Report: Wedding & Portrait Photographers International 2015

Tradeshows are big business! This spring I had the good fortune of emceeing the Sigma booth at one of the best tradeshows in the photography industry - the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International convention in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. 

WPPI is an annual photography tradeshow that showcases some of the best professional wedding & portrait photographers in the country.  As a returning emcee for Sigma, I was excited to see how WPPI in Las Vegas would compare to 2014's PhotoPlus Expo in NYC.  WPPI was very interactive, with several booth hosting live models on creative sets for photographers to practice shots and try out new lenses and camera bodies.

Over three days in March, I introduced Sigma's great keynote speakers - photographers who showcased their different styles of photography, all taken with amazing Sigma camera lenses.  Often people would ask me various questions about Sigma lenses, and though I had learned quite a bit from hosting their booth, the real experts behind the counter at the booth were slinging lenses out to curious convention-goers faster than fresh dough at an Italian pizzeria!

Crowds packed in to see boudoir photographer Jennifer Rozenbaum's sexy boudoir catalog and learn how she utilizes small spaces to produce amazing results. Wildlife photographer Roman Kurywczak brought his unique brand of brassy Jersey humor to the stage, playfully challenging nearby vendors to show us a lense that could out perform the "Sigmonster" 300-800m telephoto lense. Fashion photographer Lindsay Adler showcased her clean, bold, and graphic style - especially her signature use of the color red.  Wedding & portrait photographer James Schmelzer showcased his grand use of natural light and the versatility of shots than can be captured at one location, and portrait photographer Judy Host shared the best secrets on how to shoot with the hardest subjects in the world - kids and pets.

Sounds busy, right? Well, it was!  Sigma left no gaps in the schedule - one great keynote speech after the next.  Which means, of course, that I'm always on, basically.  At any given time, I might be preparing the materials for the next speaker, answering questions about lenses, or crowd-gathering.  Crowd-gathering is an integral part of hosting at a tradeshow...more on that soon.

Check out these great photographers websites, as well as the great lenses that Sigma has to offer.  I've sure learned a lot about them in the past year!

Thanks for reading - you can view footage from some of these events on my tradeshow reel.

Cheers! - BV