefly discussed women’s involvement in the social media landscape and why they participate. It was quite fascinating! (FYI: The presentation will be on the BlogHer website later today.)
Sponsors
Outside of the main room are tons of sponsors sampling and giving away products. I’ve already scored some sweet stuff!
And I tasted some yummy treats!
Pillsbury had a “Make Your Own” cupcake station. Obviously, I needed one for breakfast!
I added cream cheese frosting and sprinkles to mine.
The BlogHer Food swag bags are pretty awesome too. There are lots of goodies inside! But, if there is something you don’t want, attendees are encourages to donate unwanted goods to a local food pantry. It’s great that BlogHer is coordinating this type of contribution. We’re definitely going to keep this idea in mind for the next Healthy Living Summit.
Breakout Session #1
After breakfast, we had the choice to attend one of 3 breakout sessions this morning. (There are 2 more breakout session this afternoon.)
The conference has 3 different “tracks” from which attendees can choose:
- Visuals
- Vocation
- Values
I’ll likely attend a mix of the different tracks, but I started with the Developing Your Visual Voice session from the Visuals Track.
Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks (I’m so star-struck!) and Matt Armendariz hosted the Developing Your Visual Voice session. They had so many great ideas about how to take beautiful food photos. I especially loved seeing their gorgeous slideshow photos. They’re both so talented!
Some of my favorite tips for their presentation:
- Find inspiration in others
- Think about your photos in context
- Understand where you are shooting
- Think about the type of photos you are after
Time to learn how to be a better food blogger. Be back later!
Ahhhh, so psyched to be here!!!!! It’s awesome!
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks like blogger heaven, especially with all the company eats! Glad to see you’re enjoying the trip
That looks amazing!! All the food looks great especially the cupcakes
I love the china!! What a great idea to give to the local food pantry. It would also be neat to host a meal for the men and women who run the local soup kitchens or food pantry to give them a boost of encouragement and be fed by others for a change!
looks like so much fun. and make your own cupcakes? yum!
Dude, I totally missed the cupcake bar! Hitting that up next if it’s still there.
that buffet looks to die for. and the cupcake bar? my idea of heaven.
Those coffee cups and saucers look like my china pattern!
Looks like you are having a blast, the cupcake bar is fantastic!
Looks like you are having a nice time! Cupcakes for breakfast… that you can decorate? Hell yea! Love the tea cups with saucers too… we have those EVERYWHERE here in England.
Oh, man, what an awesome day! I bet you are learning so much and meeting Heidi is a food blogging dream!
Looks like such an educational and fun event. Question: is it open to everyone who wants to get a ticket? How do you find out about/ sign up for these events?
OHMYGOODNESS!!! You must have died and gone to heaven! I can’t wait to hear more about this trip!
I need to get myself to one of these events!!!!
Love that make your own cupcake idea!
And I really love the idea of donating unwanted goods! Think of how many hungry people that will feed!
i want a cupcake now!
that cupcake stand looks a lot like the one i staring at today at costco, trying to convince my fiance we’d use it…
I’ve worked with Matt. He’s awesome!
Oh I so wish I could be there. I hope to be at my first blog conference soon. Just watching the feed from your summit made me feel compelled to start my own blog.
SO much fun!! everything looks awesome
How fun! I’m looking forward to reading your full documentation of the event.
Ah i wish i was there so bad! Tina everything looks awesome, and your photos so far are so great, i fell like i’m actually there!
Can’t wait to follow along some more!
Everything looks so fun!!
tina your pics are really great! the breakouts look so informative, hope you are learning lots!
jenna
It looks like so much fun! That make your own cupcake station is a fantastic idea for a party. I’ll have to remember that one. Thanks for letting us come along for the ride!
Make your own cupcakes is another good idea for the next summit.
Wow! All of that food looks so delicious. I don’t know if I could have made a choice! I’m bad when there’s so much too choose from!
Looks like a lot of fun!
Can I have one of those make your own cupcake stations?? That looked great! I also liked the lasagna, I might get that!