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WPPI: The Experience Part 4

Wednesday was crazy! I helped out at the Shootsac booth again and they had just received a new shipment of covers so the booth was seriously packed! Don't get in the way of photographers and Shootsac covers!

This is just a little snippet of what the ShootSac booth was like. Nuts! Plus, they were giving out some super chic tote bags with the damask pattern on it. That bag is so sweet, it fit all my carry on stuff into it, INCLUDING my messenger bag, since I could only have 2 carry-on items. LOVE the bag!

In the midst of the frenzy, I was able to get a quick shot with Jessica Claire before she had to dash off to her presentation "Top 10".



After getting that funny pic of [b]ecker with his pimp cup at the [b] party, I realized I didn't have one with [b]. So here it is. Check out Becker's blog and see if you can find my photo! Hint: it has the [b]-dazzled cup that Gene Higa made!



Here's one of Christine Tremoulet, fab boudoir and wedding photographer based in Houston, and fellow "Single Ladies" parody fan! She is also an editor for the Photo Love Cat Blog, a fantastic resource for the photography business!
 
Let me just say that I was totally slacking on the picture taking. There were so many people who I didn't get a picture with. Next year that will be a priority! How much was I slacking? I didn't even get a pic with my super fantastic WPPI roomie, Alyssa Lang!

Wednesday night I also went shooting (with a camera of course) with my friends, Lisa Whalen and fantastic lighting assistant/husband, Andy Mark. We hired the stunning model, Jessica, who was also at the [b] school Neon Graveyard shoot. I'm still processing those, so that shoot will get it's very own dedicated post!

Final recap coming next!

WPPI: The Experience Part 3

Tuesday. How was Tuesday? Well, just as exciting as the first two days. Since this was my very first WPPI experience, most of my time was just spent absorbing everything, quite possibly through osmosis.

Tuesday morning, I somehow crawled out of bed, got ready, and looked mostly presentable for my photo shoot with Jeffrey Neal of JNP Studios. Jeff had put an announcement on the [b] school calling for anyone who was interested in doing a photo shoot. The first five to contact him would get some shooting time. Well, apparently I've got the trigger finger, and was the first to reply! I had a blast with Jeffrey, even bright and early after the [b] party!

Here's a little sneak peek Jeff sent to me:







Afterwards, I volunteered to help at the Shootsac booth. Now I had only seen a Shootsac online until going to WPPI, where I had the full run down on the Shootsac and the brand new HipSlip. I met tons of photographers and answered their questions about the HipSlip. Who knew?! It also helped that I was standing right across from Keats Elliot the entire time, so in the event that I blanked on part of the spiel, I just had to listen to her, and I was covered.

Let me just say that while WPPI felt like going to school, it was ten times more fun and my day job just doesn't compare. While I had already heard Dane Sanders give his presentation "Photographer by Design" on his recent stop at the San Francisco PUG meeting, I wanted to see him present again. Dane is just the most genuine person who is truly interested in advancing the businesses of others. Well, Dane rocked it! He rocked it so hard that he was asked to give his talk again the next day! Dane also signed my copy of his book (I had forgotten to bring it with me in SF!).

Tuesday afternoon, my friend Elana had to take off. She had to return to reality. After a quick goodbye (I saw her later that weekend), I traipsed back up to the room to get some rest before the next party. While I'm definitely not the party animal anymore, I saw parties in Vegas as opportunities to meet new people. I've made so many "virtual" friends through the [b] school, OSP, Facebook, and Twitter, that it was great meeting these friends in person. Better!

Tuesday evening I ventured out to the Bellagio hotel for the Photo Lovecat Giveaway Gala. I hadn't had the chance to connect with anyone else who was headed that way, so I took a cab by myself. Actually not as bad as I thought. In the lobby I met two other photographers who looked a little lost, so I took a chance and asked if they were headed to the party. Yes! So we looked lost together until we found Caramel.

There I met Lara Casey, the FABULOUS Editor-in-Chief of Southern Weddings Magazine! I recently won second place in their Flippin for a Flip contest. It was great meeting her in person, finally!



I met some cool Houston photographers including Akil Bennett and Joe Cogliandro. I also met Christine Tremoulet who I initially "met" through Twitter and connected over the awesome Justin Timberlake and Beyonce Single Ladies parody from SNL! If you haven't seen it, again, your life is incomplete. It STILL cracks me up!


I met international photographer John Mateos Ong, all the way from the Philippines. We played "Rock, Paper, Scissors" aka Roshambo for one of the giveaways, and John ended up winning the prize! He went all the way! I ran into Ed and Monica Pingol from Vallejo, Bay Area represent!



I hung out with my San Diego Facebook and Twitter friends Melissa McClure, Jamie Lawler, and Charise Proctor. They are so fun! I ended up sharing a cab with them back to the MGM. However, they were staying at the Signature, and I was in the main hotel, so after we got out of the taxi, I had to hike back to the room. It wasn't that bad though!




Part 4 up next!

WPPI: The Experience Part 2

Monday. Oh Monday.

I've come up with a couple of analogies for WPPI. #1, WPPI is like camp, with photographers as the campers, separated after a long season of shooting weddings, portraits, commercial, etc, and reunited during a week of nonstop fun. #2, the tradeshow is like the candy store, with some very, very, very expensive goodies.

Monday morning, I started out bright and early, dragging myself out of be at the early hour of 6:45, trying to get myself to look mostly presentable for David Jay and Ron Dawson's talk about video. I hustled out of the hotel room thinking I could stop by Starbucks for a "quick" bite and drink. Well, after the 1/3 mile trek through the casino, I quickly noticed that the line was like 5 miles long itself. So no coffee. Instead, pure adrenaline.

I found Studio B, which was luckily not all the way down the escalator, through the tunnel, and up the escalator, but merely a brisk walk past Starbucks. I checked my phone (aka my version of a watch) and noticed it was 8:02. Crap. I'm late. I crack open the door, phew, they haven't started. At first I take a seat towards the back of the room. But then I remembered some photographer somewhere online had suggested sitting towards the front of the room. So before the program started, I made my way through the labyrinth of chairs and plopped down.

Then I saw a very familiar back of a head. A "Star" couple, if you catch my drift. Yep, Jasmine Star and JD! Jasmine Star introduced DJ before the presentation began. I always enjoy listening to DJ ever since first seeing him at the Free to Succeed Tour last summer. He's sincere and honest and all around likeable guy. He talked about the benefits of using video in your marketing and leverage several really good points on how video can free up your time.

Ron Dawson presented practical tips for implementing video, qualities of a good promo video, suggesting Blip.tv and Vimeo for hosting, and using Facebook to do some free marketing for you! After the presentation, I went to meet Ron. I was honored to win a free Triple Scoop Music song from The Longest Day series. And if you don't know about F-Stop Beyond: The Experience, check it out now! Be inspired! He's recently relocated to Atlanta by way of the Silicon Valley and is launching his new business: Dare Dreamer Media, although you may just know him as the video guru extradordinaire!



After having a rushed brunch with my lovely friend Elana, (who was a major trooper, coming along for the Vegas ride), I hurried over to the Showit Suite up at the MGM Signature, which is another 5 mile hike. I ended up going up the wrong tower and looking totally confused. Luckily, I spotted some familiar WPPI badges and asked for directions. Finally finding the correct tower, Jason of the Showit Team, escorted me up to the correct suite.

It was so great meeting the Showit Team. I was able to see just how much they care about their customers' satisfaction as they do their product. They are constantly working on making it better, and it's by far the most intuitive and easiest website building program I've ever seen. And you can change it in just a few clicks. So awesome! We discussed the Showit Sites product, what we like, don't like, what we'd like to see, and it was so refreshing to see genuine interest in the customer's perspective. Thanks guys!



JD is also a part of the Showit Team!


Finally, I hit up the tradeshow. Talk about ginormous. Huge. Larger than life. The only trade show that I have been to is one for work...for Statistics. Not nearly as exciting as this Trade Show. This is the place to see and feel all the products you'd ever be interested in using. I don't think three days is enough to check everything out!

While on the tradeshow floor, Scarlett Lillian said "Hi!" to me, she beat me to the punch. Reason #1 to put a picture of yourself on the online forums and website and blogs and social media. Scarlett is a fabulous photographer out of Jacksonville, Florida. Look we match!


So when I said the Trade Show was huge, I wasn't kidding. It was held in TWO large ballrooms. TWO. I guess it's probably better that way in some respects. Imagine 8,000 to 10,000 people in one ballroom. Insanity. Two ballrooms gives a little more wiggle room. Well, while I was on the way to the other ballroom where the Canon and Nikon booths were, I ran into Jasmine* and I had to get a photo! With the prior night's swift run-in, I knew I couldn't leave Vegas without a little documentation!


For dinner, I met up with Araxi, Nicky of eight20, and Jen Berry at Sushi Roku at Caesar's. Later that night was the [b] party! And it was held at the Real World Las Vegas Suite at the Palms. I remember watching that season the Real World while in college, and I think that was the season where they really started to extra friendly with each other...if you know what I mean. Anyway, the party was a hit! Some [b] schoolers volunteered to take candid photos as well as work it in the Photobooth in one of the rooms. I met Jack Ratana, Chris & Allie Bartelski, Mike & Julie Colon, Cathy & David Bock, and many other [b] school friends! I snapped this pic of Becker with his crunk cup that Gene Higa bedazzled himself!


Last but not least, I got a quick shot with my San Francisco based photography heroes, Ann Hamilton, who specializes in fabulous dog portraits, and Gene Higa, who has has traveled the world shooting destination weddings.


I didn't stay out too late because I had a shoot with Jeffrey of JNP Studios the next morning!

Stay tuned!

WPPI: The Experience Part 1

Oh man. I don't know that I've ever been this exhausted in my life. EVER. But it's the good kind of tired. My headed is totally swimming with information, vendor overload, and walking. A LOT of walking.

I think the coolest part of this experience has been meeting so many people. And the trippiest thing has been people recognizing me. ME. Like, "Who am I to get recognized?!" It's cool, but weird, but fun, but still tripping me out.

Sunday, Elana and I arrived at MGM and were ready to hang out Vegas style. We went to pick up my badge and it was like hiking three miles to the registration desk. We hit up the Margarita bar and indulged in $11 mango margaritas!





Then we tried to go to a party. A photographer party. In Vegas. What an experience.

We weren't sure how we were going to get there, so we got gussied up and went down to the taxi stand. On our way, we ran into Kenny Kim, who happened to be going to the same party with another group of people. I figured we might just share a couple of cabs, until Bob Davis swept through and led the pack towards a limo. An Expedition-size limo. So we followed. We figured the worse that could happen is that we'd be turned away. I had a game plan with the intention of saying I was with Kenny's group. Well, next thing we knew, we were boarding the limo. No way. True story.



We arrived at the GoBee Bag/Photography Mentor suite that was rented out in the Luxor and it was surreal. I remember thinking to myself, ready to pinch my arm, "Am I really here, doing this?" I am living out all the things that I thought I might do while in Vegas. There were a TON of people there. It reminded me of a college party. It was hot, sweaty, and loud. I recognized some faces as we tried to slither through the crowd towards the photobooth and danceroom.

While I would have liked to hang around for a little while longer, it was just too much. So instead, we headed down to the lobby to hang out with my UCSD homies, Daniel and Vaness Galang! Plus I met Jasmine Marie and her hubby, Adam.

Daniel and Vaness, cute as always!

While we were just chatting in the hallway, out strolls Jasmine Star and hubby JD. And she recognizes me by name, says "Hi, Catie!" and gives ME a hug! Holy moly. I'm Star Struck. Cliche? Sure. Do I mind? Heck no! It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling as she's one of my biggest photography inspirations. Definitely check out her blog, it'll change your life.

After parting ways with Daniel and Vaness and Jasmine and Adam, Elana and I ventured back to the MGM. We decided to walk. It wasn't that cold or that far, especially by Vegas standards. What a fun night!

You, too, can survive without the Internet.

For the last five days I have been Internet-deprived. And I'm here to say that I survived! It's so funny to think about what life would be like without the Internet, now that the world is dependent on it for business, communication, and LIFE. I didn't think I could imagine it until I fully experienced it.

I've been hanging out in the desert since Sunday, also know as Las Vegas for the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International convention (WPPI), without my good friend, the Internet. Now you may be asking, "Wasn't there internet at the hotel?" My response would be, "Why, yes, there was, but I'm also thrifty to the core and $15 for internet was not worth my hard-earned pennies." And while there was a FREE Wifi Lounge in the Trade Show sponsored by The Bui Brothers and FastTrack Photographer, I hardly had a spare moment to kick back in those incredibly comfy looking LoveSacs. Alas, I soldiered on.

My once chance encounter with the Internet was through an iPhone, which only further solidified the argument of why I should get one. Tuesday morning I had a photo shoot scheduled with Jeffrey Neal of JNP Studios from Orange County. I realized that I had not jotted down his phone number. It was trapped in my email, and checking email requires an Internet connection of some sort.

What did I do?

The MacGuyver in me took over. I had met for coffee with the lovely Kim of It's Just Kim Photography as well as her sister in law Shawna of StyleBerry Home and Emily Griffith of One Lime Photo from Minnesota. We were chatting away, and then it occurred to me that I could just borrow someone's iPhone to check my email. I had exhausted other options of trying to use Elana's LG Dare and calling Cent (all the way in Dallas) to check my email. Yeah, well I couldn't even remember Jeffrey's studio name. Ha! So then, in an act of mild desperation, I asked Emily to borrow her iPhone. She so kindly agreed, and I'm seriously indebted!

Then I also realized that this has been my LONGEST hiatus from Facebook. Yeah, I come from that generation of needing (almost obsessively) to check on what's new. It's kind of crazy. And as I sit here at the McCarran Airport, I'm holding out. I'm going to wait until I get back to the Bay Area. This is taking some serious self control people!

Well, I'm pooped. I'm tapped out. But I'm bursting with inspiration and great ideas for my business! A full recap on my week in Vegas for WPPI is coming up. Be on the look out for a fun night shoot and some familiar faces of the photography industry!!

Mini [b] school get together!

He hails all the way from Japan. He won a spot in Scarlett Lillian's Nighttime PhotoShoot. He's all over the [b] school. Yeah, I think you might know who I'm talking about...

Last night I received a cryptic phone call with a number that started with a "+" sign. Now I remember from my time in France that international phone calls come in with the plus sign. I was driving at the time, so I couldn't pick up the phone. My phone rang again, and I asked my mom to answer it. We were driving back from super yummy cake tasting, by the way. It seemed as though it was hard to hear. I'm sure the person on the other side was probably confused that the lady saying "WHO?" and "WHAT?" and "B SCHOOL?"

Well I knew it was someone from the [b] school, but who?

I thought and thought. Someone from Canada? No. Someone from France? Nope. Someone from Australia? Nah.

Then it clicked. It was Riz! Riz Crescini, "the guy from Japan"! So I called back the number that called me, little did I know that I was calling direct to Japan. But Riz, being the super considerate guy that he is offered to call me back with his lower rate service. (Thanks Riz!) Who knows what a 35 second call to Japan on a cell phone will cost, hahaha.

Well tonight I had a delightful dinner with Riz and his sister at a nice little Malaysian restaurant, Langkawi, in San Mateo. Riz is in the area visiting his sister and family before jet setting to Vegas! It was great chatting, speaking in "photog", and of course eating! I love Roti Prata with curry sauce! And I had some yummy Mango Chicken. Let me just say, that for someone who flew in this morning from Japan, Riz showed no signs of jet lag (at least not yet!).

Riz, it was a pleasure meeting you and your sister. I'm bummed we didn't get a photo together, but I sure we can fix that when we get to VEGAS! If you're going to Vegas, you can find Riz at the Neon Graveyard, Scarlett Lillian's Nighttime Photoshoot, and the [b] party!

Sunday kicks off the largest wedding and portrait photographer convention, also known as WPPI! I'm going to WPPI and I'm so darn excited, I don't think I can contain it. Just under three days until I'm there! If you are going too, I'd love to meet up! You can follow me on Twitter or add me on Facebook. See you in the City that Never Sleeps (that just might be me...)

And since I don't have a picture with Riz, check out his awesome entry into Scarlett Lillian's contest:

Boot Camp for the Business

If you've been following my blog the past few weeks, you may have seen that I took a 4-week Boot Camp style fitness class. It seriously kicks your butt into shape!

Well, in the midst of all that, I spent the last weekend in January getting my booty kicked in another way. I also attended a Boot Camp for my business: Liana Lehman's Photo Biz Boot Camp. Wow! Let me tell you, her intensive course is quite the eye-opener for anyone thinking of starting a small business. It is not for the faint of heart. I learned so much over the few days we had together that my head was literally spinning at the end of it. I highly recommend Liana's Boot Camp! It's really great to see where you are and where you want to be.

While attending Boot Camp, I had the pleasure of meeting seven other awesome photographers in the Bay Area and Sacramento areas. It's so awesome to meet local folks and to make new photographer friends! At the end of the grueling crash course in business, finance, accounting, marketing, branding and merchandising, we had a little photo shoot.


Jennifer of the Memory Journalists. Jennifer runs her own IT firm in addition to running her photography business in the Sacramento area.


Dawn of Alba Fiore. Dawn is a photographer rocking it out of the Sacramento area.


Tiffany of Adeline and Grace Photography. Tiffany was our awesome hostess who made sure we remembered to eat! She has a lovely studio in Benicia where she meets with clients and shoots her intimates.


Terra of Terra Tabbytosavit Photography. Terra is a photographer from the peninsula, finding out that she can do what she loves for a living!


Susanna Frohman is just getting into the business after some fantastic adventures as a photojournalist.


Dia of Dia Rao Photography. Dia is based in San Francisco, but also does destination weddings in Santa Barbara and beyond.


Our fearless leader and awesome instructor, Liana Lehman. I hope you have a fabulous wedding and honeymoon!


Laura of Laura Meyer Photography. Laura flew all the way from Chicago to spend a few days with us! If you're in the Chicago area and looking for a photographer, definitely look her up!


And here's one of me that I totally fell in love with. I'm not 100% sure who took this, so ladies, if this is yours, please do claim it! Love the flare!

It was a tiring couple of days - no doubt - but totally worth the time and effort. I feel like I can apply some of the principles I learned to other parts of my life too! If there's one thing that I learned that's important, it's to make goals and put them somewhere where you can review them, OFTEN. Writing goals and never doing anything about them is just a theoretical to-do list. Making a to-do list with deadlines and reasons are goals...

Make your goals and chase 'em!

If you're interested in kicking your business into shape or getting great guidance before starting your business, definitely check out Liana Lehman's workshop here: www.bananasedu.com.

Dane Sanders: Finding your YOU-nique self...

On Wednesday, I had the awesome opportunity to meet Dane Sanders since he was up in the Bay Area presenting to the San Jose and San Francisco PUG groups. Let me start off by saying how incredibly nice and genuine Dane is. He greeted me as if we were old friends and I said, "It's so great to finally meet you in person," and he said, "Really? We've never met?"



I always think it's kind of funny when you meet people you've "met" or connected with online, in person. The person looks the same as their avatar, and maybe you've heard their voice on the phone or through a podcast, but meeting someone in the flesh is always such a trip. And a good one at that. Dane is no exception.

I must say that Dane's presentation was highly entertaining. And of course informative. And all around awesome. How many presenters have you seen jump up on a coffee table and flash his mismatched socks? Or reenact his presentation from Pictage Headquarters that included running into the wall full force and leaving a big hole?

(image from Kenny Kim [11/17/08 entry])

He talked about how to set yourself apart from the crowd by being yourself and leveraging your strengths -- not just trying to improve your weaknesses -- because YOU are the only "you" there is. He talked about how we are not just in the business of photography; yes, photographs are important, but we are in the photographER business. We don't want to become a commodity -- like toilet paper or socks -- where the cheapest product wins out. Instead, we should brand ourselves according to what we were truly meant to do. I think this is really important, especially since the photography market is so saturated. How are you going to differentiate one from the other? How are YOU going to differentiate yourself? This of course, goes hand in hand with defining your brand. It's all about keepin' it real!


Dane is also the author of Fast Track Photographer: The Definitive New Approach to Wedding Photography. In it, Dane makes the case that a far more effective approach is to get clear on the gifts and talents you as an particular individual bring to the table and build a vision from that starting plot point. To do this, Dane includes a "personality test" of sorts called the pDNA (photographer's DNA) to identify your strengths and weaknesses. From that, the test also gives suggestions for how to leverage those strengths and assets. The path of that vision needs to be informed by the evolving landscape of service based businesses -- we can't be resistant to the changing times -- we must be willing and able to fly with the times!

And Dane doesn't stop there. He also recently launched AskDane.com as well as Fast Track Coaching. AskDane.com is a weekly podcast where Dane addresses a particular question brought up by readers. I highly recommend them if you have a few minutes. HILARIOUS! With Fast Track Coaching, Dane hosts a coaching session with an invited guest photographer, including The Bebbs, Me Ra Koh, and Jessica Claire, with many more to come! If you're going to WPPI, you must check out the Fast Track Lounge with wifi!

Alright. Gushing complete.

The Longest Day: Episodes 2-6

The Longest Day continues. I've been a slacker, but with good reason! Post coming up soon. In lieu of more of my excuses, enjoy the show below! WPPI is right around the corner!

Elizabeth + Hedi = Married!

I had the pleasure of second shooting Elizabeth and Hedi's wedding with the uber awesome Rob Her of nLighten Images. He had asked me back in October or so if I was available to second shoot right after Christmas. Luckily, I was staying in town and I had the weekend open so I jumped on the opportunity. Rob is in a word, awesome. Thanks again for the opportunity!

Elizabeth and Hedi had a mini destination wedding up in Atherton (they live down in the OC) a few days after Christmas. Originally, they had considered a destination wedding in France, as that is where Hedi's family is from. But Elizabeth didn't want to wait that long. This couple is seriously in love. Elizabeth was beaming with her infectious smile and Hedi was totally relaxed. They had a beautiful wedding day, with great weather for December 27! Elizabeth was stunning in her vintage gown and hair/makeup. Their vows were so sweet and even made me a little misty eyed. They had some cool belly dancers and overall it was a success! Thanks Elizabeth and Hedi for letting us share in your big day. Felicitations a vous deux et touts les meilleures voeux!

Here are some of my favorites:





That's Rob in the background. :)






















Rob in action :)








See Rob's full post here.

Thanks again!