AMVIV VI: A Mini Vacation In Vegas 6

A Mini Vacation In Vegas 2009, or AMVIV VI for short. Its a huge gathering of mini enthusiast, or Miniacs as they like to be called, in Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of March. This year had a nice turn out, not as good as last years, but decent taking the state of the economy into consideration. The overall turn out was 300+ with groups for the runs in the hundreds.

Me and my co-driver left for Vegas from Oceanside on Thursday Night around 7. The drive went pretty easy. We got into Vegas around 11 or so, checked into our room at The Palace Station. The view from the room was right down onto the top of the parking garage. Normally this wouldnt be a good thing, but this was our view for the weekend.



Woke up Friday with a lot in plan, but most of it never got executed. All I ended up shooting was The drive over the Hoover Dam and out to Temple Bar Marina. It was a little frustrating shooting the drive because there were so many unannounced changes to the schedule that I had trouble going ahead of the pack because they may regroup somewhere else, or not everyone leaves and goes to the same place at the same time.

Hoover Dam:


Temple Bar rd:


After The drive there was a little Meet the Miniacs Mixer that I checked out because there was supposed to be a photography show, but that turned out to be one piece of foam core with some photos of minis stuck to it.

After the mixxer we made our way to the strip for "A Mini Trip to the Strip" There were over 230 Mini's to make it to the strip this year. Although you cant really tell whos who, or that they are Minis, Im fairly happy with the turn out from the shot. It was a merge of 3 or 4 photos for different parts. The lights and buildings were their own photos. Then I had one of the Mini's Sitting in traffic and one while they were rolling. The last shot was the left side of the roads traffic to even out the photo. With a little bit of layering and masking I came out with the final product.



One thing I was glad about attending AMVIV was actually not even part of AMVIV. I was on the Strip during Earth Hour. It was pretty cool cruising down the strip and seeing all the casino marquees turned off and all the decorative lights out. The luxor beam and the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign went out.

Club Red Circle - March 14, 2009

I dont know how it worked, but I got suckered into doing some nightclub photography. I went shooting with my friend King on Palomar as usual and he asked if I wanted to shoot a nightclub. Sounded like a cool idea so I said sure. Then, throughout the day, I start to get the idea that I'm shooting the club alone. And of course, in the end, I am shooting the club alone.

I tell you right now, I am not a club person. I have gone "clubbing" maybe a handful of times in my life, but this was pretty fun. Just goes to show you, doing anything with a camera is more fun than without.

The night went by easy and smooth aside from one incident that ended up leaving me thinking I broke my foot (its ok, I think its just bruised in the end) but I automatically went to protect my gear as soon as the little shove match/cat fight started. I never knew how hard heels hurt when a girl stomps on your feet.







More photos can be seen or purchased at:
1904Photography.com
or
Flickr

Drift Spirit Media

Drift Spirit Media
Originally uploaded by 1904 Photography™

Sweet... Just got put on the Drift Spirit Site as media

Joshua Tree

So, this is what, my 4th time in a years time that I have gone camping in Joshua Tree. This time it was for Sean's birthday. We tried to get a bunch of people to go out with us this time but as with most plans over a long period, everyone says they'll go, till a week before, then it's "oh, I have to work." "I don't have a ride." Or straight out no call back. We had the plan to make a little tent city, but this is the best we could get:



This trip is one of the ones you realize the type of people you want to go with you and the type you don't. All in all, the trip was fun and a good time. we didn't get to make it out to Salton Sea or Salvation Mountain due to poor planning on all the other guys part.