Saturday, February 21, 2009

WPPI Highlights

Admittedly, Las Vegas is not my idea of an ideal vacation spot but during the week of WPPI, there is no place I'd rather be. I just returned from a week full of educational classes, a trade show packed full of fabulous photography vendors, and connecting with photographers from around the world. I'm brimming with new ideas and excitement!

Some highlights:

1. Photo Shoot with Jasmine Star!

I admittedly blog stalk Jasmine Star. Not only is she a fabulously talented photographer, she is an incredible writer, and an all around inspiring person. Last year at WPPI, I saw her across the room, worked up the guts to introduce myself to her and before I knew what was happening, tears were streaming down my face. I wanted to tell her how much I admired her as a person as well as her work but all I could manage was something like "Uh, I like uh, really love, uh your work..." Pretty impressive, Emily. I wanted to sink into the floor. I'm not joking when I say it was like meeting a celebrity! Thankfully, she was incredibly sweet, gave me a big hug, and was so gracious.

Needless to say, I was THRILLED when I was randomly selected to be a part of a group of 20 other photographers for an early morning sample photo shoot with her! We all brought our cameras and got to shoot right along side Jasmine and her husband, JD, who is equally as sweet as she is. This experience was definitely the top highlight of my week (maybe even my year).

As a small side note, I was totally excited to also meet Amy Wenzel at the shoot as well! :)


Jasmine and her husband, JD:
Photobucket



Photobucket



And the fabulous models, Mark and Jaclyn. They flew in all the way from Kansas!
Jaclyn
is also a photographer! These guys are great on both sides of the camera!
Photobucket



Photobucket



Photobucket



Photobucket



Photobucket




2. Seeing the Mammoth Men sing karaoke at the BluDomain gathering!

The Mammoth Men are comprised of twelve awesome photographers (each with their own photo business) who take random trips every now and then and rely on their blog readers to "choose their adventure" for the day. They are extremely talented and hilarious. Again, I felt like I was seeing celebrities! Check out Kelli Nicole's blog for some photos of them (Shawna and I even made it in the background of one of them....see if you can find us!).

What made it even more fun was the fact that Shawna and Kory were there from Shawna Noel Photography!
Photobucket



Photobucket





I also made some new friends! Tim and Angela Chin from Montreal, Canada!
Angela and I were extremely excited to be in front of the Mammoth Men!
Photobucket



Harold is another new friend! He is a photographer and also does some work for a new album
company that is on my radar! And who doesn't love a photobooth!?
Photobucket




3. Connecting with friends from last year!

I got to hang out with Jeff and Trishia who I met a year ago during WPPI! This year, their son Joe came with too! Thanks for Jeff for this photo!


Photobucket




4. Randomly meeting Neal and Eric from Lemon Lime Photography! Crazy...in a good way!

5. My awesome roommate, Amanda. I can't believe we didn't take a picture together...but we had so much fun. I'm so excited for her and her new photography business! Go leave some blog love on her site!

6. I could go on and on and on about the awesome people I met, fun things I learned, etc. etc. but we'd be here for days! I feel blessed for this opportunity and can't wait to start implementing some new things!

7 comments:

KellyMelissaaPhotography said...

Great pictures from the J* shoot! It was great to meet you!!
xoxo

ksenija said...

it was so nice to be a part of the j* posse with you! love what you captured at the j* shoot, too! glad you had a fab time at WPPI.

Unknown said...

Wow! Your shots are ridiculously awesome. It was really nice to meet you and chat a bit.

Kristen said...

Wow, Emily, you got some beautiful shots!! They look amazing! It was so nice to meet you at the J* shoot - high-fives for the tall girls with long lenses!!

daria said...

Emily, your dipping shot is so adorable!! It was soooo fun shooting alongside you + Jasmine's posse!! xo

Angela said...

Ah....love the rim lighting you've go going on pics 5 & 6 from your J* star. I'm jealous you got to do it!! Great work. It was so fun meeting you and like, ya know, partying with the Mammoth Men and all. Teehee.

I'm Kristen said...

You are too fun :D I love it!