My photog friend, Jennifer Scholting (whom I met at last year’s NAPCP Retreat) and I packed our bags and headed to the West coast for The Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Conference and trade show last week.  (WPPI is an organization for professional photographers which was created to be a photographic community of support/education/business ideas etc. and over 14,000 photographers from around the world gather in Vegas every year.)
Much of out time was spent participating in eductaional opportunities with some of the best and brightest photographers in our industy.  (think Bambi Cantrell, Jerry Ghihonis, Joe McNalley, Doug Gordon and on and on…)
I was lucky enough to take a workshop with Cliff Mautner, whose moody and edgy lighting  and ability to ‘tell a story’ through his work I have always loved. Cliff spent time working with each of us in ‘non-ideal’ lighting situations we face at each-and-every-wedding.  (harsh, mid-day sun, poorly lit reception halls) and demonstrated how to harness that light for the better.  (And though there were 25 of us jockeying for a spot to photograph our models…I was able to grab a few images I like well enough and more importantly, walk away with some great information to begin to incorporate into my work.  –I may be back to take another couse with Cliff some time soon to continue to build on this foundation. He is just awesome.)
WPPI was both overwhelming and amazing…my brain is now over-loaded with so many new business ideas and technical additions and my pockets are empty after the purchase of some new gadgets  (a replacement for my lost Ultimate Lightbox) and awesome products (a very cool alternative to gallery wrapped canvas)  to begin to offer our clients. Can’t wait until next year!  (And Jenn–I wil try and stay out past 11PM a few nights next time:-)
** Most of my images looked like this… paparazzi style!



And here are the few I gladiator-style ‘fought for’ with my 24 new photog friends.