I don't even know where to begin this post besides saying that I am incredibly inspired! I just spent the week at the annual Wedding and Portrait Photographers International conference in Las Vegas and was able to meet and hear stories from so many talented photographers from around the country!
As well as meeting photographers during the day, I got my first real taste of Vegas. I have been to Vegas several times as we have passed through on our way to California on family trips, but we were there for limited time and we didn't do much site seeing.
Places to go to in Vegas?
1) Diablo's Cantina at the Monte Carlo. They have the worlds BEST guacamole. Ok, maybe not the best, but it's the best I've ever had if that counts? Their chicken fajitas and chicken nachos are pretty good too!
2) The Sugar Factory (the restaurant) is pretty darn good! We found that there are several Sugar Factories in Vegas (one in the MGM grand, one in the Miracle Mile Mall in Planet Hollywood, and the restaurant we ate at is across from the Belagio). Scott and I suggest the turkey club and a plain cheeseburger =)
3) The $5 or $10 black jack tables at the Excalibur. Find Louis, he's awesome! I'm convinced that I won at least $150 off of $20 at the table, but no one believes me because we were passing chips around between the four of us. But they always seemed to borrow from me =p.
4) We did not have a good experience at the Doohan's at the Cathouse in the Luxor. I'll leave it at that! But for any boudoir fans out there, they have pretty awesome old fashioned pictures on all the walls!
5) Last but not least, the MGM Signature. We stayed in this hotel which was just a little ways away from the convention center, and compared to most hotels in the area, it was a little cheaper (although we did get a deal) and was super nice. We had a huge bathtub, and king sized bed and pull out couch, a kichenette with a stove, fridge, and microwave. We loved it! And everyone that came to see it was jealous! =p
Enough of Vegas, back to the convention! The first photographer I listened to, with the company of my sister Darcy, Boyfriend Scott, and our friends, Mike and Jehn Buchanan and Erin Brannan, was Jerry Ghionis. I first listened to Jerry last February when he came to Denver while on tour with Sandy Puc. When I heard Jerry speak, I fell in love. The way he works with his clients and the emotions he puts into his images is incredible. Plus, he has a very sexy Australian accent that any girl would love!
After leaving his class, I had two things on my mind.
1) I want my pictures to show the same emotion that he does!
and
2) Let's go shoot!!
That night Darcy and I met up and did some night time shots using on camera flash just to play around, here are a couple shots from the day!
Later that night Mike, Scott, and I took a little walk and Scott tried his first Cigar. =)
Meet Keely. She's awesome! On Tuesday night we went to the MGM skylofts to meet up with some folks from Northwest Professional imaging. When we got there we met one of the models for the week, Keely, and we convinced her to do some modeling for us. Here are a couple of the shots I got!
This is the view from the window of our hotel room where you can see Planet Hollywood (far left) and what we thought was the Penthouse West, which we later learned was the Planet Hollywood Westgate. The first day we got their it said, ph WEST, the next day it said pn WEST. The day after that was pn WES and then pn WE, and yesterday it was pn W. We are convinced that today after we left it was just pn. We enjoyed watching the letters disappear during the week! Here is a shot from our room at sunset!
Meet Merida and Kelsey. They came to visit us yesterday before their flight left and we made the mistake of letting them see our bathroom, which then lead to a photoshoot in the bathtub. I'll let the photos explain the rest.
And finally, Scott. =) Looking out the window from our hotel room on our last day in Vegas just before our date walk down the strip and dinner at the Sugar Factory!
This conference made me realize one thing. I would love to be on stage in 10, 15, 20 years, speaking in front of 500 photographers about me, my business, and what works for me. And making them realize that they're not a nobody and they can be just as successful as the work they put into their business.
I also found out that I need to give my clients a little more of me. I need my fans to know more about me and stop hiding from them, when in reality, I think I'm hiding from myself. I hate talking about myself. And even more than that, I hate sharing personal things about my life. But I'm slowly learning to just let it go! So here we go! To close this blog post about an amazing and life changing event in my photography career, I'll leave you with a few things about me. But just a few, nothing too crazy =p
I am addicted to Softlips chapstick. If I don't have some in my pocket, we have some serious problems.
I love pasta. LOVE IT! To the point where it is unhealthy. I'm a college student. It's cheap, fast, and delicious! Win!
There are very few vegetables that I do like (according to Scott, I hate anything that is green, except cucumbers and lettuce). but cucumbers marinated in Italian dressing is probably the best thing ever invented.
I think I will leave it with that for the night! Enjoy!
