WPPI 2007!








For those of you who don't know, WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) hosts a big convention/trade show in Las Vegas every year. I heard about the event about 3 years ago, and ever since have wanted to attend. Thousands of photographers from all over the US and Canada (and I'm sure from other countries as well) flock to Vegas for a week of photography Master Classes, platform speakers and the most overwhelming trade show comprised of any and every company and product that has anything to do with photography.

My mom and I arranged last minute to attend, so we could only go for one night, but it was so worth it! We had the priviledge of hearing Joe Buissink and Denis Reggie speak about technique, creative inspiration and other aspects of the wedding photography business. Joe and Denis are two of the world's best wedding photographers, so it was a real honor to attend their sessions. (As you can see above, mom insisted on getting a photo of Denis and I together. He was very nice to do that.) They were each so inspiring and informative. Other speakers that we really enjoyed were Bambi Cantrell, wedding and fashion photographer, and Julianne Kost, a developer for Adobe who gave one demonstration of the all new Adobe Lightroom and another demo of Photoshop CS3. (Btw, Julianne was a fantastic speaker. So funny. I wish I knew Photoshop like she does, but I'm working on that!)

Though we were only able to attend the convention for about a day and a half, we absorbed as much info as we could, bought some necessary photo equipment (including the 70-200mm 2.8 lens!!! Yes! A new tripod and the awesome Intuos3 Wacom tablet), heard some great speakers, saw some fascinating demos, and still had some time to go to the Wynn for lunch. While we were there, we took the opportunity to play around with the camera and shoot in the beautiful lobby of the hotel. (The photo of mom and me was taken by a very gracious lady, which is why the focus is a little off... she wasn't quite used to the focus feature of the SLR.)

In all, this convention is just what I needed to get inspiration to focus more on wedding photography. Instead of being discouraged by seeing how many fantastic photographers are out there, I felt challenged to become one of them.

We are already planning to attend next year! Can't wait!

Jackie's Quinceñera!








Well, the wedding/event season is certainly starting off busy! I think I'm booked at least one day every weekend through April! Exciting! (and tiring!)

Last weekend, I shot Jackie's Quinceñera with Les of Images Unlimited. Les was the person to get me into photography about 6 years ago, so I owe a lot to him for giving me opportunity in this field.

Jackie was such a sweet girl and was so fun to photograph. She and her escorts and maidens had so much personality! Jackie got ready at her father's house, which was such a great place for photographs! Beautiful window light! Great locations always make the shoots so much more interesting.

Jackie's mother Gladys (pictured above) was one of the sweetest women I've ever met. She was so proud of her daughter and really put a lot of effort into making this a special day for her. You did a great job, Gladys!

Yesterday, I took some time to do a shoot with my beautiful sister. Though pressed for time, we took advantage of the vacancy of our childhood home. It's a small house that I lived in from age 4 to 7, and there are a lot of memories that came flooding back from being in that house and in that neighborhood! Roller skating from the kitchen to the living room, pretending I was in a skating rink; my sister and I playing on the poles on the back porch; running around the neighborhood with the neighborhood kids... So many good times.

As far as the shoot went, the afternoon light and uncovered windows created some really interesting lighting in the house. Above are two of my favorites of the day, approved for posting by Hayley.

Thanks, Monkey, for modeling for me! Let's do it again soon (with a little more time to plan...)