NOTE: This is a blog post originally published on March 3, 2014. I am porting some of the posts from my old blog over to this new one. Please see this post for the full story.
 

Every year in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) there is this great photography conference called Gulf Photo Plus, or GPP for short. It's a one-week collection of photography workshops taught by some of the greatest instructors in the business. The workshops tend to be intimate due to their low student/teacher ratio and there are plenty of opportunities to socialize with these masters beyond the actual workshops. In fact, this is really the biggest appeal of GPP, the access and opportunity to interact with these talented instructors.

So after several years of following all the action through social media and blogs, I have finally made it to Dubai to check it out for myself. Living in the USA, traveling to Dubai is quite the journey but it's not as bad as you might initially think. People in the US don't really think much about driving 13 - 20 hours to go visit some far off state. In fact, it's quite common. So why is a 13-hour flight such a big deal? Cost? It is expensive, but not so expensive that you can't plan in advance and save up a little more than you would for a typical vacation. If photography is your business, it's not any more of an investment than a good quality course or seminar in any profession.

It was exactly this logic that finally got me to Dubai. I think the biggest obstacle for people doing something like this is neither time nor money but simply fear from never having done it before. Once you get over that, you're on your way.

So here I am, tired and jet-lagged for sure, but also extremely excited about what's to come. On the flight over here, I found myself on the same flight as Joe McNally, Lindsay Adler, and RC from Kelby Media. Just the opportunity to mingle with these people while in the long and slow-moving passport control line in the Dubai airport has made the trip worth every penny for me.

Stay tuned for more from Dubai.