Thursday, August 16, 2007
30 years ago today, Elvis died
Today is the 30th anniversary of the way too early death of Elvis Presley. Pat and I were again privileged to see Danny Vernon's Tribute to Elvis show last night. I took nearly 200 photos and eliminated about half of them due to too much motion caused blurring. I've only had enough time to get one ready to post here but did want to get it done on this date, so here is Danny as Elvis:
I'll get more of them done and a longer post made later. I seem to be too busy any more and this takes time. Dinner is nearly ready and then we have to be at the clubhouse at 18:15 for a game of Mexican Train. We missed the game last week to go to the Ring of Fire show and don't want to miss another. Yes, I still have those photos to get some of ready and a post done here but remember I just last Saturday got one up from a show we attended July 8th. Hang in there and I'll get them up sometime.
I'll get more of them done and a longer post made later. I seem to be too busy any more and this takes time. Dinner is nearly ready and then we have to be at the clubhouse at 18:15 for a game of Mexican Train. We missed the game last week to go to the Ring of Fire show and don't want to miss another. Yes, I still have those photos to get some of ready and a post done here but remember I just last Saturday got one up from a show we attended July 8th. Hang in there and I'll get them up sometime.
Labels: Danny Vernon as Elvis, Entertainment, Photos
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Valentine's Day and Elvis
Valentine's Day yesterday was wonderful. We went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got some sorting at home done. Then we again went to the Northern Lights Casino at Anacortes, WA to see Danny Vernon as Elvis. Dinner was at their special Valentine Day buffet and Pat's daughter, C, went along with us and to the Elvis show.
This show included people impersonating Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper but for us the main draw was Danny Vernon. This show was in the large bingo hall and I really don't like it as well but it seats a lot more people so I can understand why the casino likes it better. I found the lighting on the stage was not as good here either. And once half of the band went off when a breaker somewhere tripped, cutting off their electric power. I tried taking photos with my big zoom lens that came with the D200 camera but even with it's vibration feature turned on I was not getting sharp photos. I think it is because the lens is slower. So I put the trusty 50mm f1.8 prime lens on and it worked fine. I have a lot to learn about using this camera and a lot more is done manually but that is good as it gives you a lot more control. A lot of that can also be done with the D70 but I never got that deeply into using it's menus. With this one I have no choice as it doesn't have all those automated features.
This first photo is early in the show, just after I changed to the prime lens. It shows Danny in a new jacket and includes the two dancers, Double Trouble.
Here is Danny in one of his full new suits. This photo has had a slight adjustment done in contrast and been brightened slightly but that is about all. You can see the affect of the colored lights used in the stage lighting in his skin tone.
Here a small amount of tweaking of his skin tone has been done but the colored lights are still very noticable. Do note the difference in the look of the clothing color.
More tweaking of skin tone has been done. His flesh tone is nearly back to normal.
And here the flesh tone is just about right. Note that the color of the clothes has not changed a lot in these three where adjustments have been done but they are all a lot different from the first one. Just a few examples of how playing with Photoshop can change and perhaps improve photos.
We enjoyed this show although not as much as the last one where the venue was in the smaller room. I haven't looked at Danny's web site to see when he will be back but when he is again in our neighborhood we will try to attend as we do enjoy his shows. These are the first photos I have posted from the new camera. I think I will enjoy using it but I do have a lot to learn and haven't had much time to just play with it so far. I've got a house to clean out. Got to get to work on it.
This show included people impersonating Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper but for us the main draw was Danny Vernon. This show was in the large bingo hall and I really don't like it as well but it seats a lot more people so I can understand why the casino likes it better. I found the lighting on the stage was not as good here either. And once half of the band went off when a breaker somewhere tripped, cutting off their electric power. I tried taking photos with my big zoom lens that came with the D200 camera but even with it's vibration feature turned on I was not getting sharp photos. I think it is because the lens is slower. So I put the trusty 50mm f1.8 prime lens on and it worked fine. I have a lot to learn about using this camera and a lot more is done manually but that is good as it gives you a lot more control. A lot of that can also be done with the D70 but I never got that deeply into using it's menus. With this one I have no choice as it doesn't have all those automated features.
This first photo is early in the show, just after I changed to the prime lens. It shows Danny in a new jacket and includes the two dancers, Double Trouble.
Here is Danny in one of his full new suits. This photo has had a slight adjustment done in contrast and been brightened slightly but that is about all. You can see the affect of the colored lights used in the stage lighting in his skin tone.
Here a small amount of tweaking of his skin tone has been done but the colored lights are still very noticable. Do note the difference in the look of the clothing color.
More tweaking of skin tone has been done. His flesh tone is nearly back to normal.
And here the flesh tone is just about right. Note that the color of the clothes has not changed a lot in these three where adjustments have been done but they are all a lot different from the first one. Just a few examples of how playing with Photoshop can change and perhaps improve photos.
We enjoyed this show although not as much as the last one where the venue was in the smaller room. I haven't looked at Danny's web site to see when he will be back but when he is again in our neighborhood we will try to attend as we do enjoy his shows. These are the first photos I have posted from the new camera. I think I will enjoy using it but I do have a lot to learn and haven't had much time to just play with it so far. I've got a house to clean out. Got to get to work on it.
Labels: Danny Vernon as Elvis, Entertainment, Photo gear
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Danny Vernon's Illusions of Elvis show
On Thursday, Aug. 31st I attended another show with Danny Vernon presenting his "Illusions of Elvis" show in the large bingo hall of the Northern Lights Casino near Anacortes, WA. This is my second time seeing his show and it was as enjoyable as the first time, but I did like the smaller room that it was in back in May better as it was a lot more cozy. This room was just too big, the seats too uncomfortable, no table in front of each of us and there were too many people (around 600.) This time I took my camera along and I learned it is hard to take photos with stage lighting of moving performers. Getting good focus was hard and they tend to move enough that there is some blur introduced from their movements. I have selected about nine photos that kind of cover the event and are for the most part fairly sharp. These are all with just the stage lighting, no flash. Flash would have been a lot sharper but I think it looses the feeling of the performance.
This show also had two other performers, one as Buddy Holly and one as Ritchie Valens. I have a photo here of the Ritchie Valens singer but the other was not on long, I didn't go up front near the stage while he was singing and so I don't have any decent photos of him. There are a pair of dancers, "Double Trouble," who are good and dance along with some of the Elvis songs. Danny's wife, Marcia, also performs on stage with him singing backup. Now off to the photos, with a brief description of each:
Here is Danny in his portrayal of Elvis in his middle years. He breaks the show down into three eras- early Elvis, the middle years and the final years. That is his wife, Marcia, in the background singing backup:
Danny is performing with the dancers, "Double Trouble" in this photo:
Here they are again. The nearest dancer reminds me a lot in appearance of SW, except SW is not a blond:
I am sorry that I don't have the name of this performer who is in the role of Ritchie Valens, but he was good & really got the audience participating:
This is Danny's late Elvis part of the show, with Marcia in the background:
Danny's whole show is a high-energy performance:
Elvis loved the ladies in the audience and Danny seems to also. Here he is presenting scarves to some of them while singing. My DIL was in this position at the show we attended in May but Danny came to her in the audience, plus she also got a kiss:
Danny does get pretty emotional during his performance. You get the feeling he loves doing this and really gets into his role:
This is the conclusion of the show with all the performers on-stage. This is the only decent photo I have of "Buddy Holly" and it does not include the drummer nor the two guitarists. The musical backup was by live performers and it was good:
I have included a link above to Danny's offical web site. You can hear some of his music there and check out his performance schedule as well as see more photos. Most of his shows are in the northwest but I understand he has performed in Las Vegas and other places. If you have a chance to go see him, do it, especially if you are a fan of the music of Elvis Presley.
It was a learning experience for me as far as the photography is concerned. I deleted four times as many photos as I kept due to them not being up to the quality I prefer and really none of them are really great. But, I am learning.
Edit: 5 Sep 2006 - "Buddy Holly's" actual name is Ray Sanchez. "Ritchie Valens'" actual name is Ray Anthony.
This show also had two other performers, one as Buddy Holly and one as Ritchie Valens. I have a photo here of the Ritchie Valens singer but the other was not on long, I didn't go up front near the stage while he was singing and so I don't have any decent photos of him. There are a pair of dancers, "Double Trouble," who are good and dance along with some of the Elvis songs. Danny's wife, Marcia, also performs on stage with him singing backup. Now off to the photos, with a brief description of each:
Here is Danny in his portrayal of Elvis in his middle years. He breaks the show down into three eras- early Elvis, the middle years and the final years. That is his wife, Marcia, in the background singing backup:
Danny is performing with the dancers, "Double Trouble" in this photo:
Here they are again. The nearest dancer reminds me a lot in appearance of SW, except SW is not a blond:
I am sorry that I don't have the name of this performer who is in the role of Ritchie Valens, but he was good & really got the audience participating:
This is Danny's late Elvis part of the show, with Marcia in the background:
Danny's whole show is a high-energy performance:
Elvis loved the ladies in the audience and Danny seems to also. Here he is presenting scarves to some of them while singing. My DIL was in this position at the show we attended in May but Danny came to her in the audience, plus she also got a kiss:
Danny does get pretty emotional during his performance. You get the feeling he loves doing this and really gets into his role:
This is the conclusion of the show with all the performers on-stage. This is the only decent photo I have of "Buddy Holly" and it does not include the drummer nor the two guitarists. The musical backup was by live performers and it was good:
I have included a link above to Danny's offical web site. You can hear some of his music there and check out his performance schedule as well as see more photos. Most of his shows are in the northwest but I understand he has performed in Las Vegas and other places. If you have a chance to go see him, do it, especially if you are a fan of the music of Elvis Presley.
It was a learning experience for me as far as the photography is concerned. I deleted four times as many photos as I kept due to them not being up to the quality I prefer and really none of them are really great. But, I am learning.
Edit: 5 Sep 2006 - "Buddy Holly's" actual name is Ray Sanchez. "Ritchie Valens'" actual name is Ray Anthony.
Labels: Danny Vernon as Elvis, Entertainment
