Tomorrow morning I leave for WPPI in Las Vegas.  WPPI is like “spring break for photographers” – a HUGE photography convention for wedding and portrait photographers.  In 2008 I had to cancel going last minute do to illness after traveling abroad, and in 2009 we got married so this is the first time in a few years I’ll be going. I’m super excited to connect with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time!

Since we just got back from out of the country, and I JUST decided to go last-minute, it’s taken some research to piece together my schedule, which is falling into place quickly.

Here is where I will likely be. Follow on twitter and/or whrrl for the most up to date info.

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Day One: Sunday, March 7th

12:30pm – Arrive in Vegas. Rush to MGM Signature to hit up Pictagerazzi Meeting – get armed with Eye-Fi device. Yes, I’m one of SIX photographers that will be covering WPPI’s classes, the tradeshow, galas, gatherings and parties with instantly-transmitted-and-tracked pictures! Yikes – no pressure there So if you see me with my camera and want to instantly be beamed into cyber-space we can make that happen! PLUS Pictage is uploading them to their servers right away so you can order a copy for free!

5:45-6:15pm: Canon Keynote

7:30-9:30pm: Canon Opening Reception (Food, drinks, dancing & entertainment)

8:00-9:00pm: Pictage VIP Reception Invite Only

9pm – ?: GO|BEE Party – Invite only Location Mandalay Bay

9:30pm – ? : Airhorns & Lasers Party – Secret Location

Day Two: Monday, March 8th
AM: Photograph Famous NYC photographers Andy and Brian Marcus for my 100 Portraits in 100 Days Project! Go see Brian speak with John Solano at 3:30 on Tuesday!

11:30-12Noon – Speak at ShootQ Booth

8-10pm – WPPI Pool Party – Poolside at MGM – Music, dancing, hor dourves, and cash bar

Day Three: Tuesday, March 9th

AM: Photograph SEO Expert Wade Holloway for my 100 Portraits in 100 Days Project

2:50 – 3:20PM – Speak at ShootQ Booth

8:00-11pm – Pictage Party with KISS and ShootQ – Studio 54

9:00-11pm – Mike Colon Thirst Relief Cause Marketing

10pm – 1am – B Party at Border Grill at Mandalay Bay

Day Four: Wednesday, March 10th

8-9:30am: UNITE at MGM Signature Conference Rooms A & B

10-11am: Tradeshow Floor

After Lunch – Flight home to ATL

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I would LOVE to do a few more portrait sessions for my 100 Project while in Vegas – I already have Portraits #1-4 lined up but if you order any of the other Portrait days that are available, I’ll wave the date-change-fee so we can shoot on Sun, Mon, or Tues! Just check out the schedule here, order the portrait online, and let me know when you want to shoot and were you’d like to meet – we can make it happen.

And since I use Photobucket, I conveniently have access to some point-and-shoot pics from WPPI years past. Warning – poor quality snaps ahead. I think some were even from phone-cameras. This will be the first year I bring a “real” camera.

Roomie Jazzy. It’s pretty standard for 3 or 4 or us gals to pile into one room together. No one gets much sleep anyways. I think we were in the elevator here attempting to go to the pool (it was later – late March or April back in 2006)

Somehow DJ, Shy and I made it to FAO Schwartz one night to play with the bears and BIG piano

Lunch with Regis and friends is never a bore, even a quick lunch

Jeff Kent did a write-up about me, Jess, and DJ right before this (PPA Mag) so it was great to finally meet him in person!

Dinner with Andy and Brian Marcus, Jonn Solano, Jess and others

Me with my Brittney-Spears mic. The only year I actually planned to go in advance (vs last minute) and actually made it was 2007 when I did a platform (not pictured). To this day it was still one of my favorite speaking audiences.

Two years in a row Shy, Jazzy, and I helped Mike with his shoot-off. The first year they gave him this Awful rainbow background, so we moved him off stage onto the floor and made a “first dance” scene instead.

Don’t ask. Well, to clarify, Mike is doing that to his wife Julie. Silly people. Love it.

He won!

More dinners. One night I had three dinners in a row – WOW I was full! Even after eating salad and picking at my food for two of them!

I know I probably have a LOT more pictures but that involves me plugging in old hard drives and I need to go PACK!

See you in Vegas! And remember…

Just kidding! It should be “What Happens in Vegas shows up ALL over the net – especially when 10,000+ photographers are involved!”

I would like to formally invite you to take part in our 100 Portraits in 100 Days Project.

After 10+ years in business I am about to embark on what is sure to be the riskiest, most challenging, hair-pulling, nail-biting,  joyous, freeing, exhilarating, and all-encompassing projects of my career as a photographer.

(above portraits captured 2002 – 2006)

I’m tired of sitting in this stereotyped box I put myself in years ago. I feel like the round peg in a square hole as of late. I want to stretch and dream out loud. I am tired of the status quo, burned out on industry hype, rock-star statuses, and thinking we have to live according to someone else’s definition of success. I want to do something alive, moving, changing, evolving, and freeing.

I want to make portraits that:
- are the sillier, crazier, more unimaginable than our minds can fathom
- are completely naked, yet fully-clothed
- make you laugh until you cry
- inspire honesty
- are more heartbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful than any place we’ve ever seen
- cause you to forget all your fears, if even for a moment
- make cameos on your websites and end up ridiculously, unabashedly displayed in your homes
- uncover majesty in unexpected places
- make you want to eat ice cream for breakfast and wash your hair in the rain
- never stir regret and are far from apologetic
- allow you to be who you really are, not who the world tells you to be
- are so fun that you can’t remember the last time you felt so alive

The bar is set high, higher than is humanly possible. I’m shaking in my boots and jumping for joy at the same time. Even if I fail miserably, I know I will learn unequivocal lessons and hope to become a better version of myself in the process.

This project is an experiment, a break from the norm, and most of all an adventure. Starting this Sunday I will make 100 portraits in 100 days.

(above portraits captured Jan 22 – Feb 20, 2010)

I invite you to join me in this adventure. Commissions start at $10 USD for the first portrait and are an additional $10 each portrait thereafter. You receive a digital negative for every $10 invested. (Usually it is $100 per digital negative so this is a ridiculous deal!) For example, the 8th portrait is $80 and includes 8 digital negatives. The 44th portrait is $440 and includes 44 digital negatives. The dates for each portrait session are already set however you MAY choose to do a portrait out of order. Complete details via the link below.

This Sunday, the first day of this project, is the ONLY Sunday I will work during the 100 days that ends Monday, July 14. This Sunday through Wednesday I will be in Las Vegas for WPPI, thereafter I will be in Atlanta the remainder of the time.

At the end of June, everyone who participated will be invited to a themed gallery party during which a selected image from all 100 portrait sessions will be displayed.

Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to Thirst Relief International.

At this point I have told no one about this project (besides family) so ALL 100 portrait sessions are available! Sign up ASAP and spread the word! Your referral is our biggest compliment, so yes you will be rewarded for helping us make this happen!

***CLICK HERE for all the details and to SIGN UP FOR THE 100 PROJECT***

I look forward to embarking on this crazy, fun, insane adventure with you!

This was one of the most exhilarating photo experiences of my life! Running around barefoot (long story) through the ancient ruins of Ta Prohm, dodging crowds and smiling at congratulatory remarks from Japanese tourists.

Angkor Cambodia is a UNESCO World Heritage site comprised of over 1,000 ancient temples of the Khmer empire.

Ta Prohm was the location of choice for this shoot. You may recognize it from the movie Laura Croft Tomb Raider. It was built in the 12th and 13th century as a monastery and university. It’s one of the Angkor sites left at it’s original found state – large trees growing into the ruins, piles of pillars and foundation scattered everywhere.

There is an interesting back-story to this shoot, which I will share with you sometime this week. For now, I give you the portraits:

Next up, a very exciting announcement about a project that begins Sunday!!

1. Getting checked in at Bangkok Airport = 3 hours. Lots of running through airport, waiting in lines, pushing through lines, hoping and praying we do not miss our flight. Thinking to ourselves “we thought Asian countries were very efficient… guess not!”

2. Thailand to Japan = 6 Hours overnight. Guy two seats down snores the whole time, I sit awake the whole flight, crammed into the middle of the middle row. I avoid the food again since Mike got sick from our last Thai flight.

3. Layover in Japan = 9 Hours. Wonder about the exchange rate. Can not read the signs. Trade in USD and Thai Baht. Rent locker to store bag. Buy train tickets and wonder which train is ours. Tour Narita town and temple in cold for four hours, wishing I had jacket or coat. Return to airport and rent a day room. Sleep. Amazing. Order McDonalds. Mike accidentally gets Teriyaki burger instead of hamburger. Gross. Looks like mystery meat covered in sweet sauce. His stomach is still upset anyways so he doesn’t eat. Try to find something worthy to spend the rest of our Yen on. Resolved to buy candy and neck pillow since everything else is overpriced touristy knickknacks.

4. Japan to Atlanta flight = 12 Hours. Read an entire book, sleep a bit, watch man from China put ranch dressing on his brownie and actually eats it all! Then he eats butter straight from the container. Mike complains about his bad breath and wants me to trade seats. Um, no – being smelly is not incentive for me to get closer to him. I resolve to be good wife another flight instead.

5. Getting through customs and waiting for bags in Atlanta = 2 hours. Mike tells me I look like the Night of the Living Dead. Bags ends up in different part of baggage claim than were they are supposed to be. Mike’s mom has to wait an hour longer than planned. She has the cats in the car. They howl on the way home. Get stuck in traffic. Cats howl some more and attempt to escape cat carrier. We get Jim & Nick’s BBQ drive-through for lunch at 3:30PM. We go to bed from 4-9PM. Then back in bed around midnight. I’m a zombie but can’t sleep through the night.

Seriously, this part of travel is about the farthest you can get from glamorous. The saving grace was Day Room in the airport in Japan. Best invention EVER. When all you want to do is actually lay down, stretch out, and rest your eyes in a dark quiet room… it’s a shock more airports do not have these yet. You rent the rooms by the hour and it was very clean and organized. Like walking into a hotel. Some rooms have showers and bathrooms. It was about $29USD for 2 hours of bliss. They even issue you a wake up call so you do not miss your flight.

On our way home from SE Asia we had a 9 hour layover in Tokyo, Japan. Since the Tokyo airport is actually 1 1/2 hr train ride to Tokyo we opted to view the small town of Narita which is just a 15 minute train ride away. It was cool and crisp out as we walked around in early morning, a bit foggy from lack of sleep, slowly down the small winding town street that leads to the Narita-san temple that was built in 940. Here are a few pictures of Narita town and the temple.

Today we got up early to try to see a glimpse of Bangkok before we leave tonight for HOME!

We rode the sky train to the Central Pier and navigated the city sites via the river

Out of focus self portrait on the boat

Saw some sites

Had some Thai food (WOW – they like it super super super spicy here!)

Much more to come, but now we have to finish packing so we can grab our flight to Japan, then Atlanta. We have over 30 hours of travel ahead of us. Ick!

We arrived in Bangkok Sunday around noon, checked into our hotel, settled in, then walked around the corner for lunch. We each had a sandwich and split a side of Thai wings. Back at the hotel, I wasn’t feeling to well so we decided it would be good to have a siesta.

The surprising thing is that it’s Mikey that got sick, not me. He never gets sick! The poor thing spent the whole night in the bathroom and the next 24-48 hours trying to sleep off what I’m pretty sure was food poisoning. Since we had the same thing for lunch, my best guess is that it’s the mystery sandwich (fish we think) that he was adventurous enough to eat on the flight from Cambodia to Singapore that morning. I drank bottled water and didn’t touch the meal. What can I say – I’m far from the adventurous type when it comes to food.

It was a bit nerve-wracking at first, being in a foreign country, not knowing my way around yet, not knowing what Mike was sick from. I ventured out in the twilight to find a grocery store the first night and it was very busy out luckily and the Thai people were very helpful with directions. The store had plenty of imported familiar groceries, so I stocked up and later returned to the pharmacy for “Gastro Bismo.” The hotel had upgraded us to an executive suite before we even arrived, with separate bedroom and kitchen area too which has come in very handy since Mike has been sleeping 24/7 and I’ve been able to make sandwiches and soup for us here.

Thankfully he’s feeling better now, just weak, tired, and still recovering a bit. He fell asleep while we were watching a movie last night – with his glasses on – so cute!

Thank you for your prayers and advice. We’re hoping that he’ll be well enough tomorrow to go out for a bit and see some of Bangkok before we fly home via Japan tomorrow night. We have a 6 hour flight, 9 hour layover, then another 12 hour flight straight into Atlanta.

During our trip out to the floating village in Cambodia, we visited a school on the river to bring the kids some notebooks. This was one of my favorite parts of our trip so far – I didn’t want to leave! They were so excited to see their picture in the back of our cameras. Mike’s got some fun video footage of the boys goofing around during play-time too. I’m sure we’ll have lots of videos to share soon as well, for now I’ll let the pictures tell the rest…

On Saturday Tohl took Mike and I to the river’s edge to explore the floating village on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Cambodia has one of the worst land mine problems in the world – with an estimated 4-6 million remaining from the decades of war that raged across the country. Because of this, land is very expensive so many families live on the river instead.

Here is where we started our journey.

Visa was our tour guide – he spoke great English. His family lives on the river and so we got a first person account of what life is like on the river. He one day hopes to get his license to be a tour guide – which cost around $4,000 – so it’s not an easy task. Most families live off of a few dollars per day here, the average income being $290 per year.

A floating basketball court!

Floating Catholic Church

We stopped at this floating market shop that also is a crocodile farm.

There are many different varieties of snakes that populate the river – none poisonous according to Visa, but good for eating.

Look, you can buy snake meat, crocodile meat, and wine to go with it!

We stopped at this shop to buy notebooks for the school that we visited next on the river.

The school has all of the younger grades in one class and Cambodian kids and kids from Viet Nam all together.

Floating shipyard.

It’s dry season now so the river was very low and muddy from all the agitation. When it’s rainy season (starting in a month or two) it gets so high that it raises up to the street. This picture gives you good perspective of how high it gets (see the house on stilts in the middle!)

Special thank you to our Tuk Tuk driver, Tohl, and the Youngrens for putting us in touch with him and recommending him in the first place!

What better way to see Siem Reap Cambodia than by Tuk Tuk!? It’s a scooter with a seat trailer on the back for you to sit. You can hire a driver for a whole day for only $15USD and they take you around, drop you off, and will wait for you to take you to the next spot.

We were grateful to not have to drive in the crazy streets – all kinds of vehicles zooming in an out at all times, dust flying up, etc. It was a ton of fun (besides eating dust and having a coat of it all over you at all times) and we ended up taking tons of pics while we were speeding from here and there.

Tohl also ended up being a great food guide. One of my TOP meals on this trip was the first one we had in Cambodia at this place Tohl took us to

We ate lunch fairly early (10:30AM) since we’d been up since 3AM traveling from Singapore. I devoured this dish in record time…mmmmmm.

Mikey’s variation had pineapple in it. It was good too.

A lot of kids drop out of school here to try to make money working at a very young age. It’s kind of sad – and a bit annoying at times that they run after you at every stop trying to get you to buy stuff. This was one of our first encounters of the sorts. We bought a scarf from her for $1. The USD is king in Cambodia. Most ATMs only vend USD now. Everyone everywhere just wanting another dollar. Needless to say it was a great place to spread some around and pick up some great souvenirs for friends and family back home.

Next up, some more ruins. Monks at the ruins.

Monks walking the streets

The girls and boys to and from school, everyone on bikes and scooters

Watch out for the cows crossing!

Elephants were transport too – a tourist thing we didn’t do.

Stopped for gas here. This was the largest gas station we came across the whole time!

Breakfast on Friday was an omelet for me, banana pancake for Mikey.

His pancake had some sweet glaze stuff instead of syrup. It was good stuff.

A peak at the market in Siem Reap. The veggies

The meat.

The smokes.

The heat.

Our last few meals in Cambodia were also traditional Khmer fare. I was in awe of how overpriced and low quality our hotel food was (especially for a SPG brand!) compared to the yummy super-cheap local food. Most meals cost $3 each!