I swear if I don't go to at least one substantial gathering a year, my portfolio wouldn't be even remotely close to where it is now. I've taken so many of my very favorite (and often most popular) pictures at Flickr gatherings. There is just something about the crazy artistic energy that occurs with all the different photographers in one location. I think the incredibly famous and talented photographer Robert Cornelius said it best in his blog post about a meet up he went to last year, when he said, "Suddenly everyone becomes a big, harmonious, creative machine." Or perhaps when he uttered the perfectly crafted words, "Every moment is crazy, amazing, all over the place, and utterly perfect. This is where art is born."