Wow- let me see how I can describe this experience: exciting, educational, enlightening, inspiring, crazy-crowded, overwhelming and AWESOME! This convention is put on annually by Professional Photographers of America (PPA) in different cities - this year it was Nashville and next year it’s in San Antonio Texas. There are classes all day from 7am (yikes!) to 7:30 pm, with a HUGE trade show during the afternoon hours. The classes are each an hour and a half long, are jam-packed (like over 1600 people in a single class!) and are taught by some of today’s leading photographers in the industry (aka: Photog Celebrities! haha!). It’s pretty amazing to see photographers that you see in your magazines and online- a few feet away from you, in person! To me… they are like my “famous people”! It reminds you that they are actual REAL people and not some super-human machine that consistently produces absolutely amazing pictures….. although as you look at their work and hear them speak, you can’t help but think to yourself…….I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck……
The Gaylord Opryland Hotel was amazing! It’s like it’s own little city! There are restaurants, stores, bars, everything- under one roof! All the pictures below are from INSIDE the hotel. Oh- and you seriously DO need a map to get around in this thing! My first day there, I think I looked for my room for about 30 minutes before I finally found it! haha!





I don’t know why i thought this top looked good with this cardigan- yuk!! Oh well, it was early when I got dressed….let’s blame it on that!

The trade show is ridiculous! Huge convention center, hundreds of vendors: album companies, print labs, equipment dealers, software companies everywhere! People giving speeches and demonstrations, and it’s so loud and overwhelming- but so much fun!!! You can see the latest and greatest products being used…..and yes you can buy them too…….which I did! Maybe a little too much, but oh well, I am super excited about trying out my new goodies! Oh- and I got to meet some of the greatest names in industry…and take pictures of them too….yes I am a nerd. I know it.
This is what the trade show looks like, but this picture still doesn’t do justice to just how BIG it really it. Put it this way- it took me 3 days to go through it and I still didn’t get to see everything!
Now for my “celebrities” - and I realize most of the people reading this are not going to know who the heck these people are, so I made their names links to their sites so you can check them out!
This is Keven Kubota , I am a huge fan of his actionsfor photoshop!

I got to meet Yervant, seriously A-MAZE-ING photographer from australia ( yeah he better smile, I had just spent a serious chunk of change on some of his products- haha!)

This is Doug Gordon - wow, wow, wow! Awesome wedding photographer! Not the greatest picture though…but check out his work- amazing!

Tamara Lackey

And Joe Buissink- he photographed J-Lo’s wedding (not sure which one…) and Jessica Simpson, Christina Applegate and more…..

The entire experience was phenomenal! It’s just a great way to start out the year…my first FULL year of being a FULL-TIME photographer..energized, excited, optimistic, hopeful, inspired….and that’s a great way to feel inside about your career and your life in general. I remember sitting on this one Wedding class, looking at the speaker’s images, hearing his words and feeling just so excited and energized inside, like my heart was racing - like I couldn’t wait to photograph my next wedding. I thought to myself in that moment ” now this is how you know that you are doing what you were meant to do.” And I believe that. I took away a lot of useful information from this weekend, along with great ideas and techniques that I can’t wait to implement into my business and life. Woohoo- hope you enjoyed this LONG post! : )