China Update #5 – Speaking at PPA Asia 2009

It was a real honor to be asked to speak at PPA Asia.  Someone in our group pointed out that not only was I speaking at the first PPA Asia, but I was the first speaker at the first PPA Asia!  That made me feel really good.  It was such a great group in attendance, and I was able to meet some fantastic photographers over there and see some really amazing photographs.

So the first day, I started things off by speaking in the largest room, giving my creativity program.  I revised it many times over to make it more applicable to the Chinese culture, and making it more visual as well so that it would translate well.  It was received very well, and afterward I was mobbed by attention from people asking for autographs and photos with me.

The second day I started out speaking again in a smaller room doing a variation of my creativity program, but with more specific posing and lighting ideas for single individuals.  This too was met with me getting a bunch of attention afterward.

I have to admit, it was really fun to be treated like such a rock star!  A crowd would gather for pictures and autographs and would last for about an hour each time I spoke.  We would have to break it up so that we could get out of the way for the next presentation.

As you can see too, I got a lot of use out of my new Chinese tailored suits!  This black one is my third suit I had made out there.  They all fit so nice, I kind of wish I had gotten even more, except I just don’t need any more suits!  🙂

Then that afternoon, I spoke again in the large conference room and did a presentation on portrait lighting and posing for a more fashion approach.  It seemed that everyone’s favorite part was when I did live posing on stage using photographers in the audience as models.  They really loved it!

Everything I did was translated by a live interpreter.  I had to pause every two to three sentences to allow interpretation.  I found that I had to make shorter and more precise statements, and really had to get used to the flow of speaking in such a way with long pauses.  I also had to use simpler words and try hard to not use deep photography jargon that the interpreter might not know.  It was a real adventure and I made quick friends with my incredible and gifted interpreter, Kevin.

Here’s a photo of me sitting for a minute to start a slideshow, and my interpreter standing near by.  He was a great guy and was really fun to hang out with.

In the next post I’ll talk about the awards ceremony and the fantastic party that was held later that night.