Congratulations to Otherwise on their new deal with Century Media Records! These guys rock, and they work their tails off. I had the pleasure of shooting the concert last night at Ovation inside Green Valley Ranch, and the band was surprised to receive a visit from the label President, Don Robertson and a gift from the VP of Entertainment for Station Casinos, Judy Alberti.
Go pick up some Otherwise music from iTunes (my personal reco’s are Soldiers and I Don’t Apologize) and look for their videos on YouTube. If you like hard rock and heavy metal, you’ll thank me for it.
42 Concerts ranging from Aaron Lewis to ZZ Top. Everything from Boney James Jazz to P-Funk. Get this: 9,894 photos taken in 2011.
Know I how I knew all this? I just catalogued it and backed it all up to an external hard drive. In 46 minutes. Gotta love Adobe Lightroom, folks.
I’m such a freakin’ freak for Lightroom. I have taught a few classes to the Vegas Adobe User Group in the past few years, and I’m doing it again in the next couple months. If you shoot photos, don’t wait. Invest in a copy and learn it. It won’t take much money or time.
Here’s a couple shots from 2011 that I had on hand. Hope you like ‘em.
I’m honored to be asked by the good folks at the Las Vegas chapter of the AIGA (Professional Organization for Design) to be a panelist for an upcoming Social Media Panel Discussion.
Check out the LV AIGA’s Group Page on Facebook here.
Social Media Smucktard Cindy Waters discusses social ROI and how to navigate through the sh*t storm. Plus an allstar panel to discuss the future of all things PR & Web technology featuring
0Posted by Nate Ludens on May 16, 2011 at 10:21 pm
I shoot with pretty great gear. I worked my butt off and spent some pretty pennies for it, too. That said, I was hung out to dry a little at a shoot last Saturday. I have joked before that my gear bag is suited perfectly for a vampire. In other words, I always seem to be shooting in pitch black lighting conditions. (concerts, casinos, evening dinner parties & mixers)
For a while now, in these low-light conditions, my go-to lens (Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 USM) doesn’t Auto Focus at all, it just searches and searches while the great shots pass me by. I missed great shots at each of my last 4 or 5 assignments due to it. Talk about pissing a guy off. First, I dabbled with Servo focus setting and it seemed to be great for antsy, jittery musicians dancing around on stage… until I dumped my photos into Lightroom. Blah. Most of the shots were useless – blurry. Gotta go with the one-shot setting at concerts. At least I do.
Finally, Saturday night, I threw in the towel. Atop a building in pretty poor lit (great for dinner party – lousy for photography, in some cases) I busted out my backup lens (50mm f/1.8) and the zoom (70-200mm f/2.8) to compensate for my wounded wide-angle. Talk about frustration! Zooming with your feet and adjusting for the extra full f-stop down to 1.8 was tricky! I overexposed a few shots of food on white plates, and the super short depth of field meant that one person on the end of the group was out of focus, while the middle of the group was sharp as a tack. I managed to pull off the assignment, and I have received many compliments, which is lucky as hell, and I know it.
I’m in between assignments for a few weeks, so I decided to ship the anti-auto-focus lens to a Canon repair shop in Southern California. Cross your fingers it’s A) fixable and B) doesn’t cost me the sum of my last 4 sessions to fix. Stay tuned….
0Posted by Nate Ludens on February 27, 2011 at 10:19 pm
The other night, I was reading a really wonderful blog post by the great Chris Brogan, titled An Insider’s Guide to Social Media Etiquette. It really got me thinking, and here’s what’s missing: a guide for bigger companies using Social Media. Here’s a start.
It’s okay to use a logo. In this case, you’re not a person, you’re a company. I’m fairly certain your followers know this. There are exceptions, but for the most part, you’re the virtual “face of the company,” and it’s a huge responsibility. You represent all of your co-workers, bosses and shareholders. Many very good corporate entities are doing social media very well “disguised” as logos. Here in Las Vegas, the Wynn does a great job on twitter, and they do social media by committee. You see it sometimes by the ^Initials at the end of the tweets. Totally cool with everyone I know.
Respect traditional public relations. If you can, buddy-up with a PR pro or take a class. The fundamentals of crisis control, patiently waiting for stories to develop, tone, and strategy cross over to social media more than many of the nu-social media experts care to admit.
Be appropriate. Don’t tell jokes or do #FollowFridays if you’re a police department or a doctor’s office. Please?
Be helpful. Corporations are on twitter and facebook to put money in the bank. Just because they’re using social media doesn’t mean they don’t want your dough. The best ones embrace the personality of the company. They allow creativity to shine and have some fun while keeping relevant ideas in readers’ minds that relate to the company at hand. A corporate account such as Ford or Nike tweeting about having a slice of pizza or what they’re watching on TV (from the corporate avatar) is just weird, I think. Be cool to people and you’ll build relationships – it sounds tacky, but that’s the name of the game.”The less you be a dbag, and if you treat people like humans, the more you’ll get done and succeed.” – @ManyaS – friend and experienced business twitter guru.
Leave the adspeak in your ads. Your company has an advertising budget, so let that do its job, and please don’t tweet like a radio commercial for a race. (Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!) My friends who tweet for companies always try to be helpful and cater to the people who want the updates. Hey, they already clicked follow or Like, right? My point? Quit dating and start mating.
Be nimble when you’re wearing your Customer Service Representative hat. If someone has a problem with your business and took the time to tweet about it – it’s somewhat of a compliment. You want to take care of that customer as soon as possible. If you have a customer service center on email or phone, but not twitter – note it on your page or bio. (Do they use rotary phones, too? Just curious).
Don’t delete negative posts. If I have to tell you this, go back to 2009 social media 101. There’s several great people to learn from. I started with the afore-mentioned Chris Brogan’s book, Trust Agents. Guy Kawasaki, Tony Hseih, and Gary Vaynerchuk all have awesome books to get you off on the right foot.
Do some quick research when there’s someone calling you out, and be careful not to bite when you’re being baited. Hey, just because someone tweets, doesn’t make them customer of the year anymore. There are trolls on twitter that complain constantly in hopes of getting a free lunch. These creeps are on facebook, too. Block them if they’re a pain in the butt, and don’t be afraid to say no. Use caution, though – mob mentality is one rude response away. One interesting response (I haven’t tried it yet) would be to post a reply, while signed on as your business – on their personal facebook profile. Could be risky, but might help avoid the mob mentality. Let me get back to you on that one. Heh.
Don’t be afraid to have multiple accounts. Managing more than one account isn’t difficult with the software available today. One CEO that I follow has one twitter handle where he can (and does) drop F-Bombs all day long. His company’s handle is much more businesslike. I follow both. If you have the content to back it up, create a help account, a sales account, one for media, etc.
NOTE: This post is a work in progress, so please check back and see how it develops. What did I miss? Was I way off target? Please feel free to comment and let’s discuss it. This doesn’t necessarily reflect my current employer’s opinions in any way.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on January 12, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Here’s a selfish little pet peeve of mine that I wish to see the death of in 2011: Internet Muscles.
I have used this phrase for a couple years now, and I have no idea if I’m the original person to coin the phrase, but it’s pretty self-explanatory. Some people are real tough-guys online, hiding behind anonymity or the “out there” that the internet provides. Newspapers and Facebook Pages really bring out this phenomenon. Here’s some examples:
1. I’m in a long line. Any line. A restaurant. A drive through. A grocery store. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. I tweet scathing words about it, I facebook it warning my friends not to ever come here. I Yelp! I’m proud that I can share this with the “out there” and face no real downside. Honestly, it’s a pot-shot and an ego trip. Who am I? Just a dude in line, right? Who are they? Some busy, underpaid, overworked folks with sore feet, most likely.
2. A fan (Okay, a “Like”) on Facebook. Say it’s a sports team. They’re changing goalies. They make a trade and lose my favorite player. We’re comment-makin’ fools! We’re all veteran team General Manger’s all of a sudden!
3. You comment on a news story. You get to lobby for whatever you support (truth or fiction) in the comments section under a controversial (or not) story. You know this lends ZERO credibility. Especially when you sign it “yousucknewswriterX” Real nice. Meet you after school at the flag pole, tough-guy.
Look, the game has changed. The expectations of “the other side” of social media has elevated. What? You have a problem? Companies are EXPECTED to be watching their feeds real time 24/7 to respond to a client or reader’s every need, no matter how small. Here’s what I think:
Change your game, too! Be polite when you tweet. Be understanding. Be HUMAN. Don’t flex your internet muscles.
Instead of whining incessantly online with your newfound power, have some respect. Could you do it as a DM? An email? Ask a question first. You never know, there could be someone working overtime just in case you have a problem at a given establishment. Or on vacation with his or her family, even. The company social media representatives take one for the team – just for you! They fight to give people the opportunity to… blindside them with complaints?! Yes, they do. Because the social media representatives at companies love what they do and the possibilities of being a part of this revolution in commerce and communication.
If you read traditional business media, you frequently hear about how challenging it can be for a company to integrate social media as a legitimate division to open up a real dialogue with you – the patron – to give you what you want- and more: Free meals, free tickets, free vacations, discounts, coupons, checkin specials, and on and on… Pretty nice folks, if you ask me.
So please, lose the juvenile, playground mentality and recognize when you’re flexing your Internet Muscles.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on December 8, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Five Bucks.
Everyone said it over and over, because none of us could believe it. Here’s a few shots from today’s sneak peek at T-time at Tbones inside Red Rock. T-time kicks off Monday, December 13th at 5 – and there’s over 50 items that are all – you guessed it – Five Bucks. I work for Station Casinos, but I’d plan on being there anyway. The portions are huge, the drinks and the food are all amazing. Hands down the best Happy Hour in the city, in my personal opinion.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on November 23, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Last Saturday was a rainy and cold day in Las Vegas. Bummer for trying to get around a desert town when in a hurry – bigger bummer if you’re hosting an outdoor event called a Photo Walk, my first solo project for the Las Vegas Adobe User Group.
Guess what, though? Perfect day. Really – the light was flat and everything was wet. If you had the proper clothing and you’re warm enough, days like Saturday make for some really nice photos.
I want to thank the other shutterbugs who joined me at Springs Preserve for our first AUG Photo Walk. Also really want to thank PJ Perez and Springs Preserve. Great place!
Super-mega-creative friends of mine in the Las Vegas-based band, Slow To Surface, released their newest EP today on iTunes. Once again, I had the fortune of being the guy they called for album art. I’m a fan, for sure. Have been since the first weekend I moved to Vegas in 2001. When you get to be, in a small part, a piece of the puzzle of a new release – it’s a pretty cool honor. Here’s a post with the album art and a logo concept we worked on last year.
Here’s a look at the digital version of the album cover. Promise me you’ll check it out on iTunes. They’re a damn good rock group and they deserve a couple spins on your iPod, dammit. I think you’ll like what you hear and go for more.
Slow To Surface - Body Archery - Released Nov. 23, 2010
0Posted by Nate Ludens on October 29, 2010 at 4:52 am
Today’s prominent facebook-API message on every Hootsuite user’s dashboard was kind of a shocker to some, and quite a few comments I read today showed anger or frustration. There’s some lessons to be learned here, and I think Hootsuite’s going to be the one observing their users (us) learning the most.
On some minute level, I have to wonder if it’s a delayed power play from Facebook to sort of show 3rd party apps “who’s boss,” – or perhaps some 3rd parties cut some dev corners to get out a head start on the Social Media App game. This isn’t a hack on Hootsuite – I’m a big fan, and have been an advocate since it’s launch. Tweetdeck, Echofon, Tweetie for Mac, I’ve used them all. Every single one has glitches – the more social networks it operates, the more drama with API calls, the more down time. Chalk most of these up to growing pains. (Anyone all-too familiar with the Fail Whale?)
Lesson 1: You get what you pay for. When Hootsuite announced a few months ago that they were going to a pay model, the company was met with massive Boos and Jeers. Hootsuite retracted, and said they’d chill and develop a new strategy for their pay version. Well, today they showed corporate users (the freeloaders, specifically) that if they want Hootsuite to single-handedly operate a company’s Customer Relationship Management, they may actually want to invest a dime in it.
I wonder what would happen if a large corporation had a call center full of volunteers and donated phones… I digress….
Lesson 2 is for non-professional SM users. Just because you can post and schedule every update on facebook and twitter and your blog and LinkedIn and MySpace – doesn’t mean you should. When was the last time you actually logged into each of your social networks to post on each, individually?
