A photo shoot at the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas during WPPI

During WPPI in Las Vegas last week, I had an opportunity to photograph several models at a museum being constructed called the Neon Boneyard.




Basically, this non-profit is getting all the old neon signs from hotels and casinos on the strip, and making it into a museum! Thanks to fellow photographer Emma Smith of Live Love Laugh Photography we had the opportunity to spend a couple hours at the museum with a lot of great models.







As usual, when in a group of photographers,I get caught up on what is happening on our side of the cameras and how us photographers are acting as much as what's happening with the subjects! Which is usually just as entertaining!

WPPI Conference in Las Vegas

WOW! I have always wanted to attend the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) annual conference in Las Vegas, but WOW! What an experience! Not only had I never been to Las Vegas before, but I have NEVER been surrounded by so many photographers. I think there were close to 10,000 photographers in attendance. Some of the workshops seated 1,800 people! I tended to cling to the smaller workshops with only a couple hundred people! And where I could see the speaker!

We stayed at the convention headquarters, the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, and it was almost a 10 minute walk indoors to get from the room to the conference center! The lights, the noise, the buildings, the people -were all a new experience!







My favorite workshop was one lead by photographer Terrell Lloyd, called "Diversifying your Portfolio." Terrell was a very entertaining speaker and he shoots weddings, families, commercial work, product shots, and he's a staff photographer for the San Francisco 49ers! Very inspiring photographer!

My favorite event was a shoot at the Neon Boneyard, a non-profit museum on 3 acres of land off the strip with all old neon signs from Las Vegas! I went there with at least 40 other photographers, and it was a riot! Below is my favorite photo from that shoot and the rest are ONLINE HERE!



And then I had the opportunity to do a mentoring session through Thirst Relief International with wedding photographers Chris and Katie Humphreys which was really wonderful! I love all of the Humphreys' wedding images and really admire how they work together as a couple! Having an opportunity to talk with them one on one was really a highlight of my week! AND I met with the folks at Livebooks and am soon to get a new Livebooks website! Yippee!