More Vegas Pics

Pictures of and from the room at THEhotel and some pictures from around town.

Beach Boys w/John Stamos

Pictures from the HP Technology Forum 2009 Closing Party featuring the Beach Boys with special guest John Stamos.

FULL GALLERY

So Many Pictures, So Little Time

As PJ said during his thank yous, Todd stepped on his toes from the beginning and never let up. Todd does the same thing to me. He wanted pictures NOW. After fourteen hours of stage and shooting, and a pool party on Sunday for my seven-year old angel, I was up at 4:00 am this morning to catch a plane to Vegas. In between, I tried to get all the photos processed and uploaded.

Sitting in my room overlooking the strip in Vegas, I am finally getting some of the galleries organized so they make a little more sense. PJs Rock Camp brought me good luck as I was upgraded from a standard room at Mandalay Bay to a suite at THEhotel and I won a Nintendo Wii on a spin of the prize wheel at the conference out here. Thanks Peej.

Anyway, there is one main group that contains sub-galleries for photos from throughout the Festival Day. The link to that group is here. MAIN GROUP (get it).

Electric Lady

Since there are so many pictures to explore, I'm only going to post the one that I almost couldn't shoot because it brought tears to my eyes. PJ singing "Electric Lady" to his little lady.

Send in the Cows

What a perfect picture opportunity. We were invited to a graduation party that was held at Palosaari's Dairy Farm just outside of Chassell. Gabby and I got to visit with the baby cows in their little "houses" and it was just a perfect day. Well...it was perfect until a flock of geese flew overhead and dropped some green goodies on me. The silos were so industrial looking, it almost reminded me of a NASA tour. They say dairy farming has become high-tech and I believe it.
FULL IMAGE GALLERY
GALLERY SLIDESHOW

Mom-Speak

We were in the dollar store this past weekend getting things for Gabby's upcoming birthday. The following conversation took place between a mom and her two-year old daughter.

Daughter: "Mommy, what are these?"

Mom: "That is lip gloss honey"

Daughter: "How do they work?"

Mom: "They don't"

Hannah Bethel/Rock Camp Dancers

I don't have time for a large post, but wanted to get a link out to the pictures from last night. Hannah Bethel worked with the band to work up one of the songs we performed with her last year for the Arts Festival and Bridgefest.

Additionally, there are some shots of the dancers rehearsing to one of PJ's great tunes.

And...Do you think this hurts? The young ladies called it "a stall".

FULL IMAGE GALLERY

GALLERY SLIDESHOW

Reporting From Hancock, It's Jeni Jewell

That's right Rock Camp followers, PJ and kids will be on Upper Peninsula TV as Jeni Jewell from WLUC TV6 in Marquette, MI paid a visit Wednesday evening. Jeni began by shooting video as songs were practiced. When it came time to interview the Campers, she said she, "didn't want to break any hearts". Jeni picked a month and asked who was born in that month. She then asked those kids if they would be comfortable being interviewed for the TV broadcast. About halfway through the first interview,

Todd felt a need to start lobbing some softball questions at the kids as well.

I was impressed with the intelligence and thoughtfulness of the answers given by the kids. When it came time to interview PJ, I found I had to put my camera down as there was so much emotion when he explained why he was doing the camp and described his experiences growing up in the local music scene in the 80s. This guy has a heart size XXL.

The most fun part of the evening was watching Jeni film the closing. It looks to me like being a TV broadcaster is a pressure-cooker and would not be my choice of careers. Jeni rehearsed the closing to get the day, the time, the event name, the group name, and the sponsors just right. It was impressive that she did this with no notes, no teleprompter, and no assistance of any kind. Jeni is one young lady with a lot of poise.

And just to make sure she's still following Rock Camp, we want all her friends and co-workers to ask her when the concert is. Those of us watching her closing bet she'll never forget.

Thanks Jeni

FULL IMAGE GALLERY from Jeni's Visit

Shoot the Shoot

Todd told me my job during the Rock Star photo shoot was to shoot behind the scenes. There was a lot of scene to shoot behind. Adam Johnson of Brockit had his Rock Star photo equipment and assistants with him. Todd of Brassard Media had two video cameras and a couple of assistants. Jessie was organizing rock star poses from publications, and PJ was a non-stop blur of motion.

The music instructors, "Doc" Milt Olsson, Mike Irish, and Mark Lucier were in the house along with a group of dancers and a special guest appearance by Hannah Bethel. It was definitely a rock star kind of night. It was a real learning experience for me shooting behind Adam as he set up enough lighting to land the space shuttle.

My goal was to be unobtrusive and stay out of the way. To accomplish this, I shot half the time with flash (during Adam's down time and lens swaps) and half the time at high ISO with slow shutter speeds. Since Adam is still as a statue when he shoots, keeping him sharp at slower shutter speeds wasn't too bad. Slow shutter speed is an issue, however, when the non-stop bundle of energy otherwise known as PJ would blur across the lens. It was kind of like shooting a puppy dog circling a fire hydrant getting ready to do his thing. And we all know PJ knows how to do his thing.

The kids were great and the energy in the building reminded me of playing on stage in front of an appreciative audience. I especially enjoyed shooting Mark "Loosh" Lucier and his lovely daughter. I graduated from High School with Mark's wife Paula. When Mark and Paula's daughter had her back to me and was talking to her Dad, I swear it was her mom, same voice, same speech pattern.

Mark, thanks for all the great poses.

Adams, thanks for the great learning experience.

Todd, thanks for the invite.

PJ, thanks for putting on this great event. I keep wishing I was a teenager again so I could be one of your campers.

Ray

FULL (lots of pictures) GALLERY