WPPI Recap (sorry it's so LONG)

It has been an awesome and crazy week! For those who aren't photographers and are reading this blog, the WPPI(wedding and portrait photographers international) Convention is a huge event filled with a trade show, tons of speakers/seminars, parties, and networking with thousands of photographers from around the world. After dropping my awesome friend Tim off at the airport last night to send him on his way, my WPPI experience was officially over.

It all began on Sunday where I spent the day at Pictage's headliner event, featuring speakers Gary Fong, Mike Colon, Joe Buissink, and Denis Reggie (basically the leaders in the industry) as well as an awesome panel featuring women in the industry. I spent about 5 hours listening to the speakers and being inspired by their words and images.

Later that night I headed to the Club Rouge party at The Palms hosted by Pixel2Canvas, featuring a live boudoir demonstration by the hugely talented Melody Hood (some of my images from this coming soon).

After the party, I rushed over to one of my favorite events of the week... POKER! Caesars was home to a poker tournament organized by J Sandifer and drew about 70 photographers. I'm happy to say I made some money, though I didn't win -- I did finish in 4th place, which makes me the only photographer to have made it in the money two years in a row. go me :) I had an awesome time playing with so many great photographers and can't wait until our weekly online game next Wednesday. If anyone out there has pictures I'd love to see -- I know there were a million photographers shooting but I didn't bring my camera :)

I can't believe so much stuff happened and I've only talked about day one! Anyway!

First thing Monday my friend and fellow photographer Chelsea and I met with Emily from Pictage to talk about starting our very own PUG (pictage users group) here in Las Vegas! This is basically to organize monthly meetings among other photographers who use the services of Pictage, and I'm so excited at the prospect of meeting more photographers right here on my home turf. (Speaking of Pictage, I somehow ended up on THEIR blog -- check me out.) After a quick run through of the HUGE trade show, Chelsea and I headed out to get thirty second head shots from [b]ecker. (Image hopefully coming soon!).

Monday night we headed out to the coolest party hosted by Blu Domain at this super cool venue, the Parisian Palace. There were tons of people, tarot card readings, photo booths, temporary tattoos, and best of all - gaming tables. You know I was hitting up the craps and roulette -- so much fun to gamble when you can't lose :)

Tuesday I spent a good portion of my day checking out the speakers and trade show, and chit chatting with people I knew/met along the way. I'm SO excited about some of the new products I'll be offering this year, and some new ideas I have up my sleeve. So for that you'll just have to check back :) I did get a few new products including the totally functional and super cute Shootsac(thanks!!) and a new version of Kubota Actions featuring the famed Magic Sharp.

Tuesday night I headed over to the [b] party hosted by becker at THE hotel @ Mandalay Bay which was featuring a power outage! Fun stuff! I knew basically no one at the party, but was stoked to be invited so I made the best of it and met some really nice people.

Wednesday was really the final day of WPPI and I wrapped it up by one last loop through the trade show, and finished it off with lunch with my friend Tim and friends at the Bellagio. Tim is the best because he knows everyone and their mother and is always introducing me to the coolest people. That night I joined Tim and more friends for dinner at Tao and a for a few drinks afterwards. I ate way too much that day :)

Finally, yesterday everyone began their trips home... and I shared one final meal with Tim at Spago (yum, my favorite) before dropping him at the airport. I hear he's now stuck in the snow in Chicago (hope you get unstuck soon!).

Anyway, that turned out really long. I feel rejuvenated and inspired after such a great week and I'm so excited to get wedding season rolling and begin shooting more and more. Expect to see some really cool new products featured on this blog, as well as a few other cool new things as well...

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! :) :) Have a great weekend!