Epic Status Photoblog

Finally, late as usual, I have the last installment of the 3 part series of Halloween on Court Avenue in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.  Since I was a “photographer” I could carry some lighting equipment with me, and not get so many weird looks.  It works out great because I can achieve much better lighting than with standard on camera strobe flashes.

A facial costume of sorts, if you will.

 

She means business, let me tell ya.  Couldn’t even crack a smile out of her.

 

 

 

 

They had some girls line up on top of the pool table for me.  They probably mistakenly identified me as Arturo Fernandez again.  I didn’t ask, I just started snapping away and requesting more tinsel… more wind… oh and while you’re at it call the Zoo, some wild animals would look spectacular right over there.

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t want to ask.

 

 

As in “Seriously, this is my costume.”

 

By the end of the night, apparently I started having trouble figuring out who was in costume and who wasn’t.  While walking back to the car I snapped off this shot while we passed these two gentlemen.  I thought they were in costume as a Farmer and a Lawyer.  In my own embarrassing defense, the street wasn’t well lit… and what men dress up to go to Court Ave?  Maybe it was a wedding, a Halloween wedding.  I don’t know, but nevertheless I sincerely apologize for the mix up.

Bars, Des Moines, Downtown, Greatest Hits, Night, People

This is the second installment of a three part series from Halloween 2007 downtown, where I’m continuously mistaken for Des Moines Juice photographer Arturo Fernandez.

 

 

 

Nuked ‘em with flash.  Oops.  I can take horrible photos if I want to, I work for myself, remember.

 

 

 

This guy has been waiting for this picture for a few months, sorry man.  I have a feeling someone’s myspace icon will be changing soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Des Moines IA MMA girls

 

Bars, Des Moines, Downtown, Greatest Hits, Holidays, Night, Parties, People

This Halloween we did something different for a change.  Richards Dad and step mom previously hosted awesome annual Halloween parties, but decided that it’s too much work to continue.  We were forced to find something else to do, so we hit up downtown Des Moines.  This is the first of three posts from this night.

 

Just getting started at Johnny’s downtown

 

My beer maiden.

 

Richard had to see the butt doctor, lucky for him they had one on staff.

 

The humor that this suite invites is limitless.

 

 

I really enjoyed the idea of this taken out of the context of Halloween.  Imagine  just stumbling upon this photo somewhere.  It’s just something so strange you have to stop and think about what’s going on or where it is.  In case you haven’t picked up on it, I’m “into that stuff.”

 

 

It was one of those back and forth downtown nights.  We wandered between a few court avenue bars, trying to satisfy most everyone (or the loudest spoken) in our entourage.

 

Pee Wee spotted, hide your children.  Get that damn cellaphone out of my way.

 

Liars Club, Court Ave Downtown Des Moines on Halloween.

 

Excellent costumes and attention to detail.  They could have used a drink though.

 

 

 

 

Yes, a ballerina tu-tu tranny with penis in hand.  I’ve seen everything now.

 

 

 

I was managing to survive with getting tapped on the shoulder every other second with some desperate chick begging me to take a picture of her in costume.  But this is different.  These girls weren’t even in some poor attempt of a costume.  Nothing, zip, nada.  To pour salt on the wound, the begging “me me me, my turn, my turn” chick on the left wouldn’t stop staring at my remote flash.  I’m sure you’re brilliant in your own ways, but the lens is down here sweetie.

 

 

 

Much more still to come…

Bars, Des Moines, Downtown, Greatest Hits, Holidays, Night, People

A quick shoot of Tom and Amber’s kids before the sun gets too low.

 

 

 

 

Des Moines, Night, Outdoor, People

So it started like this: Minding my own business enjoying my duty free Sunday, I receive a frantic phone call.  It was Richard.  He asks how fast can I get down to the banks of the Des Moines River in West Des Moines.  Realizing my plans for the day didn’t even include a trip outdoors, I was stumped.  Then Richard says “Well dude, me Dion and Kelly are 4-wheeling along the river.  It’s awesome, bring your camera.”  Ok, Ok, I’m there.  No one happens to mention that I can’t get there by car.  I have to ride over a levy, across a highway, and through a mile or two of trails on the back of a 4 wheeler with two bags of gear.  Luckily it was well worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Action, Des Moines, Greatest Hits, Outdoor

A good kegger doesn’t always just happen.  Sometimes the right variables are finessed to create better than usual results.  This was one of those times, and with some help from the cold weather, everyone was forced to cram into the house and be more social.  It wasn’t the biggest keg, but what really mattered was everyone had a great time.  Many more came after I couldn’t hold the camera straight anymore.  Sorry, you’ll have to come earlier to get on this bandwagon.

 

 

 

 

I gave a flash to Shuey to experiment with.  He pulled some pranks on people and luckily nothing was damaged in a fit of anger.  If you look around the room, especially at the ceiling, you can see the peach tint from light reflecting off his skin.  He literally nuked the hell out of this guy’s face.

 

 

Enough of that, I’ll hold the flashes myself.

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting in line for the bathroom.  This chick wondered what the hell we were up to.  I wasn’t about to leave my camera laying around so I continued to shoot a couple random shots.  I entertain myself quite well thank you.

 

 

 

 

To smile or not?  The never ending question.

 

 

 

I had crappy shadows all night because I didn’t hold the flash high enough.  It’s honestly not easy holding a heavy camera with one hand and your beer and a flash in the other, while trying to move around the room.

 

Chad came and posed for a money shot.  Uhh, you know what I mean.  He’s trying to push forward in his photography post-processing career.

 

Lucky for me, models tend to show up wherever I go.  On this fine day I didn’t have to deal with any models that aren’t approved.

 

Crazy Joe practiced his disco dancing, I think he’ll win the comp this year.

 

 

 

Des Moines, Night, Parties, People

I met Gabe of www.dsmskateboarding.com at Skate South where they gather once a week or so. 

This being my first time shooting any indoor low light sports, I didn’t do horrible but I didn’t do as well as I wanted to either.  The poor and sparse lighting (rollerskating rinks usually only use their mood and disco lighting) didn’t help me capture action very well.  I had to use compact strobe flashes to illuminate and freeze the action.  I should have used more variety in lighting setups for better results.  It was definitely more challenging than any shooting I’ve done before, a learning experience no doubt.

 

 

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Gabe of DSM Skateboarding on the rainbow box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Action, Des Moines, Greatest Hits, People

We went with the mother and Ken to the Grand Piano Bistro in the East Village area of Des Moines.  The bistro is an interesting place to go for something different.  They will play almost any request within reason that you throw at them, along with humerous games with on-stage volunteers.  Also I’d place them in the local top 10 for the best variety of beers.

 

 

 

 

 

Bars, Des Moines, Music, Night, People

Tom and I went to the Woodland Cemerery near downtown Des Moines to scope out the awesome sights reported to exist here.  Not being ones to spook easily, we went there around sundown.  Be aware of their closing time, as the automatic gate will lock you in and you’ll have to resort to more creative methods to exit the grounds.  Besides that, there’s not even enough light on the grounds to avoid tripping over the cold hands that reach out of the ground to grab your feet.

 

Many fancy mausoleums were scattered around the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Des Moines’ “City Receiving Vault”

 

 

 

 

 

Des Moines, Night, Outdoor

Gabriel (Flickr, Website) who I know from Flickr wanted to take photos at the old Titan Tire complex.  I wanted to do another visit anyway to get more shots of the “itsy bits.”

 

Gears and sprockets

 

 

 

 

This spiral staircase was awesome.  If it wasn’t outrageously hot and humid I would have spent more time perfecting it.

 

 

My excellent planning skills selected one of the most unbearably uncomfortable weekends.  I could barely see through my viewfinder anymore from all the sweat smeared on the glass.  Enough is enough, back to A/C.

Buildings, Des Moines, Urban Exploration

We all met up at West Port in West Des Moines.  After taking a couple serious pictures, I’m known for randomly taking a few more without warning.  Catching people off-guard can be fun.

 

The girlies

 

Then we went to Jeannie’s Bottle where they had karaoke night.

 

Jake does this strange Irish Jig thing when the camera points in his direction.  Some kind of nervous tick or something?

 

As if you don’t see Irish Jigs in bars all the time.  Nothing to see here folks.

 

 

 

Jake shows off his tattoo.  He courteously censored his nipple to avoid contaminating the minds of young children who haven’t yet been exposed to such obscenely terrible body parts.

 

I terrified the bejesus out of the singer from Hulk and the He-Men.  He was frightened that I’d melt his skin with my flash again.

 

Karaoke is not just about your singing, it’s about your stage presence as well.

 

 

Lawn mower time is my favorite!

 

 

Richard met Cal Woods, the news director at KDSM Fox 17 in Des Moines.

 

Pee Wee

 

 

The lack of Ham was short lived.

Bars, Des Moines, Night, People

I’ve done enough “rail fan” photos lately, but this one introduced itself to me while I was trying to drive to the MLK viaduct.

 

 

 

Going… going…

 

Gone

Des Moines, Night, Outdoor

I’m always a sucker for these downtown Des Moines skyline shots.

 

 

Buildings, Des Moines, Downtown, Greatest Hits, Night, Outdoor

Playing pool at Club 2000 on Des Moines’ South side.  It’s not really a club and it’s not really 2000.  It’s more like the Park Avenue Pub after winning the lottery.  They even have carpet here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bars, Des Moines, Night, People

Scouting a location for the Epic Status billboard ad.

 

This one will do.

Des Moines, Night, Outdoor, People, Unusual

This is the third and last post of this urban exploration series at Titan Distribution just outside of downtown Des Moines, IA.

 

Abandoned Warehouses

 

 

 

 

? This building was extra deteriorated.? There were warning signs stating that some of the machinery uses acid in the manufacturing process.? I have a feeling this is no coincidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

? You can see the stairs on the ground to the right that were cut from the 2nd floor to keep people from going up there.

 

 

Buildings, Des Moines, Greatest Hits, Urban Exploration

This is the 2nd? in a series of? posts from urban exploration at this abandoned tire factory complex.? Now we start getting into the interesting stuff.

 

? Copy cat!

 

Scavengers have already stolen all the copper wiring to sell as scrap.

 

? Transformers, more than meets the eye.

 

 

? Opened water boiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

? The stairways to the top floor were cut with a welding torch.? The only way up is to climb the wall.

 

 

 

 

? Roof access through the doorway.

 

 

 

 

 

? Cops are here now!? Time to go assholes.

 

? Quality computer equipment

 

? Phone board, with paper towel holder mounted.

 

Poop room is this way

 

Welcome to Heartbreak Ridge.

 

 

Break room

 

Kitchen

 

 

Sexy collage to encourage usage of safety glasses.

Buildings, Des Moines, Graffiti, Greatest Hits, Urban Exploration