0Posted by Nate Ludens on July 29, 2010 at 6:06 am
Here in Las Vegas, design means commerce. Here’s a testimonial that says this is not always the case.
For the 2nd year in a row, I’m designing shirts for a memorial bike rally honoring a family who recently lost 2 brothers (husbands, fathers, friends) in Nebraska and Wyoming, near my hometown. Long-time friends of my family as a kid, and good guys to have a cold one or catch a concert with. And, for the 2nd year in a row, I’m feeling lucky as hell that I can contribute to the event. Today I received photos of the last event and it really hit home, especially now that I’m a father.
I’m reminded of a song by Rancid called Indestructible. The jist of it is that as an artist, you can live forever – indestructible – through your art. I get it. You can, without a doubt. Another way to be indestructible is to be a good friend, a father, a brother, a mother, a sister and leave your mark on things through helping other people and causes. That’s what these types of projects are about. Try getting this kind of emotion, longevity and gratification from a routine paycheck. Fat chance.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on July 11, 2010 at 1:13 am
If you work in social media like I do, you probably see a lot of tweets, blogs, emails, mobile messages and status updates. We probably read more updates in a week than most people see in a year. Here’s six things I am seeing more and more often, and its kind of disturbing:
1. Wannabe media outlets - If you get your “BREAKING NEWS:” tweets from a fish bait shop or a seamstress, please be skeptical.
2. Google update – fed auto blog posts and auto tweets. Seriously?! You are the equivalent to roadside litter. (Forgive me for this: “Twitter Litter.”) Do you want to read a blog post from someone who never took one second to type even one letter?
3. twitter spammers - If you see a tweet from a profile with an account with a default avatar, 5078 followers that’s following 0, it’s most likely a bullshit account. In fact, I think twitter should restrict users with no avatar. Like, no RT function and a cap on followers until you enter a Captcha word. Or – better yet, make us users enter a captcha word at random sometimes. Like a DUI checkpoint, kinda.
4. facebook event update madness. I have said for a long time that facebook should overhaul their events functions. Again, more captcha, please. I’d love to see more targeting and less “Update All Fans” – but that would be a conflict for facebook, as they rely on event ads for revenue. Investing in more customization in free features probably goes against their bottom line.
5. Everyone’s an expert. The majority of SM experts are really sharp and I appreciate the hell out of them, but some aren’t practicing what they preach. Reduntant tweets for the same blog post? Isn’t this the same as sending me repeat email blasts? What about those who preach authenticity, yet schedule and cross-post (see #6) their tweets, sometimes 20 at a time?
6. Duplicate posts across networks. Some of my friends do this and it drives me kinda crazy. Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter = all different animals with different uses. Mix it up a little, if you must cross-post. Honestly, when are people going to accept that LinkedIn is a virtual resumé. Would you attach a sheet of typed out tweets to your resumé? I didn’t think so.
What’s the most annoying new trend you’re seeing in Social Media, as the industry evolves?
I had the pleasure of shooting photos of the 3rd Las Vegas Event for Project Dinner Table. It’s a great event put together by really cool people – benefiting great causes, too. You can learn all about it – and buy tickets to the next one on their website here: http://www.projectdinnertable.com/
The PDT site does a really nice job of getting you the important information, so I’ll keep this post geared to my photographer friends & family. This assignment was a challenge! I shot it with two Digital SLRs, a Canon 5D Mk II with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, and my backup camera, a Canon 20D with an 11-18mm lens for the wide stuff. Hey, it was a LONG table! I swapped out and used a 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens toward the end of the evening, too. The calculation with the smaller sensor makes it an even longer zoom than 200mm.
The most challenging part of this assignment was to get shots quickly – especially the chefs preparing the food – then, jump out to the dinner to see guests enjoying the meal – and be careful not to miss any of the fun activites like the 7th inning stretch poety reading, the presentations, or the singing of the national anthem. There were even some action shots of guests tossing the ball around the diamond!
It’s been a while since I shot events – I used to hate it because I was changing batteries all night with shoe mount flash units, that I didn’t ever really jive with. Now, with the advent of higher ISO settings, I can capture much more color in much lower light. Not to mention have a LOT more fun!
Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them. Cheers!
Live, Raw and Hilarious – Feel The Steel! This show was a photographer’s dream. I interviewd frontman Michael Starr for the Station Casinos Blog recently. What a kick in the pants. Great show, too. Let’s wish them luck landing a show on Comedy Central. I’d watch it. Well, I’d Tivo it. Links to the 2-part interview are below the flickr slideshow below.
If you consider yourself a rock music fan – you should treat yourself to a Sinners show. They do tribute tunes and originals. I saw them cover Guns N’ Roses Appetite For Destruction a while back – and I was hooked. I have seen them at Ovation at Green Valley Ranch, as well as Club Madrid at Sunset Station. Both are awesome places to catch a great free concert. I’m not just saying that because I work for Station Casinos, either. In fact, you can catch the Sinners with Nawgahyde (don’t miss those whacky rockers, either) opening for Great White at the end of July at Sunset Station.
