So I made it here to New York City yesterday, and I’m ready for the fun that begins tomorrow. Officially it’s called PDN PhotoPlus Expo, and officially it begins on Thursday. But tomorrow I’m doing some of that networking stuff that happens in such excess around the fringes of the excessive event itself, usually referred to as PhotoPlus or simply PPE.

PPE bills itself as the “Most Important Event in Photography,” so you can imagine why I’m interested in attending, although for me, it’s less about what goes on as who attends, which leads to the great networking, which is why for me the event really starts tomorrow. That’s when I’m getting together with Gail Mooney, photographer and filmmaker. She’s giving a presentation on Thursday morning with Paula Learner on getting started in video.

However one marks the start of PPE, once it starts most people feel like they are on a rollercoaster ride that’s brakes have failed. It’s a hell or rush.

I have to admit, it feels good to be back in the States again, for the first time in a year up from my adopted home of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I mean, it’s really cool that the Digital Revolution makes it possible for me to stay totally plugged in from anywhere in the world — really cool — but being “plugged in” is not the same as good ole face-to-face human interaction, like the dinner with Mooney tomorrow night. This is really why I planed my trip specifically to coordinate with PPE.

I’d like to be able to rant and rave about how wonderfully glorious PPE is, but I have to be honest. From past experience I know that it can be both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. It can offer moments of true inspiration, but it can also offer moments of true irritation. It is an orgy of photographic madness, and an orgy is not always a great thing. (Not that I have the experience to accurately make a comparison with the carnal kind of orgy, dangit.)

For those of you who don’t know, PPE is basically divided into three experiences: The main exhibition floor, the individual educational sessions, and all the networking stuff that happens in the Javits Convention Center as well as around the city in preplanned and ad hoc happenings sprouting up in relation to the official show.

The exhibition floor can be overwhelming in itself, even if you don’t want to find out about the latest products, and of course most photographers do. Besides the sheer vastness of it, many of the big vendors offer programming, from presentations by famous photographers to hands-on lessons.

The individual educational sessions are either two or three hours long and cover the gamut in terms of topics and relevancy. Sometimes the sessions are truly fantastic, sometimes they are total crap. However, you never know before you cough up the dough and the lights go down, and regardless or how the session pans out, there is usually at least two I want to attend in each time slot, meaning that it’s impossible to see it all, let alone visit the exhibition floor with any kind of calm.

Wait. I forgot. Besides the above — and not even getting all the competing fringe networking opportunities — I remember that PPE also features more than one keynote speech and lots of other in-between Presentations from Greats. Great Photo Orgy!, indeed.

I get totally overwhelmed by PPE because I want to do it all, and yet I can’t. In the past I’ve run around and felt frantic and exhausted, yet often been disappointed by sessions I didn’t like, frustrated b the ones I could get to, as well as the friends I could never find in all the organized chaos.

Before I start to hyperventilate, let me take a deep breath and remember. . .

It’s great that I’m here in New York and PPE will be a great source of inspiration, no matter how it turns out. I think the thing to keep in mind is that just because I’m lucky enough to be attending an orgy, it doesn’t mean I have to get busy with all the bodies I encounter, analogously speaking.

This year I’m really going to focus on quality not quantity, and remember that the best quality will come from the face-to-face interactions that are beyond the realm of what’s possible just being plugged in Argentina.

One of my goals, of course, will be to soak up some great ideas to share with you through this blog, over time, not frantic or orgy like.

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In the meantime, are you headed to PPE? If so, drop us all a comment (or me an email) to share stories, images, lessons learned and insights gained from your experiences at the orgy that is called PhotoPlus Expo.

Tags: Gail Mooney, Paula Lerner, PhotoPlus Expo, PND PhotoPlus Expo, PPE