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WPPI 2016

Our WPPI 2016 Recap

March 14, 2016

WPPI 2016

WPPI 2016

Simply put: WOW.

Ever since we opened up our business in 2010, going to WPPI has been on our bucket list. For you non-photography peeps reading this, WPPI is an annual conference held in Las Vegas for wedding and portrait photographers from all over the world. It’s several days of classes, seminars, speeches, contests and judging, an expo and of course – networking and parties!

Basically, it’s Photographer’s Gone Wild, or Photographer’s Spring Break, or … something else along those lines.

And … We. Had. A. BLAST.

^^ We pretty much spent all of WPPI doing some sort of happy dance, just like this. ^^

Thank you, Gifyyy for this fun new photo booth idea!

We spent three days from sun-up to late, late night totally getting our learn on – we got to listen to some of the most amazing photographers in the industry speak about how to be better business owners, better photographers, better friends and reminding us that what we do matters (thank you, Justin + Mary; we’re still verklempt thinking about your amazing class!).

WPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographersWPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographers

We walked the expo floor, meeting face to face with some of our favorite wedding vendors and colleagues – including our friends at 17hats, the Knot, The Find Lab and Showit! It was so amazing to hug all these people who we’ve known for years but have never had the opportunity to hug and thank in person for their tireless amazingness. We even got to, ahem, totally fan-girled a couple times, walking by some photographers we really look up to in the industry! Plus, one of our good friends / colleagues / RAD brides stayed with us (heeyyy Suzi!), too! It was so fun having a roomie!

Not only that, we got to participate in one of the new classes coming out sometime later this year for the International Academy of Wedding Photographers – can’t tell you guys exactly what it’s about, but, all we can say is it’s an incredibly valuable class for ANY photographer to take! Check out the peek below, maybe you’ll recognize the teacher! 😉

WPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographersWPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographers

We got to hang out with some of our Academy teachers + friends, which totally was the best part about WPPI for us!
WPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographers

Another awesome thing we got to do was take a Photo Walk with Matt Kennedy, talking all about off camera flash. We learned SO MUCH that we can’t wait to put into good use at our next wedding reception!

And here’s the crazy part: we totally brought our gear. We had every intention of taking photos, and maybe even making a video of our first trip, and documenting every single minute of it … and it totally didn’t happen. Not even a little bit. We brought our cameras to the Photo Walk, and didn’t take a single shot – we just were in such complete information overload that we didn’t even have the opportunity to shoot anything. If we’d carried them around with us, we might of taken some but considering we were out and about for 16+ hours a day, we just left them safely in our hotel room.

Thank goodness for cell phones … hopefully Ash can upgrade to the new iPhone 7 when it comes out this fall! Haha! 🙂 These are all cell phone photos since we didn’t take out our cameras once!

WPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographersWPPI 2016, randy and ashley, husband and wife wedding photographers

We definitely can’t wait to go back next year!!! Already counting it down for sure!!!! We’ll be writing more blogs about WPPI over the next few months, so stay tuned!

Leave a Reply

  1. Benjamin Chernivsky says:

    Hey thanks for the Gifyyy Photo Booth shout out! Isn’t WPPI Online just the best?!

  2. Brittani says:

    Gah! I so wish I could have gone this year! Last year was my first year and I had a blast too 🙂

  3. Sara O'Hara says:

    Oh this makes me SO jealous!!! Wish I could have been there with everyone! Looks like you had a blast 🙂

  4. meredith says:

    It looks like an amazing time! Can’t wait to see what the new Academy class is!

  5. Misty says:

    Bummed I didn’t get to make it to WPPI this year, but in the future it HAS to happen! Looks like a blast! 🙂

  6. Jill Gum says:

    So glad you guys got to go and hoping it works in my life in one of the coming years!!! Sounds like it was wonderful!!

  7. Mahlia says:

    Totally wish this had worked with our schedules this year! Looks like y’all had an absolute blast. Next year hopefully! 🙂

  8. Candi says:

    Wow!! Sounds like an awesome time!!!

Heyyyy ... I'm Ashley Durham and I'm a luxury wedding photographer in Phoenix, but I travel all over Arizona and the desert southwest to hang out with the most incredible people. I am obsessed with puppies, extra hot coffee, sunrise and firmly believe that love conquers all.

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