Extreme Nail Art

Hired for a freelance gig last weekend, I found myself at one of the most interesting and undiscovered (by me) annual events in Las Vegas: the Nailpro Cup & US Invitational at the International Beauty Show. This indeed is the World Series/Super Bowl/Stanley Cup of nail art competitions. I have no regrets about waking up a 5:30 a.m. last Sunday in order to catch the start of the Fantasy Nail Art category. This year's theme was mythology and the nail artists dressed up their models in full costumes to go with the elaborate hand decorations. I say hand decorations because to call them nails is an understatement.

Big Thrills

Here are some of my favorite photos from a feature we ran online about the 10 best Las Vegas thrill rides. I rode all of them (except for the one where you jump off the side of the Stratosphere). The only injury I attained was on the ride shown in the first photo. The Desperado roller coaster in Primm, Nevada was one of the most killer coasters I've ever ridden. I was not prepared for it's severe G-forces and extreme drops, and I may have tensed up a bit and tweaked my back while trying to clutch onto my G11 for dear life. I lost my notebook during the ride, but at least I kept my camera safely clutched to my body. That was my first ride. I smartened up for the next rides and had my little camera taped to my hand.

My favorite ride was Insanity at the Strat, which is described as follows by the reporter: "Imagine a giant mechanical arm carrying you 64 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower. You dangle in a chair 900 feet above the Strip (that’s one-sixth of a mile), then spin at speeds that reach three G. Suddenly, the arm shifts and you tilt 70 degrees to face the Earth below." You can see that ride in photo #5.

Richard Simmons and Beauty Queens Shake Their Hips

When I found out that the contestants for Miss USA would be participating in a hula hoop contest hosted by Richard Simmons, I could not pass it up. I knew the event was going to be a lame, staged and controlled media opp inside of a badly lit mall. But I just had to see Richard Simmons in person. So we decided to use it for our weekly Monday photo page. The event was just as lame as I thought it would be, yet somehow still really fun to shoot. And FYI, Richard Simmons somehow has more energy than he did 30 years ago.

Movers and Shakers

Here are some scenes from last night's Movers, Shakers and Innovators Showcase at the annual Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend at the Orleans. I love burlesque!

Burlesque Rainbow

My task for this week's issue of Las Vegas Weekly: take photos of beautiful and sultry local burlesque performers for our burlesque cover story by Kristen Peterson. My inspiration? Alberto Vargas, of course! Sadly and pathetically, I had never heard of Vargas until early last week, when Weekly art director Ryan Olbrysh sent me a couple dozen of the famous pin-up painter's images to work from. We decided to shoot each performer on a different candy-colored backdrop, and used the Vargas poses as inspiration. The best thing about photographing performers is that they already love the camera, and the camera loves them right back. I hardly did anything at all. I am in love with the rainbow effect of seeing all the images together. Below is a key to who's who.

red = Miss Karla Joy
pink = Dixie Evans, the Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque
orange = Vi Vacious
yellow = Kalani Kokonuts
green = Tempest Storm, Burlesque Legend
blue = Cha Cha Velour