Whew!  What a whirl wind of a week it was.  My dear friends, Andie + Tony of Costola Photography, and I headed out to Las Vegas to attend the WPPI conference.  I attended this conference two years ago and had one heck of a good time and wanted to go back with my buddies. We had a schedule set for three days of classes and expo and then we left ourselves 4 days to explore and shoot.

Our first full day was jam packed with awesome.  We rose before the sun to head to Valley of Fire State Park to meet with my friend Jess and her man candy, Todd, for the sweetest desert sunrise session (which you will see more of tomorrow).   One thing I love about shooting along side other photographers is learning from one another.  Andie and I have both invested in education this year and we were determined to put it to the test this week.  Sorry Andie and Tony,  I put alot of our behind the scenes in this, some aren’t too pretty haha!

 This is an accurate image of my face…. 86% of the time.

 One thing about traveling with a couple for a week, having ENDLESS opportunities to take their photo and play around.  These guys could have 4 of their own blog posts if they wanted. SO much goodness.

 Traveling with two other photographers also means, plenty of images of myself!  All of the awkwardness included!

 Andie, you make me miss my long hair so much!

I am pretty sure I was like, “Andie, put your camera down and go over there, twirl”  So demanding. haha

 Tony’s shooting face…. in all its glory.  Followed by 3 perfectly placed rams in Valley of Fire.  Pretty little fellas.

 Who says you can’t shoot in the harsh, 9 am morning desert sun.

 After parting ways with Jess and Todd, we started making our way towards the Grand Canyon with a stop at Lake Mead.  We saw these strange, perfectly placed palm trees and stopped for a shot or two before stopped at a Lake overlook.

 After leaving the Lake Mead area, we had high hopes of passing through a little town for a bite to eat.  If you have never driven through the desert, you will soon learn that these little towns don’t really exist and you just have to stop at the first place you see.  Little did we know that we were stopping at a diner/shooting range/monster truck stop/ gas station.  Tony ordered a burger with a side of assault rifles.  haha.  I would say he was a happy guy when he woke up.

Andie and I have seen the Grand daddy of them all, the Grand Canyon.  Tony on the other hand, has only seen it in pictures.  We warned him…. told him how awe inspiring it would be.  To try not to pay attention to other tourists because they are CRAZY AND WILL MAKE YOU UNEASY BEING SO CLOSE TO THE EDGE.  The tourists were still crazy and were still entirely too close to the edge,  apparently, Tony is just as crazy as the rest of them.  I am pretty sure he had me and Andie yelling his name 293849234 times because we were scared he would fall. I guess he just living….. life on the edge. HA. get it?

CRAZY GUY WHO JUMPED THAT CLOSE TO THE EDGE ON UNEVEN GROUND. Yea NO!

I mean, COME ON!  These guys couldn’t be cuter even if they tried!

We were the three best friends that anyone could have.

I guess after about 15 minutes you warm up to the thought of the edge. Ask Andie how many people lose their footing and die here…… a year. pshh.

Ok, OK.  I did it. haha  I wasnt hanging over the edge but ya girl sat on the edge!  That counts right?

I will take full advantage of any couple that travels with me.

This is my face when I am terrified, yet still about 5 feet away from the edge.  My jumping grand canyon picture.  Safe version!