Senior and Wedding Photographer – Lawrence Kent – Columbia, South Carolina

Oh, Blog, I’m so sorry. I’ve neglected you so.  I am so sorry and I won’t let it happen again.  Yes, I do treat my blog like a person.  It’s an extension of me.

Several weeks, as many of you know, I flew to Las Vegas for the Wedding & Portrait Photographers Internation (WPPI) Convention and Tradeshow.  Well, the only thing that I have to say is that it was AWESOME, with a capital A.  Over 12,000 photographers and industry professional attended this year.  I was completely blown away by everything.  The size of the tradeshow rooms.  Yes there was 2 massive rooms.  Each room could hold at least 3 or 4 jumbo jets.  It was certainly information overload and I certainly got my fill of it.  I discovered so many new and different products and services to being offering all of my clients immediately.

Then there was the people.  All of them were great.  The parties, the shoots, the gatherings and talks were phenominal.  The information and knowledge I absorbed was absolutely the highlight of the trip.  It made me realize that when you put so many brillant people together that you get something magical.

Anyways, I’m rambling!  I met some great people, ate some excellent food, and attended the wildest parties.  Especially the [b] School party, which was at The Palms Hotel and Casino in the Real World Suite.  It was actually the same suite used on MTV.  It was suite (HAHA)!  All in total I slept just over 12 hours in 3 days.  I attended two photo shoot.  One with Scarlett Lillian and another with Master of Light Bob Davis.  I learned a ton of these and I’ll be posting some images from those shoots this week.

All in all, the trip was well worth it.  I will definitely be attending next year.  Here’s some of the shots of the walk from the Luxor, where I stayed, and the MGM Grand, where the convention was.  It was a nice little walk (20 minutes one way, YUCK).

The sphinx located in front of the Luxor hotel.  The rain made it look like it was crying.

The MGM Lions were always a big attraction is the hotel.  Beautiful animals.

It’s amazing how simple things can change you.  I think we all beat ourselves up sometimes and hold ourselves to too high a standard.  Zack Arias, a talented photographer in Atlanta, recently produced a short video about this.  It really puts  things into perspective.  Have a watch.

I have so many things to share about WPPI and Las Vegas.  I’ll be posting about that over the next several days.

I’m off to Las Vegas tomorrow.  I’m going to try and update with a few photos everyday, but definitely check out my updates on Twitter.  Click on the Twitter link under the Resources tab at the top.  I’ll be posting updates hourly from the tradeshow floor, workshops, vendor discussions and the PARTIES!!!!

Don’t miss the it.  See everything on Friday.

So I finally broke down and purchased an iPhone.  I used to own a Blackberry long ago and this device beats the Blackberry hands down.  It works so seamlessly with my Apple Computers.  I also put my logo screen as my wallpaper.

One of the best part of the iPhone is the App Store where you can download iPhone (or iPod Touch) applications for a small fee or for free.  The applications are simply genius and while some are so-so, some are absolutely genius and handy.  Let’s the apps I have of my iPhone so far.  What do you use on your iPhone?

Next Sunday, I’ll be heading to Las Vegas for my first WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) Convention.  It’s the world’s largest photography convention and tradeshow.  Last year over 10,000 attended and I’m sure more will attend this year.  Everyone I’ve talked to has said it’s the best time of the year.  You meet so many photographers, vendors, and the like and form lasting relationships with each other.  It’s going to be a grand time.  I can’t wait.

When I had first decided to go I thought, “Great I’ll be able to attend the tradeshow and maybe take in some parties and relax”.  Well, now that statement has been completely thrown out the window.  My schedule in Las Vegas is fairly tight (with the exception of the a couple hours here and there).  I’m attending a party night, the tradeshow most of the day on Monday and Tuesday, helping Jessica Claire at the ShootSac booth, night shoot with Scarlett Lillian, sunrise shoot with Jasmine Star, and a possible roundtable discussion with David Jay and the Show It Fast team, plus I MUST find time to swing by the In-N-Out Burger down the street from the hotel and take in some gambling.  Whew!  I’ll sure I’ll be attending some other functions and “get togethers”, but nothing is set in stone.

I can’t wait for the night school with Scarlett and the sunrise shoot with Jasmine.  The night school is going to deal with working with off camera lighting and shooting in very low light situations.  I’m going to learn a lot from this one and be able to give my clients some awesome photos this year and years to come.  I’m equally excited to be attending Jasmine’s sunrise shoot and watch her work behind the camera and share her knowledge of interacting with clients and capturing them the best possible light.  And of course, I’m going to the [b] party.  [b]ecker’s party this year is going to be at the Palm Hotel and Casino in the Real World Suite.  Tons of the industry’s biggest names will be there.  Becker always throws the best parties and I’m sure this year will be no exception.

I’ll be posting many photos and some videos from my trip, so check back to see them.  Cheers.

 

Well congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers for winning the Super Bowl.  It certainly was an exciting game to watch (I think it runs a close 2nd to the Giants/Patriots game in 2008).  The catch at the end of the game was spectacular.  I think it deserved a review by the booth, but oh well.  It was a great game.  

The commercials were very good this.  I laughed hard at the Doritos commercial and one of the Bud Light ones was pretty too.  Though the GoDaddy were a little weak, I think they’re still a fantastic company to host your sites with. You can check all of the commercials below using this great little widget created by Hulu.  I love Hulu to watch all of the TV content I miss or forgot to Tivo.  Check them out, it is excellent.

 

Going through photos last night I realized that I didn’t blog about my 30th Birthday party I had.  I had a couple of close out to the Snug for dinner and then to the Partridge Inn for cocktails.  We all that a great time and the food at the Snug is always top notch.  I remember I had posted several photos to Facebook but not on my blog, where most everyone comes to the read and see to photos.

 

 

Oh, the caramel apple pie was to die for. I needed two pieces of this.

 

My fabulous cousin Sarah from Bermuda.

 

I got a sweet Gelaskin for my new Macbook. Check this out. They are awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

What?  Gene Simmons wanna be?