Nickleonard's Journals

My, my...What a hot Monday.

The Jeffree Star show never happened. He had cancelled as I thought he did. He had removed his Las Vegas date a few days before the show on his calendar. My friends and I went downtown anyway and stopped at the Box Office at the time he and the opening bands were supposed to be there. Turned out no one was. The place was closed. So we hung around for a bit and went to some antique stores. At night, we went to Fremont Street and had a blast. That made up for Jeffree being a no show.

Yesterday I was supposed to go with two friends to the Warped Tour Pit Stop: Rock The Block on east Fremont behind the El Cortez hotel. Of course my friends couldn't go last minute, so me being prepared I went down there anyway. It was an extremely hot day. 108 to be exact. Was very glad I lathered up in sunscreen! I got a little lost and had to walk extra...needed to stop inside the Fremont Hotel to cool off and refill my water bottles that had burning water after soaking up the heat. Finally made it down to the El Cortez and saw the gated off corner street with the stage, tent booths, and a bunch of teens everywhere. I heard some metal band playing first and did not know who they were. I walked close to the booths and just thought for a minute if I really feel like going in there. I had a gut feeling this event would be a replay of the Extreme Thing back in March that I went to by myself and left after an hour or so. I didn't want to waste this $18 to just walk around for 40 minutes and then leave. Yes, I was looking forward to shooting the bands but I just know how I am and being alone with my Nikon D40 trying to shoot a band in between a huge crowd without at least one friend by my side just wouldn't work out at all. I always feel more comfortable at huge events when I have a friend with me..probably because you are surrounded by many groups of all sizes of teens and yeah. Don't get me wrong though, I'm very independant. I can and do for example, go down to the Strip and photograph my heart out or walk all over downtown Vegas snapping away at motels on east Fremont...it's just less nervewracking when a friend is with me at outdoor music events.

So I decided not to do the Rock The Block. I turned around and headed to one of the casinos on Fremont Street to get a bite of fast food since I was starving from all the walking. As I was getting to the casino, a lady asked me "Hey, how come ya aren't at the party?" and pointed to the concert. I just said that I didn't have enough money with me as I thought I did. She replied with "Well, how much are you short?" I told her "Like, 10 dollars." She then said "Oh, well do you want what I have?" I said "Ohh no, that's totally fine. Thank you so much, though m'am."

I was surprised she offered me whatever money she had to get in the music event. She was extremely sweet and just goes to show you that kind people such as her do exist out there when you think they don't!

As I'm walking back down the long road to get to my bus stop. I decided to use the last two Polaroids on this specific Polaroid camera I had with me on one of my all time favorite motels that I pass. The closed down Queen of Hearts motel. That is one building that is beaten down and that I would love to explore and photograph the inside of if I had the chance. I got the best Polaroid of the sign on the side of it! I really did...I was so proud at how well I framed it without slipping and screwing it up. After I snapped that Polaroid and a few digital shots of the motel, police car after police car zoomed on the street next to me and turned right and stopped on the next block. I had to walk that way to get to where the bus was anyway, so I was interested to see what happened. Once I got there, I saw a car that appeared to have just began pulling out of a driveway caught in the middle of three cop cars. A man was hand cuffed and leaning against one of the cars and a woman was being questioned and handcuffed speaking with one of the officers. I couldn't hear their convos, so I just kept on walking. I looked up and noticed all the powerlines dangling about in the hot breeze. A high one to the left of me had at least 20 Pigeons perched on it soaking up the sun! I was so shocked to see that. I have always wanted to photograph a row of birds on a powerline. I was extremely excited that I still had one Polaroid left and used it on them! It came out amazing!! It's seriously one of my favorite Polaroids I've shot. The clouds are so wonderful in it.

Yep, so that was my Monday that I just felt was bloggable. :-)

Summer Lovin'

This summer is going to be a kickass one, I have decided. I am so stoked for upcoming things/adventures I have planned.

This weekend I'm going to go watch Jeffree Star perform at the Box Office with Brooke and Derrick. This will be my second time seeing Jeffree Star. The last time I saw him was when he was with Kat Von D during her book signing at Border's in February. This will be my first time seeing him perform live, though.

Then on the 27th, I am FINALLY going to take my driver's permit test. My friend Jourdan just passed his. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to pass mine. I listened in driver's ed. and have a copy of driver's handbook that I've been looking at from time to time. After I take that, Brooke and I are gonna head over to Sean's for his 16th birthday pool party so that should be fun. That following Monday, the 29th, will be the Warped Tour Pit Stop music event down on east Fremont Street by the El Cortez Hotel. I'm very excited for this.

It will be a great opportunity to score some street style shots for my street style blog as well as for live music photography since there are going to be several bands performing- I will do my best to get shots of each. It'll be cool to see Saosin live again. I got some fantastic shots of them live when they performed at the Journey's Backyard BBQ tour.

In July, I will be heading out to a little ghost town located in Nelson, Nevada. I came across a site that displays some photographs of some of the villages and old abandoned things that are still there. You can check the link here. I am thrilled to give this town a visit and shoot some things I find interesting with my Polaroid cameras. I have always had a huge love for anything abandoned...buildings, buses, homes, motels, ect. So this will be a blast. First Friday will be on the 3rd of July. Hopefully I can arrange a couple photoshoots. I am now reminding myself to pay a visit to this cool retro laundromat that is on Casino Center Dr. before 1:00 p.m. someday in July as well!!!

Not sure what's gonna go on during the beginning of August... Well, First Friday again, that's for sure. That will be on the 7th. Towards to the end of Aug., I'm going to Los Angeles again like I did last summer for four days and I know that will be amazing. I can almost feel the beach. I don't care what beach it is, I cannot wait to be at one!

What have you done or plan to do this summer?

x Nick

Wanna be uncool.

"Pretty faces grab the headlines
You leave me nothing but my name
And all the grief keeps multiplying
And I pretend to feel no pain

Never gonna lose, baby
If I tell the truth
Would I be uncool
If I could write a love song?
I just wanna believe
You tried to hold me
Spend our whole life
Now I feel so lost

I get tired of the pleasure
My company's so cheap
Baby, take me from this tempest
Take me someplace so I can sleep
(Sleep, sleep)

I don't wanna die and I don't wanna live
Baby, I just want a chance to be with you
I tried, oh, I love you
I swear to god I never felt so alive

Never gonna lose
If I tell the truth
Would it be uncool
If I could write a love song?
I just wanna believe
You tried to hold me
And every time you move
And everytime you breathe
Yeah, I gotta write a love song

Baby, you're a freakshow just like me
Baby, we're all born ugly
Gotta write a love song

Gonna make you cry, I'm gonna go so deep
Tear the world up
Somemewhere I can sleep
And I wonder why
And I wonder why
And I cry

Wanna be uncool
Wanna be uncool

Now I'm gonna make you cry
'Cause I'm gonna go so deep
I'm gonna tear this tempest, baby
And go somewhere I can sleep
Gonna make you love me
Gonna make you love me
Yeah

Never gonna lose
If I tell the truth
Would it be uncool
If I could write a love song?
I just wanna believe
You tried to hold me
And every time you move
And everytime you breathe
Yeah, I gotta write a love song

Baby, you're a freakshow just like me
Baby, we're all born ugly
Gotta write a love song

Gonna make you cry, I'm gonna go so deep
Tear the world up
Somewhere I can sleep
I wanna write a love song
Wanna be uncool
Wanna be uncool
I wanna write a love song
Wanna be uncool
Wanna be uncool
I wanna write a love song
Wanna be uncool
Wanna be uncool
I'm gonna be uncool"

Uncool by Courtney Love

(image via Hedi Slimane)

One of the most memorable nights.

Heyayayaaya,

It's been forever. I've finally caught up on a lot of stuff (school & photo wise). I was pretty behind with both, haha. I am now editing all the shots I took last Saturday, May 16th. I will never forget that day. It was so fuckin' epic! Why???

I saw NO DOUBT, THE SOUNDS AND PARAMORE ! ! !

I had requested a photo pass, but it didn't go through. No biggie, though! I am really glad that we purchased a ticket when we did just incase the pass didn't go through, then not having a ticket... I would have been extremely bummed out not being able to go.

The concert was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. My seat was at an awesome angle to view the whole stage and see the bands clearly without having to look at the big screens. I was able to get my camera in, so thankful that worked out well. Got to my seat, got my camera ready and stuff. Only one person was next to me on my right, a nice lady with a couple friends. The two seats on my left were empty the whole show, so that was pretty cool, didn't feel all squished- although I wouldn't have cared because my mind definitely would not have been focused on that during this concert!

The Sounds played first. Maja's outfit was stunning. Kind of Lady Gaga esque in a way. I like how ripped up her tights were. They definitely rocked the crowd as people were arriving.

"Are ya happy? Well, ya better be, bioytch!" I enjoyed hearing them sing Hurt You and No One Sleeps When I'm Awake. I was a little sad they didn't play Ego! That's one of my favorite songs by them. It's wild and fun.

"We're the Sounds, motherfuckers, c'mon!" screamed Maja after their last song. I loved her swedish accent!

Paramore came on next. They had an awesome stage banner. It's design was oldish, ripped up newspaper style with "paramore" written across the middle. Hayley was wearing a vintage Mickey Mouse shirt with tight jeans. She looked adorable.

Hayley expressed how awesome this tour is going to be and how glad they are part of it. She also mentioned a little gift No Doubt gave them. It was a present box, most neatly wrapped gift they've ever gotten filled with a bunch of DVDs and movies for them to watch while on the road.

Hayley definitely rocked some of the bands most popular songs, and the audience loved it. You could hear the whole arena singing along.
They played a new song titled Ignorance. Haley goes "We're gonna play a new one. It's called Ignorance. Not sure how it's gonna go, but we're gonna play it anyway so just make up your own words and sing along!"

And with the best saved for last, No Doubt took to a roaring stage kicking the night off with a classic, Spiderwebs!

"Put your fucking hands in the aiiiirrrr!" Gwen yelled as the crowd sang along.

They sang a total of 17 songs! Gwen wore three exquisite outfits throughout the show. I can't say which song was my favorite live because I truly enjoyed them all! They didn't disappoint, that's for sure.

They ended the night with Sunday Morning (which it technically was) so that worked out perfectly. They all had a group hug, waved to everyone and did one funny bow at the end.

I am so thankful to have been able to go to this amaing concert, and to have all the shots I got to remember it visually! I have many more shots of each band that I will be posting soon. I have some shots that are print-worthy...gonna have to make some space in my room. :) Overall, the night was spectacular and this will be a concert that I'll never forget about!

- Nick

Absolute worst timing.

Monday evening, I visited a news website (www.thesun.co.uk) to read some articles. As I clicked one of the articles, 5 seconds later a pop up occurs and then another. I closed out of the first one and attempt closing out of the second but the f*cker kept opening up over and over until the computer frooze. I was forced to manually restart it. I waited a while, and turned it back on. The opening windows screen would show up and then go away, then show up again. It sounded extremely loud. I'm pretty sure it crashed or some shit. And I am positive I'm pissed.

Last Saturday was amazing! I had such a blast with my friends Brooke and Sean at this free music event called the Journey's Backyard BBQ. I would love to explain it, and say how it went but this computer I am on at the library time is about to expire so I will save that for another blog...whenever I'll be able to write that.

I will say that I got awesome shots of this local band I am now a good fan of- they go by Away We Go! (http://awaywego.buzznet.com) a few other local bands, one from California called This Record Life and Saosin!!

Sadly it'll be a while until I'm able to post the shots. We're only able to take the computer in to see if it can be fixed by next Thursday and then it'll take a couple days or just a day to reinstall some of the shit we had on there...so yeah. Pretty bummed out. After this incident, technology has been hating me more and more. Very annoying.

Hope you're all well, and I'll chat again when I get the chance. <3 :)

- Nick

Awesome creation.

The ultra creative Markiaa (http://markiaa.buzznet.com/) created this unique graphic art with photos of me on a faux polaroid.

I obviously love the fact she put it in polaroid form and I also like the brick texture! Thank you again!

Las Vegas had the craziest weather yesterday. Tuesday the temps. were in the 80s and come Wednesday morning, it's freezing, super cloudy outside with small visible snowflakes for a while!! Snow in April. In the Vegas desert. Umm...yeah. Today it was back to normal.

Earlier this week I found out that Saosin (http://myspace.com/saosin) are playing a show here in Vegas this Saturday. It's not just any show, though...it's FREE!!! Yes, I was shocked. The band is going to play at "Journey's Backyard BBQ" at the Galleria Mall. I'm stoked. Going with my friends Derrick & Brooke. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be easy to shoot them performing, I'm sure it will be though- this seems like a small thing. :)

So glad tomorrow is Friday. This week flew by. Only six more weeks of school left!!! H.e.l.l. Y.e.a.h. :P
Gonna go make some late lunch now and then finally post my Gavin & Mat photos!

RECAP: Spring Break

Friday, April 3rd:
It was a gloomy/rainy day. Those are the best! I hopped on the bus heading down to the Strip. On the way, I saw an SUV completely rolled over on its top. I have never seen that in real life. There was no one inside, thankfully and the ambulances had already came and left to the hospital. I hope everyone made it out alright. Got down to the Strip, practiced tons of street photography and am quite satisfied with it! Later that evening, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Perez Hilton outside of Pure Nightclub. His apperance was scheduled to begin at 8:00 PM, but normally celebs show up later than that (usually an hour). Got there around 9:00 PM and asked the guy sitting outside of it at a table if Perez would be walking outside of it (pointed to the area I meant) and whatnot. He said yeah, but said that he wouldn't be posing for photos, that he would just walk straight in. So I just thought, screw it. I'm not gonna stay another hour and hope to catch a shot or two of him walking in, I've gotten enough photos today and left! :)

Saturday, April 4th:
The 10th Annual Pet-a-Palooza. (http://www.petapaloozalv.com/) It's basically a big outdoor family friendly festival with tons of dogs! You can adopt pets and/or bring your own dog. I don't have a dog, so I took a lot of shots of many dogs of all types. There were definitely some original dogs there! I hope to have the photos up sometime soon...
This event also has live music by three artists, and since it's a family type event there aren't moshes or too large of a crowd near the stage I was able to get extremely good shots of two performers, not gonna lie. I love you, 200mm lens! I didn't shoot the first band, The Script because they were done once I arrived. However, I did photograph the other two performers who were Mat Kearney and Gavin Rossdale (Gwen Stefani's husband). They were wonderful live. Both did awesome acoustic performances. Those photos are done being edited/watermarked, so that's what I am gonna be posting next!

Sunday, April 5th:
The ACM Awards were being held here in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM that day. If you don't know, ACM stands for the Academy of Country Music. I'm not a big fan of country music, but do like some artists, and hell, a celeb is a celeb and if I can get the photo- I will! The taping of the award show would start at 5:00 PM, meaning all the artists would have to arrive to the orange carpet (not red) before then. I arrived around 2ish-3ish. There were many, many fans already piled up behind the stand things near the entrance to where the limos would pull in. I definitely had no way of getting over there. I mean, yeah I could have gone over there, but just would have been stuck behind the crowd and not seen a thing which was not gonna happen. This was behind the MGM Grand casino (on the backstreets). I crossed it and looked for a better spot somewhere I was allowd to be where the security would kick me out. Luckily, on the opposite side of the driveway where the limos pulled in, there was a little sidewalk space with about 5 people there. I could see a spot that I could fit in perfectly without anyone blocking my view and I ran across the street to take it! As the celebrities arrived and got out of the limo, the people closest would usually start cheering whomevers name which was helpful for me to get ready with my camera and snap photos of them from the distance I was at while they make there way from the limo to the orange carpet. Yet again, I was more than thankful for having my 200mm lens on! I would say I was at least 50-55ft. away from where the celebs were walking! Some, like Carrie Underwood for example instead of walking straight to the carpet, came over to the fans that were across the driveway from where I was and signed autographs/posed for a few photos with fans which was very, very helpful to get good shots because there weren't as many men in black surrounding them! I don't want to spoil any others I was able to get photos of, so I will post them directly after all my Pet-a-Palooza photos! ;-)

During the weekdays of my spring break, I took it easy and hung at home. Revamped my room, did things of that sort.

Saturday, April 11
I finally hungout with one of my bestfriends I hadn't seen for too long, Jourdan! I went to his house to meetup with him for my first band promo photoshoot I would have later in the day. The band is just local, and according to Jourdan and others- very good! I still have yet to listen to their songs on MySpace...keep getting sidetracked. Their name is Hollywood 'N Vine, and they've played at some good venues here in Vegas. I'm going to shoot thier next show. Anyway, Jourdan and I then went to the leadsingers house (Alex). Our first location was the garage and we taped up newspaper to the wall and layed some out on the floor for them to pose against. Yes, I know that's abit cliché and has been overdone, but the band liked it a lot so we did it. After shooting in there, we ordered pizza and chatted for a while. Two of Jourdan's friends were there, one that wanted to meet me for a while. There names were Shae and Farrah. One's a senior and the other a junior. Oh, yeah the other two band members names are Jason and Michael. All of 'em were nice and easy to work with. Finished the pizza, and they got into their second outfits for the other location. Alex had choosen this gutter area in his neighborhood and we got a lot of shots out of there. We couldn't really go far since Jason had to be back at the house by a certain time for an appt. he had to make. Finally, we finished. Shae, Jourdan, Alex and I all drove over to Farrah's house in her car just to chill for a bit. It was fun, we just did random things, took candids, etc. Later on that evening, we drove down to this small, free carnival. It was also a mini car showcase thing in a way. There was a variety of cars that each owner built themselves during a certain amount of time. Sadly, I only took a photo of two or there! Also shot some bokehs of lights on booths and such. Those turned out cool. There was a live band there, and they were just packing up their set so I didn't get to hear them. They were a punky type band called the Scoundrels. There weren't many people at the carnvial, large crowd around the stage, so I went up to the lead singer (Biancia) and asked if I could take her photo. She said definitely, and asked if I wanted the other band members in the photo as well and I said yeah. It turned out really great, actually. I made a print of it for myself. :) Looks like a promo in a way, only thing is that I cut out her belt buckle kind of..haha. We chatted with them for a bit and then Jourdan and I each took a photo with Biancia before looking at a few more cars and calling it a day.

Wow! What a wall of text. You don't have to read all of that, but thanks if you did! I just enjoy blogging about big events and things that occur so I can go back and remember them another time.

Oscars 2009.

My favorite outfits, hair styles and people.

Zac Efron

[image via Just Jared]

Angelina Jolie

[image via Just Jared]

Kate Winslet

[image via Just Jared]

Rob Pattinson

[image via Just Jared]

Beyonce

[image via Just Jared]

Anne Hathaway

[image via Just Jared]

Natalie Portman

[image via Just Jared]

Who were your favorites at the Oscars?

Meeting: Kat Von D and Jeffree Star

My friend Brooke and I arrived at Borders bookstore at the Townsquare shopping center on Las Vegas Blvd around 9:30 a.m. I picked up Kat's book, High Voltage Tattoo and then we walked on over to the line. If we would have got there a little bit earlier, we could have had the chance to be inside the doors. We were outside the door by three people in front of us. Now, being outside is fine with me, but when it's raining and you have to be outside until 2:00 p.m. it's not so fun. Thankfully, there were big umbrellas the store had put out there and we were under it. I was so glad I didn't wear my slippers that have a couple holes on the bottom that day! My feet did still freeze though. I had to go inside twice for a few minutes, haha. Brooke and I made friends with the people behind us in line. One lady who was in line to meet Kat for the second time while her husband was inside the store, another lady and her daughter. They mostly all chatted together, but we came in the conversation at points.
Once the time came closer for Kat and Jeffree to arrive, a couple of Borders' workers came out serving small cups of hot cocoa. Drank that down fast!

Us in line:

Finally the line started moving and we were inside getting closer to meeting them! I had out my polaroid and digital camera ready to get a photo of both of us with them. Once we got to the table, I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of starstruck because it was actually them in real life! Kat and Jeffree both signed my book and gave me a compliment on my Nikon digital camera that was hanging around my neck. As soon as I was ready to ask if we could get a photo with them, the security made us move on. Brooke and I were furious and were not about to just move on out of the store. So we said bye to them and walked on the other side of the line separater dividing the people in line to still get their book signed from some people who have already got theirs signed/people just taking photos of them. We both stayed on that side of the line and took many photos of them at the table. You could hear a lot of snapping anytime a fan walked away from being in front of them at the table.

Some of my favorite snaps I got of Kat and Jeffree at the table:

We then moved behind CD rack that was behind there table and I took a few shots from back there.
An excited wet fan from the rain.

Models that were at the book signing to promote Kat Von D's Sephora make up line.

I also had to shoot a Polaroid from the front and back. Here's a digital photo of me before I shot the polaroid. (thanks Brooke)

(click here to see larger)

Now, for my favorite shot of the whole day...

It was the end of the signing and Kat began walking out the side door of Borders to the cars outside. Brooke and I were still in the store the whole time after we got our things signed, so as I saw Kat begin to walk out, I kinda raced to the door to get in this polaroid shot that I really, really wanted to get. She was walking pretty fast and thankfully there weren't many people following. So I get in front of her and I just said "Fuck it, let's see what happens.." to myself and hoped as I shot this polaroid while she was walking that I wouldn't cut her head out of something!

I expected it to be a little blurry and her maybe looking the other way or something. But HOLY SHIT, when the polaroid finished developing and I saw that it wasn't blurry and that Kat even looked at the camera as I took it just blew my mind!! Haha.

I really can't tell you how happy I am that I got this shot. Directly after I shot it, she heard the noise of the camera and said "Polaroids rule!" and I yelled "Love you, Kat!"

(click here to see larger) Polaroid â™¥ forever!

At this point, Kat and Jeffree were outside of the store so I grabbed my digital camera and took some pretty shots of them walking to the cars on the wet street. I love gloomy days.

This was my favorite digital shot of the day. So glad I captured that moment. :)

Done! So that was myself and Brooke's expierence. Definitely worth it. Had a wonderful time and now I have the memories for it.

We left Borders and got on the Deuce and got off at Planet Hollywood. Ate some soft pretzels then went to Urban Outfitters and tried on silly glasses/sunglasses.

What a qt!

We got tired out and caught the buses home. <3

Us on one of the buses. Check out the lady inbetween our heads. She was chomping on some food! Ha.

Saturday February 7, 2009

WOW! Featured on the Buzznet newsletter.

Holy hell. I can't believe all the recognition I have gotten through Buzznet. It really makes me feel good, and I'm honored for it.

Big hug and thank you to all that enjoy my stuff! =) And a thanks to Breesays for including me in the January 28, 2009 Buzznet newsletter!