Professional Photographers of America is a great non-profit organization that supports… pro photographers! They offer training, competitions, advocacy and lobbying, and insurance and other services self-employed photographers can use.
This week is their annual convention, and people come from every corner of the photography world. You see school photographers and fashion photographers, ‘mom’ photographers, and commercial photographers. And let me tell ya, a couple thousand of them were in the Presidential Ballroom at Gaylord’s Opryland Convention Center in Nashville this morning!
I was able to get in as a part of Stan’s lab’s team, and paid my dues by helping set up the booth and unpacking all the samples and flyers they’d brought. But I went on behalf of YOU! My goal during the couple of hours I had to wander the trade show this morning was to seek out new stuff that would be of interest to scrapbookers.
It was interesting to see the response I got from various vendors when I mentioned that I taught Photoshop to scrapbookers. The Epson lady got ALL excited, and took my name to hook me up with a rep later! I got blank stares from a few other vendors, but the guys at PhotoshopCafe.com were very welcoming. (More on that soon!)
I saw some interesting trends:
- Cute is in. Everyone from seniors to wedding had a very graphic look. I saw a wedding album with the Bleeding Cowboys font
that looked very much like a digital scrapbook. There were whimsical frames, cute patterned camera straps and bags, and color color everywhere. - Everyone wants a scrapbook! A lot of the printed books that were being shown by various printers were available with scrapbook looking styles. Lots of little books, spiral bound brag books, and even accordion albums.
- People are less scared to print their own stuff. Epson was doing a booming business talking to photographers about printers. They didn’t even have anyone there prepared to talk about what I wanted to talk about, video projectors.
- Pro photo-printers are working hard to keep our business. There were some more original products out there this time, from dog-tags, much more fashionable jewelry, custom bags that weren’t just handbags, to a myriad of press printed products. I saw some AMAZING things on metallic paper, including 5×5 tri-fold invitations that were breathtaking. Pricing has come down a little on some products, which is always good for you and me!
In the next week or two, we’ll be giving away some of the swag I got on this trip. Vendors aren’t as free with the goodies as they used to be; even to get a shopping bag you had to have your badge scanned or give them a business card, for the most part. But I smiled sweetly, tried to look like I was prepared to buy thousands of dollars of stuff and got some lovely things for you!
So to kick things off, today I have a Nikon tote bag for you! (You can see the corner of it in the photo at top). Leave me a comment telling me what new photo equipment or products you’d like to purchase in the next year (from cameras, to accessories, to books and albums) and I’ll draw a random winner from the comments! ** CONGRATULATIONS PAULETT – enjoy your prize! Thanks to everyone else for your comments, sounds like we all need to win the lottery!**
Now to go soak my feet!
PS – keep a happy thought for Stan, the dude is working his butt off. He didn’t get back to his room until after 11pm tonight! If you follow him on Facebook he’s posting when he can from his phone.
Other posts you will enjoy:
- Why I like Digital Scrapbooking – A man’s perspective I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on something that has been weighing on my mind recently. Is it.. My wonderful marriage to Jenn – well, that’s good but not what I’m thinking of…...
- Back to School – why not you too? Yes, our kids are finally back to school – if yours aren’t, it’s surely just a matter of days! How better to celebrate than to treat yourself to a class or two! Our classes are taught...
- Foto Friday – Back in a FLASH! Whaddya know, sometimes those classes really pay off! I’m back from DC with two cameras full of photos to comb through, and it hit me – looks like I’m learning something! I’ve sat through Stan’s “Know...
- Feeling Scrappy? We’re back in town! Despite the thunderstorms, we’re going to be cropping tonight! Worse comes to worse, we’ll unplug the desktops and I’ll crop from the laptop on battery power. So join us! 10PM Eastern (9 central, 7 pacific) at...
- Tutorial Crops – we’re back! We took December to practice making some papers and elements, but this month we’re back to our tutorial crops! Each week I’ll link you to a tutorial, and we’ll explore ways to use the technique. This...
January 11, 2010
Beckygtx
I really hope to get DSLR in the next year. Hope being the operative word!
.-= Beckygtx´s last blog ..I have been scrapping pictures this week =-.