Wedding & Portraits Photographers International 2010!

I know I know, this post for WPPI is SUUPPERR overdue.  [WPPI was at the beginning of march] So what is WPPI? WPPI is a yearly convention when photographers from all over the world come to exchange knowledge, learn, find out the latest gear that is available, network and grow as both photographers/people Party. [I mean its in VEGAS for cryin' out loud. haha] This was my first year…and I decided that if I was going to spend a week at this convention…that I darn better learn. So basically I signed up for every class imaginable. Now on paper it didn’t look that bad…but getting up at 7 every morning and not coming back until late [and throw in some card games here and there]…by the end of it I was super brain fried. There was a moment when I was listening to Cliff Mautner [one of THE Nikon Masters] talk about lighting…and nothing was sinking in. That was the moment I knew I had been information overloaded.

So now that I have had a little time to take it all in and internally process it, I’ve realized that WPPI is very much like high school. Attending your first one makes you feel like a transfer student/freshmen. Everyone seems to know everyone else….and much hugging occurs everywhere. Photographers are pack-animals…meaning that they rarely travel alone. Various groups can be seen congregating together. [Much like how in HS you had the jocks, nerds, band kids etc]. The need for sugary drinks/caffeine has never been more on display. At 8am the line at Starbucks was like 50 people. [And for those of you know know my dislike of Starbucks...let me explain. There weren't any alternatives! Don't judge me!] Then of course you have the big men on campus. When you wander through the halls…you see luminaries in the photographer industry…and it is such a trip. You see people like David+Luke Edmonson, Jerry Ghionis, Yervant or Joe Buissink. Quite an experience.

While here I attended a two day workshop with Australian Fine Art Photographer Marcus Bell. Marcus is really big on studying art and applying that into photography. Learning from the classical painters and such to learn balance and structure and color and light. Its really interesting because I’ve never really spent any time looking at art. So the first day we had to go around and just look for things that interested us.

Seriously nobody see’s light and angles like Marcus. But what Marcus also stresses is finishing an image. Attention typically is drawn to the brightest and most colorful spot. I got to learn a lot about his work flow and how he works on images. Man…my clients this year are gonna majorly benefit from this

Have a good one!

-JC