Laurel McConnell Photography » Announcements, Products, & Chat

Now that WPPI is coming to a close, I have quite a silly list of little tidbits I’ve been squirreling away to share. Might not be useful for this year, but perhaps you can tuck it away for next year, or take some of these thoughts and apply them to your next conference travels.

Without further ado…

How To Survive WPPI

1. Bring floss. You never know who you might run into, and there isn’t a tool to be found in the public restroom that will help you.
2. Don’t follow the yellow brick road. Don’t follow the path that the casino makes for you with it’s solid red carpet. It meanders, which means you spend more, and you walk more. I swear it’s an extra 22.2 miles per day. At least.
3. If this is your first time, don’t think we won’t notice. The easiest way to pick out a newbie is by their fancy heels at the tradeshow/classes. The rest of us know better, way better.
4. Wear a disguise. Then, when you’re walking the 3.7 miles between the casino and the actual conference, if you see people you know, they won’t hold you up for 20 minutes chatting about the stupid bobble they just bought at the show. And then you won’t miss your class.
5. You can sleep when you’re dead. But you will be, if you get less than 3 hours per night, more than 3 nights in a row. Trust me, I’d know.
6. You’re totally NOT at the right party, and you’re missing it ALL. There’s totally another better industry party at some other club, in some other suite, that you didn’t get tickets to. Get over it. There are 12,000 photographers. There will always be a better party to go to, with more important and cooler people. Enjoy where you’re at and make the most of it, because sometimes the hype isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Trust me on this one, too.
7. Nobody likes a name-dropper. Yawn, yawn, yawn. It’s also a huge blinking sign that says “I’m New!”
8. They’re real people, too. The heavy hitters. You know, the rockstars, speakers, and legends? They don’t really love it when you charge up to them and start a sentence with “Oh my gosh, I totally feel like I know you! I’d trade my first born to be like you!” It’s awkward.
9. Just take it and read it later. Bad idea…you know all those catalogs and promotional marketing pieces from the two thousand booths you visited to look at albums today? They add up to about a $75 Overweight Baggage Fee. And you’ll never remember which was which. Or look at them ever again. Choose your paperweights sparingly and have a plan of the few most important products you’d like to really look at and learn inside and out.
10. Wear sunscreen. Or at least, drink LOTS of water. The water DOES taste strange here…. I wonder what they put in it…..

[caption id="attachment_2892" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="An exotic dancer in Old Las Vegas shot with the not-yet-released Nikon 24mm f1.4"][/caption]

Old Vegas.

Elvis.

Shooting around, some video, some still, with the D300s, and I popped the 24 1.4 on to see what would happen, since this camera’s sensor is smaller than the D3s/D3/D700. Here’s what.

As part of the WPPI Nikon series…

It’s 2:30 am, and we’re just getting off the Airhorns & Lasers Party at the Wynn Hotel, so let me cut to the chase.

The Nikon 24mm f1.4 if just creamy and beautiful and everything it’s been built up to be. You Nikon Professional Services card holders…. get on the list so you can snag one up right away come April when they release it to the public.

Fast. Shallow DOF that can’t be beat. No wacked-out stretched + distorted edges. Crisp as a Tim Cascade’s Jalapeno Chip.

The folks at Nikon trusted me with this baby tonight, and we slapped ‘er on a fabulous D700, and loaded ‘im with a Sandisk Extreme Pro 16gb UDMA

When you’re talking fog and lasers and red vinyl walls, you know you’re gonna be up in the range of “Snarky,” a.k.a. ISO 5000. Yes, the D700, like the D3 and D3s, sees in the dark.

Night y’all! I have a 6am wakeup call…. because after all, there’s WAY better things to do in Vegas than sleep, right? right? right? More to come tomorrow!

p.s. thanks Barbie and Rebecca. You guys are my homies, yo.

Pinch me, I think I’m dreaming.

The makers behind the lenses, flashes, and cameras I’ve loved and been loyal to since I first started this photography adventure over a decade ago are taking me to VEGAS. That’s right friends, I’m a Nikon shooter and can’t be happier with my choice of the rock solid D3, 14-24, 24-70, 50mm 1.4, 105 macro, 70-200, and sb-800’s. And now they’re sponsoring Laurel McConnell Photography. Pinch pinch pinch!!!

Random sidenote… did you know my first camera was the cute little N-65? And my first professional camera was the workhorse F-100? We’ve come along way, baby!

Anywhoo….

The Wedding & Portrait Photographers International conference attracts around 10,000 photographers, bloggers, technophiles, and weekend warriors from around the WORLD each year about this time.

Nikon has set me up with some grrreat bodies and lenses to shoot with, review, and learn inside and out while they usher me around this huge conference with them!

For the next week, you’ll be seeing a series of posts, tweets, and facebook updates about my travels with Nikon and WPPI, while I listen to world renowned photographers speak, while I shoot, while I learn, while I browse, and while I rub elbows with some pretty heavy-hitter shooters.

You’ll see blurbs about speakers, about knowledge gained. About tradeshow finds, about long lost friends. About Nikon lenses, Nikon bodies, Nikon flashes, Nikon photographers. About parties, and socials, and silly shenanigans, no doubt.

Bottom line, this is a GREAT conference for anyone interested in the art, business, and technology of photography. A necessary experience for any photographer in the wedding and portrait world.

Follow my tweets HERE: http://twitter.com/laurelmcconnell

Follow my facebook HERE: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laurel-McConnell-Photography/340089440232?ref=mf

Follow my articles HERE: well, yeah, right here, obviously :)

I hope that if you’re not able to attend this year, you’ll find this next week’s series interesting, informative, and inspiring.

And if you’re NOT a photographer, then I humbly apologize… it’s about to get REAL geeky in here!

Cheers, and see you in Vegas!!

Special thanks to Junebug Weddings, for without which this opportunity would not have come to be!!!