I feel like I am very tardy getting back to my blog, and recapping my fabulous first experience at the
WPPI convention. It's not easy getting back into the swing of things at home after being away from my family for 4 days - an exhausting 4 days at that!
But I came away from this amazing convention with so much - new goals and resources, new friends and mentors, new knowledge to put into practice! Not to mention lessons learned for next year (I will definitely be staying at the MGM Signature next time. Not that I didn't love the weight loss potential that the walk to and from the NYNY gave me, but my poor feet would have been happier.....)
I went to many of the platform classes offered, mostly in the area of business & marketing, and motivation. The first of which was the talk given by the amazing
Bobbi & Mike. They were SO inspirational, and passionate about what they do, and offered a lot of really solid advice. I am a huge fan.
I also went to
Jasmine Star's talk, and came away with a TON of useable advice - made my most concrete goals in this class, I must say. Jasmine is a rockstar in the world of wedding photography, 'nuff said.
Kevin Kubota, Beth Forrester and Jules & Joy Bianchi all gave really good talks as well, and I have a wealth of ideas for marketing as a result. Jared Bauman was probably the dryest of the presentations I attended, but talking about pricing isn't super fun, so he rocked it out as much as he could, haha...
I also ended up being lucky enough to sit down with
Justin & Mary Marantz, another husband and wife team, and the folks behind the Spread The Love workshops, which I attended last year. I wasn't able to attend their platform class, as it was the day after I left Vegas, but I ran into them at lunch one day, and they were SO nice, and invited me to sit down with them! We probably chatted for 15 minutes or so, and it was great - they are so good at making people feel worthy of going for what they want. Thanks guys!
My last day in Vegas was without a doubt the most worthwhile. If you've followed my blog since the beginning, you've heard me talk about
Me Ra Koh. She gave me the push I needed to actually START, and not just dream about being a photographer eventually. When she launched her SOAR scholarship, I was an applicant that first year, in December 2009. Although I didn't win the actual scholarship, I won by launching this blog, the day after the SOAR winners were announced.
Suffice to say, I've heard MeRa speak several times, so I know she is inspirational, and a great motivator. But even having said that - her platform talk at WPPI was OUT OF THIS WORLD! That afternoon, she also hosted a private Garden Party for former SOAR applicants, workshop attendees, and readers of her blog. More amazingness! We not only had a lovely luncheon, but received more inspiration, and some wonderful gifts to help us on our journey of being pro photographers. We ended the afternoon with some photo coaching with models, so we were all able to get some hands on learning as well.
Here are a few photos from the day!
The inspirational MeRa
Mike Larson and his beautiful family came by to be models for us! Mike was a platform speaker as well, the first day we arrived at WPPI.
So done!
Some of the other luncheon ladies, working with bride and groom models.
MeRa - thanks again for the fantastic day!
Whew! Now that's a marathon blog post, if you're still here - thanks for making it through!
