WPPI 2019 Recap

Last week in Las Vegas was WPPI 2019, and I had the chance to check out some new software, some new hardware, and to make some new friends. If you have never been to WPPI, it’s a conference in Las Vegas focusing on Wedding & Portrait Photography. Before you say something like “I don’t do Weddings or Portraits” let me explain. While it focuses on those two specialties, the conference and Expo offer something for virtually any photographer. I’m a concert photographer and yet I always learn something to improve the band portraits or promo images I make, not to mention I always look for ways to improve my use of flash.

For the last few years WPPI has called Mandalay Bay home, and I find it a much better location than the past venues – with the exception of the old days at MGM Grand.  As usual, the conference had classes on a variety of subjects, from Wedding topics, to posing, lighting, and business practices. While in general the conference gets a great selection of instructors, there were some things I saw this year that I was not a fan of. In doing the video I was torn between really going deep into those areas that bugged me vs just pointing them out and moving on. I opted to go with the later. There were some instructors this year that honestly were not good, but I didn’t want this to become the “Presentation Critique” show. Critiquing someone else’s performance is a tricky thing, as I am sure people could rip me up sometimes after I have a done a presentation. I really don’t want the issues I do mention to take over the narrative here. Every conference has some issues, and the main takeaway for me is that WPPI is a very worthwhile conference. The social networking part alone is awesome. That said, if you are reading the majority of your presentation off of your computer then yeah…. you need some work. If the person I am talking about in this video sees it and realizes it’s them I am talking about – even though I do not mention names –  then please feel free to reach out. I’d love to share with you some tips for improving the presentation you did.

The Expo was big enough, and well lit, but did feel more crowded this year. The vendor selection was varied enough, but not as wide as past years, but as always some of the best instruction comes at the Expo. Every major vendor has a stage and some great presenters.

The best of any conference is the networking, and WPPI is no exception. I had the opportunity to run into to old friends, hang out with some great talent, and make new friends. If for no other reason go to WPPI for the social aspect.

This year I visited the Canon booth to chat about the new EOS RP Full Frame Mirrorless body, which started shipping the day I was there, and to talk about the Canon photo community RAISE. I am actually really glad I was there to talk about RAISE, because within a week of coming home a friend saw a complaint in another photo community and sent me a copy of that post. The complaint was about the Terms of Usage and shared a quote that looked pretty bad. Luckily, because I had the opportunity to ask some of these questions, I knew it didn’t look right and researched it myself to find out the entire quote was wrong. It ends out that the person that had posted the complaint about the ToS had copied text from some other ToS and was out there telling people the RAISE ToS said these things – which it didn’t. Yup, the text was no where to be found in the RAISE ToS, but it was in the more general Canon Global Services ToS, which wouldn’t apply here. Once again this proves that the internet will be wrong every time you don’t check it yourself.

Sigma was there as usual too, so I stopped by to talk about the ART series lenses, and in particular a lens I had tried out – the 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM.

One of my favorite pieces of software is Camera Bits Photo Mechanic, so I also chatted with the Camera Bits team about the software, and why people to try it. Again, it is a major part of my workflow and I am looking forward the release of Ver 6 on March 25th.

Lastly, one of the big parts of WPPI is their Print Competition. While I have never entered, I know a few people that have and I am a huge fan of image competitions. I even judge some here in So Cal on occasion. I think image competitions are one of the best ways to improve your photography, so I asked my friend Kristi Elias to give us some thoughts. Kristi is an award winning photographer, and past judge at the WPPI competition, and her insight may help push you to stepping out of your comfort zone. Go enter a comp, you will glad you did.

Join me on this special Behind the Shot as I look back at the 2019 WPPI Conference and Expo, and talk to a few of the key companies.