#wppi2015

Rangefinder Magazine - September 2015 Issue 

I got back from WPPI a week ago, and I am just now getting around to writing the recap of my experience.

There are two reasons for my delay:

I hardly slept in Vegas and combine that with the daylight saving time that kicked into effect last weekend... I've been having a hard time getting out of bed this past week.

I was so motivated and inspired by the convention this year, I have been working my butt of during the times I was awake to make sure 2015 is going to kick ass. (More on that later).

WPPI 2015 marked my 19th year in a row attending the convention. And without knocking his predecessors, I got tip my cap to Jason Groupp and his team for continuing to raise the bar and making WPPI an outstanding experience for photographers to learn, connect and grow.

For me personally, my #1 reason to go to WPPI is to connect with old friends. (See the photo above... those are my peeps!)

When I first attended in 1997, there was no Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram, or even Google. Creative Live wasn’t available, or text messages, or even cell phones for that matter. Only rich people had car phones back then and they certainly didn't fit in your pocket.

Back then, there were no blogs and only a handful of us even had websites!

In 1997, everyone shot film, not just the hipsters. If you wanted to connect with other photographers, you had to actually meet them in person and actually talk to them. And back in those days... the local competition wasn't too open to even talking to a potential competitor let alone actually help them.

So when my new friend Joe Photo invited me to go to a photo conference in the desert... I was eager to go and learn as much as I possibly could.

That first trip was a life changing experience an I've been back every year since. I often refer to WPPI as my 2nd favorite week of the year. (Burning Man actually wins hands down!)

Over the year I have been a speaker on several occasions, but I think I was most known for hosting my legendary parties. I'm a connector and I love bringing people together!

The last couple of years though, I have been lying low and just enjoying my time with old friends. It's been nice not having the pressure (and expense) of hosting a huge party, not having to worry about doing a talk, or showing up a booth at a certain time to plug some vendors.

I've actually enjoyed WPPI so much the last few years!!!

But this year... I wanted to actually find some inspiration and learn some stuff, so I actually went to a few programs!

Moving to St. Louis has been a huge change. I went from being pretty well established in SoCal, to virtually unknown (by the venues & coordinators at least) in St. Louis. It’s been humbling. 

I’m thankful that quite a few STL photographers have been sending me some referrals, and I am still booking weddings back home as well as destination weddings, but it’s been weird virtually starting over.

But back to WPPI... the best program I went to was the Tuesday night presentation by The Two Mann Crew. My jaw was on the floor the whole time. Their work is so crazy good and their presentation was hilarious. So raw, so real… no fluff. I actually introduced myself to Erika & Lanny after their program and they ended up inviting Ashley & I to grab a bite the next night. Such cool people and I am glad to know them! (They’re on the short list of photographers we are considering to shoot our wedding).

I am bummed I missed my friend Parker’s program. I still wish WPPI would stop hosting classes at 8:30 in the morning. It’s Las Vegas and classes should start around 11:00 or so. I heard it was amazing (as I knew it would be). Parker is also on the short list of photographers we are considering to shoot our wedding and he’s a constant source of inspiration to me.

I caught a couple of other programs, but I still think my favorite thing about WPPI is the conversations you have in the hallways, or over a drink or a meal. I don’t want to get all name-droppy, but I had some awesome conversations with The Chrismans, JVS, Joe Buissink, Jason Groupp, David & Luke Edmondson (congrats to David on his lifetime achievement award), Zach Gray, Huy Nguyen, Rich Lander, Cliff Mauntner, Nick Adams, Parker Pfister, Kevin Jairaj, Kevin & Claire Kubota, Andy & Brian Marcus, and so many more.

I think the highlight of the trip was actually going out to the desert and being on the other side of the camera for once! Our good friend Jessica Claire volunteered to shoot a little maternity session of us and it turned out to be so much fun! 

A few of our St. Louis friends also tagged along and shot a few images. I love this one of Ashley from our friend Julia Noack:

Thanks to Jess, Katie, Julia, Amy, Joel & Kurtis... we had a blast with you all and can’t wait to see the rest of the photos!

Some other highlights from this trip were:

The Fearless Party.

Hanging with Kurtis & JVS. Photo by Robyn Navarro.

I didn’t get to play a ton of poker, but I did manage to get a first and a second place (out of 3 tries at the nightly Monte Carlo tournament).

I also love cruising around the trade show floor and checking out all of the new products. I spent a ton of time at the Sony booth (thinking about adding a mirrors camera to the mix).

The new Smart Albums 2.0 looks absolutely amazing!

ShootProof has a great new interface and some cool things on deck.

It was also great seeing the guys at the MagMod booth:

(Full disclosure, MagMod hired me to do a little consulting work and I am stoked to be a part of the team. Their new MagSphere and MagBounce are awesome for wedding photographers).

Big thank you to Madera Books who made me a new sample album after reading that someone broke into my car and stole one. So stoked to be partnered with them.

Loved catching Photo Ignite again. My boy Joe Photo did an awesome slam poetry performance over his adventures of the last year.

As far as what I’ve been working on this week... networking like a madman and working on relaunching my website! It’s not 100% done yet, but take a look.