A lot of people ask me why I end up in Vegas so often. Somewhere between 35 – 45 times in the past 6 years. The truth is that I just really like the Jalapeno Chicken Tacos from Diablos at Monte Carlo.
This trip was for WPPI. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year because so many people I’ve met from so many places all converge on Vegas for a week. A good chunk of people that attended the What If conference in Cabo made a reappearance at Airplanes and Blazers 2. It’s a pretty legendary night during the conference every year where Flashdance reaffirms why he’s my favorite DJ. If you need a DJ in the LA area, don’t even look at anyone else.
Emma set up a rather awesome shoot at an old mining village. I took a few photos.
People that made this happen:
Event Organizers Emma & Josh Smith www.emmajanephotos.com coutureclicks.emmajanephotos.com
Venue- El Dorado Canyon Mine Tours (Ghost Town) http://eldoradocanyonminetours.com/
Hair/Makeup by Hair by Liz- Liz Gopwani – www.hairbylizz.com
Wedding Gowns – The White Dress www.thewhitedress.com
Fashion Wardrobe- Kristy Rose www.krosekouture.com
Hair and Makeup by Sarah Diaz Professional Makeup Artist and Hairstylist https://www.facebook.com/SarahDiazMUA
Menswear- Tuxedo Junction www.tuxedojunction.com
Accessories- Renee Pawele Bride – www.facebook.com/pages/Renee-Pawele-Bride/164189221263
As per always, I took way too many photos on my iPhone — here are a few:
Went to London a few weeks ago for some fun shoots and took some pictures on my phone. I’ll do a full blog post when I get back from Las Vegas this week!
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:
About 45 photographers ended up in Cabo for whatifconference.com
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.
How random life is:
Anna emails me on Thursday while I’m sitting at the airport – they’re getting married in Toronto – but they live in LA. Her 96 year old grandmother lives in North York, and can’t travel, so they’re bringing the wedding to her.
I just so happened to be driving through LA that Sunday en route to pandas in San Diego. If you know me, you know how awesome I think pandas are.
So we got together for photos.
If you’ve seen 500 Days of Summer, this ones for you:
After a night in Laguna Beach (LCs parents house looks amazing – if only I had 13million to buy it) it was down the PCH for pandas (with a stop at Sombrero’s Mexican Food because Blink 182 put it in Josie.)
Casie is (according to my television) a pro blogger. She is also a super hero. We took some pictures.
These are her homes on the interwebs:
http://casiestewart.com/
http://tumblr.casiestewart.com/
I went to Sydney, and Queenstown New Zealand a few months ago.
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.
Hey all, I know a lot of fellow photographers check out my blog from time to time. Over the past few months I’ve been starting to make leather bound wedding books. We’re finally ready to ship to other photographers starting Jan 9th!
The official website will launch on that date as well Olive Album Co.
Here are some details.
Leather bound albums, handmade in Waterloo, Ontario. Available to creative professionals.
First orders ship January 9th, 2012
I love the light in October. This image is straight out of camera with no editing. (With exception to a resize sharpen and url tag)
It’s just the way the world was at that moment. Perfect.
This picture has taken my entire lifetime to create — and I can honestly say I feel it is the best photo I’ve ever taken. I’m completely happy with it (Yao and Al are too!)
It’s the first time I’ve actually stopped to appreciate anything I’ve ever done.
As an artist, it’s impossible to ever be happy with with your work. It’s an infinite bar that no one will ever hit.
I think my goal has always been to make peoples lives feel extraordinary. I think this photograph defines what I try to do every day.
It makes me feel so much better to take a photograph that wasn’t set up or staged in any way. We were on our way back to our cars.
I’ve done a few weddings at Cambridge Mill, and figured I would post a bunch of various interior setup/decor shots for brides looking at this space.
Positives:
- Great staff that do anything for you.
- Great food.
- Dinner always runs on time.
- Pretty good photo locations in the immediate walking area.
- Don’t really have to decorate a lot because every room is beautiful.
- Mill Race park is across the street, and a great outdoor ceremony location.
- Lots of indoor ceremony options if you wish to have everything at one location.
- Reasonable prices for the quality of everything.
- They can do most things in house.
Negatives:
- It gets busy. If you’re looking at a summer Saturday, there will be 3 weddings happening that day.
- Falls Room (their biggest room) doesn’t have a bathroom on the floor. Guests have to go downstairs, which is a little strange. Not really a deal breaker.
- Mill Race park looks great for photos, but they run ceremonies fairly regularly. I suggest getting the permit if you want to do photos there.
- You will encounter other brides on your wedding day, which I don’t necessarily love.
I would recommend this place for sure though. They run a lot of weddings, and really have their processes dialed. Which means the entire planning process is as stress free as it can be. They can also do flowers (From The Potting Shed) in house, as well as they have a great officiant in house too. (Though I’m always partial to Trish over at Kettle Creek Weddings)
Anyways – pictures!
Tags: Best Kitchener Wedding Location, Cambridge Mill, falls room, Falls Room Cambridge Mill, Fallsview Room, From The Potting Shed, Gallery room, Gallery Room Cambridge Mill, Kettle Creek Weddings, Mill Race Park, solarium, Terrace Room, Weddings at Cambridge Mill
by Taylor Jackson
3 comments
add a comment link to this post email a friend