Woah… I have no idea where to begin. Last week, I ventured out to Las Vegas to join 15,000 other photographers for the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International conference. They offered tons of platform classes plus a 3-day trade show with more vendors than you could ever imagine!
Jill and I went early for the new WPPI-U courses they offered before the convention started. That weekend was jam-packed with classes that ranged from marketing and business to style and workflow (and everything in between!).
Then the REAL show got started on Sunday! Jerry Ghionis kicked off the week (for us– there were multiple speakers to choose from). There are so many platforms we went to, it’s hard to share all of them. Some of my favorites were Sarah Petty, Jasmine Star (DUH!), Kevin Kubota, Jon Canlas, and Jose Villa.
**This was a part of Sarah Petty‘s SWAG– the first 400 people to come got her “recipes for joy” which is a tin full of cards that have business and marketing tips on each one. She runs a business called “The Joy of Marketing” on top of her photography studio. Woah! Also, I’m so glad I brought lots of business cards– between networking and entering into drawings, they were a MUST!
I tried to get to each talk an hour or so early, and that really paid off: at 7am waiting outside Jon Canlas‘ platform class, Jon himself decides to come by and thank us for waiting so early for his class and gave us all free tshirts! He was so kind and personable, and gave us all hugs and a big smile. I just love how so many inspirational photographers are good-natured and warm. What a treat!
** This was given by Jose Villa, another film photographer: 3 signed prints! This guy is AMAZING.
I could honestly write for days about each person and what they said, but I would definitely ramble and then no one would ever come back to the blog. If you want to hear more about these talks, or anything else about WPPI, just ask! I’m happy to share.
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