How much effort went into producing this photo? Practically none. At least on my part. At the beginning of the month, I attended Photoshop World in Las Vegas. On the conference floor, among the vendors selling the latest-and-greatest camera gear, organizers set up model booths. They designed the space, provided a model, arranged props, coordinated wardrobe, applied makeup, and most importantly, set up the lighting. Participants like me pulled out their camera, composed their shot, and walked away with fantastic images. In fact, people were creating images like this on their four-year-old cell phones. Definitely a fun exercise.

Of course, if you stuck around long enough, professionals described lighting strategies in detail. There were regularly scheduled demonstrations and lectures on the conference floor, in addition to sessions in the auditorium areas. Topics ranged from lighting to composites to graphic design.

For a hobbyist like me, investing the time and money required to attend a conference like this doesn’t always make sense. But a month after attending this shindig, three things stand out in my mind.

(A) The instructors are second-to-none. Not only are they extremely accomplished photographers (known for magazine covers, fine art exhibitions, etc.), but they were uniformly outstanding speakers. I used to teach programming classes professionally. I’ve attended countless classroom training sessions during my career. I can absolutely say that these folks were some of the best instructors I have ever listened to. I may well seek out in-depth workshops put on by these folks in the future.

(B) The opening ceremony had a standout moment that I still remember vividly. In the midst of the pomp and circumstance — I’ll admit that I’m not used to productions having lights and videos and smoke-filled entrances — they introduced a young woman who delivered one of the most inspirational speeches I have ever heard. Her name was Brooke Shaden, and I highly recommend a quick visit her website. In the few minutes I was listening to her presentation, I began feeling like an artist. Me. Transformational and motivating thoughts filled my head, and for a moment, I wanted to quit my day job and explore my creativity as a full-time passion! Of course, later in the day I got hungry and realized I should keep the day job to put food on the table. 🙂

(C) Probably the single most valuable element was meeting some of my fellow photographers from the Google+ community face-to-face. Wonderful people who were extremely friendly and fun to be around. Enthusiastic, energetic, and apparently lucky (one of our gang walked away with a brand new camera lens as a door prize).

So was it a good experience? I’d say yes. When all was said and done, what did I take from this experience? I wanted to buy more gear. 🙂 OK, more than that. For a hobbyist like me, I walked away with some new ideas, a couple of new tricks in my arsenal, and great deal of motivation. And that was worth the price of admission.