For those of you who don’t know, WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) hosts a big convention/trade show in Las Vegas every year. I heard about the event about 3 years ago, and ever since have wanted to attend. Thousands of photographers from all over the US and Canada (and I’m sure from other countries as well) flock to Vegas for a week of photography Master Classes, platform speakers and the most overwhelming trade show comprised of any and every company and product that has anything to do with photography.
My mom and I arranged last minute to attend, so we could only go for one night, but it was so worth it! We had the priviledge of hearing Joe Buissink and Denis Reggie speak about technique, creative inspiration and other aspects of the wedding photography business. Joe and Denis are two of the world’s best wedding photographers, so it was a real honor to attend their sessions. (As you can see above, mom insisted on getting a photo of Denis and I together. He was very nice to do that.) They were each so inspiring and informative. Other speakers that we really enjoyed were Bambi Cantrell, wedding and fashion photographer, and Julianne Kost, a developer for Adobe who gave one demonstration of the all new Adobe Lightroom and another demo of Photoshop CS3. (Btw, Julianne was a fantastic speaker. So funny. I wish I knew Photoshop like she does, but I’m working on that!)
Though we were only able to attend the convention for about a day and a half, we absorbed as much info as we could, bought some necessary photo equipment (including the 70-200mm 2.8 lens!!! Yes! A new tripod and the awesome Intuos3 Wacom tablet), heard some great speakers, saw some fascinating demos, and still had some time to go to the Wynn for lunch. While we were there, we took the opportunity to play around with the camera and shoot in the beautiful lobby of the hotel. (The photo of mom and me was taken by a very gracious lady, which is why the focus is a little off… she wasn’t quite used to the focus feature of the SLR.)
In all, this convention is just what I needed to get inspiration to focus more on wedding photography. Instead of being discouraged by seeing how many fantastic photographers are out there, I felt challenged to become one of them.
We are already planning to attend next year! Can’t wait!
Heather. I enjoyed viewing your blog.You have some great pictures. I’m always looking at other photographer’s websites/blogs looking for inspiration.
Good stuff
Very attractive mother! Is she an actress?