Fashion and Photography collide in Las Vegas

After arriving in Vegas we decided to roll in high fashion by taking a Limo from the airport to the MGM Signature Towers (ok it was cheaper than taxi’s).  Upon arriving at our hotel…well let’s just say when the hotel clerk (after you give her your name to check in) says, “Could it be under another name” it could start to become a bad day.  Needless to say after checking our bags at the hotel bellhop, exploring the strip for a few hours, having lunch, and returning to the hotel and making numerous phone calls to the booking agency, we finally got our rooms.

That’s when we began to meet a group of photographers called, “Showiteers.”  This is a group of other professional photographers, designers, editors, you name it, who design their custom sites using a company called Showit.   These are some of the most amazing people I have had the pleasure of getting to know the past couple years as all of our businesses grow.  We help each other to be successful and to grow not only as photographers, but personally as well.

During the week in Vegas I attended workshops, looked at new products on the market at one of the largest trade shows, rode roller coasters, ate great food, listened to great music, helped support Starbucks and some bartenders.  Too much to list all in one blog.  The Showiteers I met finally in person were as great as they were on the “Interwebs.”  There were several additional highlights aside from meeting the Showiteers, and that was getting to talk to other mentors in the industry that have helped me grow as a professional photographer along the way.  There are so many to list, but some of the greats were Jasmine Star, Mark Wallace, Matthew Jordan Smith, Bambi Cantrell, and two of my most favorite and talented people in the world that Tonya and I just adore, Bob & Dawn Davis (who you will see in our video below).

One of the main reasons for attending WPPI this year was to conduct a Posing & Lighting Workshop with Holli True.  This will be in another blog post, but let’s just say it was a blast and the 15 talented photographers who attended the workshop I will remain friends with for the rest of my life and can’t wait to see their work in the future!  I am extremely humbled and grateful to have met them.

I was fortunate enough to shoot while I was in Vegas.  There were the sporadic Instagram photos, a shoot with Mark Wallace, and finished off with this one you will see below.  This was due to our good friend Stacy Childers approaching Holli & Jeff, along with us and said she had some awesome dresses she brought with her, and wanted to know if we would do a shoot with her, the dresses, and beautiful women.  Now how is a man to say no to that…so I didn’t!  We set up the shoot for that evening and as luck would have it (and with some slick talking from Staci) four women volunteered (yea will just call it that);  the beautiful Jennifer Rozenbaum, Renee Tyburczy, Emily Wall, and my wife Tonya.  Now the concept of the shoot was to accent the dresses, and there were just going to be us handful of us photographers shooting it.  However, we all invited our special friends to come and shoot.  I know the True’s and I invited Bob & Dawn Davis to the shoot knowing full-well they can’t get from one hallway to the next without being bombarded by fans trying to get a minute of their time (they are a big deal around them’ parts) and their schedules are packed full…but one can only dream and cross their fingers they would drop by.

As you will see in the video below, we had so many people there we could have had a pool party afterwards (if the pool was actually open).  Who graciously showed up…the Davis’!  I couldn’t believe it and can’t thank them enough for just being there to talk to photographers and for Bob, being the world-renowned instructor he is, helping get people set up and overcome any obstacles they were encountering while we were getting set up.  I can’t thank him enough knowing he was there for his insight, technical knowledge, and overall calming presence.  With the women in place, the weather perfect, the sun setting, and casino lights coming on, I set up my Westcott soft box, RadioPopper wireless triggers, Canon gear, and I let the good times roll.  When it was all said and done, we had a great time shooting and hopefully capturing a few images that Staci can use to show off her dresses.

Thank you Staci for putting it all together, for all the other Showiteers for showing up and taking part in the fun, helping with lights, snapping away light the Paparazzi, and for being the great friends to me and my family while we were there.  I can’t wait to do it again real soon!

Ciao everyone!