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• Take advantage of the hospitality. For WPPI’s first year at the new venue, the MGM Grand is offering attendees two-for-one dinners and drinks at almost every restaurant and club in the hotel and conference center, including places like Craftsteak and Studio 54.

• Here comes the…photographers. Be sure not to miss the Canon Mock Wedding and Opening Reception on Sunday night, where top wedding photographers Joe Buissink, Bambi Cantrell, Jerry Ghionis, Denis Reggie, and Yervant will demonstrate and describe their techniques while wedding photography duo Jim and Katarina Garner renew their vows. And, of course, don’t miss the real reception afterward, also sponsored by Canon.

• It wouldn’t be Vegas without music. WPPI and Nikon are sponsoring an exclusive concert for WPPI attendees only. The doors open for Grammy-award winning band Blues Traveler on Monday night at 9:30 p.m. in the MGM Grand Arena.

• Where’s the afterparty? Although the list of WPPI-sponsored events might seem endless, don’t forget that there will be lots of get-togethers that are not in the official lineup, like Lindsay Yates-Teal’s event for all the readers of her Pay It Forward blog, in Studio A on Sunday night after the Canon Mock Wedding and Reception.

• Get by with a little help from your friends. WPPI is an outstanding place to meet, learn from, and empathize with other photographers who know exactly what you’re going through on a daily basis. The best thing to remember is to bring lots of cards, and don’t be afraid to say “Hi.” The photography industry isn’t as competitive as most other communities — almost everyone is approachable and friendly.

In August our routine was to get up around 5am and to be in place with the cowboys at first light. We basically tried to shoot and illustrate various things the cowboys were doing. Working with the horse, herding the cows, etc. We would shoot until about 10am as it gets very hot in the middle of the day. The cowboys don’t do much outdoor work during the heat of the day. During lunch we would download cards or review images. At 3pm we were back out with the cowboys for that late afternoon sun.

It was a breath of fresh air to get out and make this kind of storytelling imagery again. It reminded me of the things I loved about journalism and why I stayed in journalism for so long. I felt like I had found my roots again and re-awakened a deep passion inside me. I loved every minute of it.

The trip has reinforced in my mind how important personal project are to photographers and other creative people. There has to be a certain amount of work to pay the bills, but you have to find some time to keep the creative fire burning inside. I always knew it was important to do personal projects, I just never found the time to fit them in. I had sort of reached that point in my life where I worked to live, not live to work. I had stopped looking for projects like this. I’m so glad that Duda connected me with Izan and we have been able to spend this time working on this project. More »

I was connected with Izan Petterle through Duda Escobar, the show manager for PhotoImage Brazil and the reason I’d come to Brazil in the first place. She invited me down to give the keynote address on wedding photography.

During the planning she asked if I would be interested in teaching a post-convention workshop with Izan in a Brazilian wilderness area called The Pantanal. I didn’t know anything about Izan and was a little nervous about jumping into something unfamiliar in such a remote area. I was also concerned about leaving my business for almost three weeks in August. Initially I declined.

After thinking about it a bit, I decided it was a great opportunity to get out and see a very remote part of a beautiful country. And after speaking to Izan I was completely at ease. Izan has been doing PhotoExpeditions for years and he is a wonderful, kind person. We decided to proceed with a PhotoExpedition after the PhotoImage Brazil conference.

Because I was so late agreeing to do the expedition, there was precious little time to promote the workshop. The day I left for Brazil, no one had signed up yet. Izan and I almost canceled the trip, but he kept assuring me that Brazilians are spur-of-the-moment people. He felt certain we would get some students.

In the end we decided to do the trip with or without students; it was a great chance for both of us to stretch our creative legs a bit. Since leaving journalism in 2000 I have mostly photographed women in white dresses each Saturday, and it was time to do something new. Sure enough we ended up with three students, all of whom signed up just a day or two before the start of the expedition! More »

A wedding image by SAS Becker. ©SAS Becker

I graduated photo school with some great contacts but not a lot of practical photo skills. I didn’t feel technically astute enough to be a first assistant so I became a photo editor. That taught me a lot about producing a great shoot, but it wasn’t as fulfilling for me as taking pictures. So in 1993 my husband and I took the leap and started building our stock photo library. We walked into a stock agency with a box of 8×10 black-and-white prints and got signed on the spot. The thing that was great about stock was that we could learn how to shoot on our own time. Granted it was our own dime, too, but through trial and error we figured out what we were doing. The stock allowed us to build a portfolio, which led to magazine assignments. The editorial work led us to a rep, which got us a few advertising gigs.

The ironic thing is that when we were first starting out people would ask us to shoot weddings. We ended up doing about ten a year. But we hated it. We had no control over the situation. We were used to directing our subjects and having time to figure out the lighting. With weddings you have to be “on” the entire time and the only time you get to direct is during the formals. So we let the weddings go by the way side and shot primarily stock for the next decade.

Then digital happened. All of a sudden everyone was a photographer. The cameras got better and more affordable. The price of equipment was no longer an obstacle to beginning shooters. The market was flooded and our stock sales dropped a lot. Now, here comes the bride… all of a sudden weddings are looking pretty good, and so are family portraits.

The great surprise is that now I actually love weddings. All the things that drove me to photography to begin with exist in weddings and portraits. I love people! As long as I get to photograph them, especially at a big party, I am happy. And, may I add that now that I have been shooting for twenty years, and I know what I am doing, the lack of control isn’t such an issue!