So who all made it out to WPPI this year?? My second trip to Las Vegas, NV was my first trip to the annual WPPI Photography Convention, and I definitely plan to go back as often as possible! I expected that I would learn a mind blowing amount, and I was not disappointed. I had the privilege of sitting in on some informative lectures and demonstrations by some of the world’s A-List photogs.

Although the learning was structured more for taking notes on paper, my group and I made some time for experimenting and mini photo shoots. The talented ladies that traveled with me this year were:

Catie Bartlett: No doubt you’ve seen mention of her on my blog before as we work closely together in our day job and on photo projects. She currently specializes in family and children photography.

Lisa Lee: I’ve known Lisa for a few years now, and have loved watching her grow as an artist. She focuses on the fine art aspect of photography- taking everyday scenes an manipulating them into a completely different visual experience.

Carly Carlson: I met Carly for the first time on this trip, and I’m so blessed that I did! Throughout the week I came to see her as a mentor, and a friend. Unfortunately she lives hundreds of miles away, but since WPPI we’ve relentlessly tried to persuade each other to relocate to our respective cities. I think I’m losing however, because Carly has an established studio in Baker City, Oregon, where she specializes in some awesome High School Senior photography.

Below are some of my favorites from the week, including everything from images of our beautiful Nevada surroundings to some fashion-esque shoots of each other. We’ll just get started off sexy, with a few (G-rated) shots from our boudoir shoot experiment in the hotel:

The first night we arrived, we were ready to go! I’d brought along a new toy: my Orbis ring flash adaptor, so we trying it out for a fun shoot. The one of me on the left was snapped by Catie.

We had a great view of the Strip each day during our (very long) commute to the MGM Grand for the day’s classes. On paper, a hotel right across the street sounds great, but it took at least 20 minutes of relentless speedwalking to get there, and the trip clocked in at over a mile each way!

Here’s a few shots of some of the neat and diverse hotel styles and features. Left: New York, New York / Right: Caesar’s Palace.

I had the opportunity to learn from some super A-List photographers at WPPI, but only happened to take my camera along to one class. (Like I said, it was a long walk! Extra baggage gets heavy.) I grabbed a picture of Jasmine Star, who is known for her high end wedding photography. She is sweet, down to earth, and hilarious! She graciously hung around after her class to answer every question of the hundreds of people who lined up to meet her, including me.

The four of us set aside an afternoon to explore the Strip and practice some of the shooting techniques we had been picking up in our classes. We found some gorgeous lighting. Here’s a few that I snapped of the other girls:

We also made it out during dark hours for some artificial light practice. The one on the right was lit with the Orbis.

Finally, a few more photos from around the Strip. I used my new Lensbaby lens on a few of these- can you tell which ones? (Okay, it was all of them.) It’s a specialty lens that has really neat, in-camera, blurring effects. The first set is from the Bellagio hotel fountains, and inside under the Chihuly glass ceiling in the lobby. It felt like home in a way, since the OKC Museum of Art is home to a great Chihuly collection, which I’ve seen so many times. The second set of photos are from other hotels on the strip, and I found shooting a backlit, clear glass chandelier with my Lensbaby to have the coolest effect yet!

I have a few more days worth of photos to share, but I will save those for the next post. We got to shoot at some incredible locations, so I will be covering those more in depth. Check back soon!