I shot the Goo Goo Dolls on June 3, 2011. Fun show for about 4000 great fans.
Here’s my favorite shots. Let me know what you think of them.
Stay tuned for one hell of a great music summer. On tap: Ted Nugent, ZZ Top, Weezer, BB King, OAR, and many more…
See you at the show!
Nate
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….
Here’s some of the photos from the assignment last weekend. Let me know what you think of the shots.
Going into June, I had a unique opportunity to interview Steel Panther’s lead singer, Michael Starr. (You can check that out on the Station Casinos Blog if you want). The following week, they returned to Green Valley Ranch with a packed house. I was lucky enough to be the house photographer for the show. All I can say is: hhhahahahahahahahahahahhh ahhahahahah ahahah aahhhhhhhahahahahahahahahahahahah.
See the full slideshow in a post from July here.
These shots are pure fun. The stageshow at Ovation is great, and Steel Panther takes advantage of it. Their show uses every bulb, color gel, smoke machine, and outlet available to rock your ass off like it was 1987.
I had a wonderful summer behind the camera, friends. I thought I’d use this blog to show you my favorite photos from Summer, 2010, starting with this post.
Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas kicked off their Party On The Rocks Concert Series on May 22, and kicked a dent in the Las Vegas Concert Scene at the same time. These shows are fun as hell. They’re so diverse, sometimes you have to google who they are – but rest assured, none are a disappointment.
I was blown away by Robert Cray and his intensity – but moreso by his legendary techniques. Furthermore, I instantly became a fan when I saw how much he purely enjoyed his time on stage with his guitar and his bandmates. I think these two shots capture Mr. Cray’s intensity and his passion for wonderfully piercing bluesy guitar riffs.
Another fun night of rock with Vegas’ own Cherry Hill, Big Friendly Corporation and The Ryan Whyte Maloney Band. Check out the slideshow and let me know what you think.
This concert was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II with Canon EF 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses. No flash, just super high ISO’s. Noise was nuked in Lightroom 3, and I experimented with various saturation settings and white balances.
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.
Interview: Return of Steel Panther – Part One
Interview: Return of Steel Panther – Part Two
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.
Here’s a review I wrote of the GNR show at GVR last November.
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!
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.
