Lola on X100
Black and whites are Ilford XP2, color is Fuji 400H, both shot on Nikon F100. I now see that the XP2 wants to be overexposed more (especially with the snow), but it still yielded some nice images.
I had an amazing time in Las Vegas this past weekend with Andrew, Jon, Meagan, and Laura. I originally intended to go for the CES show, but it turns out looking at a bunch of electronics with a million nerds (and I am one) isn’t as fun as enjoying everything else Vegas has to offer.
We stayed at The Cosmopolitan Hotel, which is every bit as awesome as they make it out to be in the commercials. Great vibe, great restaurants, great casino and great entertainment. We thought it would be fun to upgrade our room at check-in and we weren’t sorry, as it included a full bar, gigantic living area, full seperate bedroom, and a strip-facing balcony unlike any I have ever seen (see pics below!).
Thursday was too much fun and included dinner, drinks, and complete table madness at Tao, then free re-entry into the club upstairs to see Ludacris perform for his SOUL headphone release party. Friday saw Meagan and Laura head home after fulfilling their CES obligations (this was already their third day), while Andrew, Jon and I remained for the rest of the weekend. We started with an amazing breakfast at Jose Andrés’ China Poblano in Cosmo, some gambling at the usual slots (Ghostbusters, Dean Martin’s Vegas Shindig, Michael Jackson’s “King of Pop”, and ZEUS III) and then a massive hotel crawl up and down the strip including sushi and oysters at Bellagio’s Yellowtail and ending at Harrah’s Piano Bar at around 3AM. We intended to head in for the night after that, but of course we were sidetracked by Paris’ Sugar Factory for some late night snacks. And by snacks, of course I mean ribeye and eggs, french dip, mac and cheese balls, and fettuccini alfredo with shrimp. Oops. At least it made for some great leftovers! Saturday was more of the same, with our final dinner planned for Sinatra at Encore. I can’t really think of anything better for dinner than eating Italian and listening to Old Blue Eyes, so I’ll just assume they made that restaurant with me in mind. After dinner we played some more games of chance and met our good friend Joe who was in town for another occasion, then returned to BOND at Cosmo and went out with a bang until 4AM (again), and only one of us sustained physical injuries! Sleep wasn’t really on the agenda, but luckily it’s something I can still get away with for at least a few days at a time.
Thanks to everyone who came along and to Cosmo’s excellent staff for making it another memorable Vegas experience!
Images in this post were processed in Lightroom 4 using VSCO Film presets for Nikon.
IPHONE IMAGES
Full set of pics on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/den4ps/sets/72157632523225443/
BONUS TIMELAPSE VIDEO
(Footage by Jeff DeNapoli, Jon Dodson, Andrew Stott; Music “Pass Out” by Tiny Tempah)
Damn, I could (and will) look at these over and over! Especially that sick time-lapse… Such an awesome weekend, and I’m so glad we’re adding video to the memories! 
thanks! Jon had some awesome footage in there too. no problem on the pic – sorry focus is a little off!
That time lapse is amazing. Great pics! I may need to use that one of me on my website – do you mind?
New Year’s Eve at Nicole’s place in the Chi. Much fun was had and many drinks were consumed. I also completed a dare to eat an entire tray full of shrimp without even getting sick (apologies to anyone else who wanted shrimp)!
Happy 2013!
We spent this Christmas in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Lisa’s family had never used their cabin in the middle of the winter for various reason (COLD being primary) but this year her Dad decided it was time to give it a shot.
The lack of electricity at the cabin can be a real problem in the winter. There luxuries of forced-air or radiator heat do not exist. We kept the cabin warm (about 65 degrees average) by burning a combination of wood, coal, and for short periods a propane generator. The plumbing is basic and, due to the cold, was frozen when we got there (yes, that includes the “facilities”). Luckily there is an outhouse built into the side of the mountain near the cabin, but I can assure you that using it in extremely cold temps takes getting used to. Boiling water on the cookstove (for cooking, washing, brushing teeth, dishes, etc.) and filling buckets in the creek to force-flush the indoor toilet were tasks we all shared throughout every day, in addition to feeding the three fires that were burning throughout the cabin at all times. At this temperature you do not want your fires to go out — when we arrived, the temperature inside the cabin was 0ºF (Zero), compared to about 20ºF outside.
Soon the fires were stable and everyone had the hang of things thanks to the practice and outdoor sensibilities of Lisa’s parents. The few days we were there consisted mostly of hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, cooking, eating, playing cards and dominos, and in my case taking photos. The mountains and scenery are beautiful in winter, and hiking during the day while the sun is out (with appropriate attire) is quite enjoyable. The visit was extremely relaxing and gave a glimpse into the way people everywhere lived in the “olden days” — overall it was a much simpler time but there was always work to be done to ensure everyone was comfortable.
Lisa’s parents deserve much thanks and a lot of credit for the preparation required to make this happen for six people. Gathering resources (wood, coal, food), arranging transport without the ability to use cars on the road during winter (see below), and making sure the amateurs didn’t get into trouble are not easy tasks I’m sure. I enjoyed the hell out of this trip and hope to do it again someday now that I’ve learned a few things.
More pics to come soon — I shot three rolls of film (two B&W, one color) but will have to wait a little while to get those developed.
Full-size images (and more) available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/den4ps/sets/72157632376255462/with/8322713372/
Jeff, these photo’s are just wonderful! Looks like you all had a great time. It is surely beautiful out there.
I am definitely going to want a few of these prints.
The wildlife, amazing.
Pretty Kitty