WPPI 2009 - Las Vegas!

So I've been getting some emails and requests to please please please update our blog. I have been MIA for over a week now! Egads! Seriously February has turned out to be quite a whirlwind month for us. Brad and I have had some very interesting events happen in our lives over the last few weeks and we have been busy busy beavers because of it. We are in the process of moving right now and will be all settled into our new place come April 1st! All last week I was in Las Vegas, NV for the annual WPPI Convention and Trade Show. It was such an awesome week filled with seminars, parties and photo shoots. I had no idea how much walking I was in store for and was absolutely exhausted by the time I was back home in Jacksonville. Monday while I was out there, I had my first annual 29th birthday!!!! Although I was sad that for the first time in five years I wouldn't be celebrating with Brad by my side I was so happy to be surrounded by some of my favorite people. My sweet friends Melanie McLellan and Adrian Hitt took me to dinner then surprised me with a ticket to see the Beatle's Cirque de Soleil show Love. I had never seen a Cirque de Soleil show and it was such an awesome experience. If you haven't done so already... definitely check out at least one of their shows. The performances are absolutely incredible! Adrian got us some amazing seats right up front and in then middle of all the action. It was the perfect way to celebrate turning 29!







Here are some shots from my hotel room at the MGM Grand... since I was waking up at 6:30 am every morning I got to see lots of gorgeous sunrises!





For most of my time out in Vegas, it was go go go... listening to seminars and learning from some of the best photographers in the world, meeting up with friends from all over the country and occasionally squeezing in a little bit of sleep. With all the demands of the convention, I wasn't sure I would ever actually get a chance to see the city much. Towards the end of my stay I met up with an old college friend who now lives in Vegas for lunch and a birthday pedicure at the Bellagio! It was divine! Finally that night I went out for a long, and very cold, walk down the strip just to see the town some on my own. Las Vegas really is a town like no other. I snapped a couple shots of some of the casinos but for the most part I simply took in the sights and enjoyed being a tourist.












On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go on a shoot out in the desert with the incredibly talented Victor Sizemore. I had never been to the desert before and certainly had no inkling of how COLD it was going to be out there. Wearing just a hoodie and jeans I was definitely not prepared for 36 degree weather and ferocious wind gusts. God bless our bride for braving the cold to allow us all to get our shots. As cold as it was, it turned out to be a killer shoot. I will post more from this shoot later... for now here is our group plus a beautiful shot of the desert I got while driving out to our shoot location.







There are lots of other fun posts from our frantic February still to come... Tiffany & Mitch's wedding, Lori & Justin's Vegas engagement session and of course Lizzie's Desert Bridal session! Stay tuned!