Lisa Whalen Photography Blog!

Okay, so this entry is probably just mostly going to appeal to photographers, but I thought it would be fun to post because it provides a glimpse of some of the zany but dedicated personalities that are influencing current trends within the wedding and portrait industry.

The Longest Day is a multi-part promo video for the WPPI Convention, which I will be attending for the first time this year. I'm pretty psyched to attend and get to see first-hand what's up in the industry. The trade show alone is worth the cost of admission, and on top of that there are seminars galore, and the opportunity to meet face-to-face with some of the tremendously talented photographers whose blogs, tweets and general life-stories I've been following on Facebook for the past few years or so. Pretty exciting stuff!

This will be an interesting experience for me, because when I first started shooting professionally waaaaaaaay back when during the early 90's, WPPI was sort of this giant joke among those of us who had fine-art training. It was considered the provence of old, bald-headed men with Hasselblads who seemed to have pretty much ZERO creative ability, MASSIVE egos the size of Texas, (sorry Texas, you always get such a bum rap!) and who always seemed kinda creepy because they got a little too excited about creating studio portraits of beautiful young women. The "cheese" factor was remarkably high, and I avoided professional organizations such as WPPI like the plague!

Well, times have changed, and while some of the egos might not have gotten any smaller, (LOL!) the level of commitment to promoting genuine creativity and even artistry within the craft has increased exponentially, and has really pushed commercial portrait and wedding photography in exciting, dynamic new directions. Also, there seems to be less general creepiness surrounding photo shoots of beautiful young women... WPPI, you've come a long way, baby!

So, yeah - how 'bout that video? Check it out! It's part one of the series, where we are introduced to the cast of characters and the challenge is issued... Enjoy!