What happens in Vegas…..
…..ends up on my blog! Sort of. Last week I attended WPPI in Las Vegas, along with 10,000 other photographers. That’s a lot of photogs! For the second year in a row, I was joined by my fellow crazies, Patrice and Jo, and newbies Mary, Ruth, Jennifer, Gina, and Matt WPPI is a huge event and it’s hard to do/see everything but we tried anyway. We left for Vegas on Sunday and it was snowing in the pass which was awesome! I haven’t seen it snow like that since I left Minnesota 5 years ago…This was the first time I have ever seen snow on Joshua trees- we were trying to get to Vegas early so there was no time to stop for photo ops but I tried to take some anyway. Check out the blurry pics taken from Jo’s killer mommy mini-van. You can also view a slideshow of our trip (click on the word slideshow and hopefully wonderful things will happen….if not, click your heels three times)
As much would have loved to remain outdoors, WPPI takes place inside the Bally and Paris hotels, where time is warped, and it is alway “night” in the casinos. I love all the visual stimulation (and there is a LOT) though every so often found myself in need to reconnect with the “world” outside, even if it is was Vegas version of reality! But I came to WPPI to be inspired and learn as much as I could squeeze into my mommy brain so I back inside I went. It never ceases to amaze me how brilliantly talented some photographers are and just when I thought the bar was high enough, some genius goes and raises the bar even higher for me. Every once in a while, someone in the group would say, “my stuff is better than that,” and it is, which is awesome. We joke about which one of us will be presenting/winning an award next year….as speaker after speaker said, “Dream BIG, Baby!” (they didn’t actually say “baby“, I added that, this being Vegas an all;-) So here are some more of my favorite pics:
Gina, Mary, Patrice, Jo, Matt, Me and I forgot her name…..oops! But she’s really nice!
The Belagio front desk. No we didn’t stay there, maybe next year:-)
Hotel Paris
Jo’s sister hooked her up with this room! It had three badrooms, a pool table, 4 flatscreen tvs (none of them worked!) and one bed. LOL This is Vegas, after all!
Our room at the Paris hotel…
Me Ra Koh, Pepper Nix and Jules Bianchi, our LA PUG leader. Way to go Jules!
The Tiffany that nobody broke…..
The brilliant Mathew Jordan Smith who makes it look so easy.
Ever watch the Bilagio water show at dusk while listening to Frank Sinatra sing “Fly Me to the Moon”? Magic, pure magic.
Me and David Jay, the nicest guy in the world. I stalk him at every convention and he is kind enough to act like he knows me!
Robert Evans and David Jay. Robert is the rockstar that shot Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wedding. Like David, he is very kind and generous with his time and talent, and he does know my name:-)
View from the Planet Hollywood room…not too shabby.
When in Vegas….if only I had remembered to pack my red Wonder Woman boots. Rats!
on 2nd April 2008 at 23:22
My first year at WPPI and it was a blast! Looks like you gals had an uber fun time.