Doing WPPI on a college kids budget

Everyone loves and partying in Vegas, but spending a week in Vegas can be expensive. One of my friends last year spent 1800 + for his trip to Vegas last year while I spent about 200+.  In this article I’ll go over what I did to save money.

1. Don’t pay full price for a WPPI ticket. There are many ways to get a discounted ticket.  The best one I took advantage of is the student/educator discount.  This year it was only $20 for a full registration.  Its super easy to get the student/educator discount, you can be basically enrolled in any type of school studying anything, I am studying Outdoor Recreation.  To qualify for the educator discount it is basically the same.  If you have any questions about this discount ask the WPPI Registration folks. Another way to not pay full price is split the price with a friend.  Each regular full registration comes with one free guest, so get together with your friend and just split the cost in half.
2. You don’t have to eat out at a four star restaurant every meal.  It may be super fun to go eat out for every meal but it is totally going to add up after the week you are there.  Last year while I was there, I ate off the dollar menu at McDonalds a lot haha, not very healthy but I was for sure able to sale money.  I also found this great mom and pop café in the MGM that charged a lot less then most of the other places.  Go to a grocery store and stock up on breakfast and snack foods.  I always ate breakfast in the hotel room, like poptarts or breakfast bars.  Also buy some of your favorite snack foods to eat through out the day.  I brought a bunch of granola bars and stuff.  There are many events going on the most likely that will have food at to check out.  Watch twitter for these events check out the hashtag #wppi2012.  What ever you do just pay attention to how much your are spending on food.
3. Don’t stay alone in your own hotel room.  Staying in a room buy your self can be expensive for sure.  No one ever said you had to stay at the MGM, look at other hotels around.  My friend stayed at Hooters for like $30 a night.  You can always get a room at the MGM and then just find a bunch of people to split the cost with. I would also look at time-share options around this work best if you were going to drive though. Finding a nice timeshare to split with a bunch of peeps is great, because then you have a kitchen to cook at and such.  Also if you are super adventurous there is this site called http://www.couchsurfing.org/ were you can find random people to stay with, could be crazy but it’s free haha.  If you have a friend living in Vegas its always ok to ask them if you can stay with them.
4. Take advantage of Vendors free giveaways.  Graphi Studio usually does a free sample pack for new customers.  Last year Kiss books gave away like a $300 Credit to like the first 300 peeps that got the code.  So look for these sick deals at the trade show.  Look at Facebook contest that vendors are doing during the show last year Smugmug gave away a bunch of free years.

Now I am going to give a bunch of tips to make your stay in Vegas more comfortable

1. Wear really good shoes. You are going to be doing loads of walking while you are at the show.  Last year I brought some crappy shoes and my feet were exhausted after each day.  I would recommend bringing some nice walking shoes.
2.  Bring a nice backpack to tote your stuff around while you are out and about.  I usually carry my laptop, my water bottle, snacks, and other materials I get from classes.  Make sure it is super comfortable.
3. Check out the strip at least once while you there.  Vegas is a super fun place and not it all happens at MGM.  You can get some real fun pics on the strip at night. Last year a bunch of us went and checked out Freemont Street that was super cool. Go out there and discover Vegas.
4. Don’t pack around your SLR with you all day long. I got a canon g10 that ill take along with me around the show.  Your camera is super heavy and what are you really going to take pics of?
5. Follow the hashtag #wppi2012. You can find tweetups, tips and a bunch of other fun things happening during the show.  You can find out what sweet deals vendors are doing at the shows and just get in the know about the show.

Well that basically wraps it up.  If you have any tips of your own or any comments feel free to share.

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Next Saturday December 10th I’ll be doing a Family Holiday Picture Marathon in a studio.  This is a great opportunity to come get some new family pictures at a great deal.

Here is what you get for $75 for families and $50 for people that just want to do an individual shoot

• 30 mins session in the studio
• 10×15 or an 11×14 print or a box of 20 christmas cards
• up to 6 people

Contact me soon to book your time slot.  I will be there 9am-3pm on December 10th

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Here are some fun holiday cards, you should think about getting some.

A box of 20 is $25, A box of 50 $55. If you do a family session you get your choice of a of 20 cards or a 16×20

If you buy before Dec 10th and mention this post I’ll give you a box of 20 for 18 and a box of 50 for $40

Ok here is the deal yo,

$75 for a regular individual portrait session.  We can do a location or studio shoot.  Limited to 2 hrs, i will travel in Utah Country for  free but if I have to leave there I will charge some gas money. It includes your pick of 20 digital files. Regularly $100

$150 for a couples/family portrait session.  We can do a location or studio shoot.  Limited to 2 hrs, i will travel in Utah Country for  free but if I have to leave there I will charge some gas money. It includes your pick of 20 digital files, and your choice of a 16×20 print or 20 holiday cards.  Regularly $200

Offer good until the end of Monday Nov 28th, 2011

Contact me to book your session, 801-851-0854 or Torsten@torstenbangreter.com

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I have been chillin with my wonderful friend Shanna Painter a totally awesome makeup artist and body painter lately.  She came up with this really cool Sugar Skull series.  Here it what we have done so far, it pretty much legit.

Green- Model Kayla Pasborg

Red- Model Kira Lake

Teal- Model Robbie Ann

Here are some of my latest images, my galleries are always up to date so check those out.

I helped my friend with some lighting in a shoot in Downtown SLC and grabbed some shots.

Went to alpine loop and messed around with macro settings and landscapes

I shot a crazy event

My makeup artist friend Shanna Painter did these really cool day of the dead skulls so I came a shot those

I also to went another model photographer meetup, we did a crazy theme called steakpunk

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I just love halloween, it is super spooktacular. You can be anyone you want to be, a creepy monster or a beautiful movie star its up to you.   It gives us a chance to escape from out hectic lives and take a break.  I have partnered with a wonderful makeup artist, Lauren Searle, she will make you look fantablous or super scary your choice.

Here are the simple steps to enter the contest.

1. Like Lauren’s page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LPSMUA

2. Like my page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/torbangphotography

3. Post this on your Facebook status, “Win a Spooktacular Halloween Shoot from TorBang Photography and Lauren Paige Makeup Artistry more info at http://bit.ly/nlmHYW”

4. Post your worst/funniest halloween picture on TorBang Photography’s wall, post in the caption that is super hilarious.

5. Get your friends to like your picture you posted, the person with the most likes wins.

6. Make sure to do all these steps by October 12th, 2011, the winner will be announced October 13th, 2011.

Good Luck

Here are some other details about the contest, The portrait session of the winning party must be completed by oct 29th 2011 The Location of the session must be located within 50 miles of Provo, UT, or have a minimal gas fee charged for going out of that range.

Fall is such a beautiful time to get your family pictures done.  It doesn’t matter if you are a new family with one little baby, or a well established family with 8 kids all grown up, it’s always great to get a new family portrait.  I have decided to giveaway a family portrait session. I have partnered with a wonderful makeup artist, Lauren Searle, she will make you look fantablous.

Here are the simple steps to enter the contest.

1. Like Lauren’s page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LPSMUA

2. Like my page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/torbangphotography

3. Post this on your Facebook status, “Win a Family Portrait Session from TorBang Photography and Lauren Paige Makeup Artistry more info at http://bit.ly/nle5hc”

4. Post your worst/funniest family portrait on TorBang Photography’s wall, post in the caption why you think you deserve to win the portrait session.

5. Get your friends to like your picture you posted, the person with the most likes wins.

6. Make sure to do all these steps by October 8th, 2011, the winner will be announced October 10th, 2011.

Good Luck

Here are some other details about the contest, The family portrait session of the winning party must be completed in the months of October or November 2011.  The Location of the session must be located within 50 miles of Provo, UT, or have a minimal gas fee charged for going out of that range. The session must not last longer then 60 minutes.

I have been up to a lot of crazy adventures lately like usual, I photographed some seniors, some gromals, and some fun nightlife adventures.

These seniors are of my cousin Britney, I took these at a family reunion in Pine Valley, UT.  This location was really gorgeous, and I broke out my new lens the Lensbaby Composer Pro

We shot these Gromals at Cascade Springs, OMG this place is also gorgeous.  I just loved the wonderful water features and beautiful plants and such.  Mani and Richard look so great together, I wish them the best.

Here are some fun pictures from some nightlife adventures.

I have been wanting to do an Alice in Wonderland shoot since last winter and just got around to doing it recently. I asked my Jennifer Hale to model for it, she was super excited for this project.  I knew I kind of wanted it to be more like my other Tim Burton like projects, with that kind of little darker feel. We were very fortunate to find a very talent makeup artist to help us, Erika Esponiza. She really helped us get the vision Jennifer and I were looking for. I would also like to thank Ryan Romeike for let us shoot at his studio.

I really enjoy doing these more conceptual shoots, if you have any crazy ideas you would like to do, let me know.

Here are the pics.

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