We stayed in Scottsdale, because a) we got a good deal on a really neat hotel; and b) there are a ton of great places to eat out there. (As we discovered the first night there, many of them are closed on Sunday night.)

Monday we took a mini-holiday; we visited the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum. It turned out to be an enormous building full of rocks – but what rocks! There was a case full of fulgurites, formed when lightning strikes; there was another case full of small bowls turned from all kinds of minerals, from jade to dinosaur bone. Our next stop was the Arizona Capital Museum, where we saw exhibits on the USS Arizona, the Phoenix Mars Lander, and some of the history behind the New Mexico Territory’s bid for statehood.

The WMBA held an opening gala and pre-registration event on Monday night at the Wyndham Phoenix. By the time we got back from that, we were pretty worn out.

The seminars kicked off at 8am Tuesday (and continued into Wednesday and Thursday) with marketing reports and concepts, website and technology ideas, and sources for market information (even here in southern New Mexico). We concluded that we’re doing some things right, but some things need improvement – so watch out for website updates, additional features (like the addition of our new Screaming Light Twitter feed on the sidebar), and other changes minor and major.

One of the great things about going to seminars, other than the benefits of continuing our education, is the opportunity to network. On Wednesday, we had lunch with Rachel of Merge Weddings out of Boston. We spent a solid hour discussing the relative markets in our respective hometowns, trading photographic techniques, and laughing over lunch at the Thai Elephant in downtown Phoenix. Wednesday evening was the All-Industry Banquet and Ball. We sat next to a another photographer, who never did introduce herself, and who was unfortunately out of business cards. (We gave her one of ours, and are anxiously awaiting her promised email!) She was preparing for a bridal show in Phoenix on Friday, her first. We also met Suz from Indianapolis on Wednesday; she runs The Studio Salon and Spa, and is also a wedding planner.

The seminars ended at noon on Thursday; we had lunch at Baja Fresh (why is there no Baja-style Mexican food in Las Cruces?) before heading to the Phoenix Art Museum. I was totally blown away by the amazing collection of Asian art; I’ve always been a fan of Japanese Cloisonné, and their collection included some impressive pieces. Roz was blown away by the mega-scale photographs (think 6′ to 8′ high by 8′ to 12′ long prints), although we did notice that a couple of them were a bit soft – not terribly surprising at that scale. Both of us were amazed, alarmed, and seriously disoriented by the “FireFly Room”, more formally known as “You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies” by Yayoi Kusama. It’s essentially a dark mirrored room filled with LEDs suspended at varying heights, and the doors aren’t marked. We escaped after trying to walk through a mirror about 4 times. The experience was completely amazing – it’s like being suspended bodiless in outer space and looking at all the swirling stars and galaxies. There’s also a giant, exploding cube composed of pieces of charcoal taken from a church that was struck by lightning. All in all, defintally worth a visit if you’re ever in Phoenix.

There’s one other thing you should visit in Phoenix. On the way out of town we stopped at Ikea, the Swedish furniture and home superstore. Neither of us had ever been in one, and we though it’d be a good way to kill half an hour or so. We emerged into the Arizona sunshine 2-1/2 hours later and spent half of the drive home wondering why we don’t have one closer and how to get them to set up a store in El Paso. If you haven’t been, go. Most of the great stuff isn’t even available on their website.

One thing about Phoenix that amazed us – look at how green the lawn outside the courthouse is. We’re so accustomed to Xeroscape that the grass and trees and palms that are scattered liberally though the landscape just blew us both away. I wonder how much water they go through just for the lawn, and how they keep the desert out?

Jason

As usual, silence on the blog is only because we’re prepping big things behind the scenes; keep your eyes and ears open!

Jason