Tag Archives: Fremont Street Las vegas
Las Vegas Photographer in dark at Casino
At Costellophoto we’ve been very busy at Binions casino and the ‘Kings Ransom’ operating the new Elvis attraction Green Screen , the idea being to give you a nice souvenir to take home with you, and incase of accidents we email your piece of art . A slow start but as we grow and add costumes and wigs , I should also mention the Co stars to Elvis in various movies like Darlene Tompkins in Blue Hawaii who appear and will sign their pictures and have their pictures taken with you in front of our Green Screen. It’s all fun and I have learnt more about Elvis than I really need to know , but I have made a good friend in Ms. Tompkins and enjoyed her stories about her time in show biz. Last week as we set up for the days visitors we all witnessed a very rare occurrence, the lights went out in the Casino, not once but three times, thus the reference to Oceans 11, as we at ‘The kings Ransom’ are very close to the Million Dollars on display it did cross my mind that , well the lights are out and well with a little effort …. Well dear reader of course I’d never do such a thing, and you’d be hard pressed to be able to lift and carry that large display out, not to mention it’s pitch black in the casino so you’d be running into people and things like a black cat in a coal mine. 
In the coming weeks we shall be offering a dress up, as I type we’re getting an original Elvis Cape for you to wear , the obligatory Elvis Sun glasses and authentic Elvis belt to put on and be photographed in,oh and I must mention the wigs , so even if you’re not a huge Elvis fan you can have fun and actually get something for your money on Fremont Street in Down Town Las Vegas . Do call 702 459 3121 for more information on this or any other photographic need you might have in Las Vegas, be it Convention, Commercial or personal , Costellophoto can provide you excellent service …with a smile !
Photographers in Las Vegas , what we do in our spare time on Fremont Street
3.27.13 Las Vegas NV
Well Spring is springing and shutters are a’clickin! so I thought I’d look back at some of our iconic photographs and tell stories behind them or conversely you can write your own story and sent it in to us via the comment section, this will be fun !
This is a perfect example of convention / Corporate event photography , here we have great expression and movement.
This can only be achieved with a good long lens 200 mm or more and fast f2,8 , so what that means is your lens will zoom in from a distance , this is important as you don’t want to interfere with the speaker , distract or just plain annoy them, and the F2.8 means your lens will operate in lower light situations and still be in focus.
Choosing our moment to shoot is also very important, you want to avoid open mouth or closed eyes or that awkward moment with a bizarre manic expression, so take your time and try to anticipate your subjects movement. So what should the caption read ? ” You yes you I’m talking to you” ” Is that cell phone call for me ? ” I’m being very polite here but feel free to add !
Now this has become quite a famous image, we used it for a logo for a couple of years and it’s on some of our older business cards, very popular. If I remember correctly this was an opening of a large convention at Mandalay bay on the Las Vegas Strip, this young lady was swamped in moments , I was up a ladder trying to get a decent shot of the crowd and ,well how could you not notice her! The original shot was much wider but even in this cropped and low res version you can still see the action. As a matter of fact all the feathers you see here are real ostrich , quite a clever design as the feathers around the shoulder make up for the lack of height in the head dress making it much easier to wear and not as heavy, cleaver huh!
What you see in the back ground is the unfinished Wynn Hotel and where we are is on top of the ‘Cloud’ in front of the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip a large metal
structure about 100 ft long and 75 wide, made of aluminium and hollow, Well it was the middle of summer here in Las Vegas 120 not uncommon , so the job was to get up on the cloud and shoot this technician exhibiting safety what they didn’t tell me was you had to crawl through the structure to get to the other side, now i don’t particularly like heights , even less when I’ve just got over Kidney stones and am taking powerful pain pills, didn’t really think of the implications. As we started to crawl thought the inside of what is basically a tin can in direct heat from the noon day sun I start to loose consciousness, now I 6’2″ and 200 lbs I quickly figure that if I pass out here I’m dead , the technician couldn’t possibly carry me out side and the only way in and out was through a small hatch, I had to keep going at all costs, so it’s 120 out side and god knows what inside 200 degrees I would not have surprised me . So I get to the other end and get to the hatch ,a blast of 120 degree air feels great and cooling ! I stick my head out and click away as quick as I can , get the shot, actually many great shots surprisingly , and make my way back to the other end ,out through the hatch, down a wobely ladder and in to the air conditioned mall.
Got to say a close call there not one I intend to repeat anytime soon.
Ok so you could be fooled to ! If you come to Las Vegas you need to visit down town, here you’ll find some great hotels like Golden Nugget , Four Queens, Binions , ‘D’ and others , it’s changing every day as there is ca bit of a revival going on, Fremont Street has been Closed to traffic for years now, and has an amazing canopy which is like a huge screen tv, and a great sound system to boot ! Fremont Street has also become a great location for movies and commercials to be shot, but sadly it also attracts a lot of undesirables who dress up in costumes and demand money for a picture, but in the mix are some really great look a-likes, professionals if you like, with a smattering of Show girls to , you can tell the really good ones, they put on a show and just have the finesse you’d expect in any other location.
About a year ago I spent some time down town and shot the more interesting characters, and was taken a-back by Ozzy Osbourne ,and his wife Sharron, as it would not be unrealistic to run in to that couple in Las Vegas , perhaps not on Fremont Street but still not totally unlikely , just for a moment I was taken in, just for a split second a real ‘gotcha ‘ moment .
As I spent more time here I also noticed the rather bad behavior of some characters , I watched Sponge Bob Squarepants get arrested , a few fights between Mickey and Mini Mouse, but also the rudeness to the more professional actors there, seriously I could not do this for a living, but a living you can make, one actor there I watched as she and her partner made $200.00 an hour each .
My photographic efforts were displayed at the Golden Nugget for a week or two to critical acclaim that was nice but no $200.00 and hour !
