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 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 3, 2010 at 9:35 am
I had the fortune of shooting photos of another great production by Project Dinner Table on Saturday, October 30th. The event was held at a farm on the northern edge of Las Vegas called the Gilcrease Orchard. (Yes – there’s a farm in Las Vegas). Rick Moonen from RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay and his team provided the eats, Nevada Beverage provided the parrrr-tay, if you know what I mean.
Now the tech lingo: I shot the entire event with a Canon 5D Mark II, using 3 lenses: a 24-70mm f/2.8, a 70-200mm IS USM f/2.8, and I cheated, using a Tamron 11-18mm EF-S lens (not compatible with full frame sensors… or so they say). Dude, there wasn’t much light, so I utilized the awesome noise reduction in Adobe Lightroom 3 on a handful of these shots, though – the 5DMkII continues to amaze me with high ISO functions. Boy, Canon has come a LONG ways since I used to shoot snowstorms at ISO 800 with the 10D about 7-8 yrs ago. As usual, my favorite shots are the goofy ones from shoestring-level or odd angles, getting a little close to the BBQ grill, or some of the slow-shutter speed shots from the tripod. Lesson to take away from this event (for me) – bring a truckload of AA Batteries or rent a new Canon Speedlight that recycles flash faster.
Special thanks goes out to Gina, (Happy Birthday!) Kim, Christine and the rest of the event coordinators. This was their 2nd event in a week, and as always, they put on one unforgettable evening. I hope you enjoy the photos (below) as much as I enjoy shooting them.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on October 3, 2010 at 12:17 am
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.
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.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on September 26, 2010 at 12:10 am
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.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on September 21, 2010 at 6:23 am
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.
0Posted by Nate Ludens on August 30, 2010 at 1:54 am
Hey friends, if you know me personally, you probably know my summer has been a total zoo. (If I cash in all the “Rain Checks” I have issued, I’m going to be out of the house until Christmas!) I recently became a father, remodeled a home, moved my family into it, and turned my old home into a rental – all while working full time with no vacation time and the amount of sleep you’d expect with a 5 month old in ‘da house. All that said, Project Dinner Table is a can’t miss event in Las Vegas. I wrote about it earlier this summer here. Be sure to visit the official PDT site – check it for schedules, pictures, menus, videos and – no brainer – to buy your tickets!
Below, I’d like to share some photos from the last Las Vegas dinner event held in front of the El Cortez in one of my favorite places – Downtown Las Vegas, where it’s as funky as it is fun. Coincidentally, the next Project Dinner Table Event will be held only a few short blocks away, at the Historic 5th Street School – a truly cool space that really gets what it means to contribute to building culture in Las Vegas. From AIGA to The Vegas Valley Book Fair – each time a creative group needs a venue, Richard Hooker and the good people at the 5th Street School have their hands up willing to help. I hope to see you there on September 11th. I’ll be the guy with the camera
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.
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.
