Flip Books at Comic Con on the News!

This last week we were hired by Nickelodeon to produce Flip Books at their booth in Comic Con - a huge convention about comic books and "all things pop culture". A reporter for a San Diego news station came by and checked us out on preview night. Her report the following morning featured the Nickelodeon booth and she said that we were her favorite thing at the entire show! The planner for the booth was beside herself with excitement!

Starting that morning people came directly to the Nick booth because word spread that it was the best booth in the show. They waited in line for up to an hour to make their own Flip Book! The original plan was for us to produce Flip Books a few hours a day but it was so popular that they extended our hours to almost twice the amount of time. It's nice to be appreciated, but our feet were not so happy.

I put together a little video with the news clip and our favorite video clips of the guests making their Flip Books. It's funny to see adults acting silly and having so much fun - really worth a good chuckle!

Click on the image below to view the video:



Flip Books by Morningstar Productions

Setup Day at Comic Con

Today was setup for the Nickelodeon booth at Comic  Con - what an ordeal! We moved our equipment in "guerrilla style" by dragging in thru the front doors rather than pay a $100 per box fee. Oy! After setting up we got to work training staff and making some Flip Books for the preview night with media from around the world.

I made a little video of the first day. And for any fellow geeks, the special thing about this video is that it was shot and edited entirely on my oh-so-cool iPhone 4! We do love our toys!

Click on the image below to play the little one minute video. Prepare to be amazed!

Happy Face slideshow in France turns romantic

We finished a 7 day incentive program in Provence and Monte Carlo with the traditional "happy face" slideshow on the final night. Dave had an idea to give it a twist. Instead of all fast-paced happy faces showing how much fun they had, he thought we should play on the romance of the French Riviera and the Princess Grace connection in Monaco. So on one of the nights we asked each couple to "show some romance". They responded with little smooches, a peck on the cheek, a hug and sometimes a good laugh. We put this at the end of the show with some old French music and make that portion of the show black and white. Gave a very fun, romantic and nostalgic feel to the show.

Click on the image below to view the slideshow in a large window:



Photography by Rand Larson and David Atkisson, Morningstar Productions

Flip Books at the Empire Polo Club

This week we introduced our new Flip Books at a chamber mixer at Empire Polo Club's new venue: The Date Shed. Very cool place! And people really had a good time making Flip Books. See if you recognize some of the famous people who came thru our line!

Making art at the museum

The last few years the Palm Springs Art Museum asked us to provide some fun photographic keepsakes for their open house night. They wanted something that relates to their art collection. Two years ago we did fun photos in the style of Andy Warhol. Last year it was graphic posters in the style of the Obama Hope poster. Tonight we made photographs in the style of the Lichtenstein comic art that was recently donated. I think people had a good time - we had a blast making funny photos.
All of the photos can be found HERE
Use the password "photos" to download an image (click the download button above the image)

Last year's graphic art photos are still online HERE

Instant digital photography by Morningstar Productions

Desert Olympics and a slideshow!

Seems to be the year of the slideshow - and that makes us very happy! This last weekend Access Destination Services had an international group out at the Desert Adventures Old Miner's Camp for a "Desert Olympics" team building. The people were from all over the world, but I noticed that the folks from the Hong Kong office were the most enthusiastic of the bunch (that is after the New York City group who was the most competitive!).

I think the slideshow turned out very well... it showed how much fun everyone had!



Photography by Rand Larson, Morningstar Productions

A fun little video about a cute dog named Patches!

Last summer we played with an HD video camera and made little videos. Fun stuff and good practice! My favorite video from the summer was about our little Jack Russell Terrier named Patches. A friend saw the video the other day and said that we really should share it so, here it is! Enjoy it in full HD glory!

Live, from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood!

Every once in a while I get to be part of a very fun event. This was one of them! I was hired to be an additional photographer for a Japanese network marketing company's awards event at the Kodak Theater. That's where they hold the Oscars. Cool place. I'm one of those people who always watches the show so I was very glad to have a chance to see inside! The photography and video was coordinated by Greg Russell of Tandem Digital and the stage events were produced by Anthony Bollatta of Bollatta Entertainment.

Getting to see a cool space like the Oscars stage is nice, but....

Very cool decor at the Museum

Why is it that Shari Kelley is able to blow the socks off every single event? Maybe it comes from getting up at 4:30am to have quiet personal time. I guess that allows the creativity to flow if you don't wake up running. But whatever it is, she and her team really pulled off a great event at the Palm Springs Art Museum this week.

A sign of change!

This week we got 2 calls from event planners at the very last minute looking for us to provide photography at their event. By last minute I mean, calling at 8am to see if we could be at the Hyatt Grand Champions by 8:30am! I love those kind of calls, keeps me on my toes!

But what was interesting in both cases was that the event planners had been tasked to take photographs during the event. I saw this a lot last year. The person in charge of planning rooms, meals, travel and a thousand details also had a little point-and-shoot camera in their hand to take the casual candid photographs in their spare time. They would hire us for the difficult stuff like group photographs. But I understand. The entire industry is under orders to do the same as before, but for half the cost.

This time, both of the event planners put their foot down and told their client that they needed to hire a professional if they wanted professional results. I'm quite impressed! Maybe it's a trend of a little push-back. I like it because both events allowed me to hear interesting presentations and see fun stuff. Oh, and I got paid!

It's a good trend!

Rand Larson
Palm Springs Photographer
www.MorningstarProductions.com