Last week you may have read a lot of posts from me about attending WPPI 2015 in Las Vegas for my third time. No, I wasn’t just off day-drinking again, WPPI stands for Wedding & Portrait Photographers International and is a yearly convention for photographers worldwide to gather, take classes from the top artists and business owners in our industry, and maybe party a little bit. As a Member of Nikon Professional Services, there is a lounge where I got to drop Evan’s camera body off to get a free sensor cleaning, and they even had refreshments! (I was excited to not have to pay $4 for a can of coke) There’s also a huge trade show where we can learn about new products, see new stuff from the companies we already use and look for cool new things to offer our clients. I love the tradeshow, my favorite part is talking with companies I m always emailing back and forth- it’s so awesome to meet them in person and chat about new things they’re offering or ask for features I want to see in the future- and they really do take notes and roll updates out based on our needs. Oh also, free stuff! I bought some things at the trade show (it’s great to go if you’re planning on making purchases because you can try stuff out and all the vendors offer show specials). But I also came home with a bag full of coupons, catalogs, and freebies like film, t-shirts and chapsticks- being in the desert, that was a freebie theme this year. And if you have candy at your booth, I will definitely stop and talk to you. I’ve already ordered lots of stuff using my coupons but I am most excited about sending film off to be processed at my new film lab!!! I fell in love with The Find Lab at the tradeshow- they sat down and did a color profile with me, went over all my preferences and gave me some tips for working with film, I can’t wait to send my first rolls in this week. here are just a few of my favorite things I brought home from Vegas-

The book I purchased and it’s all about engagement photography! Really excited to read through this one before our next session. Trade show and all goodies aside, the real reason for making the trip all the way out to Nevada is for the education. Evan and I first attended WPPI in 2011 when our business was still pretty new. We were learning about the business side, and working on our rebrand, and WPPI blew our minds that first year. We are so lucky to be part of such a generous industry where people are so willing to share their knowledge. After that first year at WPPI, we learned so much and we immediately attended again in 2012. It’s not that we didn’t learn as much that year, but we weren’t as new by then, and we were making so many other changes in our business at the time that it was overwhelming. Then in 2013 I was pregnant and we had a brand new baby in 2014. Taking a few years off – besides occasionally updating my blog on HMHB – from the convention made it fantastic to go back this year. Lately I’ve been feeling like we were getting too comfortable in our business- we’ve got things down pat and I’ve been wanting a creative refresh. This was exactly what I needed. Going by myself was weird, but it was also a little wonderful because I could spend as much time at any one particular thing that I wanted. I went to 7 different classes, renaming from SEO, social media, lighting and inspiration. Susan Stripling was my favorite speaker, I’ve seen her in years past and there’s always just one thought or two that she shares that alone is worth the entire trip out. No joke, she got really emotional and I actually cried along with her at the end of her class. It made me so happy to have the career that I do. I am so jazzed to have two amazing weddings coming up in the next 3 weeks- the first in The Florida Keys this Saturday, and I can try out some of my new skills and push myself a little farther creatively. I can’t wait!

To wrap this up, I want to share some of the iPhone photos I took over the trip. Traveling alone was really fun, even though I did know lots of people at WPPI and even got to meet up with several groups of local photog gals, I sure did miss Evan on this trip. I stayed at the MGM Grand where the convention is help every year.

I explored the strip a little and even took the monorail that they were finishing the last time we were out in Vegas. There’s a little cafe in Paris Evan and I always go to for dessert so I had to make a trip there and ended up basically eating Tiramisu mousse for dinner that night. The concert photo was taken at one of the parties I went to, it totally fulfilled my need for a concert recently and I got to go with some good friends that are wedding photographers here in Tampa.

Then my last night I visited the Polaroid museum on the strip, and it was incredible. Then across the promenade was a Sprinkles, and after visiting the cupcake ATM, I grabbed a dark chocolate cupcake to bring home to Remy and Evan. I still can;t believe that thing made the trip, and we all shared it when I got home.

Obligatory plane/travel photos. I never get a window seat and never get cool shots while flying. Well I finally did! Thank you to the nice girls that traded my middle seat for the window seat so they could sit together. I can’t say for sure that we’ll head to WPPI in 2016, I may want to go to Imaging USA instead which is the same type of event put on by PPA (Professional Photographers of America) which we are also members of. That convention travels and is in Atlanta next year, so we may hit that and then WPPI again in 2017. Only time will tell :)