My time in LA is just about over so I thought I would recap my activities and highlights before I get too tired.
Tuesday: Arrived at the Nashville airport and met a very interesting fellow from Canada that travels the world making and installing custom tarps over various like salt and grain to mention a couple. Went all carry-on luggage this time and I think I am not going to go back to checking baggage. It was nice to walk on and walk off the plane with all my stuff. Flew into Ontario, CA which is a very nice airport and the view was beautiful as soon as I got out of the terminal. A side note… I paid particular attention out the window this time and there are vast areas of this country that are completely uninhabited. I want to see them close up. Got back to Rick’s house (that is Erin’s cousin by way of her mother’s sister Eleanor) and just spent some time relaxing and settling in.
Wednesday: Day one of PartnerCon. Up at 6:30 to leave and get to the conference at 8:30. It is approximately 20 miles but takes nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there in traffic. Yuck! Conference was great.
First session was Sarah France. She talked about techniques that allow you to take your business where ever you are so that you are not tied down by your business. Sarah is currently shooting photos for Apple for some upcoming advertising… pretty cool stuff.
Next up was Bob Davis talking about getting near perfect color in-camera so that you dont have to do much work in post production. Bob just shot Eva Longoria’s wedding and has a laundry list of high profile corporate clients too. He is the real deal and it shows. After that it was
David Witting talking about how to get your clients to think outside the box with you and do things that might be out of their comfort zone but always result in great images.
Then I sat in on Dennis Reggie’s session when he talked about some of the things that have made him so successful. You may have heard of him he has shot all kinds of celebrity weddings including JFK JR’s wedding and the Weddings that the Today Show puts on each year.
Then I got to hear Carlos Baez who talked about ways to get make your brides feel like and think of them selves as models. Carlos is an accomplished fashion photographer with cover photos on just about all the big fashion magazines you can think of.
After the conference I went straight to the beach and went swimming (well wading) at Manhatten Beach just south of LAX. It was wonderful. I then went and got my camera gear for the sunset and got some really great stuff. I ended up walking about 2 miles down the beach to this great pier that was sticking out in the ocean… after the sun was completely down I stuck around a bit and started the long walk back to the car. Then I stopped at few places on the way back to Rick’s house and got back there at 10PM. Watched some TV and hit the sack.
Thursday: Conference started at 9 due to traffic and a missed turn I got there at 9:30 so I got to hear the second half of David Jay’s talk about how he uses the web to reach new clients and how it has helped him build his empire :)
Then was Robert Evans who talked about how to get more time with the bride and groom on their wedding day so that you can be more creative and get better couple portraits the day of the wedding. Robert was the lucky guy that got to photograph Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding.
Then I sat in on Adam Linke’s session about how to meet more brides and book more weddings. Then it was back to Bob Davis’ second session this time about lighting with external speedlights. Very cool stuff.
Then I did some exploring along the coast north of LAX up around Venice and Santa Monica. Had dinner at a carribean chicken place in Venice. Then drove back down towards the coast and back home.
Friday: Rick and I got up early and headed over to Universal Studios. We got there shortly after they opened and we stayed til around 4:30pm. Saw some cool stuff including but not limited to: props and sets for some of my favorite shows and movies, a bunch of cool shows and rides, and the Studio Tour. Then we went down to Huntington Beach to go swimming and take in the sunset. It was soo much fun. With Rich there I ventured out a little more into the ocean and crashed around with the waves. I asked one of the guys surfing if they were good waves and he said they were terrible but I had fun in them anyway. Then we came home and watched a movie and went to bed.
Saturday: Slept in a little and then went to Sammy’s Cameras in Santa Ana… drooled over some stuff, fought off the urge to buy some stuff and then came back home. Took a short nap and relaxed for a while then had dinner with Bob and Eleanor and now I am blogging.
Now after that marathon post you get to look at some pics and a slideshow :) So here to go… Click HERE for the slideshow and view a few pics below.
