Deja Webster Attends Wedding Portrait Photographers International Conference in Las Vegas

Wow what a wonderful experience attending this year’s Wedding Portrait Photographers International Convention in Las Vegas. This was my second year to attend the convention and this year they had their largest attendance ever with over 15,000 people and something like 500 vendors. I was there for six days, March 6-11th and went early to attend some of the Master Classes they offered before the regular convention started. It was a great opportunity to hear some of the most talented photographers from all over the world, visit with vendors whose products I offer and just chat with other photographers willing to share how their business works.

On my last night in Las Vegas I noticed this photo of Sting and thought his outstretched hands reflected how much I had learned in six days of workshops at WPPI. Fellow photographer and friend, Kay Harper took this photo of me. More to follow…

Australian Photographer Jerry Ghionis, in black, and friends, at the closing program sponsored by Photographers Ignite.

Why Are Professional Photographers So Expensive

I recently read an interesting article in the magazine Professional Photographers of America. Photographer Shawn Richer wrote on Why Are Professional Photographers So Expensive. I belong to PPA and to give you a couple examples of some of my yearly expenses their membership is over $300, Wedding Portrait Photographers International or WPPI and National Association of Photoshop Professionals are another $100 each. While all these valuable organizations are critical in running my photography business these fees add up. The last Nikon lens I bought was just shy of $2000, then there is advertising costs, insurance, utitilies for my portrait studio, cameras, flash or speedlights, computer equipment, printers, ink, paper, external hard drives for backing up files, editing software, studio lighting, continuing education workshops and the list goes on... 

I posted this interesting PPA article by Shawn Richer in the next posting below. Let me know what you think about either my comments or the article below by Shawn.

Deja View Attends Design 101 Class Sponsored by WPPI, H&H and Graphic Authority

To be part of this class has been an amazing experience.  It was an online webinar that lasted 6 sessions over a three week period with instructors Jaron Horrocks, from Graphic Authority and David Curerdon who taught beauty retouching tips. I have spent the last couple weeks working with Photoshop using masks, clipping masks, textures, overlays, frames, edges the list goes on and on.  Each of us in the class was given the assignment to produce a final project including a card, canvas and a twenty page book all supplied by H&H Color Lab. I hope to have all of these completed before I head off to the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Convention in Las Vegas. I have never printed a 12x12 canvas, mine have all been larger and this will be the first time I use a series of photos. I have put together a collection of my favorite cat and dog images for this and the book I plan to use as a sample to show my clients my recent portrait work including babies, children, Seniors and individuals.

Besides working with great instructors like Jaron and David I also was able to connect with another person in the class who has a wedding photography business in Cleveland, Ohio.  Kelly Brown and her husband Jay own J.A.Y.S. Photography . Kelly has years of experience in Photoshop and has been a wonderful help to mentor me while working on this project.  Kelly will also be at WPPI and I can't wait to meet her. We both are in an evening class, one of the first nites in Las Vegas, where we will be photographing models on the strip not far from the MGM where we are staying.

Webinar Sponsored by Wedding Portrait Photographers International, H&H Color Lab and Graphic Authority

Today I learned I was accepted to take part in an online webinar offered by WPPI, and sponsored by H&H Color Lab and Graphic Authority. I'm looking forward to working with H&H and templates from Graphic Authority.

The 6 online webinars are spread out over several weeks and cover photo retouching and design basics. Each session has an assignment that needs to be completed and submitted.  All 25 participants will have their final work displayed at the WPPI convention in Las Vegas in March. This is such a wonderful opportunity for me and I'm grateful to take part in this workshop. I attended the convention last year and I think the attendance was over 12,000 for the week long event.