WPPI stands for Wedding and Portrait Photographers International. I think. Something like that. It's a worldwide organization and every year around this time they put on this MASSIVE photography convention in Las Vegas. People fly in from everywhere for several days of classes and seminars and networking and exposure to new gear and techniques and ideas etc.
The attendees range from the already-super successful to total newbies.
It's pretty awesome.
The expo itself contains booths sponsored by all the biggest names in camera equipment as well as smaller companies promoting their goods and services be they album designers, printers, or super specialized things like remote-controlled helicopters for mounting a video camera onto for getting aerial footage of weddings. It's nuts!
There were tons of booths where photo shoots were going on so that companies could demostrate their lighting equipment or backdrops or other random new technologies...
And there were a ton of classes and talks, some in exhibition halls full of thousands of people, and some more informal, right in the expo where people could walk in and out. The speakers were all among the best in our industry. Below, I stumbled into Jose Villa, talking about his fine art wedding photography. He was SO nice. And his work is innnncredible.
There were photographers who had created photography EMPIRES. One in particular had 80 photographers working for him and his studio handles about 1,000 weddings EACH YEAR.
It's CRAZY. But it was also SO inspiring and eye-opening to see the brilliant ways in which all of these people have run their businesses.
Lots of photographers showed off their work and gave behind-the-scenes recounts of what they were thinking when they took certain pictures.
Others gave insight into their marketing strategies and how to maximize exposure via social media and blogs etc...
One guy showed off the wedding pics he took for Eddie Cibrian and LeAnne Rimes's wedding...
And each night, one of the big sponsors would throw a huge party. I bumped into Robyn (on the right) who I was acquaintances with years ago because she worked at Q's with my old roommate Meredith. She herself is now a very accomplished wedding photographer.
And her wedding photos were featured in an amazing motivational talk by superstar wedding photographer Jasmine Star.
All in all it was SUCH an amazing week.
I'm pretty confident in my skills and pretty happy with where I'm at in my career... but being exposed to other SUPER successful people in my field made me realize there's really no limit to the amount of success I can have.
Also, the week was an AMAZING opportunity to meet people just like me! Among the people I know, I suppose I have a pretty unique lifestyle, jetting around, taking pretty pictures in amazing locales. But here in Vegas, among other people who do exactly what I do, it was no big deal. And I loved that!
A very fateful coincidence also took place, because Sophie, one of my flatmates in South Africa a couple of weeks ago, happened to be best friends with Rebecca, who just happens to be the photo editor of The Knot!
Sophie e-introduced us. We met up. And instantly became pals.
And through Rebecca (and an AMAZING party she hosted for The Knot) I met a great group of amazing wedding photographers that I am so sad I didn't meet until now.
Why didn't I start going to WPPI YEARS AGO????
These guys all have awesome portfolios and make me feel like I have some major catching up to do.
Check out Allan's site: http://allanzepeda.com/blog
Or Sam's (so dreamy): http://www.samuellippke.com/blog/
Gosh. Now I can't believe I still haven't had a magazine feature. Gotta get on that!
...........................................
I was also able to convince the LA gays to make an impromptu trip out to Sin City to play for a weekend.
(Yes, I did just see Steven last weekend in Arizona.)
We hit up downtown...
And drank and gay danced.
I SO wish I could have stayed in Vegas longer to play with my old and new friends.
But unfortunately (and fortunately) I booked a gig in NYC to photograph a gala hosted by Seth Meyers with a performance by Mary J. Blige...and I just couldn't turn that down.
So that's what I did tonight. (I flew back on the redeye from Vegas yesterday and landed this morning.) Took a power nap and then headed over to the event. It went great. I'll post pics soon.
Now I'm off to bed so that I can drive up to Boston in the morning so I can prepare for the wedding I'm shooting this weekend.
I'm nuts. I know. But there are people out there who are just like me!
And I'm so happy that I now know that!
BEST. JOB. EVER!!!!
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