MichaelMPerez.com Photography - Ysania

Pretty much since the beginning of 2013, I haven’t really been focusing on shooting models. They still ask but most of the time I just send them to my site and I never hear from them again (LOL, that’s because I send them so they can see my rates). I’m sure they can find a great photographer on MM, OMP, etc. I’ve also been focused more on weddings and engagements.

With HTH just around the corner, I decided to email Ysania to make sure this year she got into the contest, because I always wondered why in the four years since I’ve known her, she never submitted. Anyways, we started sending messages back and forth and when she asked me if I could shoot with her tomorrow (which was the 24th of May), I immediately said yes, knowing perfectly well I had another shoot scheduled the day she wanted to shoot, so I emailed that client and rescheduled it for next week.

Anyways, this was going to be a long blog posting but upon further reflection all I will say is I was super ass rusty at shooting models, and the photos only turned out great because of Ysania.

As always, when photos are edited they will be posted on this page.  Enjoy!

 

 



How to begin…… …honestly, this probably was my favorite wedding to shoot the past two years.  During the day, there was action, drama, romance, comedy…you name it, it was in Paul and Mary’s wedding/reception.  Though I have never done it but have seen it, their wedding reminded me of a Tough Mudder event – both of them having to go through all these obstacles throughout the day to finally get where they wanted to be, and in the end the most important thing was they were happy.  There are things that test everyone at every wedding, but in the end the most important thing is you married the one you love, and that’s what happened with Paul and Mary, they got married and they have people that truly care about them.  Everything else is a story for down the road.

Though I was only the photographer for the wedding, I would like to thank the cool people at the end of the day for bringing so many smiles to Paul and Mary’s face…oh and by the way, I can thank anyone I want because this is my freaking blog :) .  I’m not talking about the gang of people that walked in soaking wet with orange towels on their heads after they came back from the pool, LOL!  I’m talking about the ones that stayed and told some hilarious stories about Paul and Mary, including Paul and Mary themselves.

There’s a quote that goes:

“There are still some wonderful people left in this world!  They are diamonds in the rough, but they’re around!  You’ll find them when you fall down – they’re the ones who pick you up, who don’t judge, and you have to fall down to see them.  When you get up again, remember who your true friends are!” ~ C. Jobell C.

The people at the end of the day in their suite remind me of this quote.  Best wishes to the best bride and groom I’ve had the pleasure to work in the last two years!  More photos to be uploaded daily!



I was waiting @ the Las Vegas Sign with Elvis (yes Elvis is alive and comes in many shapes and colors!) when we both saw a bride and groom all dolled up walking towards us.  The first thing both Elvis and I thought was “No way could this be Jackie and Dustin”, as we were expecting a couple in t-shirts and shorts.  But in fact it was Jackie and Dustin!  We were stoked, at least I was because when a bride and groom dress up for their renewal, they’re alway fun to shoot!!!  Both of them really enjoyed the renewal ceremony and I got to take a ton of photos of them including with Mario and Luigi and even Jack Sparrow!  What I loved about them was they were so laid back and were up for trying anything, and I even got them @ the fountain @ The Forom Shops @ Caesars Palace (you’ll see in the photos below!  They were a great fun couple to work with :)

As always, additional photos will be uploaded daily as they are completed.  Enjoy!


Ed from Our Town Records and Filmworks contacted me about Chalon, a jazz vocalist he had under his label that needed head shots and possible cover photo for her CD.  I gladly took on this somewhat different genre of photography as I had been shooting engagements/weddings non-stop for the past 4 months.

Met Chalon and her mom and dad @ El Cortez.  It’s always great when family is behind you in your endeavors and it was clear hers were.  LOL, her dad did quickly disappear upon shaking my hand, but that’s understandable….at weddings, I have grooms at times begging me to end the after ceremony photos but I can’t because it’s the bride who’s in command that day!  We started outdoors and as usual (I don’t normally tell this to new models) but first outfits and first sets are just really warm-ups but Chalon looked great in a ton of the first set photos.

We worked the stairwell we found in El Cortez and luckily for us security didn’t stop us from taking any photos and then went back outside for some more photos, which again turned out great.  It’s always easy to get great photos when your subject is very good looking.  Overall for her first time, she did outstanding and we got some great images!  I’ll add them as I finish editing them below.  We’re tentatively scheduled to shoot @ Calico Basin early this week and those will be added below as well when they are taken/edited.  Enjoy the photos :)

 


Keith and Karina had their wedding at Rhodes Ranch Golf Course, a wonderful location for a wedding.  It was an intimate wedding…everyone seemed to know each other very well.  They had a cellist (Jeremy Russo) and violinist and their wedding officiant was Wanda Tracey who was absolutely great.  Justine Jackson who is the wedding consultant @ Rhodes Ranch Golf Course was very accommodating with any/all requests by the bride and groom.  Throughout the day, the wind was a major concern and also because of cloudy skies, I thought it may be one of the two days it rains here in Vegas, but luckily it did not.

Photos will be added as they are completed. Enjoy and congratulations to both Keith and Karina!


MichaelMPerez.com Photography

Jamie called me a while back from Chicago, IL.  She was planning on coming to Vegas with her boyfriend Tyler and wanted to get photos around the city.  She promptly paid me and then I never heard from her again…until the actual day of the photo session.  This is funny because most people who book a session with me are contacting me every one or two weeks.  With Jamie, I was in panic mode as I didn’t know if she was going to show up, etc, LOL!

In any case, the day finally arrived and she texted me to confirm our shoot.  I was relieved, but also a slight dilemma.  A day or so before, I crashed on my bike while looking at text messages (yes stupid I know) on my iPhone and fractured my right clavicle.  It was difficult for me to hold up the camera, but somehow I had to make it work.

Halfway through the session, I started feeling intense pain every time I lifted my camera to my eye.  That’s when I could not control the explicatives.  Thank goodness Jamie and Tyler understood.

We finally ended at Palazzo after hitting the Bellagio, Ceasar’s Palace trail.  Jamie and Tyler were super awesome to take photos of.  I hardly had to give them any direction.  They were really into each other and that made my job so easy!  Hope you enjoy the photos!


MichaelMPerez.com Photography

Got a call from Jennifer Lai who is the CEO of Massive Enterprises.  They had a billboard image showing on the jumbotron @ Fashion Show Mall and needed someone to get images of it as well as the jumbotron itself.  Since I had been working on wedding images all morning, I thought I could take a break and take photos of it for them.  Below are some of the images taken.  Great company to work for!


Matt & Brenda – March 23, 2013 from Michael Perez on Vimeo.

Matt and Brenda got married @ A Special Memory Chapel. I didn’t do the photography during their ceremony inside the chapel as the chapel wouldn’t allow it, but I did get to do some after wedding photos around the chapel and then got more photographs during their reception.

Matt at the time was scheduled to be shipped out 2 weeks after their wedding. The speeches given were during their reception were extremely emotional and had many people in tears..even I almost started crying.

Wish both of them the best and hope Matt is safe where-ever he’s stationed. An amazing couple, I wish I had a little more time with them so I could’ve gotten more than just candids.


 

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Gracie Marie is a pug that I take care of once in a while :)  Her dad is in a band called Night Fever – Bee Gees Tribute Band that is coming from Canada to Las Vegas.  They did a special performance @ Texas Station yesterday and I was asked to photograph the band.  I’m a huge Bee Gees fan so I was stoked!  What was surprising to me was the venue was completely packed (I’m not the only Bee Gee’s Fan in Las Vegas!), and this was not some small ballroom!

In any case, Gracie Marie should be proud of her dad, because Barry Gibb (aka John Acosta) freaking rocked as well as the rest of the band!   The crowd absolutely loved them and it brought back a lot of memories :)  A ton of photos below :)  Video will be added below photos after it finishes uploading, but I want to apologize in advance for the quality of the video as I was not allowed to shoot with my Sony NEX-VG900 and was approved for only a handheld (Kodak Playsport – I wish I had just used my iPhone instead too).

Night Fever – Bee Gees Tribute Band – April 19, 2013 from Michael Perez on Vimeo.


Valrhona held a great mixer last night @ the Hospitality Suite @ Mandalay Bay.  The room was on the 60th floor and it was all decked out.  Valrhona also decked out the room with these discs of their chocolates all over the room and I couldn’t stop eating them!  Valrhona is a french company that makes chocolate for use in pastries, and most of the pastry chefs from Las Vegas attended the event I covered last night.

Once pastry chef was Natalie, who I did engagement photos for.  That was kinda funny.  So here are some of the photos from the event.  Briana and Evan who hosted the event for Valrhona were absolutely great people to work for.  :)  Check them out on their website @ Valrhona-Chocolate.com.

Oh, one thing to note on the photos.  The guy dressed up in a tuxedo is actually a party crasher :)