WPPI has been a pretty amazing experience so far. I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, take a couple great workshops and classes, and use some fantastic gear. I am really sitting here at my computer typing this on the eve of my second day here, but my first day was so amazing that I can not help but want to tell you about it.
So after my flight landed and I was done getting settled I headed down to the convention floor to check out everything and get registered. I have never attended a WPPI or any other photography convention of any sort for that matter, so I really had no idea what to expect. Needless to say I was simply blown away. After getting my VIP badge and meeting a couple people I headed back to my room to take a little rest before my top secret Nikon meeting later that evening.
At 3:45 I decided it would be a pretty good idea for me to get to the meeting a bit early. I arrived at the front desk of the Wolfgang Puck Bistro in the casino of the MGM and walked up to the front desk… Being a bit nervous, I wasn’t sure what to say… “Hi, I am hear for the top secret meeting”,??? No, that did sound right… “Hi, I am here for the free Nikon gear”??? Nope, that wasn’t it either… Would they have my name on the reservation?… seems silly now that I am thinking about it, but think about how goofy you can think sometimes when you are really excited. I decided to take the safe route and just say I was there with Nikon. It worked. I was taken back to a private glassed in party room that doubled as a wine cellar of sorts with tons of bottles of wine all stacked celling high in glass enclosures… but it wasn’t the wine that was getting my attention. It wasn’t even the two Nikon reps in the room.
It was the table full of lenses and cameras.
This was no small grouping of equipment here either… there was just about 5 of every thing that Nikon makes.
I stood there for a second, and after I got out of my state of shock I was finally able to introduce myself and talk to the people responsible for giving me such a awesome opportunity. It was a super fun time. We all sat around and talked about gear, lenses and photography. And then I got to fill my bag. Thats right… I SAID FILL MY BAG. Here is a list of what I left with;
D700
AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 ED
AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED
AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR
AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 ED
AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR
It is a heavy bag. =)
It was almost hard to leave the meeting with everything… I felt like I was doing something wrong… I almost felt like maybe I should run just in case they changed their minds.
After that meeting I met up with a buddy and we went and did some shooting… I mean you gotta go play with the new toy right? I have posted a couple shots below for you all to check out, mind you I did not process these in my normal style and I was still getting used to the camera so don’t go getting all judgemental. =)
They were all shot with the 24mm 1.4. It is the best lens I have ever used. PERIOD. Nikon is never getting it back from me.
I also, wanted to give a shout out to Sandisk and Lowepro for hooking me up with some cards and an awesome backpack.
More to come soon… like this afternoon soon.
