A couple weeks ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Las Vegas to shoot a wedding!  The wedding was held at one of the gardens in Caesars Palace and let me tell you that it was a very beautiful place.  We drove in on Thursday, checked in and had dinner and on Friday began prepping for the day around 8-9am .  It was a mid afternoon wedding but I want to get the guys getting ready and obviously the bride getting ready....check and check.   The ceremony was amazing but I felt like we were rushed because of the time limit at the venue, plus the party bus was leaving to take the guests to dinner.  Being a wedding photographer or photographer in general, we have to be on our toes and ready for anything.  Rules go out the door when you need to get the shot, especially at a wedding!  Here's what I had set up at this particular ceremony; I had one monolight in the back (East) with a zoom 8" reflector at about 1/2 power, I had a Nikon SB800 on one of my D800's that was equipped with my 24-70 and my trusty shot getter 70-200 on my other D800.  Connected to my hot shoe on camera 1 (24-70) I had a remote trigger firing the Monolight when I didn't have the SB800 on....I generally have it off unless I need a little more fill in the shot.  Being that never visited the venue I had to do my best to anticipate what the setup looked like.  I was a pretty spot on with the lighting, but I was really lucky.  Anyway's I got what we needed and what my clients wanted.   After that we went to dinner and back to Arizona I went, arriving in the valley around 2am.  A word to the wise; anyone wanting to drive from Vegas to Phoenix or vice versa in the middle of the night....DON'T!!!!  Super dark and super sketchy!  

Ufest was the next day and needless to say I was there!  After all it was my birthday!  Rise Against headlined and I absolutely love those guys!  Check out the gallery on the homepage.  I was tired as all hell but damn, I love the energy of being out at a show....I ended up getting some amazing shots that night.  I even climbed up an inflatable waterslide, fully dressed to capture a crowd shot!  INSANE but super fun!!  

I had a week or so of rest then I flew out to San Antonio to shoot for a retail company, Hot Topic.  Awesome experience!!  I've never flown with gear before and let me tell you first hand that it sucks.  I now understand why people rent in their destination cites.  You're always paranoid that something will break and/or something won't make it to the final destination.  For those reading this and wanting to start traveling, insurance and rentals.  Do your research and find the closest camera store!  This is no joke, if you are hired for a job, go the extra mile and a half to make sure the job gets done!  I got lucky here too because I carried on all my gear and the shoot went off without a hiccup.  The CEO, RD's and DM's loved the photos.  I couldn't have been more happy!  Just hope it happen again in the near future!  

Next week, I fly into Hollywood for a little free vacation!  I will give up dates when I get back!  

That's all for now, back to editing!  

CM