WPPI :: Last blog entry

Day 6

The next morning came way to quickly! But I was up early enough to get my coffee and a good seat in Michael and Anna Costa's platform class. I absolutely LOVED this pair!!! The information I soaked up in this class is going to be so very useful to me this season.

Today was the first full day of the trade show. I visited so many booths....some of the vendors I researched included: KISS, Forbeyon, Jill•e Bags, Canon, DNL Photo Packaging, Studio Cloud, Triple Scoop Music and much more! After a few hours at the trade show my roommates and I decided to venture to the MAC Cosmetics store to have our makeup done for that evening's party hosted by Photo LoveCat and PIF photography. We had a lot of fun and even squeezed in a mini photo session at the store. The MAC Cosmetics professional store in Las Vegas is the largest in the world!!!

The last class of the evening featured Jesh de Rox. We arrived early so we could get good seats... we got there over an hour and a half early and scored 4 first row seats. Jesh's talk was amazing. He talked more about being a good person - being there in the moment. He had us do a visualization - he had us close our eyes and think of someone who we love and who loves us. He asked if we felt any kind of tingling sensation when we were imagining that person. That feeling of love and exhileration is free, real and love... that is how we should live our lives and approach our photography. It was really inspirational - especially when Amy Seely performed - she is AMAZING! I felt like I left that class with a clear mind and a better understanding of why I do what I do.

Check out these videos!






As if the night couldn't get any better.... we were invited to the Pay It Forward / Anne Ruthmann / PhotoLoveCat party at the Palms I-Bar. We arrived a little early so we could help Anne with some last minute preparations. While were were enjoying the open bar I met Michael and Heather Krakora from Madison. They were a neat couple and look forward to meeting up with them again.

One awesome thing about this party was that they were giving away a ton of prizes!!! I won a 16x20 gallery wrap, but decided to PIF (pay it forward) to someone who could really use it. Other awesome prizes that were given away by many great sponsors - to read more about it visit the PIF blog.

Day 7
We slept in a little... after coming home at 3:00am I needed to sleep at least until 8:00am - but Kelly and I woke up early enough to sneak into the end of one class. After that is was more trade show - Tradeshow sooo many booths!!! So little time! Got to meet Jessica Claire, Mathew Jordon Smith and while walking around the booths! I signed with the album company Forbeyon and am very happy to bring this high end album to my clients. Later that evening we attended a platform class by Jared Bauman. He is only 27 years old and is speaking on running a successful wedding photography business. I was lucky to be a part of a "dance off" and won a instructional dvd from Me Re Koh ;-)

After the last class of the night we headed to In and Out Burger. This restaurants concept is to have everything fresh - never frozen. They make the french fries from real potatoes right in front of your eyes. They pride themselves on high quality meats and great service with a retro feel.

This was our last night in Vegas so we decided to have some fun jumping on the bed. We were inspired by a photo we saw in class that day and HAD to do it ourselves - see more fantastic bed jumping photos at bedjump.com

Day 8
Kelly and I woke up early and headed to the airport. We were happy to be "leaving Las Vegas". It was a long trip home - I was happy to see my family after 8 days away!

WPPI 2008 :: Rockstar Photographers

Day 5 - Sunday

Our WPPI 2008 Flickr Group had it's very first meet-up at the Venetian Hotel's Grand Lux Cafe. Those in attendance were Kate Nadine, Danielle, Zach (Goody), Kelly A. Lee, Corey Ann, Kelly, Aubrey, Samantha Nicole and Melissa Brown. After we ate and chatted we walked the shops at the Venetian and saw the Gondolas.

A group shot of the WPPI 2008 Flickr group:

From left to right: Kelly, Amy, Melissa, Kelly, Corey, Kate and Danielle.

That afternoon the trade show opened, the first class was taught and the parties began. We were invited to the Robert Evans - Photography Mentor/Sara France GoBee Party in a penthouse suite at Mandalay Bay. The party was really cool. They had a photobooth and a airbrush tattoo artist. Many amazing photographers also were in attendance - I got to have some pretty cool conversations with Anne Ruthmann, Jesh de Rox and Becker. I also got to meet some amazing up and coming photographers such as Mel Barlow, Abby Rose, Pepper Nix and Punam Bean.

Some photos from the party:

Photo by Anne Ruthmann
Aubrey, Melissa, Jesh, Samantha and Amy

Photo courtesy of Melissa's point and shoot.
Samantha, Aubrey, Becker, Amy and Melissa.

Photo courtesy of Melissa's point and shoot.
Amy, Aubrey, Mel, Melissa, Jesh and Samantha.

Photo courtesy of Foto Cabina Photo Booth - SOOOO much fun!!!!

We snuck out of the Photography Mentor Party to check out the Pixel 2 Canvas party. We were able to meet Kevin, the inventor of the RadioPopper flash trigger device. I was able to test the RadioPoppers on my camera...all I can say is it is so very cool. I cannot wait for mine to be shipped!

That night we stayed up quite late... but it was sooooo worth it ;-)

WPPI :: Vegas Shootout

Day 4 - Saturday

16x20 Awards of Excellence Print Competition judging started at 8:00 am. Wow! This was an awesome experience. There was a panel of about 8 judges who punched their numbers into a keypad... if the print scored an 80 or higher the print won an Accolade of Excellence and the entire audience clapped! Then the moderator/head judge would ask two of the panel judges to comment on why they scored the print the way they did. It was so amazing to me that they would take the time to critique every single print. Sometimes prints didn't score well because of print quality, mounting of the print, tonal range, composition...

I sat in on the Premier Division of the competition - it is the division that I entered two prints in. The Premier division was for first time entrants of an international competition. My prints scored a 77 and a 78. I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the critique of one of my prints. After sitting through countless prints I knew that my print wouldn't score 80 or higher. It wasn't that the photograph was bad - the photos that I entered were actually very good!!! But, they didn't fare well with the things that judges were looking for. My prints were high-contrast, edgy composition and high-gloss mounting. Now that I know what the judges are looking for I will better be able to select my images for next year's competition.

Here is a shot from the competition:

Neon Graveyard shoot
My Flickr group coordinated a shoot at the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas. Corey Ann organized the entire shoot and secured the location - this place isn't they type of place that just lets people come and hang out with cameras... We had to sign waivers and pay a fee just to shoot on the property for 2 hours.

The location was just a dream! There was old neon signs from old Las Vegas, the people who ran the place think of it as a museum. We had to be VERY careful while shooting because there was broken glass and exposed neon everywhere.

We had more than 15 photographers attend the shootout. We split into two groups - one group had a real bride and groom that were married just the day before and the other group had a funky couple with lots of body art. There was also a lone "groom" who was there trying to get shots to use in his modeling portfolio. I had so much fun shooting all of them... actually, the bride and groom brought along some of their friends to watch. I grabbed two of them and for a little impromptu "engagement" session - it turned out sooo awesome.

Here are some shots:

Nelson Ghosttown shoot
After the amazing session at the Neon Boneyard we drove about one hour away to a Nelson, Nevada ghosttown. There, we met up with Vegas' local photographers Jamie and Tim Jackson. They were awesome and found a couple of models willing to pose in the desert for some amazing shots.

During some of the shooting I slammed my hand and left leg into a cactus. Those things look cool but man can they cause some damage!!! I had to take in a deep breath and pull all the thorns out of my hand and leg. My very first experience ever seeing a cactus and coming into contact with one is another reason why I actually like living in Wisconsin!

Towards the end of this shoot the sun was setting fast behind the hills. Dave Jackson was sooo awesome and let everyone try out a one-light flash set up using all of his equipment. Most of us have never shot like this before and it was stunning to see how our images were looking with a little bit of added light.

Here is a shot of Michelle using the one light technique. (slide show to come)

Saturday was an event filled day!!! Some of the best shooting locations and light I've ever photographed!!!

Stay tuned for more...

WPPI 2008 :: Mike Colon's Plus Class

I am finally getting to my blog entry on WPPI 2008 in Las Vegas. After I returned home after 8 days of being away... our entire family was struck with the stomach flu for Easter and pretty much the entire week after. Andy and became healthy enough to attend another two seminars in Chicago last weekend. My brain is SO full of so many ideas I feel like I am going to burst!

I would like to tell you about my experience at the world's largest photography convention and trade show and to help me stay organized I will write recaps of each day.

Day 1 - Wednesday
I arrived in Vegas late at night. I was unable to get a hotel room for that night... luckily Danielle was kind enough to let me stay in her room for the evening. We ended up chatting about photography until after 1:00am... little did I know this was going to be an early bedtime compared to the rest of the week!

Day 2 - Thursday
It took forever to find the room for Mike Colon's Plus Class. But once I arrived I was finally able to see what the "man" is all about. The class was pretty awesome. We talked about some of the fundamentals of photography. It was a good review for me and he also challenged us to shoot completely in manual mode - as well as manual white balance. I was up for the challenge.

The class had two models come after lunch. The group of 20 photographers headed outside and shot the models on the grounds of Bally's. Shooting alongside of Mike Colon was pretty cool! His colleague Ray Santana (aka Uncleray) was very helpful and encouraging to us. After a long day of sitting in a classroom this 2.5 hour shootout was a ton of fun!!!

Day 3 - Friday
This was the second day of the Plus Class with Mike Colon. Just a background on Mike, he is a "rockstar" photographer. He is all around awesome. His approach to shooting, his technical abilities and his all around charm make him one of the best photographers in the industry today.

On this day Mike actually took time to critique some of the images from the day before. He choose several of my images to critique. I am going to be honest and say some of them were not very good. I was sooooo focused on the technical side of shooting in complete manual mode that I lost touch with the artistic side. I learned a lot from his critique.

Right after lunch two more models came and we were able to go out and shoot again. This time my game was on. I had sooo much fun shooting. The technical side came sooo much easier for me and I was getting some rockin' shots.

Here are some of the highlights:

WPPI '08 was a jumpin great time!

More to come!!!

Leap Day - Part II :: Friday, February 29, 2008

Rachel and Ali chose a very unique day to be married. Leap day comes once every 4 years... I'm not sure exactly why they chose that day - but I really think it totally unique and sooo very them! Rachel is a wedding photographer based in Boston. I'm pretty sure she chose this day in February because this month is usually pretty slow for weddings. (She shoots weddings all over the world. I am second shooting for her in Boston in September. She is a co-moderator for a pro-photography forum with me.)

So the wedding was held at the Bentley Reserve.... a very nice place with a beautiful interior. The ceremony and reception were both held here. The ceremony, a traditional Persian wedding was something I've never witnessed before. It was formal, yet casual. I was lucky to get some security guards to grant me clearance to a balcony that was under construction. All of my shots of the ceremony are taken from above. I just love being in a place where no one expects me to be.

After the ceremony I was able to do some family and friend group shots. I actually like doing these kind of shots.... as long as the people are cooperative and look at my camera - not all the people taking photos around me ;-)

Between the ceremony and the reception there was a break in festivities. Gwyn, Marina, Liz (makeup artist from HI) walked down the street to eat and the bride and groom where whisked away in a taxi for a private dinner. After we were finished eating we made our way back to the room with all our gear and downloaded files, chatted on flickr and blogged. Rachel got a quick makeup and hair refresher from Liz... and then it was time for the Grand Entrance.... and Grand it was!!!

Leap Day - Part I :: Friday, February 29, 2008

The morning of the wedding I had to shower and get ready in the hostel. They had 2 showers and one toilet on our floor. It was pretty nice, but they had no hooks except for inside the shower stall. So in order to change and shower in private you needed to put your towel and all of your clothes inside the shower stall with you. I managed to keep everything dry except for my socks.

Soon after I was ready I called up the Sir Frances Drake hotel, my accommodations for the rest of the trip. They were able to get me into my room at 10:00 am! I was so happy because I was stressing out on how and were I was going to store my gear and luggage.

When I arrived at the hotel my draw hit the floor. It was so gorgeous!!! It was like I went from budget traveler to 4 stars in 15 minutes. My room was beautifully decorated.The bathroom had Aveda products, animal print bathrobes and slippers. It was a nice welcome.

Marina arrived in San Francisco a little early and I invited her to join me in the room. She had the chance to change a camera strap and figure out the big daddy - the D3!!! Check out this shot she got....


Our first photo session of the day happened in China Town. Rachel and Ali are pretty cool and really wanted to urban setting for their bridal session. Marina was the main photographer but she was nice enough to let Gwyn and I tag along for a little second shooting. I ended up holding the reflector for some of Marina's shots. A reflector is a large white or shiny disk that reflects light into the subject. It adds light in shadows and into the eyes. I love the look of a reflector so I was excited to hold it for Marina.

Here are some of the shots I took:

Into the City :: Thursday, February 28, 2008

Gwyn and I got picked up at the Super 8 Motel during an impromtu photo session. Gwyn snapped this photo of me right before Ali and the guys came to pick us up. I love the vision she had and the way she composed the shot.

Photo by Gwyneth Colleen ©2008

That afternoon we drove up to the city... I ended up not having a place to stay with the rest of the girls so I booked a bed at the Pacific Tradewinds Youth Hostel. I got dropped off at the hostel and needed to hike up four flights of stairs to register. The hostel greeted me with open arms and a glass of water from a handsome Scottish man. There was a guy from Chicago, another from France and a couple of girls from Sweden. I was lucky to stay in an all girl room, but I had to sleep on the top bunk.

That night myself and a couple of people in town for the wedding went in search for the "Saloon" but ended up at the Giovanni Brothers bar. This bar was so unique. First off, it was decorated in Pittsburgh Steelers memorabelia, served hamburgers and sandwiches with slaw and fries on top and had live Bluegrass music every night.

After a few drinks we decided to explore the city. On the way to Lomard St. we stopped at a gelato shop and got some tasty gelato. Then we found it, the curviest street in America - or is that in the world? Anyway, we walked right up to the street and up the hill. Susannah and I took the "safe" route up the stairs while the two boys walked right up the middle of the street. On the way back we ooo'd and aahh'd at all the neat architecture and we were all so happy to be in the city!

ATW - SJC :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008

All week I thought my plane left in the early evening. On Tuesday I realized that for California my plane left at 7:00 am in the morning. Rush mode kicked in.... and I started freaking just a tad on the details and logistics. If you have ever went on a trip on your own, not really knowing where you will end up that night you know the feelings that were running through my body.

I was able to pack my gear in my carry-on - this time a little more secure with a Pelican Case divider I bought from B&H. I can fit almost all of my gear in this carry-on with a little room to spare. I also packed my suitcase full of clothes...my stay in CA was 4 nights and 5 days.... I needed to look cute at the wedding and all so I also had to pack my beauty aides ;-) Ladies, you know.... your own hair dryer, make-up and products. I did a trip to Boston a few months ago without these items and I felt a little lost. Not that it matters how you look really but it just feels good to feel the normalcy of your daily routine.

My flight took off from Appleton without any delays or weird things happening. Except that one of the girls I was planning on hanging out with got extremely sick and was unable to fly out. Beyond that major bummer - my voyage went off without any hitches... that is until my shuttle from the San Jose airport arrived at the address that Rachel gave me.

When I arrived at the house I noticed that the house looked under construction and a sign out front made it look like it was for sale. I ended up getting in the house and was greeted by Ali's uncle from Iran. He offered me tea and I sat outside and soaked up some sunshine. That sunshine renewed my soul from the inside out. I was so happy to have made the trip and on my own.

Later that day Ali came home to do a few things and offered to take me along with him while he ran some errands. When I got out to the drive and saw that he was driving a porsche convertible I was so happy that I agreed to go with him. He put the convertible top down and we were off - I could not stop smiling!!! We arrived at a botanical gardens and explored a trail looking for Rachel's friends. Ali and I hiked up a very steep path and talked about the wedding, their honeymoon and other stuff. Ali is a great guy, very down to earth and very much in love with Rachel. I was fortunate to have spent some time with him.

Ali seen here posing as Fidel Castro (minus the hat).
The beard was part of a beard growing contest at www.wiskerino.org -
the shave off day was February 29, his wedding day!

Soon after our little hike, we finally found Rachel's friends. Todd - a smart, plant loving botanist who was totally geeking out on all the neat plants and trees around. James - an accomplished sailor and beard boasting participant on the wiskerino.org site who is a grad student in Hawaii. Susannah - a sweet girl with a great laugh who is very intellectual and likes to talk theology. Maria - Rachel's dear friend and the girl who got things done. About the same time I finally met Rachel in person. I know everybody thought it was strange that I meet my friend for the very first time in person the days before her wedding. That is the thing about our Flickr group. We are pretty close...but we are all over the country. When we have the opportunity to meet up and shoot some photos we jump on it. I was very honored to have finally met Rachel face to face ;-)

Later that night Gwyn and I left the hustle and bustle of the Persian household and headed to our Super 8 Motel oasis. We dined at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel - I had my Negra Modelo and she had her 2nd burrito in 2 days! After that we headed up to our room and Gwyn started to make Rachel's veil... yes her veil. Gwyn is so very talented and does a great job visualizing and implementing her ideas.

California was starting to become one of my most favorite places...

Back from the City!

I am back from my fabulous, amazing, wonderful trip to California!!! There is so much to talk about.... I am planning on blogging about each day individually so I don't forget to talk about something!

Here some shots from the FABULOUS Marina Miller of Red Heart Photo who took these shot of me during the bridal session in China Town - click on them to see them LARGE. Marina is my new favorite photographer!!! I want to be her when I grow up ;-) Actually, I am trying to figure out when I can go to Hawaii for three weeks and babysit her kiddos.... and maybe shoot some photos - just kidding about the babysitting.




By the way.... she shot these photos with the Nikon D3.... for all you photo enthusiasts out there - that camera is jaw dropping amazing!