Jeremy contacted me with a top-secret plan: to surprise his girlfriend Phoebe with a sunset photography session at the location where they first met each other several months earlier. After much plotting, we decided he would make fake dinner plans with her that required her to dress nice and arrive in time for their “reservation,” while he arranged a bit of a detour to come meet me at the bridge. He did a fantastic job of keeping the secret, and she didn’t know what was going on until their car pulled up next to mine and he explained it to her!

I had a fantastic time working with the two of them (despite Jeremy’s bleeding “injury” on his ear) and we picked a perfect evening for the session. Phoebe especially had a fantastic smile the whole evening from the shock of the surprise!

One of the highlights of my year for the past few years has been going to the annual WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) Convention in Las Vegas, and this year was no exception. The morning after my big dance show I drove out to Montana (cheap flights!) then flew to Vegas, only to go to the convention the next morning at 7am! It was four days of intense classes and a killer tradeshow with few breaks, and I learned so much and came home with a notebook full of ideas. This was definitely the most informative year for me; finally, I was focused! Now onto the photos and stories…

Like last year, WPPI was held at the lovely MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

I was joined by my favorite travel buddy, my mom! She threatened me that this is the only photo of her I’m allowed to put on the internet ;) (She’s the second silhouette from the left)

All I needed (plus a notebook and a good pen)

Most mornings, the lines for the classes looked like this:

Jerry Ghionis showed samples of wedding albums he designed early in his career, which was a humbling platform class ;)

There are very few places in Vegas where you can get free Wireless access, so I often found myself crammed in tiny corners in the few hot spots checking my email while my mom patiently waited.

I didn’t go outside for the first three days because of the tight schedule, but was grateful for all the picturesque windows.

Hanson Fong did a posing class, and demonstrated that including an Asian in your photo makes it 110% bettter ;)

This photo was taken on Day 2, and the bags under my eyes were already pretty apparent! Classes every day started at 8am, and I can’t miss breakfast!

I met up with Lethbridge-and-area photographers Amber Sessford, Lorelei Hoffarth, and Jan Tajcnar. I’m very happy we were photobombed by another photographer, AND this photo was taken by Bobbi of Bobbi + Mike, who I love love love!

Me with Bobbi. She’s super tiny and I am definitely not, so I’m pretty much doing the splits in this photo ;)

Louis Pang speaking on lighting

On the last day they had an event called Photographers Ignite where a bunch of the “big shots” had to give five minute presentations with a new slide every 30 seconds, which were usually hilarious, informative, and a little panicked! You can watch the presentations here.

Jed Taufer went on stage and announced he had to poo, before getting into his content.

Scott Bourne

Doug Gordon’s slides wouldn’t work, so he broke out into a long rant of all the things his photographer father made him do when he was 12. It ended up being a fantastic comedy routine :) You definitely need to watch it on the link I put above; he gets going around 2:40.

Khara Plicanic, however, was the most outrageously funny in her presentation as “Uncle Bob” (a favorite slang term in the photo industry). Another video you should watch :)

When most of the people had already left, a few of us were able to stick around for one final business class put on by Sandra Ayers and Jerry Deck. It gave me a little longer to visit with Stephanie, meet a few other photographers, and I had a little surprise that made me reflect on how far I’ve come the last few years. They had photographer Mark Robert Halper give a short presentation, and it took me a few minutes to place where I had seen him before…

When I was fresh out of university and had no clue where or how to start my photography career, PPOC Alberta had their annual meeting in Lethbridge (a rare thing), and I bought a very discounted student ticket to go to the three day event and watch the speakers. Halper was the speaker the first day… you know, the day I was terrified and didn’t know anyone there! Through that event I made a handful of very important connections with people that led me to where I am now. It was nice after almost a week of intense learning and motivation to think back to where I started not that long ago :)

All in all WPPI was a great experience, and this was the first year I didn’t feel overwhelmed! I knew what I wanted to get out of everything and came out of it feeling inspired. The only bad part was the bag they forced on us at registration….

WPPI was over on Thursday, but our flight didn’t leave until Sunday, so it was time for fun! …except that we both came down with pretty nasty colds that same day. Seeing as how I’m still coughing, I guess what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. However, we weren’t going to stay holed up in the hotel room, and the weather had finally warmed up so we persevered our way up and down the Strip.

New York New York

It’s not Vegas without him… Is it bad I can do the Elvis lip and this Elvis can’t?

The view from our hotel room:

I love the ominous green glow you have to endure while staying at MGM, so I made use of it for a few self-portraits.

The new hotel/casino Aria is absolutely gorgeous! It’s architectural art. I think I walked through it with my jaw gaping open the entire time.

And to conclude, a slideshow with extra photos!

On September 5th the city commemorated the centennial anniversary of our famous high level bridge by shining a bunch of bright lights on it. Though in person it was a bit of a disappointment, it gave every photographer in town an awesome subject :)

More after the jump…

Two weeks ago I attended my very first Photoshop World, which was held in Boston MA. I was joined by co-worker and fellow photographer Michael Warf, and we had a phenomenal time! I learnt a huge amount at the convention, and our after hours shooting filled my portfolio with some wonderful things.

Naturally, on the slideshow above I had to pay homage to one of my all time favorite bands, the band who “saved” me from pop music, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Secretly I wished terribly to run into at least one member of the band while there… but sadly I don’t think they hang around Photoshop conventions!

Click below to go on to the photos!

My only view of Toronto at this point in my life. We flew overnight from Calgary (left at midnight) and arrived in Toronto while it was still dark out. By the time we got to the terminal, it was quite bright outside, so I was able to see that tiny visible portion of the city both ways. I was thankful the time change was overnight so I didn’t notice it as much – not that I was able to sleep much on the plane.

With some Price Line bargaining, we got rooms at the Hilton (across the road from the Convention) for a remarkable $75 a night!

This was the view from my room :)

I’ve never done this before, but always thought it would be a cool idea to get a self-portrait in every hotel room I stay in. Hopefully I can keep up the habit, because it was kind of fun!

Hello, obvious Canadian tourist!

Our only plans for Tuesday were to go to a photo walk, and we left an hour early to explore the area a little better (also because we had no clue where we were going).

Boston is such a beautiful city with so much character. The Back Bay area where we were staying was especially gorgeous. Boston is now my favorite place after LA. (I’m not sure anything will beat LA)

The alleys in Boston are so well kept. I think it’s kind of cute they have their own street signs.

While waiting for a crosswalk sign to change, Michael and I encountered an old man and his oooold giant Mastiff. The dog loved getting petted and didn’t want to leave us, and with a dog that size you need to wait till he’s ready to leave.

I noticed a lot of people in the area had dogs. It’s nice to see so much green space in an urban setting to make that possible.

The vines! They were on all the buildings. It was so beautiful. A lot of it reminded me of Tim Burton movie, so I was totally in my element.

The meeting place for the photo walk. It was interesting to see all the historic buildings co-existing with the new skyscrapers and hotels.

Jeff from PhotoWalkPro organized the walk, and it was great to finally meet him!

The photo walk group.

Nearly every building in the area had unique, beautiful doorways.

I caught Michael taking my photo so I struck a “Sears pose”.

I smell Tom Cruise

The squirrels there are brave when they think you have food! This is how I met Rob, who we ended up spending the week with! He told me he was from Ottawa, but wasn’t with Ian, the other Ottawa-ite we had also met on the walk, so I introduced them, and we were all buddies from then on :)

I tricked the squirrel into thinking the stick I was holding was food.

These bushes reminded me of piles of poop. Where is my head at?

The trees in this park were amazing!

Michael and I got separated from the group and headed back to the hotel down some really gorgeous streets.

On Wednesday we went to our first classes and met up again with the guys from Ottawa (by fluke). That evening was the convention party at The Estate, where we enjoyed a free meal and music by Scott Kelby’s band Big Electric Cat. After the band left the stage, the music continued and we stuck around to dance! I had so much fun… why did they have to kick us out at 11:30pm??

(Pardon the bad point-and-shoot snapshots.)

The Canadians: Ian, Michael, Rob, and myself
Our English friend Ed is walking in the background, in this very unflattering photo of him.

Blurry, but classic :)

On the way out we met this fellow (I forget his name) who is a poet/artist out of DC who works for the government. Oh, and part of an underground hip hop troupe! He offered up some freestyling for us in the alley.

His wife/girlfriend, myself, and a woman from Nova Scotia

On Thursday during our class breaks, Michael and I photographed a few models. Our first we had booked wasn’t able to make it, so we called up Jodi, a designer we had met at the party the night before. I’ll be posting more photos of her soon! She was great to work with and was interested in learning what we were doing.

Right after her shoot was done, we met up with Anya, who has some pretty extensive modeling experience. We went back over to the Hynes Convention Center to photograph her. Ian assisted on both shoots, and we were so grateful to have him along! More photos of Anya to come.

Both shoots were a blast; it was great to collaborate with another photographer and feed off each others energy and ideas. We kept swapping and both ended up with really different shots. I even got Michael to take a couple natural light photos… I’m a bad influence ;)

On Friday we went to our last few classes, then the closing event. Rob and I made it onto the wrap up video (it was our goal at the Estate!) but sadly it doesn’t exist online yet – I’ll be sure to share it when it’s there.

Next I was the model, and we recruited a food photographer from New Orleans, Matthew, to also help us out. The next few shots are all by Michael Warf.

Our first stop was a guerrilla shoot at the Apple Store. I’m amazed we got as many shots as we did before we were kicked out!

It was sooooo cold! I had to fling my coat to the guys when it was time to shoot, and quickly grab it back.

I love how epic this is… now gimme a green card!

Minus Michael, this is our shooting team that night: Colorado Mike (“security”), Matthew (background flash), Me (model), Ian (subject flash)

This guy was skating the whole time we were shooting, and offered to get in a couple of our shots :)

On the way home we transferred at Ottawa, and were lucky to fly out with Ian. The Ottawa airport is the nicest airport I’ve ever been to – huge windows and lots of sunlight!

Ottawa was a gorgeous sunny 12C, and Calgary was 0C with a snowfall warning… and we got stuck in High River on the way home because of it, but luckily got home Sunday all in one piece.

What an inspiring trip!

I have not taken a self-portrait I have been happy with in years, which has been nagging at me since it is ALL I used to do. My last night in the hotel proved to be productive!

I figured it would be a good idea to blog about WPPI 2009 in Las Vegas before I run off to Photoshop World in Boston next week!

This is a longer entry, so there are more after the cut!

We stayed right at the convention hotel, the MGM Grand. I loved this hotel! We got a great deal by buying a package, so it ended up being one of the cheapest resort hotels I’ve ever stayed in, and also the nicest. For once, I wasn’t afraid to touch the comforter on the bed, nor did I feel compelled to sleep in socks! Everything was very clean and modern… thumbs up!

You may wonder how the green outside glow of the MGM Grand translates to the rooms… well, it’s very ominous! We arrived at night, and walked into a glowing green room. Thankfully they include light blocking curtains, or I’d never be able to sleep through that light!

Every time I go to Vegas I make sure to make a trip to FAO Schwartz at Caesar’s Palace and have fun with the critters. They have so many toys larger than me there!

This is a shot from Robert Lino’s Platform Class, one of the first of the convention (Sunday). He talked about posing, and it was really entertaining. “Move her this way, and then the Jennifer Lopez comes out.”

That night the Welcome Reception was a wedding, and they surprised us with it being an actual vow renewal of fantastic photographer Jim Garner and his wife, shot by five other of the big name photographers. I was most impressed by Joe Buissink’s super ability to switch between two cameras as though they were extensions of his body.

If you’ve seen any of Jim’s videos he shoots for his studio, you know he has a great sense of humor, so the “wedding” started out pretty silly. Then he went and got all serious, and his wife cried and we all did a little too because it was just so sweet. But to fix things, he dragged her to the floor for their kiss :)

Knowing my Vegas nights were limited, I cut out from the actual wedding reception to go take photos on the strip.

The walk from the hotel to the convention each day was a LONG one. WPPI, realizing this, tried to ease our pain with humorous signs along the way. The first time I had no idea how long of a walk it would be until the signs started hinting at it, and they weren’t kidding! Each of these signs were quite far apart. I think it takes about 10 minutes to walk from the entrance to the convention center to the actual convention center! Then you still need to go up to the third floor for the platform speakers once you get there! Luckily they were never broken… except for a few days, but only the down side :)

The tradeshow was hard on the back between walking so much and packing my camera, but a clever company had set up a booth selling electric massage therapy thingies; I don’t remember what they are, but they send electric currents through you to relax your muscles. I can’t say I enjoyed the sensation – it causes you to uncontrollably twitch and spasm! – but it did help my sore shoulder!

This man was at the booth all day, totally in love with the device. I couldn’t stand mine on power 2 because my muscles were twitching so bad, and he had his at 10! He was putting the electrodes all over his body, and all the new comers to the booth were scared by his twitching, but he loved it! He was super friendly, but I didn’t get a card so I forget his name… so if you know this photographer from New Mexico, let me know!

Doug Gordon was one of my favorite platform speakers… he was hilarious and full of great ideas. He’s been a huge inspiration in my photography so far, and he has a lot of unconventional ways of doing things compared to everything else that was drilled into my head for the rest of the convention. It’s a great example that you need to do what works for you.

Here he is demonstrating the “get sexy” posing with his assistant :)

People get crazy when there are free gifts!

As a special treat to WPPI attendees, we got a private concert from Blues Traveler at the MGM Garden Arena! It was great to have such an intimate show because I could comfortably get quite close to the front, though didn’t have a telephoto with me, darn :S

Everyone was watching the bassist solo, but I was more intrigued by the guitarist smoking. Even John Popper, their singer, would take breaks to smoke on stage. Only in Vegas!

Our hotel was right next to the airport, so we saw a plane taking off or arriving every minute from our hotel window. I’m so used to going to Los Angeles where the airport is an hour away from ANYTHING, so this is such a strange concept to me!

Doug Gordon again at the Bay Photo booth.

I was able to see Gene Higa also speak at the Bay Photo booth, and it was cool that he talked for much longer than his scheduled 20 minute time because I had decided (wrongly, in the end) against going to his Platform class. Maybe next year!

Oh, I look like a giant next to everyone from California! Us Canadians grow taller trying to reach the sun?

Jerry Ghionis was my other favorite platform speaker, and he gave such an inspirational talk full of ideas on posing, lighting, and directing. He used volunteers from the audience, and flirted with everyone, true to his style. At this talk I was also fortunate enough to meet a photographer from Calgary (what a small world!), Stephanie Moore.

The Venetian, and abusing my wide angle.

I met a few celebrities along the way…

My Mom: You look real!
Michael Jackson: So do you!

…and let’s not forget Spongebob!

I got to meet a few photographers whose blogs I closely follow, so that was super fun! I love how close WPPI puts you to the “big names”. Here’s Becker at Jessica Claire’s class.

The closing speech was by Joe Photo, another photographer who I really admire, that dealt with how to make the most of everything you’ve learnt. Finally, I was able to get a front row seat at a class! It was a really inspiring talk, and he is such a nice guy. This is one of the classes I took the most home from.

As an exercise he had some friends give eulogies at his “funeral” – and it ended up getting pretty emotional!

Now that WPPI was done, I still had an extra day to play around in Vegas.

I wish there was more of this old style Vegas goodness on the strip!

The Bellagio fountains

I love how everything is themed!

The Fremont Street Experience was really cool to go to, and had more of the retro Vegas feel to it. I felt a lot less safe there as it bordered a bad area of town, but it was busy enough that things were okay.

Wanna know more about this guy? Check out safe-sax.com. I can’t make this stuff up! I can’t begin to describe how intense he was in his playing, but I felt like I was in an 80s movie! :)

That was so fun… I already want to go back!