Darkness Hides Stardust Implosion
09:46 PM PT, Mar 13 2007
Ethan Miller is probably the best known photographer in Las Vegas. These
days he shoots for Getty Images. I see him at every major event, and this
morning I received an e-mail from him on the problems he had with photographing
the Stardust implosion that I alluded to in my earlier post:
"Someone had the bright idea to spend all kinds of money shooting off
fireworks for about 4-5 minutes then blasting some (I'm told) 55-gallon drums of rocket fuel and spelling out
10, 9, 8, 7...in pyrotechnics on the Strip side of the Stardust. I was on
the Circus Circus parking deck so I don't know if that worked. Then,
unbelievably, at the exact moment when they imploded the thing, THEY TURNED ALL
THE LIGHTS OUT so all us poor still photographers got frames of mostly black -
totally unuseable. I've shot every implosion except the Dunes and have never
seen anything so stupid. Then immediately after the 10 seconds it took to actually implode the hotel, they
turned the lights back on just in time to illuminate the billowing clouds of
debris roiling towards us."
Sort of glad I was in bed.
Sort of glad I was in bed.
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The reason that the implosions in Las Vegas are performed in the dark is that the air quality people in Clark County and the State of Nevada use an opacity standard to measure dust emissions. The dust cloud greatly exceeds the Federal and State regs for the emission of silica (silica is one of the main ingredients in concrete) by >100%. Silica is as bad or worse than breathing asbestos. By not having any light the opacity gauge doesn't work therefore no fine. The fines are quite substantial.
The casinos have very deep pockets so the threat of litigation is mitigated as well. Peter Angelos would have a field day.
Posted by: envcontractor | March 14, 2007 at 12:17 PM
The darkness during the implosion may've ruined some pictures, but it didn't take away from the awesomeness of the demolition.
My take is here:
http://crazymonk.org/archives/2007_03_14/805
Posted by: crazymonk | March 14, 2007 at 02:23 PM
Hey Richard,
It's 'alluded to', not 'eluded to'...unless you were running away from his article in a running towards it sort of way...
Keep on keepin' on...
Posted by: Big Karl | March 14, 2007 at 04:51 PM
Does Mr. Miller think that the purpose of the implosion was to provide him with a spiffy photo for him to take back to his employer? Should every event, every day, on this planet be specially lit so that photographers can get a nice photo to post on their Web site? If the Boyd Corp. wants to blow up their building (especially one that was built within 30 years or so), they can do it however the they want! I'm sorry to go off on a rant here, but it seems like all anyone thinks about is themself these days.
Posted by: Greg C. | March 15, 2007 at 03:21 PM
Greg,
Yeah, the Boyd people could have done it the way they'd wanted to do it. And, I have a great idea about how they originally planned to implode the 48-year-old, very historical building ( in The Strip age, 48 years is a BIG deal). The Boyd people made sure that they let every media outlets know about their plans. The news release was embargoed by THE BOYD until several hours before the implosion. You know what that means? They wanted the presence of photographers and videographers more than of the public. Do you think they spent $1.6 million for the spectators gathering around the Stardust? It's all about publicity. That's why they set up a media center in a hotel suite with full of refreshments. As much as we wanted to be there to witness a historical moment, the Boyd wanted us to be there too. Trust me. They know better than anybody that good or well-lit photos in this case bring more publicity for them. THAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE IMPLOSION!!!! With your crooked eyes and mind, we might be just selfish photographers. There's one thing you should know. You will never understand how things work with your narrow perspective.
Posted by: Jae C. | March 16, 2007 at 08:41 PM
This Implosion was the biggest disappointment for all photographers, not just Ethan, as you can see by the images captured by all that attended the 2:30 am disaster. I arrived at 6pm to get the best possible location after viewing all aspects of it for weeks. The "Lighting tests that took place prior to the implosion just kept building up the hype for the best Photos of all the implosion that I have covered 19 years in Vegas, only to be left with not a single image on 3 camera. MY BAD! In anticipation when you have hours of set-up time to think of every scenario, and go back and recheck and reset, change lenses and everything over and over , and during the lighting tests, you try to pick the lighting that will best portray the event. not just for your sales , but for history. and then you find that the lights go out.. I think they had the best intentions of creating a spectacular memorable event , but if you have covered even one of these things let alone produced one Its the implosion that everyone comes to see , NOT the fireworks, Why wouldn't these high paid minds who spent all this money to light the event hold the fireworks for the finally, to bring in Echelon, and not take out the Stardust. as it was, the lighting of the name on the mound of rubble just leaves me with "Echelon a pile of crap" I have several shots of greatly lit skeleton of the Stardust which would have made the best implosion photos ever, and if the fireworks were shot off after the DROP it would have brought in Echelon the right way. I hope the consulting firm gets paid, because I have nothing to sell for 8 hours of time. unless your looking for a well lit skeleton with no name on it, and a pile of debre with Echelon on it
Posted by: burtonphoto@gmail.com | March 23, 2007 at 10:03 AM