Vegas Redux

What an amazing, uplifting, challenging, rewarding, emotional, much-needed, fun, tiring, AWESOME trip! I could probably come up with another 50 words to describe the trip to Vegas. I had high hopes for Sin City and my expectations were exceeded. Going to Vegas with a host of other cool photographers made the city that much cooler and I’m already looking forward to next year’s trip. I’m going to try to make this post as comprehensive as possible so it will be verbose, but I’ll spice it up with a few photos to keep you interested.

Before I start my book I want to acknowledge all of the amazing photographers I met and heard speak while in Vegas. Y’all made the trip worth it and I hope to keep in touch with many of you:
Chenin Boutwell – www.boutwellstudio.com
Doug Boutwell – www.boutwellstudio.com/dougb/
John and Dalisa Cooper – www.altf.com
Heather Owens – www.photosbyheatherowens.com
Jen Lowe – www.jlowephotos.com
Ronnie Ruiz – www.ronnieruiz.com
Leon Li – www.leonliphotography.com
Michelle Ocampo – www.michelleocampophotography.com
Denise Hoogland – www.modephotographers.com
Jay Tsai – www.jaytsaiphotography.com
Josh Solar – www.joshsolarphoto.com
Coralee Penner – www.redphotoco.com
Jeffrey Neal – www.jnpstudios.com
Eliesa – www.photogen-inc.com
Mike Colon – www.mikecolon.com
Becker – www.thebecker.com
Doug Box – www.dougbox.com
Jerry Ghionis – www.jerryghionis.com
Jesh de Rox – www.jeshderox.com
Alycia Alvarez – www.alyciaalvarez.com
Jason Cohen – www.jasoncohenphoto.com
Jason Domingues – www.dominguesphotography.com
Nick Collins – www.nphocusphotography.com
Rob Greer – www.robgreer.com
Jennifer Longaway – www.longawaypix.com
Garrett Elliott – www.garrettelliott.com

My reasoning for going to Vegas was two fold: to attend the Anti Workshop and to attend the WPPI 2008 convention. My goals were simple: break out of my shell with the workshop and get a creative kick in the pants, meet as many photographers as possible, and learn, learn, learn. I can easily say that I accomplished every goal. Here’s a breakdown of the trip.

Tuesday 3/11 – flew into Vegas, checked into the Main Street Station hotel, and attended the Anti pre-ception at The Downtown. Meeting all of the awesome photographers from around the world who came to Vegas for the workshop was truly an experience.

Wednesday 3/12 – The workshop began… on day one Chenin, Doug, and JMC spoke about previsualization and inspiration. To get our creative juices flowing we had an afternoon shooting exercise involving a Polaroid, 20 shots, and a life sized cardboard cutout of Elvis. Each team had a blast and if you are interested in checking out the Polaroids you can find them on JMC’s site. After the exercise we reconvened and talked about branding and then went over everyone’s Polaroids. It’s amazing to see the different levels of creativity that are achieved even with the most basic of cameras. After the workshop Melanie and I headed over to the Stratosphere to have dinner at the Top of the World restaurant. The food was great food and views were even better.

Thursday 3/13 – Workshop continued… today we were teamed up and then paired up with live models. I got to work with the energizing Josh Solar and Vegas’ own Denise Hoogland. Our models were the awesome newlyweds Phil and Ayumi. After our shoot we headed back to the Pint for some more discussions about finding the light and some live demonstrations by Doug.

Here’s a shot of Josh giving instructions to Ayumi to surprise Phil.

And here’s the resulting shot

Friday 3/14 – Workshop continued… today we talked a lot about posing, albums, sales, networking, and workflow. Chenin and JMC shared a ton of great info with us. Doug ended the day by showing us some Photoshop tips and tricks. After the workshop we all headed over to The Downtown for some drinks and light painting examples with JMC.

Saturday 3/15 – Last day of the workshop , but we went out with a bang. The instructors took us to the famed Neon Boneyard where we got to watch them do their thing with a real couple (Lauren and Bryan).

After the morning session Melanie and I had lunch with Ronnie and Amy and then moved our things up to Paris on the Vegas Strip. After a short rest at the hotel we hopped on the monorail and headed down to the MGM Grand to see the lions, grab dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, and then see Cirque du Soleil’s Ka. This is our 4th Cirque show we’ve seen and it was just as amazing as the other 3 (O, Varekai, and Alegria). To top it off we had front row seats for the show and it felt like we were part of the show rather than just watching it. Truly memorable.

Sunday 3/16 – Not finding any of the classes at WPPI interesting, Melanie and I headed out for some tourist activities. We headed down to Harrah’s and had lunch at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and then went over to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum at the Venetian. After wandering back to the hotel I rested for a bit and then went over to Caesar’s Palace to play in a DWF poker tournament (where I finished in 8th place).

Monday 3/17 – Today was WPPI classes all day. First up was Mike Colon at 8:30am (too early). He was entertaining and talked about shooting a wedding with available light using the Nikin D3. He’s got mad camera skills and it was interesting hearing him share his in camera techniques. After Mike spoke it was off to the tradeshow to check out the new goodies available in the photography world. The afternoon class Melanie and I attended was Doug Box, who is a hoot to listen speak. He has a lot of energy and is very passionate about photography. He gave us some great information about shooting with a single off camera light. After dinner we attended Jesh de Rox’s class where he announced a new project that he’s beginning called Upward Spiral. He’s a moving speaker and kept us entertained for the full 2 hours. After Jesh we went over to the Champagne Shootout, but didn’t stay long because it was too chaotic for us.

Tuesday 3/18 – The great Jerry Ghionis kicked off our day with an awesome and inspiring session. He is the best I’ve seen at taking an ordinary scene and making it into something extraordinary. His speeches are very entertaining and he has so much energy it’s contagious. After his session I wanted to get out and shoot, but put it on hold so I could go to the tradeshow again (you can never spend too much time walking around and seeing all of the great products and ideas). The day ended with the highlight of the trip for me… hearing Joe Buissink speak. Even though he had a 103 degree fever, he toughed it out for an hour and fifteen minutes to share with us his passion. He was far and away the most inspiring speaker of the trip and I’m going to remember his session for a long time. His passion really resonated with me. After Joe’s session we headed to the Eiffel Tower to check out the views (which were breathtaking).

Wednesday 3/19 – Last day in Vegas . We got up early to attend Alycia Alvarez’s master class on baby and maternity sessions. She is such a ball of energy and was truly inspiring. We got so much good information for our upcoming maternity and baby sessions. Immediately after Alycia’s session we had to check out of the hotel and head to the airport.

I can’t say enough about the wonderful people we met, speakers we heard, and memories we made. I suspect that we’ll be making the annual pilgrimage to Vegas for WPPI going forward.