“and we shall all wear funny hats and have a merry time!” is what I cried aloud in a voice that was a bad cross between Malcolm McDowell and the Mad Hatter. We recently worked with Annie and Brian at the Red Square bar in Las Vegas’ beautiful Mandalay Bay hotel and the experience and the people were absolutely wonderful. The kind management at Red Square allowed us in an hour before the bar opened, which meant that we had the entire bar all to ourselves! Oh, what mischief could we get up to in an hour?
If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out Red Square, one of its defining characteristics is the ‘zero degree’ room – it typically requires the purchase of a bottle of vodka to enter, which runs somewhere between an arm and a leg and a firstborn child, but like everything in Vegas, is made 100% worthwhile by the unique charm. It’s an experience that must be tried, regardless of cost.
As the name would suggest, the room is kept at zero degrees, however since the bar was not yet open and the cooler had just been turned on, the zero degree room was kept at a rather balmy 8 degrees Fahrenheit; hot enough to make this Wisconsin born photographer sweat. I know, only 24 degrees *below* freezing!
Maybe it was the intense heat that went straight to my head, but Sarah and I got a little silly on this shoot. You see, Red Square provides a variety of hats and coats to patrons of the zero degree room and we outfitted Annie with a fetching fur coat with matching hat and Brian with a rather cool looking trench coat that reminded me of Captain Jack Harkness from one of my favorite BBC programs, Torchwood (it’s a running joke that while I am American born, I have a British last name and am obsessed with all things British, especially entertainment).
While none of the pictures will show this (and another running joke is that, ironically, I am terrified of having my picture taken!) I myself selected a bombardier’s hat and we spent the next hour having the time of our lives, the four of us laughing together and taking great photos in our funny hats and coats.
I really loved working with these two and I know that I use that line quite often, but I feel that we have been blessed with some of the greatest clients a photographer could ever ask for. So much so that I tried to convince them to go on another shoot with us at no charge, but being from Orange County, time unfortunately was not on our side.
On the other hand, Annie and Brian will be wed in Orange County this summer and so we’ll be seeing more from these two. I for one cannot wait and already have a charming little hat picked out for the wedding!