Posted by Nate on June 12, 2010 at 11:48 am
Here’s some events I’m looking forward to attending in Las Vegas (and/or working with). I hope to see you at some of the shows. Come introduce yourself if you see me there.
Saturday, June 12 (today) REGGAE IN THE DESERT. This is an annual thing for my wife and I. Great food, very chill afternoon and evening on the lawn with some of the best touring reggae bands you can find.
Friday, June 18th: Sin City Sinners first show as resident Friday night band inside Club Madrid at Sunset Station. (Full disclosure: I work for Stations Web Marketing, but this isn’t a sales pitch – I can’t, it’s a free show!) The Sinners bring a rock-legend-guest to almost every show, and always have a great set in store. I’ll be shooting the show for fun (and for work). Did I mention there’s no cover?
Saturday, June 19th: Steel Panther returns to Green Valley Ranch’s Ovation. I’ll be shooting this show as well. And don’t miss the interview on the Stations blog coming up this week. It’s pretty funny. They’re in the new Bud Light commercial about the haircut as an excuse to throw a party.
That’s it for this week. Watch for the photos the following week. I’ll try to keep these updates coming if you like it. Again, hope to see you at the shows!
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Posted by Nate on May 22, 2010 at 1:25 pm
What year is it again?
Like Peter Griffin once said so eloquently on Family Guy: “You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?”
Phone books.
Does anyone else think it’s monumentally hypocritical that this giant yellow PLASTIC bag with recycling logos all over it contains a heavy block of paper that will never see the light of day is back on your doorstep?
Dear Yellowbook:
Wanna save some money? Make your product-of-yesteryear OPT-IN, instead of OPT-OUT. I have opted out of every one of these darn things for the last few years, and I keep getting them from Sprint, Embarq, CenturyLink, Yellowbook, etc. Seemingly every month or two! Do you really think that guy you’re paying more minimum than minimum wage gives a crap if I opted out of this travesty? Doubt it. He just wants his beer money and to get on with the weekend, I’d guess. He probably doesn’t care about the karma of slaughtering acres and acres of woodland for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Apparently, neither do you.
Thanks,
The people of 2010
P.S. Whatever smoke you’re blowing up your advertisers butts about impressions… Yeah, probably also not so good in the karma dept.
Click here to OPT yourself OUT of Yellowbook, like I just did.
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Posted by Nate on May 20, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Hey, you can do a quick google search and you’ll find several pages of people reviewing CS5 and Lightroom 3 beta. Some are experts, some are lame. I’m not going to waste my time or yours giving you another review. Instead, here are my notes / observations while I run Photoshop CS5 alongside Lightroom 3 beta for the first time, along with some screen shots:
- First glance of Lightroom 3 beta is very impressive. I knew in 2 minutes that I’d buy the upgrade in July. Very fluid import of a ton of large DNG files sold it for me.
- PS CS5 Lens correction filter worked somewhat well on a 16-bit photo. Took about a minute to load it, using what looks like the beginning of a flash movie loading up. Kinda cool. Kinda annoying like a flash site on a dial-up connection, depending on your processing power.
- Irritating that most of the filters still do not work with a 16-bit photo, even after converting it to a smart object. I’ll keep toying with this.
- Do we really still need the render>cloud filter?
- Freaking lovvvve the Kuler extension built in. Mini Bridge has potential to be great, too (ONLY if you have 2 monitors like I do).
- new photoshop color sampler tool is cool, though I’m not sure its functional.
- Grain feature in Lightroom 3 is nice. I think this will really make printed pieces look great. Or like a really decent scan of a film print, if there is such a thing.
- Brush heaven! If you are a digital painter, you’ll absolutely love the new brush functionality. Very cool with a Wacom Tablet. Identifies Left and Right handedness. Several new brushes.
- To date, I have not had a chance to sink my teeth into HDR photo conversion software. This product will be the tool that introduces the rest of the world to HDR photography. It’s easy to use, very intuitive, and allows amazing control for infinite creative possibilities. I know there are other HDR products on the market that are very reputable, but this one wowed me.
- Be patient when you play with the HDR images. The files can get really big in a hurry.
I’m just scratching the surface with these two applications. I’m curious to dive into the 3D tools and other improvements. The content-aware tools have got most of the attention to date, and I know my Vegas Photoshop User Group Co-Manager, Krystal Hosmer has plans to demo this at the Adobe User’s Group mega-meeting on May 25. You’re RSVP’d right? You should be there, since we’re giving away multiple copies of the CS5 Master Collection, as well as a whole gang of other cool schwag.
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Posted by Nate on May 19, 2010 at 6:00 pm
One year after closing my creative services studio, and hearing about more and more layoffs in ad agencies and belly up studios like mine, I can’t help but to sometimes think about creative services as sort of a paralyzed industry. In my case, there were several reasons contributing to my studio’s demise: my inexperience, some poor judgement, some bad luck and probably more than all those combined: bad goddamn timing. But I’m not bitter. I’m evolving, and the rest of my industry should, too. Okay, maybe the creative services industry isn’t exactly dying, but it sure is starving – at best.
But I think I’ve been wrong. The industry isn’t paralyzed, it’s just changing – quickly. In a different era, advertising ROI wasn’t as prevalent and Agencies could staff up – becuase profits were high all around. Now, the temptation to use a smaller, less expensive company or a freelancer is great. Crowdsourced creative, template sites and stock houses are tempting to companies on tighter budgets – and sometimes they can work quite well. Sometimes they’re a disaster. The importance of quality photography and design in all areas of your campaign has never been more important. Advertise smarter, in other words.
Today’s advertising industry has expanded to encompass traditional print and brodcast mediums as well as the new engagement/experience driven marketplace, and I predict this should boost the creative services industry – and here’s how I think it will go down.
Quality control will be at the forefront of your strategy. Here’s why: Your product cannot “suck.” If it does, with poor ad placement or a bad – say – retail product, people will A) know and amplify the shortfalls via social networks; or worse B) not even see it and it will dissolve into obscurity. if you hire a lousy designer to make a lousy menu – someone will tweet about it, write a review on Yelp and post it on Facebook. Hire a lousy guy to design your brakes. Ask Toyota how that could go down. Hire a lousy designer to design your website, your business card, your menu, your packaging… all potential public or financial FAIL. This is why its so important to invest in good design, or suffer the consequences.
To summarize, companies must put their best foot forward at all times to get noticed and do it alongside a good creative professional team. Stakes are higher now than ever. After all, the new consumer is the media, and they’re still always right.
No pressure.
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Posted by Nate on May 1, 2010 at 12:09 pm
I have been involved in the “Facebook is Big Brother” privacy discussion about 5 times this week, and I’m frankly, bored with it. I understand the risks of saying this aloud on a blog – but I’m going to do it anyway: Lay off Facebook! Yeah, I said it.
There’s privacy risk involved in uploading anything to the web, akin to driving a car on a freeway. You see, it’s not up to Facebook to determine what’s on your profile so quit blaming them for that shot of you at your bachelorette party dancing on the bar. You uploaded it to the web, sister. Period.
Frankly, I think the integration of the “like” button on other sites is VERY cool. We’re in an era where peer reviews sell products moreso than ads. I think it’s helpful for us all to see who likes products, especially your friends. I’ll tap them for a review, increasingly holding product sellers accountable for having a good product. And regarding privacy – again – your user settings allow it.
Look, could Facebook turn off a few buttons on default? Sure they could – they may have to, if the government gets more involved. But, as I pointed out a few times this week via twitter, there’s no OPT in default Opt-Ins – by definition. They do encourage you to edit your privacy settings, which is pretty fantastic, considering what it meanst to their bottom line.
We live in a society that likes to “set it and forget it” when it comes to preferences online. Not anymore. Set ‘em! Change ‘em! Control your own data.
At the end of the day, Facebook is a company. Companies like to make money. No amount of people are going to change that. So, save the “Yeah, but they’re making money off our information!” argument. It doesn’t hold water. Do you think your TV watching habits, magazine subscriptions, web clicks, and credit scores aren’t being bought and sold? You bet they are! My wife and I had free diapers in the mailbox the day we arrived home from the hospital after my son was born. In years past, I’ve bought lists from the post office for direct mail pieces, targeting men who subscribe to certain magaines who own pools in a certain zip code. Companies buy and sell your data every day without your knowledge of it.
The two types of information carriers in existence are 1) pay for access (SIRIUS/XM Radio, Cable & Satellite TV) and 2) free and full of ads (terrestrial radio, Super Saver Newspapers by the door at the grocery store). This isn’t new. You can’t have a free information carrier without Ads – even MySpace has that figured out. Where MySpace screws up is sporting a nauseating user experience, which has helped Facebook flourish into the #1 visited site and more importantly – the 7-minutes-plus on average that people spend each visit. Facebook users are very lucky their Ads are not intrusive and even let you close an ad and ask why you closed it.
You’ve seen the groups “1,000,000 strong to say NO to paying for Facebook” and the like. It won’t happen as long as Facebook continues to evolve as an information carrier. Because they’ll sell ads. And – let me tell you – these are the most effective, super targeted advertising system in history. Because of the information YOU gave them.
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Posted by Nate on April 27, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Its kind of funny to me that there’s a genre on wikipedia (yeah, I know, it’s wikipedia) called Folk/Punk. The author credits the great Pogues as founders. I credit Bob Dylan, probably, for kick-starting this genre, if it really does exist. You could argue that its origins are within blues or even southern rock – but I always tend to lean toward the great Joe Strummer. The Clash were legends: punk as hell – brutally honest, smart and snide social commentary, no doubt. But it’s Strummer’s late work that really turns up the passion and the wisdom. His worldliness shines in the Hellcat Records discography. Go get these records immediately.
But get this album, too. I stumbled upon Frank Turner’s music recently while researching The Revival Tour, a group of veteran punks that just plain kick some acoustic ass. Same vigor, same angst, but acoustic. Epic story tellers, I gotta say. Turner is bold and grouchy, but insightful and often times gutwrenchingly beautiful, too. I purchased The First Three Years from iTunes almost immediately after stumbling upon Turners MySpace page and listening to all of the sample tunes there. 24 solid, soulful tunes for 8 bucks. Thank me later.
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Posted by Nate on April 24, 2010 at 2:27 pm
When it comes to discovering new things, I’m like a crazy heroin addict. I think it’s the definition of living. My dad always said (ad nauseum while on vacations) to “expand my horizons” and as a teenager, it drove me nuts. Now, I’m a father… and I get it.
Did you ever hear a song, read an article or a book and go, “How did I NOT know about this!?” I do it all the time. 2 or 3 times a week, lately. So, I’m starting a new string of blog posts called “New To Me” and it’s about people, organizations, bands and such – that are newly GREAT to me. I hope you like it.
This first post is about a photographer who changed the game for me. Bobby Model passed away last fall, and I can’t learn enough about him right now. My introduction to the National Geographic photographer and adventure-seeker came from another magazine, American Photo, who featured him in the July/August 2009 issue. I relate to Bobby Model in a couple different ways. I love extreme, off-the-path places, risk vs. reward photography, and I’m from Wyoming, like Bobby.
Model was named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic last year, where he was quoted:
“I grew up in Wyoming, one of the most isolated areas of the United States,” he explains. “So hanging on ropes and moving around mountains just came naturally. It’s also why I’ve always found it easy to relate to ordinary people who work the land. I really respect and appreciate those individuals and their stories.”
Wish I could have bought that guy a drink, was my first thought, when I learned of his passing.
I talked to an Award-Winning fine-art photographer Steve Campbell from Las Vegas-based Casey’s Cameras last week at our Vegas Photoshop Users Group meeting. We discussed fisheye lenses. He said he sells them to “extreme sports photographers,” mostly.
I can’t help but think of Model as a pioneer in this genre – he shot adventure photos before there was an “extreme” label, and before it became commercial.
The next time I’m shooting an oncoming race car doing 180mph, a mosh pit or a KO’d kickboxer hanging above me on the ropes, I’ll think of Bobby Model – who shot in ice caves, waist-deep snow, hanging from ropes, and on mountain bikes. My kind of office.
Learn a thing or two at M-11, Bobby Model’s portfolio website. I did.
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Posted by Nate on April 2, 2010 at 5:23 pm
For my second photo assignment last night, I shot the new series of Unsigned: Bands On The Rise at Ovation inside Green Valley Ranch. I was excited to see it was old friends, Slow To Surface on the bill for this, the third installment of the local and indie showcase that the Station Casinos Entertainment Team has lined up for a couple Thursdays a month inside Ovation.
The last time I caught a show at Ovation, I was impressed by the venue. Actually, I made note of it on my blog post for Station Casinos. These photos will show that there’s a very impressive presentation for these bands. Great for photography! This time around, I had my gear, and I hope you like the results as much as I do.
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Posted by Nate on April 2, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I had the pleasure of shooting Michael Burks last night at Boulder Station’s Railhead. I highly recommend you catch as many Boulder Blues sessions on Thursday nights as you possibly can. I can’t believe it’s a free show. $2.00 beers will get you loose if the smokin’ hot blues doesn’t do the job.
Here are some photos from the show. Be sure to check the lineup over at boulderstation.com and I hope to see you at the next show.
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Posted by Nate on March 29, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Tonight I read on Allfacebook.com that facebook is upgrading the events function, along with some other sharing upgrades. I haven’t tried it yet, but here’s my take on this upgrade…
Good!
Since the latest interface upgrade a few monts ago, I think facebook’s events function got sort of swept under a rug ( even more than they were in the first place). What I mean is – there’s no nice little red alert button (some of my friends hate those, but I like ‘em) on the top navigation, or anywhere else. Currently, event updates won’t go to your inbox – or ever again to a wall except for the minute its created. No – they go to the menu on the left side of the page, under your inbox. Heck, even “I’m stuck in traffic” wall posts can relatively easily get 10,000 impressions in a weekend.
I’m looking forward to posting some new events later this week. I’ll follow up when I do with results.
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