Back from WPPI-2006

What a wild trip! 2 days of tradeshow mania. Kathleen Harrison (right) and I caught the first flight out of Oakland on Sunday morning, returning late Monday night.

I found a few new and exciting items for Mugshots as well as my portrait photography business. On the school photography side was the Westcott Scrim Jim light panels with the aluminum sides. This set up, will allow me to photography all day long without worrying about sun. If all goes right they will also block wind...the two major challenges of outside school photography. These panels were designed for the video and film industry and I am very excited about testing them. Here is a quick link to Westcott where you can see how groovy they are. They were designed by a South Beach shooter who needed to work in the wind. More about them when we begin field testing.

Other great possiblilities:

Gina Alexander Photo HandBags
Very high end, Nordstrom quality handbags with photos on the sides. These are going to be a winner for my portrait business. I can also invision them as a incredibly cool teacher gift with our beautiful student portraits. A group of parents could all contribute to the cost. This would be a fabulous and useful end of the year gift. What teacher/principal wouldn't want to work with a school photographer who was able to provide them with something personal and classy? I can already see the Mugshots graphic styling all over this!

Renaissance Albums
There were a TON of album companies at WPPI. I remember when it used to be just Art Leather, Leather Craftsman and a few other discount folks. This year in house album design is the big feature. I ended up choosing the SoHo album from Renaissance. I test drove their software and it seemed user friendly and the right tool to create my vision of "life as it unfolds". They were very nice and helpful and I will update on my process.

Special Kids Photography
One of the nicer conversations I shared was with Special Kids Photography. They were 2 very caring women who are working to share their vision and train photographers in how to best photograph special needs children. At Mugshots we frequently photograph these special children and I am looking forward to learning more about Special Kids Photography. I know they have a Amherst Book as well as training workshops. Check them out at www.specialkidsphotography.com