Feb 21, 2009
Viva Las Vegas!
I had a whirlwind of a week last week. I spent the week in fabulous Las Vegas attending the WPPI conference, which is an association I belong to for wedding & portrait photographers. It was my first time going, and I had a total blast. I met other photographers, I enjoyed the parties, and I sat through 44 hours of seminars. I have a mountain of notes.
I spent my week living in a nice room in the West Wing at the MGM Grand, which has about 5,100 rooms in total.
It was such a big hotel that in order to walk from my room to the conference, which was also in the hotel, it took about 12 minutes (yeah, I timed it). That might not sound like a lot, but I’m a power-walker. I know it was more than a mile.
The photos in this post were actually all taken on the same day - my last day in Las Vegas. I took my camera gear with me to Vegas, but then didn’t even take it out of my hotel room until the last day when I had some time to walk the strip and take in the sights. I was way too involved in the seminars and parties to be lugging my camera around.
On that last day, I visited my favorite Vegas hotel, the Paris Las Vegas. I’m a sucker for the French thing - and it was the first place I ever stayed in Las Vegas, way back in high school on a family trip.
I love the fake cobblestones and the Eiffel Tower, and all the chandeliers and croissants. I’m a sucker for the French.
I think this has something to do with me also wanting to learn French, and wanting to visit both France (again, for longer this time) and French Canada.
On a European kick, I got ambitious and walked all the way from the MGM to the Venetian (which I was told earlier in the day was “unwalkable.”) Yes, my calves do still ache, and there’s no end in sight. I did this three and a half hour walk straight, with a 25-pound camera bag over my shoulder.
Along the strip, I caught the Venetian’s gondolas, the Mirage’s gardens (from a distance), the forum shops at Caesar’s Palace (where someone spotted Bill Clinton the week I was there!) and the Bellagio’s daytime fountain show. Then I limped all the way to New York New York (across the street from the MGM) and bought myself a huge ice cream cone.
All in all, a great conference and trade show. It’s really going to make a difference in my photography business and gave me lots of new friends in the industry. Now I’m resting up to try to make up for all the missed sleep along the way!
Did you see any Elvises?
The older you get, the longer it takes to recover from a trip to Vegas…whether you go for business, pleasure, or both!