Friday, January 17, 2014 . posted by Vickie Llorente

Be More. That was the theme of this years Imaging USA photography convention in Phoenix, Arizona. This was my first time attending any sort of major photog event so forgive me if I come off sounding a little starstruck! I’ve been going it alone as a creative portrait photographer for so long, always working harder and harder to stay ahead of competition. I didn’t realize that being a professional photographer is exponentially better when you work together to share knowledge and resources.

My favorite speakers were…

Benjamin Von Wong: creative photography - think flames, angels, and karate kicks!)

http://vonwong.com

Gregory Heisler: Time magazine covers - lots of amazing politician and celebrity stories. I’m linking to his book...

http://www.amazon.com/Gregory-Heisler-Techniques-Photographers-Photographer/dp/0823085651

Julieanne Kost: Queen of all things Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom...

http://jkost.com

Lindsay Adler: Queen of all things social networking…

http://blog.lindsayadlerphotography.com

They were the most fervent about their work and the most excited to share all their experience and knowledge. Sometimes, I admit, I get stuck thinking I should just do whatever makes the most money in this business. They encouraged me to do what I feel the most passionate about, do it well, and people will want it.

I love my job more and more every day.

I was in photographers’ candy land at the Expo. I spent most of my time looking at albums and asking a lot of questions about them. There are so many beautiful ones to choose from it made my head spin! I also bought a sexy tripod - it has colors! I’m such a girl :) Lastly, I signed up for some services that I believe are really going to help my business really thrive this year.

So how do you throw a fun party for photographers? Give them something to shoot! At the welcome party, that had staged areas for groups of models. These models were passing out their own cards and looking for work. I loved them because most of them weren’t modeling for swim suit ads, but instead just showing off their personalities and costume and makeup designs. They were having so much fun posing for the hundreds of photographers and we all had fun taking their pictures!

With this first model (above), there were so many distractions I figured, the heck with it! I’m just going to play and completely over-photoshop the image because I never let myself do that. I’m quite happy with the result. I should play more often!

I think this (above) was a favorite of most of the men.

I loved the flapper girl (above). She really played and posed the part well.

The ladies favorite (above), LOL. But not actually mine - I loved the one’s with the crazy costumes who looked like they were having the most fun - like the ladies below.

No models shorts were short enough to keep the attention away from this little fairy (below)! When she came out, all of the photographers flocked to her like magic. All she did was play with her balloon, dance a little, and say hi to the other models. SO precious.

And the last of the lookers...

And below are just a few iPhone photos I took when I didn’t have my “big” camera out. (I typically shoot with a Canon 5D Mark III, in case anyone wanted to know!)

Needless to say, I had a great time. Attending Imaging USA at least once a year is now at the top of my priority list. Hopefully, I can gather up some other photographer friends from the East Bay and South Bay and go as a group sometime