As I am sitting here trying to figure out HOW on earth I can put my experience at WPPI into words, I’m having a hard time finding the best way to tell you all how AWESOME-AMAZING-INCREDIBLE-EVERYOTHERPOSITIVEADJECTIVE it really was.  First of all, what is WPPI?  Why’s this girl so crazy about a conference?  Ok I’ll try to break it down for ya.

 

WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) is an annual week-long event hosted at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.  15,000 wedding and portrait photographers from around the world show up to attend the trade show and educational seminars presented by the leading photographers in the industry.  So not only do you get to hear what photographers have to say about a million different topics, but you get to wander the trade show floor and see all of the latest equipment, printing, framing, lighting, and marketing that is out there.  It is ca-razy.  AND in ADDITION to all of that good stuff, it’s a chance to network with other photographers from all over the world!  So you get to meet cool new people and talk to them about their work and business and sometimes you even get to cry together because you’re both so overwhelmed with information and it’s not weird or anything because everyone is in the same boat!

 

Does that clear things up a little?  I know everyone reading this isn’t a photographer, but can you see why exactly I spent 5 days in Las Vegas hyperventilating from information overload and about a million new ways to improve my craft and my business and did I mention that I touched Jasmine Star’s bicep?  I mean, I know some people are still back in like 1997 and all like “What’s a blog?” but there are quite a few photographers whose blog I like to keep up with to check out all their latest work and learn from…. and I got to be in a crowd full of other photographers with a dream to live their dreams, listening to these photographers who were once sitting where we were, sharing with us!!  LIVE!  IN PERSON!  The weird thing about reading people’s blogs is that it makes you feel like you personally know someone and they’re your BFF in real life.  So I was all like hey Jasmine how’s your dog?  Katelyn I know you and your hubby are building a house, how’s the floorplan looking?  Mary you know we both love Starbucks caramel macchiatos, right?  So now that I’ve heard them speaking to me live and in person, our best friendship is just confirmed.  Right.

 

Not only did I get to partake in this amazing experience, but I got to share it with fellow local photographer Stefanie of Stefanie S. Adams Photography (give her a holler on Facebook and check out her website!).  We had never met before until a mutual friend told me that Stef was looking to go to WPPI with another photographer to split the cost.  Wellllll good thing Stef is awesome because we hit it off and I had so much fun learning alongside her and getting to know her!  Here are some photos from our WPPI adventure, I hope you enjoy!

 

The WPPI expo, where not only every photography-related vendor under the planet was there, but even MORE photographers giving little mini-seminars every where you turned.

Zach and Jody!  Their talk was “How to Avoid What Most Small Businesses Do:  FAIL.”  I left feeling so inspired I probably could have just gotten back on a plane and flown home and been ok with it.  And they were on the first day.

Another mini-seminar out on the trade floor.  That’s Tamara Lackey!

Michele Celentano, posing master.  Giving a posing demo, she had some super awesome tips!  The kind that make me watch her pose these people with such ease and I sit there with my mouth hanging open because I’m like why didn’t I think to do it that way?  Brilliant.

Kevin Kubota, master of using off camera flash in incredible ways!

Bambi Cantrell!  Ooooh girl.  Ok this lady has been in the business forever I think and she just keeps getting better.  Her wedding work is amazing, and she takes the most beautiful portraits of women.  She’s sassy, I like her.

Oh that’s right, Vegas.  Caught a few glimpses of the city as we walked from our hotel to the MGM.

Me and Stefanie!

JASMINE STAR Y’ALL.  Only the premier photography leader of the wedding industry.  Probably everything I’ve learned about running this business I’ve learned from Jasmine.  She is talented, she loves teaching other photographers from what she has learned, and she is stylish to boot.  Oh and she’s hilarious.  Just read her blog or follow her on Facebook, she cracks me up.

I sat FRONT ROW at Jasmine’s seminar.  Yes I might have been the crazy person sprinting across the auditorium to the front row when the doors opened, but she’s worth it.  If I didn’t already mention it, I touched her bicep in the airport.  She was cool with it.

WE HIT THE LOTTERY!!!!  Just kidding. I made her sit there to take a picture.  Poor Stefanie, I made her do a lot of things for the sake of photographs.

Took a dip in the pool at the MGM in between seminars!

Justin and Mary!!!  They are up there with Jasmine Star in my book.  An amazing duo, they take portraits that are so beautiful I literally want to cry.  They share their experiences with the world, and love to teach.  Justin has a mean lighting set up.

This is our hotel!  Oh wait no this is Starbucks.  But we spent about as much time here though waiting in line for overpriced delicious coffee.  Because apparently Starbucks in Vegas has the right to charge you your firstborn child for a latte, and exhausted photographers running on no sleep will gladly pay it.  Several times a day.

WPPI threw us a pretty rad party one night at the MGM pool!

Oh, what to say about Elizabeth Messina.  Her work is some that I admire the most.  She uses light in such delicate, beautiful ways.  And she can pull emotion out of her subjects like no other.

So I’m walking through the airport terminal to my gate and all of a sudden I realize that JASMINE STAR AND HER HUSBAND JD ARE WALKING IN FRONT OF ME.  I’m not proud of this, but I photo-stalked them for a second while I worked up the nerve to call out her name.  Jasmine actually took the time to talk with me for a couple minutes and I’m sure I wasn’t really speaking in full sentences and I hope I didn’t spit on her or anything, but I am so glad that I got to meet her briefly and tell her what an impact she has had on my business.

Back home, taking much with me.