I was very excited when Jeff Caplan of the Digital Wedding Forum notified me that my proposal to present a seminar at the 2006 DWF Convention in Las Vegas, was accepted. The topic that my friend and co-conspirator, David Mielcarek and I had decided on, was to be called Fearlessly Formal. The intention with this seminar was to present techniques to the newer photographers on how to sequence the family formals session on the wedding day, and how to use lighting during the formals session.

Preparation for this seminar started slowly last year, and picked up roller-coaster speed as the date approached – Monday morning, April 10th, at 8:30am. Weeks and weeks of actual work had gone into the preparation and fine-tuning of the seminar … and then it was actually time to do it.

The DWF Convention was held this year from Sunday April 9th, to Wednesday 12th in Las Vegas – and it tied in with the WPPI Convention and trade show that was held across the road at Bally’s. It was wonderful to meet up with so many friends and acquaintances I had made over the years on the Digital Wedding Forum.

The seminar itself went very well – with one exception.
There were sound problems, which meant that the presentation was delayed by 30 minutes while the hotel technicians rigged a temporary sound system. Also, a thank you to whoever helped sort out the feedback problem with my clip-on mic. :^)

Other than that, I believe the seminar went very well. I got tremendous feedback afterwards from dozens and dozens of people. An indicator of the success of this seminar, was that there must have been 200+ people attending – some lined up against the wall at the back of the auditorium – no seats avaialble. Wow! Thank you everyone who attended. It was wonderful to be a part of something so big.

You also need to keep in mind that any presenter is competing with the lure of friends, other hugely talented photographers, the WPPI trade show, and of course … Las Vegas is just outside the room. In the evenings I roamed the Vegas Strip with other photographer friends.

Here is a gallery of images of (mostly) night-time Las Vegas.