The What If Conference is the Grand Canyon of photography(/artistpreneur) events. I say this because, it’s impossible to convey the true experience over photos or stories. It’s the general overwhelming feeling of awesomeness.

Everything about this week was perfect, and exactly what I needed as an established photographer.

To attend this was one of the best decisions I’ve made in life. I was skeptical at first – almost didn’t book. I feel like I’ve attended 50 of the same wedding photo conference/seminar/speaking tours, and was kind of burnt out of them. This one is different. I went in not really knowing much about any of the speakers, and left with the largest respect for each of them.

Random assorted facts:
- To just spend the week with 44 amazing, inspiring people was so valuable on it’s own.
- Most of the group was from Toronto and Australia.
- Jesh is easily one of the best humans in the world. He has such a unique energy about him that I’ve never seen in anyone else.
- Jesh played a little acoustic concert on the beach last night.
- Tyler fell asleep in a bathtub for somewhere between 5- 7 hours.
- Justin is a producer at Yo Gabba Gabba. That’s pretty awesome. The other parts of his life story are just as awesome.
- Everyone hung out from 9am – 3am pretty much every day. Met so many people from all over the world.
- There are 2 talks a day. You leave the first inspired and feel like you can’t handle anymore for the day. Then you listen to the second and you get totally re-inspired by them.
- I think we’re all going to need a week to decompress.

So go next year – your reality will be a little bit altered, and you will change for the better. I hope that everyone that attended this year will come back next year (even though half of you are from Australia!)

Big thanks to Jen and Steve for everything.

Dave & Jenn being all cute and stuff

Ms. Scarlet Oneill jumped around in the water for a bit.

And a few random iPhone snaps of the trip:

It has honestly been the most amazing experience — I’ll do a full writeup on things on the flight home, but for now I have one photo to share.

It blows my mind a little bit that this was from my iPhone.

This has for sure been the most valuable week in quite some time. It will grow and become something greater next year, but I’m happy the 45 of us all got to live in this moment.

Queenstown NZ is for sure my favorite place I’ve found on earth so far.
Travel tips:
- stay at the Novotel if you can. It’s right on the beach, and amazing. Also all of the hostels are also fantastic if you’re that type of traveler.
- if your phone is unlocked, hop into Vodaphone and grab a $30 prepaid SIM (incl data and talk/unlimited texts) hotel internet is expensive.
- thing to do: Fergburger. Go up the gondola in the city. Take one of the boat rides. Do a Lord of the Rings tour even if you don’t like the movies.

I love to travel, however, travel photography has always been a non motivator to me. Not for the reasons you might think.
I’m always striving for perfection, and to one-up myself as a photographer. So if the perfect lighting conditions, beautiful sky, and subject matter don’t all come together..well, I know I can do better, so the camera stays away.
Still waiting for that iPhone app to control the weather.

I wanted to do something imperfect. So here it is. From a little plastic toy camera.

If you want to buy one of these digital 8mm type cameras up check out here: Superheadz Digital Harinezumi 2 Camera ++

I’ll be posting a few photos from the trip in the near future.

T

Hey all! I totally haven’t forgotten about the blog. I promise. It’s just been quite the summer. Between weddings, travel, and corporate shoots, I haven’t had much free time to blog. I know this should not be an excuse – but it’s what I’m sticking to this time.

Since it’s almost fall, I’m taking this time to do a ‘this years travel in review’ calendar – and by calendar, I mean list.

2010:
Jan 1 – 4 – Las Vegas
Jan 4 – 7 – Chicago
Feb 1 – 5 – Las Vegas
March 4 – 8 – Las Vegas
March 24 – 26 – Boston
April 12 – 15 – Las Vegas
May 3 – 7 – Las Vegas
June 7 – 13 – Las Vegas
June 16 – 17 – LA
July 16 – 20 – Las Vegas
August 9 – 11 – Las Vegas
August 16 – 20 – London UK
August 21 – 23 – Berlin Germany
Sept 12 – 14 – LA
Sept 15 – 16 – San Francisco / Napa Valley
Future
Sept 29 – Oct 1st – Miami
Oct 18 – 21 – Paris
Oct 21 – 24 – Rome/Venice
Nov 12 – 18 – Tokyo

It’s been an amazing year, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Since so much Las Vegas travel has appeared this year, I put my random LV guide up over at my other blog: http://www.taylorjacksonblog.com/travel/how-to-go-to-las-vegas-for-cheap/

Met up with Mandippal for a few promos.

And watched Jez do some fancy biking by the tower bridge.

New updates to start happening again soon! I have about 10 amazing weddings I’m excited to post! As well as some great engagement sessions from LA, Santa Monica, Napa Valley, and San Francisco!

Also, if you’re a photographer, check out our weekly podcast over at: http://www.potluckphoto.com

Here’s a bunch of shots that came off of my point and shoot yesterday. The Canon G10 is a little bit of a high end p&s (or was – it’s since been discontinued and replaced with the G11) but I found mine on eBay for $250.
Everything was shot on manual mode, and the background blur was achieved by using macro mode.
The second bonus to having a point and shoot, is that you can bring it everywhere. It’s hard to carry around a big SLR everywhere you go (and sometimes unsafe) but a good point and shoot can go anywhere.
The only thing that beats it, is my iPhone (currently under maintenance – will return sometime next week) because it is with me everywhere. You can even get a free Photoshop app for your iPhone – or pick up Chase Jarvis’ Bestcam app.

Here’s a shot of Lori (The Caketress) on the beach before we found dinner. (Dinner may have been at 4:15pm, since we’re still on EST)

Oh- for the dinner story, we attempted to go to the restaurant from I Love You Man in Venice (Where Jason Segal claims they have the best fish tacos) but sadly, the kitchen didn’t open until 6pm. So we headed to Santa Monica and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co — which is a brilliant place to eat, as I’m allergic to shellfish, and their menu items are about 10:1 shrimp items to non-shell fish items.

And here’s a few shots of the Bayside Hotel in Santa Monica where we’re staying. Right across the street from the Pacific Ocean, and 2 blocks from the Santa Monica Pier.

So I thought things were going to calm down this fall/winter – things just got busier! I’m quite alright with this though, as it opened up a whole ton of travel.

Anyways, here are a few shots from my last trip to New York City(and a little skateboard shoot):

A quick shot of TJ at 1:30 in the afternoon, overpowered by flash.

If you follow my blog, you’ll notice that I end up in Las Vegas quite often. (6 times since November I think)  It’s just been random chance.

Things I’ve learned about Vegas:

• The guys that hand out flyers on Las Vegas Blvd will never leave you alone. If you’ve been there, you know what kind of flyers they hand out.
• The hotel room bathrooms at Ceasar’s Palace DO NOT HAVE A DOOR. But they have a phone beside the toilet, and TV infront of the mirror. I suppose this balances out.
• Bally’s is probably the best place to stay if you want a good room for $35 bucks a night. They’re nicer than the Holiday Inn, and dirt cheap. Oh, and in a great location.
• Fremont Street is hilarious, and contains approx. 25% of the U.S. tye dyed shirt population.
• THE GOLDEN NUGGET HAS A WATER SLIDE THAT GOES THROUGH A SHARK TANK. This is awesome.
• The airport has free wireless and slot machines – as well as sketchy 80s style mirrored ceilings.
• You can drink on the street.
• It’s hot.
• Really hot.
• Air Canada’s 30 Rock Episodes are way behind (they currently only go to season 2, episode 8 -)
• The pools sometimes contain 1 part water to 1 part tanning oil.
• There are way too many high end clothing shops there.
• Check out the photographer in Ceasar’s Palace shops. You’ll want to buy his shots for every wall in your house.

Anyways – this trip I took every single photo with a fisheye. Why? Because I think it’s funny – and to my knowledge no one else in the world has been dumb enough to try something like this.

Here are a few photos:

Takeoff in Toronto

Clouds.

Hotel rooms look much bigger with a fisheye (Paris)

Poolside at Paris

Paris wants to convince you that it’s always daytime out.

And flying home.

I’ve taken about 20 photos for myself while I’ve been down here — above is my hotel.

Warning: lots of text.

Quick point form summary:

• It’s the prefect temperature :: 20*C, and sunny.
• Pretty sure we saw a liquor store get robbed – or someone was really late and decided to run home with his purchase.
• There is a market for photojournalistic, artistic, corporate photography.
• I met a real life Dwight Schrute. He lives on a farm, and works in sales.
• Yesterday was square root day 03/03/09. The next one is 04/04/16. I learned this from real life Dwight Schrute. It was later confirmed by Kathryn, the head of marketing here.
• Every time I see a sign for the 405 I sing the first few words to 405 by Death Cab in my head.
• The job I’m here to photograph is all indoor photography.
• The office I’m currently sitting in smells of rich mahogany.
• Carl’s Jr (Burger place) makes me think of the fast food vending machine in the movie Idiocracy.
• It shouldn’t take 5+ hours to fly Toronto – LAX. Yah, that’s right, I’m complaining that a machine capable of self sustaining flight, that serves drinks, Quiznos sandwiches, and Simon Pegg movies.. takes too long to get across North America.
• I thought the screaming baby beside you only happened in bad romantic comedies. It happens in real life too.
• Air Canada has a spiffy touch screen seat-back entertainment system. It feels wrong watching movies for free on an airplane. I am unsure why.
• Air Canada’s spiffy touch screen seat-back entertainment system, has a tendency to freeze up and take 20 minutes to reboot. It must run on Windows.

Photobreak!

Downtown L.A. off in the distance. It’s pretty much like this for 200 square miles.

• The new(old now) James Bond movie was entertaining.
• How To Lose Friends And Alienate People was great. It’s no Shaun of The Dead, but it’s up there. I wonder how many fish bowls of dead gold fish Megan Fox received as a result of this movie.
• A can Red Bull attacked me, and I bled for a good 45 minutes.
• The office building I’m shooting in is on Corporate Drive. The hotel is not on Hotel Drive.
• My hotel room has a kitchen, livingroom, dining room, bedroom, and 2 tear bathroom, and it’s only $130 USD a night.
• I’m disappointed my hotel room does not contain a grand piano and spiral stair case.
• L.A. is a lot dirtier than it appears on The Hills.
• I have not seen LC (Lauren Conrad)
• I think I did see Tay Zonday though. (Youtube: Chocolate Rain)
• Some architectural photographers (well, at least one) still shoot 35mm film out here. Medium format..yah, I could see..but 35mm 800iso? Commonnow.
• It’s usually partly sunny while it rains.
• I’ve randomly talked to 3 OC wedding photographers via email/Facebook while I’ve been out here, not knowing they’re from OC. Wish I had time to grab lunch with them.
• Seeing a roadside open-air strawberry stand that says Open January 30th, armed with a man in a short sleeve t shirt makes a Canadian mind spin a little bit. The only thing that would make cars stop roadside in Ontario Jan 30th would be a free money stand.
• It’s really neat to see snow capped mountains off in the distance while it’s 70 degrees here.
• Some of the trees are leave-less and look like they’re straight out of Nightmare Before Christmas.

Photobreak 2!

• Everyone drives a brand new car here. Except those that drive original VW Bugs.
• Everything is really spread out, and you need a car to get anywhere – except Carl’s Jr, and Pollo Loco.
• Pollo Loco sounds a little too much like a chicken version of Mad Cow.
• Crazy Cow would be a better name for mad cow. Alleration makes bad things pleasant and humorous.
• I really have no time for personal photography here, but I’m coming back in May.
• We saw the Goodyear blimp hanging out on the ground.
• To get to the plaza across the street, you have to cross the street 3 times.
• The closest Quiznos closes at 7pm – even though 7pm here is 10EST, we’re always 10 minutes late to get there.
• Wendy’s in California looks 100% identical, inside and out, to Wendy’s in Waterloo.
• I have an overwhelming desire to drive through Compton on my way back to the airport. Thanks NWA.
• If I had a million dollars, I would buy you a monkey. Haven’t you always wanted a monkEY?

So yah, that’s about it for now. I’m off to photograph some advanced-visualization-3D-immersive-virtual-reality-simulation rooms. Which should be nice and tricky to portray on a still 2D photo. I’d show you the results, but it’s classified and whatnot. Much like everything else I’m doing here. Although, I am allowed to blog a few images I’ve taken here in late April..just have to wait for the public launch of the Network Operations Center. (Center, not Centre. I checked my spelling and grammar at the border)

Manhattan Beach California

BONUS END OF WEDNESDAY SPECIAL!

Ever seen the movie Who Killed The Electric Car?
Today I met up with one of the guys that leased an electric mini van, only to have it ripped away from him at the end of his term.

For those that haven’t seen the movie – more or less here it is:
In the late 90s/early 2000s all the major car manufacturers had entirely battery powered cars on the road in California. If you live anywhere else in the world…you probably didn’t even hear about this. You were not supposed to.
It was a car you’d plug in at night, and unplug in the morning, like a cell phone. They had a ~ 150 mile range, which is more than you’d ever drive on a daily basis, ran entirely clean, for pennies a day in hydro. They were not a whole lot more than regular cars to lease, but required 0 gas. Because there was no internal combustion happening, under the hood it was clean, and not a whole lot could go wrong. Basically, once you bought the car, you were done with paying into it. Maybe change the break pads and tires every few years, but there was no service required.

Then all those cars were revoked at the end of their lease (everyone begged and pleaded to buy it out, but they wouldn’t let you). They eventually flattened all of the electric cars, and covered it up.
Why you may ask? Well… big oil has a lot of pull in North America — and the car companies would have to redesign their entire infrastructure. The service department would pretty much disappear..jobs, etc. I’m certain the car companies could deal with it, but oil and gas companies would go extinct in a hurry.

The car companies blamed the halt in production of these vehicles due to a ‘lack of market.’  They decided that the market wanted bigger cars, and GM purchased the Hummer franchise shortly after(same day even?) pulling all the EVs off the road.

Their fear was that you’d ride in one, and want one.
So eventually Chevron (oil and gas) ‘bought out’ the battery the cars were using, and refused to license it out to anyone.

So yes, completely electric cars existed, they stolen back from the owners, flattened, and likely buried in the desert somewhere. Probably because of big oil.

Anyways, watch the movie. It’s good. Then give the movie to all of your friends. It’s not a conspiracy story per se…because it actually happened.

Larry (electric car owner that I hung out with today) knows everything about this (since well…uhh, he testified on behalf of electric cars) and it was really neat to hear about his experiences with trying to keep his electric car.

Larry also took Arlonna (marketing associate) and I on a mini tour of the Pacific ocean front. First we stopped at Manhattan Beach, and visions of the movie Blow came back to me. Not a lot looks to have changed, and I had an eye open for George Jung and Tuna.
From there we headed up the coast to Venice Beach. Back at the turn of the century the idea for Venice beach was to make it a canal community, so that’s what they did. Eventually they paved over the canals and made city streets..though they did leave a few.

I’m now sitting at the Radisson, 9th floor, overlooking the tarmac at LAX. Flight home tomorrow AM.

Venice Canals, California.

LAX..currently looking down at this sign while typing.

March 5 edit:

Mountains on the way home