Ken Kaminesky and me at PhotoPlus Expo. Photo by John Shafer: AKA @Photo_John
Well, another PhotoPlus Expo has come and gone and wow, what a show it was! I got to see so much cool gear that I’ve already filled out my Christmas list. (I live in Alaska, so I’ll just hand deliver the list when I get back.)
I finally met a handful of my Twitter friends in person, like @photojack, @Photo_John, @PicSeshu and @KenKaminesky. (I need to talk to him about changing his Twitter handle—maybe something catchy like @Photo_Ken.)
And I learned so much in some of the awesome seminars, that I now know how to fix everything that I’m doing wrong in my photography business.
If you never been to a big photo trade show, let me tell you, you’re missing out big time! To let you relive some of the magic I experienced during the past few days, here’s what a typical day looked like for me. Of course, this is in addition to my regular coverage of posting show tidbits on Facebook and Twitter for The Photoletariat.
7:30 AM Wake up bleary-eyed from staying up late watching bad hotel TV.
8:45AM Dodge raindrops and taxi cabs on my way over to the Javits Center and catch another seminar on photography and social media.
10:38 Head to the Nikon booth to see what it’s like to look through a $12,000 lens.
11:22AM Pass a guy in the hall who looks like he’s probably Zack Arias.
12:16PM Stop Joe McNally and do a 48-second video interview with him for The Photoletariat. Then after he’s gone, realize I messed up and accidentally double-tapped the record button. Decide that a one-second clip of him holding a cup of coffee probably won’t make for a very good blog post.
12:45PM Hand out coupons for my new off-camera flash eBook, “Going Fast With Light,” and inform people that everyone who buys it in the next two weeks is automatically entered to win a $500 gift card from B&H Photo. (This is still going on. Download your copy here and get in on the contest!)
1:02PM Suddenly remember that I forgot to eat breakfast, woof down a Clif Bar, get really busy again and then forget to eat anything else for the rest of the afternoon.
1:35PM Walk past the Midwest Photo Exchange booth and get caught up in a crowd of 750 Strobist readers who are all blocking the aisle, probably hoping to catch a glimpse of David Hobby.
2:11PM Approach a camera equipment manufacturer, introduce myself as the Senior Contributor to The Photoletariat, and ask for free gear to try out and review.
2:15PM Approach another camera equipment manufacturer, introduce myself as pro Alaska adventure photographer and blogger Dan Bailey and ask for free gear to try out and review.
3:18PM Stuff another product catalog into my bag that’s already so full that it’s starting to hurt my back.
3:30PM Run into someone else that I follow on Twitter.
3:46PM Walk past the room where Superstar Dane Sanders just finished his Fast Track coaching seminar and suddenly find myself surrounded by 475 of his wedding photographer groupies.
4:05PM Pass a guy in the hall who’s I think is probably the real Zack Arias.
4:47PM Head back to the Gitzo booth for the third time, in the hopes that someone will give me a free tripod.
6:00PM Go out to dinner and grumble with fellow shooters about how tough it is to be a photographer in this economy. Drink a few more beers and revel in the fact that we’re all living the dream.
8:45PM Stroll through Times Square and see hundreds of tourists taking pictures with their telephones.
10:16PM Arrive back at the hotel. Write and upload Photoletariat blog posts on my iPad so that they can go live first thing in the morning. Then stay up way too late watching bad hotel TV.
Thanks for following along with all of this year’s PhotoPlus Expo coverage, and as always, thanks for reading and retweeting The Photoletariat.
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Senior contributor Dan Bailey is a professional adventure, outdoor and travel photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska.
