As I boarded my flight to Las Vegas, I couldn’t help but shriek with excitement. I COULD.NOT.CONTAIN. MYSELF. I had no idea what to expect, but my expectations were set high. REALLY High. I calmed myself, reasoning that I would only be let down with such thoughts. So I relaxed, pushed my back against my seat, fastened my seat belt securely as instructed, and thought about other things. AND… moments later I was back to shrieking with excitement. It was FINALLY happening. I was going to VEGAS baby! I couldn’t be contained.

We walked through the halls of MGM grand and I was a little taken back. It was huge! There were over 14,000 photographers there for the same reason I was.  I felt so small and a little overwhelmed. As my dreams were slowly fading into reality, we walked passed a guy with a rather odd shirt on. As he passed, I looked up at his face and realized it was [b]ecker, a well known photographer I have been following for a while. Lora, being as bold as she is, calls out his name and we stop to chat. He was kind, welcoming, and most of all completely normal. From that moment on, our trip changed. I determined to meet as many people as I could and soak up every opportunity available. Every single moment from that point on was better than the next. As we went to various parties, classes, meetings, etc. Lora, Evelyn, and I looked at each other completely stunned: “Did that really just happen? ” “OH MY GOSH how cool was that?! ” “What else could possibly be better than what we just did?”  These became our catch phrases of the trip. Every moment surpassing the next.

There are two types of icing on this rather delicous, decadent, and extremely large cake(mmmm…):

1. The friends I made. I met so many amazing and talented people from all over the country. I was amazed at the sincerity and openness of each person I came to know.

2. Photographer’s unite: An early morning gathering of Christain photographers on Wednesday morning to worship Jesus Christ and encourage each other in our businesses.

I am so grateful to have been able to go on this trip and the opportunities that came because of it. Once again, I have never been so sure of something I wanted to do and the certainty of God’s hand in my life. I am in awh.

Here are some pictures taken with my iphone:

The image on the left is [B]ecker photographing me. He held a shoot and did 100 head shots in an hour.

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So we were playing the slot machines and had NO IDEA what we were doing.  Angela works at MGM and hung out with us for a little bit showing us the ropes. She was a blast!

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This last image was taken by Liana. These are the photographers who gathered together for Photographer’s Unite!

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