There is nothing quite like a dose of inspiration to get the creative juices flowing again. Whether it be at work or in our personal lives, we all need something to help rejuvenate our spirits from time to time.

Every year I attend a gathering of photographer friends called GeekFest (don’t laugh!…ok, go ahead and laugh). It is a photography-themed weekend packed with speakers, workshops, street photography, portfolio reviews, and most importantly good times with great friends old and new. This year’s festivities also featured a poetry slam with local performers speaking freestyle rhymes while our photos were projected on a wall in the outdoor courtyard of a cafe.

GeekFest was started by my good friend Melissa Lyttle, who’s a staff photographer at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, and has been held in various cities across the country from Portland, Oregon, to Austin, Texas, to Washington, D.C. It is an offshoot of the online community she created called APhotoADay (APAD), which has been a constant source of inspiration for me as I have developed as a photographer. Basically, anywhere from twenty to sixty photographers descend on a city every year for the weekend and take it over.

The speakers at this year’s GeekFest in St. Petersburg, Fla., had won a total of six Pulitzer Prizes and hundreds of awards between them. In addition to hearing from newspaper photojournalists, freelance photographers such as Bob Croslin and Eric Larson shared their experiences outside the realm of newspapers.

There was something for everyone, whether you’re a die-hard newspaper photojournalist or a photographer wondering about the business side of freelance photography or somewhere in between. All ages were represented at GeekFest, from students on the brink of their freshman years in college to the 20-year newspaper photojournalist veterans. All sitting at the same table or in the same room or at the same bar (if they’re legal, of course!), talking about how to make better pictures.

Having attended about four of these GeekFests I knew that I would leave the weekend inspired and ready to dive back into work, and that did not change. But four words have stuck in my head since this past weekend from speaker Boyzell Hosey, the Director of Photography for the St. Petersburg Times, four words that can be applied to anyone in just about any profession. He spoke of the currently chaotic state of newspapers across the country and how it resembles a hurricane in some ways. But within every hurricane there is always the “eye of the storm” where everything is calm and serene, almost oblivious to all that envelops it. And within the eye there is always opportunity. The “eye of the storm” phrase became our mantra for the weekend and beyond.

So, what inspires you?