Throwback Thursday - WPI Circa 1990?

1/15/2015

Whoa...this one is a classic and filled with wonderful memories. I have no idea who the photographer was, but it was at WPI, at least 23-25 years ago. No, that's not a typo - it was WPI back then, Wedding Photographers International.

Starting in the top left, that's Monte Zucker, Don Blair, Tibor Horvath, David Ziser, Ed Pierce, Steve Sheanin and Ernst Wildi. Bottom row, David Bentley and Terry Deglau. If I remember right, this was at the WPI Awards program and was a shot of all the Lifetime Award recipients (then the Bill Stockwell Award) with Steve Sheanin, founder and then owner of WPI, Steve Sheanin.

Monte, "Big Daddy" Blair and Tibor have all passed away, but if you were around in those days then you know how much each of them paved the way for wedding and portrait photography today. In fact, everybody in the picture has played a significant role, not just in the foundation of WPPI, but in building our industry.

Looking at this image brings back an avalanche of great memories. This was at least 10 years before I worked for WPPI. There were several of us from the industry who would fly in for the show 2-3 days early just to help out and be a part of what Steve Sheanin and his crew were building. It didn't matter what job we were given to do, this was about being part of a "family".

As usual, Throwback Thursday always has a point - and it's the same every time. The images you capture today will be the cherished memories you share tomorrow. Don't miss an opportunity to capture those special moments, so twenty years from now you can be looking back and telling stories like I enjoy sharing every Thursday!

2 Comments

"Why?"

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Jim Morton

1/15/2015 01:17:58 am

I think this may have been the year that Ernst received the award!

Bettie Robertson

1/15/2015 10:45:53 pm

I LOVE THIS SHOT! What memories! These were all my photo teachers/mentors. I wonder if Clay could have taken the shot.... I'm thinking maybe 1988 (Nashville) or 1989 or maybe some year before that. I'm pretty sure it was before 1990 in Orlando though as that year I brought my mom and we took a pic with Monte. His hair and beard was much fuller in that shot then in this photo. No matter when, this image takes me back and makes me miss what I enjoyed so much about WPI. These guys were not only great teachers but a helluva lot of fun to hang out with. Such open hearts and open minds and the willingness to share all they had learned throughout their careers with us "newbies." I remember crying when my first WPI ended in 88 because I felt so overwhelmed with emotion. It makes me cry now just to recall it. I was not getting the creative or emotional support I needed at that time from my (soon to be ex-) husband at home in Reno, who had no belief in me or any VISION for what I could accomplish with my photo biz... so to be there at WPI and to feel so welcomed and encouraged by these top Pros meant the whole world to me. I felt like I belonged in and to a wonderful inclusive creative family - a group of people who were not just talented artists and smart businesspeople but were great human beings who were dedicated to their artform/craft and sought to raise the level of excellence in their fellow photogs' work and bless everyone's lives with the talents God gave us. These men helped me see the nobility in what we were doing for others - our clients, colleagues, staff - and at a time when I was feeling very alone in my efforts at home, they helped me see that I wasn't alone after all. They gave me lots of knowledge and advice but more importantly, they gave me hope for a future in which I too could do something meaningful with my life. That's why I cried then at the closing night's party and why remembering them is so bittersweet. I miss these people so much - these mentors, with their words of wisdom and their infectious laughter and their love of creating and capturing beauty. They made the world, especially mine, a better place in which to live and how do you thank people enough for that? Well, you can't but we CAN remember them and what they taught us and we can pass it on to others as a living legacy. Some people say we "Stand on the shoulders of giants" - I'd amend that to personally say "I see through the eyes and with the hearts of Giants!"

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