WPPI in Vegas 2011

WPPI, Wedding and Portrait Photographers International, is a huge convention where nearly 16,000 photographers attend every year in Vegas. This year was my first year in attendance and I must say that I was glad that I did. I attended some amazing platforms to hear top-notch photographers speak and came out more inspired than ever. I've also met some amazing new friends as well as reconnect with old friends from all over.

The only tiny complaint I had was the weather in Vegas around February and boy was it cold! I might as well have been on the East Coast where mornings were in the 50's and nights in the 40's. I've always love coming to Vegas almost every year, but never experienced winter in Vegas and was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as warm as I hoped! Next year's WPPI will be held in February as well, but at least now I know and will be more prepared if I do decide to go again. Also the convention was held at MGM and fyi, the reception stinks there! I could barely get any reception while attending the platform classes, which made it quite hard to tweet. =P

The days were pretty busy with classes and workshops, so we had one day to really explore Vegas. I didn't want to carry too much stuff so only used my 35mm 1.4 lens for the following pics.

Last time I was in Vegas was in May 2009 when there was still construction of the City Center. It's awesome to see how much has been built since then - more hotels mean more shopping! =P

When I'm in Vegas, I love to head over to Bellagio for the buffets. I've been to the Wynn before and still prefer Bellagio over Wynn. I also love the Bellagio's garden, which changes according to seasons and since February was Lunar New Year "Year of the Rabbit"; the garden was decorated just so.

After we were stuffed from the buffet, Stefani, Peter and I headed over to Serendipity 3 to try out the frozen hot chocolate made popular by the movie. There's also one in NYC, which I haven't been yet. The decor was so cute inside and the frozen hot chocolate was yum. I may need to put NYC's Serendipity on my list-to-do when I'm in the city again. =)

Gotta stop by M&M's store for fun, of course. =)

That's it. I also took more photos with my iPhone when I didn't have my camera, but will probably post that on my FB page. Hope you all enjoyed the photos! I can't wait to see what WPPI 2012 will have in store for us next year. =)

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