More from the L'Oreal gig

Before I post a couple more from the Breakers NACDS Event, I gotta rant about something. First off, we are doing a pretty big wedding this weekend....during Sunfest Weekend here in West Palm Beach. Sunfest is an annual music and arts festival on the waterfront here in West Palm Beach. The music started out.......20 years or so ago....as a jazz festival. This year, its a total grab bag of sorts. (I guess this is where the rant starts) There isn't any band at all that I really want to see, which doesn't really explain why I went tonight. I really don't have a lot of opportunity to sneak off to this festival this year because of the wedding, which is kind of a drag as I can walk there from where I live now! Not complaining about the work though, as its going to be a nice event with great people. More on that in a couple of days. Anyway, one of the bands this evening was George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Okay, cool name, I guess, but is that any excuse for one of the band to be on stage wearing a diaper and red tennis shoes? Maybe it was George himself? Regardless..a freaking diaper! I mean really. What am I missing here? A DIAPER!!! What part of the 70's did I sleep through? I counted at least 8 guitar players on the stage. It was, at best, 75 minutes of total distortion and noise. The best part of the show for me was to hear the entire stage left audio stack go out..totally out, (I mean off "cricket cricket cricket" off) and watch the techs scrambling to get it back on. Took about 3 minutes to get it back on. Nice! Anyway, back to the wedding. I intend to shoot some images and post next week. Should be some excellent decor and detail. My crew (The A Team!) has been loading in Fridays party since Tuesday. Tomorrow night is the focus. The wedding is at MaraLago on Sunday with a really tight turnaround from wedding to reception. Till then, here are a couple of more images from Sunday. Enjoy!

Floral detail

I have no idea what these flowers are, but they are kinda cool. They remind me of crap claws. I love the color. I often wonder how many guests notice all the many details of these events.

French Polynesia week

It's time to break away from our little European journey for a little trip back to reality. All right, that sounded stupid, I mean really. Sometimes I wonder, who am I even talking to in this blog? And then, I just shake my head and keep typing. So anyway, getting on with my meaningless dribble, here we are, or at the very least, here I am. I have decided to kind of keep to a theme this week. I am going to post images from our event on Sunday. I I did a few HDR shots as well as some closeup detail ones. Here is the first. Enjoy!

A French evening in Palm Beach

Its kinda bizarre that I was posting images from France recently. I mean, I guess I totally forgot what event we were doing this evening. This was the evening for the L'Oreal Paris sponsored party at the Breakers, Palm Beach for NACDS that we have done for about 20 years. Every year, the designer picks a different region or a major French Icon to design the evening around. He has, in the past, designed the evening around the south of France, Normandy, French wine country, Provence, the Loire Valley, Paris, Cirque de Solie, and too many more to remember. It is always one of those events that I like to personally oversee as it is usually done very well and my client sinks alot of his own effort and heart into. Well, this night was no exception. His design inspiration was French Polynesia. It is always a quick party, a 2 hour cocktail party, before the dine around. I hope to process and post some of my images of the event this week. In keeping with the theme of our French tour, here is an image taken at night near Notre' Dam. More on all of this later!

Next stop, The Louvre

Well, if we're wandering around Paris, then we have to stop at the Louvre. This museum is best sampled like a fine wine....in little sips. One could spend weeks in here and barely scratch the surface. I like to focus on an area and study a few pieces. That's the way I do it now that is. My first trip here however, many years ago that is, was quite the opposite. I flew thru this place like a hyper squirrel. I don't think I comprehended a single thing! The exterior of this place is absolutely magical at night! I created this image from 1 raw file. I used HDR tonemapping in Photomatix with contrast enhancements, sharpening, and misc. adjustments in Photoshop CS3. I tried for a dark almost sinister look. Enjoy.

Notre Dam - the way I like to see it

During the day, this place is overrun with people, vendors, street performers, students, and artists. Certainly a spectacle any time of the day, and fun to be a part of. However, for me, Notre' Dam is best viewed at night. Late at night! Hordes of tourists are fast asleep and have left plenty of room for this traveler to claim his space for his gitzo tripod.

Somewhere in Paris

Not even sure exactly where this is, I'll be honest with you. When I walk in Paris, it kinda has that effect. Its a great city to get lost in. Little parks like this just appear out of nowhere. A nice park bench welcomes the weary traveler (or anyone just hanging out and being French!)

The Swiss Riviera

The next couple of posts are gonna be from a trip I took last summer. I am reprocessing some raw files to come up with some new results. The Montreux Jazz Festival is one of the finest in Europe, if not the world. This annual festival takes place along the lakeside promenade in Montreux, Switzerland. The view from the room was awesome with the alps in the background.

Reflections of a trip

Here's a shot thru the window of a train watching the European countryside go by. The TGV from Paris to Geneva I am pretty sure. A European train, one of my personal "Happy Places." With the right music on the Ipod, an otherwise normal scene becomes quite cinematic.

The eagle has landed

Well, after 20 or so straight days, here it is. I knew it would come, the day I have no idea what image to post. I have been pretty good at posting an image, at least, an image a day and never had to wonder what to post. I still have some work to finish so I am not really focused on this post. Hey, I'll grab something off the desktop! There has got to be something handy. Well, here ya go. An eagle prop from an event that was in DC recently that I did. Funny thing is that it was removed right before the event started. An eagle less show if you would. This is a shot before it flew away.....or rather, was removed by 4 or 5 stage hands. An awesome piece....very heavy though. All right, back to the grind......what to post tomorrow?.......

Back in Florida

Well, once again, back in Florida. I am here for a couple of weeks doing local events. I headed from the airport to Mounts Botanical Gardens this afternoon to capture a few images. Here are a couple infrared images I just quickly processed. Enjoy.

A quick airport post

No picture now, maybe later. Boarding my flight in Philadelphia for West Palm Beach. Mike, you left Virginia for West Palm Beach...why did you have to go thru Philly? ......Exactly!

And the crowd goes wild

Well, the show just ended. Not bad for a total wing it on my part. Sometime my best shows are created that way. I program a few looks during the day, organize and lay out the console really well, and busk out a show a few hours later. It keeps me on my toes by not knowing what look I am going to do for the next verse, chorus, or bridge and forces me to really concentrate on the show, well, that is until I grab my camera. Its kind of a bad thing when you do that and miss one of the only Q's the producer really asked for. Woops, sorry Howard! Here are 2 images from earlier today during rehearsals.

The Paramount Treatre'

Well, this could be the single largest creation of garbage I have posted yet! After a nice long day of 2 flights, arriving at the venue, and waiting for the load in to happen, I am posting it any way. When I took the pictures, I forsaw a much better image, but, I am kinda tired, and rushed through the processing. This is the theatre, that with any luck, we will have pulled of a really great show by tomorrow night. I am sure that will be the case, but as of this evening, its hard to for see that. A little behind we are, yes, but somehow, it all pulls together, with a little adrenaline push at the end.

HDR before and after

Well, i decided to post a before and after picture. This is a shot of a really cool and laid back lodge in the Keys where we did a site survey yesterday for a big 3 day wedding in May. They are supposed to be filming the setup for a TV show. That should be kinda fun. The lighter one is a right out of the camera exposure....the other is 5 exposures, tone mapped and processed with Photomatix, and then further sharpened with levels and contrast enhancement in Photoshop. I also want to point out that the blogger layout that I am using is kinda lame. There is no tru way to see exactly what the layout will be...as I assure you, this is not how I wanted to lay it out. It is really not WYSIWYG. Might be switching to wordpress!

Last post from the salvage yard

Here is one final image from the salvage yard. I really liked the texture in the sky and the open hood of the Volvo truck. I am heading to Virginia to do a show over the weekend. Its a one off concert that I am going to program and run. Its for a show for an accapella group called the Hullabahoos. Should be a Hullabahoot! I hope to capture and post some bloggable images from there.

What happened to the driver?

This one is a little odd if you look at it. Passenger side airbag was activated, but the drivers? How did he take the hit? Is that blood? What did it sound like? Alright, a little too heavy here. I love the shadow play and the color contrast in the second image.

No time to clean up

This van seemed to speak the loudest to me. Was it because I used to own a van? Man what a gas hog that thing was. You could actually see the gas gauge drop when you accelerated. Three miles to the gallon I think it was. Sorry, I digress again, I'm back now. The thing that really haunted me about this one was probably my own imagination. Why was the vehicle apparently left in a hurry...in a blink of an eye.....? Was it taken away? Did the owner purposely leave the tapes, spoon, and other debris on purpose? Was he alive to even care? Another snapshot in time.

A step back in time

Here is a quick post of an image I processed from the salvage yard today. The salvage yard trip was a great opportunity to collect details and HDR sets. I did not, however, for see "feeling" the mood of this place. You can't help but be moved a little at all these slices of life. At one point, all these vehicles were new, and awaited the arrival of an excited owner. Then, for one reason or another, as time went on, their lifeline was frozen. Each vehicle had a story.... many stories....to tell. You just had to slow down and listen for them.

Salvage yard visit tomorrow

Figured I would post another image of an immaculate power machine before the broken glass, twisted metal, moldy interiors, rusty frames, and miscellaneous shrapnel I'm about to photograph tomorrow.

Salvage yard prep

This is a slightly "grunged up" image taken from the Supercar Show that was on Flagler a few weeks ago. Tommorrow, I will be at the polar opposite of that. A few of us from a local photo meetup club are all heading to an auto salvage yard. Gonna try to make some art out of all the scrap. This should be fun!

Back to the grind

Well, back in town and back to the grind. Mopping up the slop from being out of town for a week. Finished this project last night for a local photo club I am in. All images taken at the boat show on Flagler Blvd. here in West Palm Beach a couple of weeks ago.

Port in France

This is an image from a cute little harbor town on the West coast of France called Honfleur. It was a very scenic 6 hour trip from Paris by train and bus. Countless painters and artists have created their impressionistic views of it. Here is one of mine.

I'm outta here!

Well, I am at a much happier place than I was not an hour ago (maybe the airport margarita has something to do with it). How I cruised through the TSA check point with my 8 day old beard scrubble and my one ticket purchased today without as much as a second glance from the agent is beyond me. The last time I flew one way, I was pleasantly directed to a very "special line". "Yes Mister Steighner, please wait here while I grab a fresh new pair of surgical gloves." I guess that call to USair to change my flight last week was the equivalentof talking to a newspaper vendor at a train station in Mombai, cause, my flight confirmation was all boshed up. She said it was a nice day in India, I guess she just forgot to follow through on my reservation change. Aaaahh, outsourcing...thats working out great isnt it? Well, my flights about to board.....my $400 flight purchased today I might add. Enjoy these images. :)

Infrared captures

Here are 2 infrared captures I processed today from the grounds of the hotel. 

Another one down

Well, the final night was a smashing success. The name entertainment was Lionel Richie. It was a top secret for all the attendees. I was backstage 2' from him as they announced his name. The crowd screamed and he had a huge smile on his face as he heard it and then he stormed on stage. Once again, a real treat to see a genuine passion in someone's eyes for what they do. He looked great and rocked out to many favorites from his original stuff to stuff from the Commadores and Earth Wind and Fire. The decor was an incredible winter wonderland scene. Two of these images show the floral detail and the other is a room shot showing the 14' tall ice curtain.....yes, real ice! I have too many images from these events. I have been shooting like a madman. I hope to post a few more as a wrap up soon. Enjoy! :)

Wagon and a boot to boot

Just a quick midday post of some scenery captured from the "Roundup" event. I hope to post some more show images later tonight.

The Fearless Leader

A project of this magnitude requires an intense team of talent, weeks of planning, countless dedicated crew, creative ideas and resources, and strong direction from team managers, but is still usually driven by one leader. Here is our leader, Sean, at work giving direction to the musical talent during a late night tech rehearsal the other night. It is always a pleasure to watch people with a passion for their work! 

One more day

Well, general session is over and struck. In fact, the ballroom is being transformed over night right now. Quite a challenge for any size crew. It seems to be going well. The tent evening was tonight and was a success. Chicago rocked! I was able to layer in some house and dance floor looks to enhance the bands LD looks. I would watch for his Q, then grab faders and create a look to work with it. It was quite fun! The dance-floor was packed...always a good sign. I had an absolute stellar team there in the tent. Tent events are always a logistical challenge, but these guys embraced it from the start. Mac Jeffries supplied me with Dave, Matt, and several other top notch players. I am reminded that you can accomplish anything with a great attitude, and these guys had it! I have so many pictures to go through, but I have posted 2 here.

HDR captures from today

Getting ready to turn in. Wanted to post a couple more that I processed tonight. This fountain shot is at the front of the hotel and I pass it a couple times a day. Only had a 50MM lense with me at the time, so I did the best I could. The other is one of the facades at the location for the welcome reception this evening. Enjoy!

Little Critter

Several gigs of images....amazing images..... captured today during setups, rehearsals, and the welcome reception.....brilliant colors, shafts of automated lighting beams, jaw dropping decor and scenery, creative artists and craftsmen hard at work,.....and here's what I am posting.... a picture of a rabbit. Enjoy!

How I see things

Here are 3 images I processed this evening. A sunset from the 3rd floor of the spa. I went up there to get a setup shot of the party and turned around and got side tracked by this beautiful light. Also, there is a shot of some of the props at the site for tomorrow night that I took during the day. The palm tree group image is just outside of the area where the party was tonight. Enjoy!

Lotsa bunnys

Man this place has a lot of rabbits! I mean, they're all over. Is there such a thing as a bunny problem? I'll try to get a picture of one tomorrow...and also a cactus. I am in Arizona after all :) Anyway, its kinda late and almost time to turn in. Here's a couple of captures from the event this evening and a shot of some prefocus work for tomorrow night. Today was busy, tomorrow is crazy. Can't complain though. Weather, crew, hotel, food, client, location, rabbits.....all awesome!

2 more images

Just a couple more images here. Captures from the hotel grounds today. By the way, nothing cracks me up like a bird in the ballroom. Not sure why thats so funny. They seem so out of place. All right, guess its time to get some sleep!