Monday, October 25, 2010

Vegas Baby!

This is the point where I talk about how very blessed I am, and how awesome my life is.

I'm in Vegas right now, something I never expected to happen. Last night, I was at the Playboy club, something I've always wanted to do. But alas, I'm a college student, and my only income is from photography which doesn't allow me to do too much traveling. Between attending class, and balancing photo work and homework, my schedule and finances don't exactly allow for extensive traveling.

But here I am, in Vegas, typing from the home of a very talented, and very established photographer. April Berry is currently in the bathroom curling her hair before we go out to the dry lake bed to shoot some distinctly Vegas photos.


So how did I get here? Roger Talley, who you may know as the guy who wrote "The Professional's Guide to Modeilng" spotted April Berry through my work on Model Insider. Now if you know April, and you've had the pleasure of working with her, then you know that she's one hell of a model and she has an amazing look. Not only is the beautiful, she's exceedingly versatile. (and you know what that means, if you haven't shot with her, you need to!)

Well, Roger could tell that April was exceptional, so one thing lead to another and here we are in Vegas. April as the model, and me as her seeing eye dog. Turns out, there are amazing perks to being a well trained seeing eye dog.

Firt things first, simply being in Vegas. It's gorgeous. Vegas sits in a valley, so it's surrounded by mountains...I love mountains. But add in the beautiful sunsets the past few days, and they're simply stunning. Then you look at the strip and amazingness that it offers. And for April and I, it's a whole change of scenery. Not only are there mountains, but there's desert, a dry lake bed, and so many food options that we don't know what to do with ourselves. Oh yeah, we've turned into tourists, it's okay.

On Saturday, Roger brought over a local model who is signed with an agency. Since she has similar measurements to April, she brought over some great wardrobe to shoot, and on top of it all, she's also a fantastic MUA. Really, she's ideal. Needless to say, we got some great shots.

Now onto Sunday. There was some more shooting, we hit the strip to get some shots there (editorial style) and then we hit the arts district for more 'edgy' looks. (By the way, what exactly does edgy mean?) Then to top off the day, (after a short but much needed nap) we hit the Palms Casino to go and enjoy the Playboy Club which Roger was photographing for the night.

You see, I'm a huge fan of Playboy. I love the history, I like the magazine, and I like the feel. Oh, and Hef? I can't help but admire all the work he's done and everything he's accomplished. So Playboy? I'm a fan. And going to the Playboy club, something I thought I would never get to do, well that was huge for me. So I bought a dress, did my hair, and threw on some makeup. For once, I looked like a girl, not a photographer with some old t-shirt thrown on.

Off we went to the Playboy club. Everything I had hoped for? Of course. And April decided to join the Playboy Club calendar contest and made it to the top 4, even though she insisted she wasn't what Playboy was looking for. Between the photo shoot for the calendar contest, and the announcement we sat and chilled, enjoyed the company of the other Playboy club goers (if you want to see a beautiful well dressed crowd, that is most certainly the place), watched the bunnies and admired the outfits, and just had fun! But now I want to go back, this could be bad...what has Vegas done to me!?!

On the trip back to Roger's place, he indulged April and myself in our semi-drunken need for tacos. (of course, what else?) Poor Roger, three a.m., and we're eating tacos off of his counter like they're going out of style.

And that brings us to now. April and myself got a bit of a late start (what do you expect? We didn't get in til 3) and now she's curling her hair getting ready for the dry lake bed. And after that? Sushi. And then the redeye back home, which is a poor choice after only getting somewhere around 4 hours of sleep.

But it's all worth it. So very worth it.

And did I mention? My job rocks. My life rocks. And I have so many people to thank for that.