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At almost the very last minute, the opportunity arose to attend WPPI 2012 (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International)  in Vegas. I have been dying to go for several years now, but never could make it work. In the meantime, my mom (aka Gia) and stepdad (aka Pa) moved to Vegas and my baby wasn’t a baby anymore, so there ya go! J.R. was on his own for the week with the 3 boys and we (Kierstyn and I) headed 2.5 hours South to Vegas, baby!

6 days! For 6 days we stayed at Gia and Pa’s and for 6 days, Gia and Pa took care of Kierst while I attended up to 12 hours of classes per day. (My butt STILL hurts from sitting for that long!) I’m forever indebted to them!

While I learned something new and something valuable in every class I attended, I received the most information, inspiration and even hands-on instruction from Steve and Shelley Harrington of Steve Harrington Photography in Garland, UT. Theirs was a Master Class, so only 50 people were allowed to sign up, making it a much more interactive and intimate learning environment.

Steve and Shelley specialize in High School Senior photography. And the talent within those two is….phenomenal, to say the least. They live in a very small town, but service the greater areas around Garland. Hmmmm…senior photographers living in a small town…I had a feeling their class would be incredibly valuable since my business shares those same traits. I am so glad I followed my intuition!

The class proved to be so much more than simply valuable. For me, it was a gold mine of information and ideas. Steve and Shelley’s beautiful works of art are deeply inspiring. Their business philosophies are smart and admirable. Do you get that I’m a fan? Small town photographers everywhere would benefit from their knowledge, and being the generous couple that they are, they are more than willing to share it!

As if I hadn’t gained enough from the class, Steve and Shelley invited us to come along on a photoshoot of one of their Senior Models, Sadie. And when I saw the finished product on their Facebook page, again, I was blown away. Simply amazing.

I had the privilege of tagging along and shooting with Steve and some other fantastic photographers that attended the class. It was just our small group, Sadie and Sadie’s family. On the sidewalks and streets of Vegas. Priceless.

So, you wanna see more pictures?!Here’s my take on Sadie in Vegas…

Um, yeah. What do you even say about a high school senior that looks like this?

Here’s the only shot I captured of the man, himself…thank you, Steve!

While on location, I grabbed a few shots of the amazing effects of the light on everything around us.