MEET D + B

There are some retreats that feel like a turning point, and Oregon will always be one of those for us.

Our Oregon photography retreat was our eighth retreat overall, but it was the very first one to officially carry the Camp Roam name. After years of bringing wedding photographers together in places across the country, we knew we wanted this next chapter to feel even more like us: adventurous, creative, intimate, and centered around the kind of genuine friendships that can be hard to find in this industry.

So, we took a group of six photographers to one of our favorite corners of the Pacific Northwest, splitting our time between the Southern Oregon Coast and Redwood National Park.

It was moody and wild and beautiful. We photographed along cliffs overlooking the Pacific, wandered beneath trees that made all of us feel impossibly small, stayed up talking long after the day’s plans were over, roasted s’mores around the fire, and created the kind of friendships that have become the entire reason we keep doing this.

Looking back, Oregon was the perfect place for the first Camp Roam.

Starting Our Oregon Photography Retreat in the Redwoods

There’s really no way to prepare yourself for how it feels to stand underneath the Redwoods for the first time.

Everything gets quiet. The trees seem impossibly tall, ferns cover the forest floor, and light finds its way through the canopy in little pockets. It’s the kind of place that immediately makes whatever was occupying your brain five minutes earlier feel a whole lot smaller.

That’s where we started Camp.

Before pulling out our cameras for styled shoots, we spent time simply exploring together. We wandered the trails, talked photography and business, swapped stories, and started getting to know the people we’d be sharing the next few days with.

That time matters to us.

There’s always a little nervous energy when everyone first arrives at a photography retreat. Some people know someone already. Others have gotten on a plane and traveled across the country without knowing a single person who will be waiting for them.

It’s tempting to immediately fill every minute with shoots and education, but we’ve learned that some of the most important parts of Camp happen when there isn’t much of an agenda at all.

By that evening, the group was already beginning to feel less like six photographers who had signed up for the same retreat and more like friends on a trip together.

We grabbed drinks, headed back to our stay, lit a fire, made s’mores, and eventually ended the night in the hot tub under the stars.

There were no cameras required for that part.

And that’s kind of the point.

Photographing Along the Southern Oregon Coast

The next part of our Oregon photography retreat took us somewhere completely different.

If the Redwoods feel quiet and grounding, the Southern Oregon Coast feels wild.

Huge cliffs meet the Pacific. Sea stacks rise out of the water. The wind has absolutely no concern for whatever you did to your hair that morning. The entire landscape feels dramatic without anyone having to do much of anything to make it that way.

It was the perfect backdrop for our coastal micro wedding.

Before heading out, we slowed things down and spent time photographing the details: florals, flat lays, invitation pieces, and all of the small elements that help turn a styled shoot into an actual story.

That’s something we’ve become increasingly intentional about at Camp Roam.

We don’t want to put a couple in beautiful clothes, drop them into a beautiful location, give everyone twenty minutes, and call it a wedding.

We want our photographers to have the space to photograph the way they would on a real wedding day. That means noticing the details, experimenting, watching how other people approach the same scene, and having enough time to create something that actually feels like their own.

Once we reached the coast, we spent the day photographing against cliffs, sea stacks, and the Pacific Ocean. Later, we transitioned into a coastal elopement and let the landscape become part of the story.

The photos were beautiful.

But, as always, some of our favorite moments happened between them.

What Happens Between the Shoots Matters, Too

Between locations, cameras came down and conversations started.

People swapped gear recommendations and editing tricks. Someone would ask a business question and suddenly the entire group was talking about it. We talked about photography, but we also talked about all the things surrounding photography—the parts of running a creative business that don’t always make it onto Instagram.

That’s where a small retreat starts to feel different.

With only six photographers at this Camp, there was room to actually know each other. Nobody disappeared into a crowd. There was time for one-on-one conversations, questions that turned into hour-long discussions, and the random little moments that can’t be scheduled into an itinerary.

By that point, it already felt strange to remember that everyone had only met a couple of days earlier.

And that feeling is exactly what we want from Camp Roam.

Photographing Elopements in the Redwoods

For the final part of the retreat, we headed back underneath the Redwoods.

After photographing along the open, windswept Oregon Coast, returning to the forest felt completely different. Everything slowed down again.

We photographed two Redwoods elopement stories that day, using the forest and its incredible scale as part of what we were creating.

There is something particularly special about photographing people underneath trees that have been standing there for hundreds of years. Everything feels grounded and quiet, and the landscape doesn’t need much from you.

It also felt like a fitting place to finish the retreat.

A few days earlier, we had walked into those woods as a group that was still getting to know each other.

Now, we were coming back as friends.

A Photography Retreat That’s About More Than Styled Shoots

Beautiful locations are a big part of Camp Roam. So are styled shoots.

We’re photographers. Of course we get excited about incredible light, beautiful details, ridiculous landscapes, and coming home with photographs we can’t wait to edit.

But we don’t believe a photography retreat for wedding photographers should only be about filling an SD card.

If it were, we wouldn’t still be doing this.

Camp Roam exists because photography can be an incredibly isolating career. So many of us spend our days working alone. We answer emails alone, edit alone, make huge business decisions alone, and then open Instagram and try not to compare ourselves to thousands of other photographers doing the exact same thing.

We wanted to build something different.

We wanted photographers to have a place where they could ask honest questions without feeling stupid. A place where nobody needs to pretend business is always amazing. A place where you can watch another photographer work and feel inspired rather than threatened.

Most importantly, we wanted people to find each other.

Not networking contacts.

Actual friends.

The kind of people you text months after Camp is over. The people you travel to see, send referrals to, ask questions, celebrate wins with, and call when this career feels particularly hard.

Oregon reminded us just how much that matters.

The First Official Camp Roam

This trip was our eighth photography retreat, but becoming Camp Roam felt like the beginning of something new.

We weren’t throwing away everything we’d built before it. In fact, it was the opposite.

After years of hosting retreats, we had finally gotten really clear about which parts mattered most.

The beautiful shoots matter.

The education matters.

Traveling somewhere incredible matters.

But none of it matters as much as what happens when you put the right people in a house together and give them enough time and space to actually connect.

That’s the heart of Camp Roam.

We want photographers to go home with images they’re proud of, but we also want them to go home feeling creatively energized. We want them to have conversations that make them think differently about their businesses. We want them to remember that success doesn’t have to look exactly like whatever the photography industry is currently telling them it should look like.

And we want them to leave with people in their corner.

Oregon gave us all of that.

Coastal Micro Wedding

Host/Coordinator: The Roam Collective Co.

Couple: Lex & Jay

HMUA: Black Fern Beauty Co.

Florals: Rebel Creative Co.

Tablescape: The Roam Collective Co. x Rebel Creative Co.

Dress: LVD Bridal

Invitation Suite: Crave Design

Flat lay Details: Flat Lay Library

Shoes: Larroudé

Coastal Elopement

Host/Coordinator: The Roam Collective Co.

Couple: Veronica x Chris

HMUA: Black Fern Beauty Co.

Florals: Rebel Creative Co.

Dress: LVD Bridal

Redwoods Elopement

Host/Coordinator: The Roam Collective Co.

Couple: MJ x Alicen

HMUA: Black Fern Beauty Co.

Dress: LVD Bridal

Invitation Suite: Crave Design

Flat lay Details: Flat Lay Library

Redwoods Elopement

Host/Coordinator: The Roam Collective Co.

Couple: Clarae & Ollie

HMUA: Black Fern Beauty Co.

Dress: LVD Bridal

Invitation Suite: Crave Design

Flat lay Details: Flat Lay Library

Shoes: Betsey Johnson

Looking Back at Camp Roam Oregon

It’s funny how quickly a retreat becomes its own little world.

For a few days, everyone wakes up under the same roof. There are cameras and coffee cups everywhere. Cars are constantly being loaded and unloaded. Someone is always looking for a battery or memory card. Conversations continue from the kitchen to the car to the trail and back again.

Then suddenly everyone is packing.

That’s always the strange part.

The house gets quieter, bags disappear from bedrooms, and people who were complete strangers a few days earlier are standing around saying goodbye.

Years from now, we’ll obviously remember photographing along the Oregon Coast and standing underneath the Redwoods.

But we’ll also remember the fire and the s’mores. The conversations. The laughing. The ridiculous little things that never made it onto an itinerary. And we’ll remember watching six photographers arrive as individuals and leave as something much closer to a little creative family.

For the very first retreat under the Camp Roam name, Oregon couldn’t have been more fitting.

Want to Join Us at Camp Roam?

If you found this because you’ve been searching for an Oregon photography retreat, a wedding photographer retreat, or simply somewhere to reconnect with your creativity and meet other photographers who get it, we’re really glad you’re here.

Camp Roam is a photography retreat for wedding photographers who want more than another styled shoot.

We travel somewhere incredible. We create work we’re excited about. We learn from each other. We explore. We eat together. We stay up too late. We have conversations about the things people don’t always talk about publicly.

And somewhere along the way, strangers tend to become friends.

If that sounds like something you’ve been looking for, we’d love to have you at a future Camp Roam.

Come make some photographs.

But more importantly, come find your people.

x D + B