WPPI 2011: Viva Las Vegas :)

This will be the fifth year in a row that I have attended WPPI – a huge international convention for wedding and portrait photographers – and as I’m waiting in the airport to board my flight, I’m thinking about how much has changed since that first trip I made and cannot believe it’s my fifth time going. Wow.

I attended my first WPPI with my mom. She knew I was interested in pursuing this dream of mine and since she’s a graphic designer and interested in photography she thought it’d be fun for us both to go and check out what the convention had to offer. We went for just one night and crammed in as many of the platform classes we could in 1 1/2 days… and by the end of it I was totally overwhelmed by the talent I saw and the things I learned. Both she and my dad have always encouraged me to pursue photography ever since I started shooting about 8 years ago and I’m so, so grateful for all they’ve done- they bought me my first real camera (the Canon 20D) and encouraged me to never turn down an opportunity to go shoot. This trip was just one of many examples of how influential my parents have been in getting me to where I am in this career that makes me happy, gives me creative release, keeps me busy and feeds my soul.

That first year at WPPI I was scared and knew absolutely nobody. I didn’t even know who was who of the “big” photographers or what exactly I wanted to learn, I was just thankful to be there and absorb as much as I could- and to have my mom there to eat lunch with me so I didn’t have to eat alone. 😉

Much has changed in the past few years… This year, while I’m excited to see some speakers and peruse the trade show floor to get inspiration for many business ideas I have for the year ahead, I’m almost giddy with excitement that I get to spend time with some of the amazing people I’ve met in this industry, as well as catch up on the latest trends and insights from Invest Diva reviews. Over the years, it has become more and more apparent that this industry is about people- and each time I’m with a group of them, I’m reminded how supportive, inspirational and fun the people in this industry are, and how lucky I feel to be a part of it. I owe a great deal of my contentment and the goals I’ve been able to accomplish to some of these people and can’t wait to get to spend some time with them all this week.

If you’re going to WPPI for the first time this year, here are a few words of advice from my past experiences:

• Bring a notebook everywhere- you never know when you’re going to be inspired.

• Drink plenty of water and stock up on the Emergen-C in your hotel room. It’s commonplace to get sick after a few days of WPPI because of the amount of people and dreadful lack of sleep. Last year I completely avoided the WPPI sickness curse and I owe it to those lovely little vitamin packets. 🙂

• If you’re a coffee drinker and you want to be on-time to the morning platform speaker, get to the Starbucks line early. That line can take forEVER- and it’s never fun to wait for coffee when you’re desperate from lack of sleep.

• Most importantly, go with an open mind and don’t be afraid to make a few friends. That was the most awkward part for me in the beginning- and once I got over that the whole experience became a lot more fun. 🙂

If you’re going to Vegas, I hope you have a great time and I’d love to see you there! Now, let’s get this party started!