My experience at WPPI this year was AMAZING!  It was my first year up there and I’m so happy that I decided to go.  It definately was an experience.  I say it felt like my first day of college all over again.  From registering and getting an ID, to staying up late in friend’s room just talking….no drinks involved.

My first day of class, I met a girl named Kacee from Utah, ‘Freshmen’ just like me.  We introduced ourselves and exchanged FACEBOOK addresses and phone numbers.  As I looked around, I noticed everyone around me had an iPhone, so that definately is the photographer’s phone.  The next day I got up early for  Jesh de Rox.  His platform started at 830am and I wanted to get there early so I can get GREAT seats, I wanted to learn and be inspired!  Some friends and I planned to be there by 630am.  Now remember I’m on Hawaii time, so getting up at 4am Hawaii time to get ready was very difficult for me.  Luckily I woke up at 3am to the stink of the hotel cleaning their grease traps, odor coming in through the vents was too much for me that I couldn’t sleep soundfully.  So I decided to get ready and head downstairs and get me some Starbucks.  I was the first through the door and sat front row.  Jesh de Rox is an amazing person and his presentation moved all of us in the audience to tears.  After that I had a engagement session I planned with one of my upcoming brides walking around the strip.  It was a little difficult with the amount of people walking around everywhere, and into the shot, but it turned out to be pretty fun.

Tuesday was the day I got excited for…first we got our own family photos done with Ohana Photographers.  If you don’t know them then check them out!  They’re based out of San Diego and I love their photography style, the best!  I’m pretty sure Hawaii is one of their favorite destination spots so  HAWAII BRIDES if you love their portfolio, book them and tell them I sent ya…because I’d really love to shoot with them, David and Kimi are the best!  ;)

After that came the mentor session with the wonderful Victor Sizemore, a mentor for sure!  We shot a great setup out in the desert…the only hard thing about shooting was how cold it was.  I’m thinking 40 degrees….with some high WINDS!  At the end of the shoot my hands were numb to the point that I couldn’t press the shutter on my camera.  As cold as it was, the session was amazing!  I will be blogging that later.  That night was the The B School Party.  I’ve met a lot of my favorite photographers there so it was so worth going, as tired as I felt….

Then there was the tradeshow, which was 2 ballrooms full of vendors and goodies!  I walked around for 3 hours checking out everything good I can get out of there, buying stuff that I always wanted so I could save shipping on.  My favorite booth was the shootsac booth, got me a couple of shootsac covers.  What was more exciting is that I got to meet Jessica Claire!  She is the person who inspired me at the beginning of my career when I was stuck at a place where I should quit or continue.

It’s funny that the photographers I’ve been following I see them as ‘celebrities.’  When I met Becker, Jasmine Star, JD, Joe Photo, Jessica Claire, Victor Sizemore, David and Kimi Baxter, Jen and Chris Stewart,  I got so nervous… and giddy….is that lame?  HA!

My tips for next year?

- Twitter is an awesome networking tool, I found out where everyone was on there.  Dinner with photographer shootout group in half hour?….. I’m there.  So for next year, make sure you have an iPhone AND have the Twitter application on there.

- Wear comfortable shoes.  I got boots with a little bit of heel on them.  The amount of walking I did from my room to the conference center was very painful on the feet and back.  I finally got me some comfortable boots, but by then I hurt my knees and blistered my ankle and toes.

- Bring warm clothes….next year WPPI will be in February, I’m guessing it might be much colder.

- Get lots of rest BEFORE you make it to WPPI because you won’t have any for a week.

- Bring a point and shoot camera.  Well it’s easier to use when you wanna get quick pics of you with friends and the ‘celebrities’ instead of figuring out settings first to get a nice shot.

- Make some friends!  Everyone there are so friendly!

I know this is long and I’m not a big blogger, but I’m sure it’ll change now.  Being at WPPI was very inspirational and the ‘celebrity’ photographers just make you wanna be better, shoot better, market better, etc.  It’s a great experience, meeting friends and sharing tips of the trade, I wanna keep going as much as I can.

I’ll be blogging more as I go through my images from the trip.  Here’s a couple of my new friends from Maui.