Rene and Suzanne came to us all the way from Belgium to have their wedding in Las Vegas and a post ceremony shoot with us the following day!

First of all let me say that, hands down, the finest chocolate in the world comes from Belgium! You can find chocolate in the United States that is labeled “Belgium Chocolate”, but nothing in this entire world compares to tasting the real thing. Sarah and I met with Rene and Suzanne a few days before their wedding to share some ideas and just get to know one another. Rene pulled out a small box and told me he had a gift for us and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw that it was honest to goodness real Belgium chocolates! I can only describe the taste as being the edible equivalent of the word “awesome”.

Those of you that have met me know that I am already a pretty intensely happy person; always smiling and having a great time. but chocolate triggers the release of endorphins, which creates a state of happiness and euphoria, so after eating several pieces, I was quite tempted to begin hugging complete strangers. It was around this time that, while backing out of my driveway, my ’08 Chevy Impala stalled and rolled into another vehicle (thankfully with only minor damage). I simply ate another piece of chocolate as I called the insurance company. Chocolate is the solution for the world’s problems!

We enjoyed hours with Rene and Suzanne – as I write this, the newlywed couple is enjoying a tour of the entire Unites States and Rene was kind enough to send me several pictures of their trip – including some amazing shots of wild bison walking across the highway!

Vegas is a town where, quite literally, anything can and usually does happen. While walking through the Paris with Rene and Suzanne, we saw a press conference in progress and a security guard asked if I was with the media, fully prepared to usher me in to photograph on of my favorite rock bands, Cheap Trick! Of course, I was far too honest to do that, but I managed to take a really bad photo from 65 feet away of the tops of Cheap Trick’s heads (and the heads of around 168 other people), so I was happy with that. Rene and Suzanne had never heard of Cheap Trick, so I played a few songs on my iPhone for them. On the way out of Paris, we then spotted the mayor of Las Vegas himself!! He looked to be in a bit of a rush, so I just snapped a couple off the cuff shots and we were on our way.

While we began our shoot on the strip, Rene and Suzanne wanted something a bit more unique than the traditional strip tours and had suggested Nelson, NV. I haven’t had the pleasure of shooting in Nelson for quite some time and was excited to go back! Nelson, NV is a real (live?) ghost town, with fully preserved buildings from decades ago, complete with old appliances, rusted old tools, even ancient soda pop bottles left exactly where they were when Nelson was alive and kicking. Rene and I mused over how incredible it is that, out of the thousands that visit Nelson each year, there is no vandalism, theft or graffiti of any sort. It really reaffirms my faith in humanity that real history like this is allowed to remain.

One of Nelson’s defining bits of history is a plane sticking out of the ground. I was told that this was a leftover prop from the movie “3000 Miles To Graceland”, but I have yet to see the movie to confirm this. The plane is much smaller than you would think, but with the magic of wide angle lenses and low shooting angles, it looks positively huge!

I tried a few very risky moves for this shoot that turned out quite well, including having my clients lay in the middle of a 55mph highway and walking through the desert, amidst dozens of rattlesnake holes (don’t worry, they only bite when they have no other choice!).

I managed to get us a wee bit lost on the way to Nelson (*cough* Sarah was holding the GPS *cough* *cough*), so we were short around 20 minutes of time, but Rene and Suzanne will be visiting Las Vegas one more in the beginning of July and have promised me a quick little shoot on Fremont Street and I’m excited to be working with them again!

My favorite aspects of the day (aside from the multiple celebrity encounters) was the beautiful cloudy skies, with a tiny bit of rain at the end; a very nice rarity in Las Vegas that *really* fit the mood of an abandoned ghost town and lends itself well to portraits in general.