WPPI 2009 - Las Vegas! Part One

Erin and I just returned from WPPI 2009 in Las Vegas and as expected, we were not disappointed. This was another fun filled, action packed weekend connecting with old friends and meeting plenty of new ones. This year WPPI was held in the MGM which I like more than Paris/Bally's where it was held last year. From what I heard it was about 50/50 split on who liked which venue better.

One of the reasons I liked MGM was for the MGM Signature Suits which is where we stayed. The Signature is part of MGM but just over a year old and not directly attached. We will be staying here next year, that's for sure. Although we didn't stay in the room too much, it was great having a place to rest and get-a-way from the frantic pace of everthing.

We'll be posting some more pics from Vegas soon!

Marathon Press and us

This last year at WPPI Erin and I met Linda from Marathon Press and since then have kept in touch once in a while. A few months ago Linda called and invited us as a guest to a workshop they were hosting. Erin and I are drawn towards Marathon for a few different reasons:

1. There customer service is second to none.
2. They are much more than just a printing company.
3. They are dedicated to seeing the photographers they work with succeed.
4. They are the largest printing/marketing company in the nation for
photographers and they are based out of our home state... Nebraska!

The workshop they put on was amazing and while there we were able to meet some great photographers from around the nation. Being wedding photographers, most of the time we are around other wedding photographers. But this group was a diverse mix of everything which made sharing ideas even more fun.

One of my favorite parts was the print tour. This was also Erin's favorite part because it reminded her of the video they had to watch in design school about the printing process. Very interesting in person, contrary to the educational video.



Above is the offset printer and below is an example of what is printed



Wouldn't want to get my fingers under this thing!





Automatic paper folder.







This is Linda and us along with Marathon's owner Rex who was great to talk with. We first met Linda out at WPPI in Las Vegas, crazy that we had to meet at a huge convention when we're based out of the same state! Linda was great at keeping us on track throughout the workshop (wouldn't want me wondering back through the printing area) jk



On the last night, Marathons president, Bruce, invited us along with about 20 employees to have dinner at his place. Nothing like a good Nebraska steak to end a workshop on :)



We ended the night at the hotel drinking coffee and talking with Doug and Amanda, Don and Mindy and Rick.

Gear Review

Wanted to share some of my gear favorites with everyone. Whenever we get new equipment, we like to test it out and see if it's everything it claims to be. A couple weeks ago, we decided to test two of our favorite pieces of gear for weather. When the forecast called for rain, sleet and snow, we thought it was the perfect day to test things out! We took out our Nikon D3 along with our Boda Dry, as both claim to be water resistant, and put them to the test. I would guess that both of these great brands probably do not suggest testing their gear the way we did, but I can assure you they both held up under some extreme weather.

While in Vegas at WPPI, I was introduced to Boda Bag by a few friends and then had the chance to get to know Gary who manages Boda. It was also nice to meet Jim Garner, the creator of Boda as well as a great photographer. We tested the Boda Dry in heavy rain, sleet and snow all within a couple hours and the inside stayed, well...dry. I would have no problems using the Boda Dry during inclement weather, of course I would want to find somewhere dry to actually change lenses.



Pretty much anyone who has shot with me can attest that I am not the most delicate with my equipment during a shoot, and because of that I need equipment that will hold up in the worst of conditions. Nikon has done just that since I first started shooting landscapes over Ten years ago and weddings for about five years. Even though during a shoot I may be a little hard on my gear, I do make sure it is taken care of after, like drying it off :)



Last, the Think Tank (Domestic) rolling bag. I have to thank my friend Ray Santana for this suggestion. I had a Think Tank (International) for a while but just didn't think it was big enough. This bag fits most all my gear for destination shoots and I can't tell you how nice it's been to simplify luggage. At a wedding, we store our backup gear in a separate location (just in case), lock the bag and use the internal cable to lock it around a nearby pole or railing. Not foolproof, but it at least deters. And...because it perfectly fits all my gear, at the end of the night, I check the bag to make sure all the spaces are filled and if so, I'm good to go. As a side note, we back up our clients' images to a computer and hard drive the day of the wedding. But, we also keep the original copies on our memory cards on us at all times. As we never know what the day will hold, we feel it's incredibly important to have a backup for your backup.



If anyone ever has any questions about the gear we use or what we think of it, feel free to drop us a line, I love to talk about toys :)

Las Vegas Engagement Session

Well, we're officially done posting all of our fun in Las Vegas. A couple weeks ago we posted some teaser pics from our engagement session with Chris and Katie. We thought it would be fun to post a slideshow with a few more of our favorites. Also, want to thank our friend Kenny who was a second shooter for us at the desert session. You can see some of his images on his blog.

New Website!

The debut of our new website is finally here! We had this website customized for us by the amazing team at Big Folio and we're just thrilled with the results. To anyone considering having a customized site made or who is wanting to have a new fresh look for their business, we would highly recommend these guys. Every special change and design detail we asked for, they made happen. They are awesome to work with and their customer service is excellent.

Let us know what you think!


A picture of our new friends Kevin, who also has a Big Folio site, and Mike Caston from Big Folio helping some future clients. As a side...check out the shirts, Mike gave us a couple of these shirts and we're loving them. The design is sweet! (photo from BigFolio)


Also, here's a picture of us with our blog designer Rudy Arpia. We caught up with him at WPPI and his friends from his forum, forodefotografos.com. We had a great time at their party and really enjoyed meeting everyone!

Boys Will be Boys...even when they're men.

I love this shot!!! Kenny just sent this to me and although we weren't going to put up another post for a couple days, I had to show this one. I think this will be a classic for a while. Everyone was so fun to hang out with and this is one of the reasons why (left to right: Kenny Kim, me, Mike Colon, Bob Davis, Ray Santana.

Fun in the Photo Booth

At many of the parties for WPPI they had these fun Photo Booths. Shane and I had a blast as well as our friends Geoff and Julie.

Fun at WPPI

Here are some fun pictures we took throughout the week and some awesome people we met during our time at WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International).

From Left to Right:
Picture 1... with Mike Steelman, Ray and Anna, Mike Colon, Harald, David and Travis.
Picture 2... with Becker and Geoff, Picture 3... with Gary and Jim, from Boda Bag


Picture 1...with Gloria, Jose, Picture 2...US!, Picture 3...with Anna.


The Hoover Dam...it took hours to get here because of all the traffic :)


Having some fun out in the desert!


And from our friend Kenny... Picture 1...a group of us after an awesome dinner buffet, Picture 2... at the tradeshow.
Picture 3...Erin and Julie having fun while me, Kevin and Geoff try to take a real photo.

Vegas Engagement Session

There's so much to post from Vegas! But, we just had to share some from a session last night. Katie and Chris flew out to meet up with us while we were here and have a destination engagement session. We'll be posting more of our Vegas trip soon!

Yesterday was packed full of fun for Erin and I. We spent the day out and about exploring around Vegas and then in the evening we first met up with Bob and Dawn Davis and Kenny for dinner. They start the Vegas Love Story today and from the sounds of it are going to have a great time. Afterwards we got together with Mike, Ray and Anna and finally went to bed around 3:30 am (when the girls got really sleepy). I have to admit, they are still on Central and Eastern time, so it was 5:30 our time and 6:30 for Ray and Anna.



World's Tallest Chocolate Fountain


Bob sporting his Vegas Love Story shirt


After dinner with Kenny, Bob and Dawn.


Try 1, 2 and 3. None of them came out the way wanted :)






Ray and Anna

On The Way to Vegas

This is just a real quick post with a couple of pics of Erin and me on our way to Vegas. Keep checking back for more updates, we have an engagement shoot on Monday and Tuesday and we'll also be hanging out with a lot of our photographer friends at WPPI. Also, because we are here in Vegas, we will be a little slow returning e-mails and phone calls during this time. Thanks for your patience.