Wedding & Portrait Photographers International Convention 2011

I've been MIA this past week due to the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Convention in Vegas, it's an annual convention. I was hoping I would have time to blog while there and even brought my computer to do some editing, but alas there was hardly any time to do anything other than attend the convention and sleep. I decided to bring my husband, Tyler, as he is truly my rock and support. I thought it would be nice for him to learn some of the business side and some of the technical photography stuff. But I was blown away by his eagerness and excitement to learn. One of the nights I woke up at 3 in the morning and he was sitting up in bed writing. I asked him what he was doing and if he was going to get up with me in just a few hours to go class. He was so cute and said he had so many great ideas and his brain was racing and thought it would help to write them down. Then he even woke up at 7 to attend class.

I've felt so blessed to be able to attend WPPI could not have been done without the help of both sets of grandparents! Here's a list of some of the photographers' classes I attended, classes where from 1.5-2 hours long!

Dane Sanders
Jerry Ghionis
Tim Meyer
Jason Aten
Craig Heidemann
Scott and Adina Hayne
Cliff Mautner
Doug Gordon
Joe McNally
Bob and Dawn Davis
Sarah Petty
Gene Ho
Jasmin Star
Kevin Kubota
Tamara Lackey
Kenny Kim
Kay Eskridge
Lori Nordstrom

My brain is on information overload! But I'm very excited for my business and photography and what the next year will bring! Can't wait to start experimenting with techniques and tips I learned.

I also got to meet other great photographers from all over the globe and talk to them about their tricks and tips. Everyone there was so friendly and open! For 6 days I focused completely on photography and the industry. I felt like I was in a bubble and time stood still. It was a great experience.

Unfortunately, Ashley, our youngest, had a 104 degree fever for 4 days while we were there, and our other kids were also sick.

Of course!

That's just how things roll!

So, late Wednesday night we decided to make the trip back home to get Ashley to the pediatrician. Turns out she had an ear infection. Poor thing! I was bummed that I missed two other classes that I'm sure would have been great. But there's always next year! Tyler said he wants to go next year which is so encouraging to me. So here are some pics from our trip, we didn't get to hang out in Vegas, because we were so busy with everything going on at WPPI and we were hoping to get to go out Thursday night since we would get done a little earlier, oh well...

Kenny Kim- He was awesome an had some great tips!

Lori Norstrom, I saw her speak at the trade show at WPPI and decided to attend her class. She was also great! I wish I would have taken a pic of every speaker, but I only took these two. :)



View from our car!


View from a friends hotel room at the Cosmopolitan...






We got to attend the trade show as well, lots of gadgets and fun stuff. I had to try to contain myself and not go crazy buying everything in sight! I just bought two thing. Yay!

Tyler and I stopped and listened to some music. Thinking of adding music to our site! If you have an opinion on either way would love to hear it! Either way, we are thinking of doing slide shows with music!

We got to see our friend Tim for all of 5 minutes, but it was fun!



Self portraits...