Hello All. It’s been a minute. Happy New Year by the way….ha!
I am very happy to present to you the Approved Creative Sketches of the Version 2 Sugar Factory website that is now in Development and will be replacing the current site that is up now.
Sugar Factory is an up in coming confectionery company that has hit the U.S. by storm about a year ago. Their signature product the Couture Pop is endorsed by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears, Pussycat Dolls, & Spice Girl, Melanie Brown (AKA Scary Spice). Sugar Factory has made themselves very well know in the candy business as well in Pop Culture.
My vision for each page was if you were actually at a candy store. An overwhelming abundance of sweets flashing in your face. Like you can almost grab them from the screen.
And of course having the Celebrity element to support the products.
Oh!! A BIG Congrats to Simon & Jonathan (Sugar Factory’s Dynamic PR Duo) for their show Kim is doing for them!
This Page is one of my favorite parts of the V2 web site.
Basically this page lets you create your own candy gift basket from over 40 items. Pretty intense!! Thank God we have my boy Seany on the team! Sick programming skills that kid has!
In the last blog I was talking about inspiration and what sparks an idea. With this project I listened to a lot of these guys and watching Dexter. Don’t ask me why, but it was like we all had this crazy connection. ha!!
I love Dexter. I am so addicted.
Right now, I am working on some design projects for Hello Kitty and Holly Madison. If you want to know what is driving the inspiration. I am reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (incredible by the way) and listening to a lot of these guys!
Anyway. Thanks for checking me out. I hope all of you are well and enjoying the nice weather.
Hello. I hope your holidays have been pleasant. Mine have been good. Spending time with family, friends… Not too much traveling thou. As much as I love to adventure around this country, duties came calling strong…
From the last post, I spoke of upcoming projects. Well, as exciting as it seemed at first, it was one of the hardest things to accomplish. Maybe I am getting old? Or maybe I am losing the drive that I had when I first got into the biz? Either way I needed to suck it up and commit. No pain, no gain. So they say.
3 months of hard work. Put the social side away and grind it out.
I knew I had to show and prove, because the decision I was about to make afterwards would be a big one. I really don’t know what to expect…. (To understand what I am referring to, you’ll have to read on).
This year came and went…! Seems like yesterday, my little boy was just learning how to walk. Now he plays tennis, soccer, and whips my tail at Mario Cart.
Kids are the most precious things ever. I never thought I would ever be at a Christmas recital, singing along to “Feliz Navidad”, let alone having a child. He definitely drives me to work harder and to be a better person.
While the recital goes on, I get emails, emails, emails…. Duty calls, like an evil sub-conscience…. I decide not to reply.
…Cabo Wabo!! Uno, Dos, Tres Tequila!! Mas Tequila! Hey! Mas Tequila!!
Cute little place there at Miracle Mile Shops located inside Planet Hollywood.
This 10,000 square foot Cantina got transformed into a Sick Rock & Roll Venue.
Sammy Hagar and Friends christened this place with a good old rock show!
Couple of weeks back Sammy came by to inspect the place and surprisingly jammed out with the House band. This was one of my favorite shots.
That night, was 2 days after I thought I had an ulcer. Luckily Mr. MRI says, “No Ulcer”. Doctor says I need to eat 3 times a day. I tend to eat 1 meal a day if my work schedule is very active. It was definitely an eye opener.
While following Sammy around, I was wondering how am I going to design the creative for Eve Nightclub if the place is still an empty drywall shell….?
Times like this is where lots of music and movies like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s“, Goldfinger, & “Eye’s Wide Shut” come in handy. Not that I am getting elements or copying fragments from these movies. It helps me clear my head and there can be something said or done to spark inspiration to come up with conceptual ideas.
I am a big collector of movies, music, & books of all genres. I am starting to watch more and more older 70’s flicks. Almost like a obsession. ha!!
I am very pleased with the creative designs & branding for Eve. Stunning & original stuff. No clip art here, kids.
Wait til the full website is up and running. Competitors, watch out!!
The grand opening party for Cabo Wabo Cantina was surprisingly a great time. I was shocked how great this event became as things went on.
Country Music Singer, Kenny Chesney came by to support Cabo Wabo and Sammy! They sung a bunch of songs, people were going nuts for Kenny Chesney. I hardly watch any television, so I didn’t know who he was…..
When I saw this, I started looking online to know more about Mr. Chesney. I guess he won a Grammy? Wow! Pretty cool. He was very nice by the way. This is where I started to get pumped about this event…!
Vinny Paul!!!!! Fucking Vinny Paul!! For those of you that don’t know Mr. Paul, he was the drummer Insane Metal Band (and high school favorite) PANTERA!! Oh the dude next to him played bass for Van Halen. But Vinny Paul!!!! Cowboys from Hell!! Love that record!
Vinny Paul and Michael Anthony got on stage with Sammy and turned the party up another notch!!
Cabo Wabo Cantina in Las Vegas has such a cool vibe. The staff is good looking, they have great drinks,
and their food is pretty good!
My favorite is the cheese quesadilla.
These are some approved lifestyle shots for publication reviews.
Anyway. Sorry for the A.D.D. Back to the grand opening event.
The drummer from the Red Hot Chilli Pepper also came by to support!
He got on stage as well. They performed some ChickenFoot songs…
All around the event was a blast to attend, as well as to work at…
With one project opening done, it is time to move to the next one.
Eve Nightclub, located in the enormous CityCenter Las Vegas.
I had to rent 5 spot lights for this job. I am satisfied how the images came out.
The job was from 7pm to 3:30am. It took time, but it was worth the effort.
I was dead the next morning… ha!!
My schedule is somewhat of a unique schedule, but I make the best of what is dealt to me.
2009 was an interesting year for me. Some bad times, very trying… Physically and mentally, but somewhat educational and pleasant. I met up with and spoke to some old friends and people that I thought I would never see or hear from ever again. I got to help a mentor and good friend get back on the road to success, when people thought he was gone & out for good.
I am in the process of turning the page into a new chapter in my life. I recently just put my house on sale and accepted a job as creative director for this place. Check out the Video. Pretty interesting.
http://www.whollywoodresidence.com/ is a beautiful place.
It’s definitely going to be a change for me. LA is a different place than Las Vegas. I think when it comes to commercial arts LA is the next level. I am looking forward to developing more in what I do and as well as raising my boy in a more cultured environment.
It’s a challenge, but if you never try, then you’ll never know.
Thanks for reading my rant. Take care and talk soon.
I don’t know how I came up with the name. “Tame Little Whirlwind”, but I feel that it basically describes my life as of late. And I mean that in a positive way of course.
I tend to absorb a whirlwind of things, break it in and ride the fuckers like Pecos Bill rides one of those tornadoes in the tall tales I used to read when I was little.
For those of you who like Nightlife or going to clubs. If you happen to vacation to Las Vegas, go to this place!
Recently I had part in creating the VIP Table Module for their website. Click on “VISIT” and see for yourself.
From photography, video, interface design, creative, and motion effects. I am lucky and grateful that the guys from XS gave me to opportunity to work on this project. The talented programmers at URvenue handled the database engine and back-end programming.
Here are some photos from the shoot I did for the website.
I am very pleased with the outcome.
So with a Popular Candy Company, a Bar Opening in 3 weeks, 2 Nightclub openings, directing a short film, preparing my house to be put on sale, raising the “lil Gov’ner” (my son) and finding time to party seem tough??
I am not going to lie, yes it is.
With these projects in the works and deadlines short as they always are, I had to disappear from society to clear the head.
BAJA CALIFORNIA (Mexico)
The city of Cabo, San Lucas. Beautiful city! Hard working, loving people these citizens of Cabo are.
Good cigars…
This decal was hand painted of course! I love to see people put time in effort with the little things they have to use and create. Anyway…
The thing that made this vacay special was that it was a family trip!
This is my aunt and uncle. My uncle has been a great inspiration to me as of late. He’s been fighting cancer for almost 2 years now and he hasn’t kept it from taking the smile off his face!
We went fishing together. Caught over 70lbs of Yellowtail Tuna. He caught 2 and my pop and I caught 1 each.
We hung out a lot and went to many different places. The place I had a kick going to was the small town of San Jose.
My uncle like doing that HDR photography stuff. It’s cool, I guess.
Dirt roads, dogs kicking it taking siestas, old men sitting outside drinking Pacificos, and small Mom and Pop restaurants.
If you ever end up at the town of San Jose, Los Cabos. Hit this place up!! Insane Food!!!
Oh! This guy came along for the ride…
He has fun. As long as he had his ice cream…
This was the look he gave me when I told there was no ice cream…
You can see my reflection from his eyes. (canon 24mm L) ha!!
A little Tilt Shift’ish effect with the lens… I was messing around.
The vacation did help out. I am back in action. My head hasn’t exploded yet.
When stress comes knocking, I think about going to my “Happy Place” (Fight Club).
This is my happy place. I even have a photo. All I need now is my cute penguin.
This past weekend Holly Madison, star of the reality show, “Girls Next Door”, and from the Las Vegas act “Peepshow” came by the Sugar Factory store for a signing.
Here are some of the photos I took for Sugar Factory to send to media.
So last Sunday morning. I am sitting poolside at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. I’m drinking orange juice and trying to find the strength to eat these amazing fish tacos. My buddy Bo starts telling me about the silliness that happened the night before at Teddy’s and how for some reason I didn’t remember. And In fact I was part of the silliness…..
Alcohol does some funny things to people. It can be kind at first, it can mean as well. The part I dislike is how it makes you feel the next day.
As I am finishing up brunch and my buddy Bo gets back to work, I start looking around and I start to daydream about what I have to do this week coming up…. Gilbert Yvel.
MMA Fighter Gilbert “The Hurricane” Yvel.
I am a big MMA fan! I am very familiar with this gentleman and what he does to his opponents.
For example: (View at your own discretion)
That day I was feeling a little similar to what that man was feeling after the fight…. just kidding. I didn’t feel well thou.
The shoot was set up by Gilbert’s Jujitsu instructor John Lewis.
John Lewis trains with a lot of the professional MMA fighters, like Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, Randy Couture and so on.
To be successful in this sport you have to train and train and train. Always have to be on you “A” Game.
It really is a full time job for most of these guys. 8 hours days. 5 days a week. Or maybe more.
Being intimidating I am sure is a plus as well.
But honestly, Gilbert was great. Funny, laid back, and a bit soft spoken.
I was very confident that the photo shoot would be a success.
Business as usual.
Looking back at the “silliness” the happening in LA, the state I was in, and how I was gonna make it back to Vegas in one piece.
I was very motivated to make project a successful one.
NOTE: If you want a larger view of the horizontal images.
Right Click, then Click; “Open Image in new Window”.
Hello. It’s been a while since I had anytime or ambition to sit down and write/post thoughts, work, and so on. So for the people that used to read some of my posts, please accept my apology.
I am a admirer of the simplest things. Yes, I am a commercial artist and it’s my job to be innovative, but being innovative on a daily basis can fry the brain, believe it or not. I guess that is why I enjoy the simplistic things in life.
As weeks pass like days and months like weeks. Working in the fast pace industry of advertising and marketing, especially in entertainment. Time flies and you don’t know where it has gone. It seems like yesterday I was creating the branding PURE Management Group….
Ahem….
This cutie is my “M”.
Yesterday during morning tea, we spoke about photography with models. And how a photographer knows if a model is photogenic or not. I told her to start, it’s all about personality. Nothing more. Just being comfortable with yourself. Then you move from there!
By the look in her face, I felt that she didn’t believe me. So I told her to stand be the window and push her hair back……
And Voila!!
It was so great to get out of Vegas!
Before I started my voyage I had a very important objective to accomplish.
The opening of Sugar Factory’s 1st Boutique located inside the Mirage Resort in sunny, but really hot right now (112 degrees today), Las Vegas.
All the hard work is starting to pay off it seems. I am very proud of the guys behind Sugar Factory! They’re really incredible individuals when it comes to their profession and what they do.
All around the event was a success! Lots of press national press came out for the opening. Some familiar faces rolled by to do some interviews as well.
Ran into my old friend Mark. He interviewed Kim for this piece. We chatted for a bit and got straight to business when the guests arrived.
She’s in some show called Housewives of NYC or something. I never heard of it before, but then again all I watch is this, since I do have a 4 year old. Anyway, she was so nice, so flirty. Man she worked the crowd and photographers and they loves her for it.
At the end, everyone had fun. The crowd, the media, and the Sugar Factory staff.
Well, that scratches another event. I am really happy that everything went to plan and a great job by the management for being on point with everything.
I have a much respect for them and the administrative team that was hand picked for Sugar Factory.
They really know how to make people comfortable in any situation.
That sums up the evening before my journey.
Sometimes people look at me and wonder why I chose to work on a candy project coming from one of the best nightlife organizations in Las Vegas…. Well, I believe in helping others to be successful is good for the spirit…..
But I am also working with one the best Nightlife organizations in the US as my 2nd job.
“Food is Art!!” I believe that statement 100%. Everything that is thought, picked out and put together to create a dish, to me is art. From presentation, technique, style and of course taste….. it’s all there.
Now, anyone that can cook for themselves, can make a burger. But when guys like these make burgers…well, lets just say they definitely don’t make an average burger:)
The destination was at a friend of Chef Moonen’s House. This lady had the most loveliest house. Vintage, 1960s. She had the most amazing book collection that I have ever seen outside of a library.
She had rare autographed books from Charles Lindberg…..
to Truman Capote… Almost each room was covered with bookshelves, stacked with books. I thought it was incredible.
This one room, I bet is every chefs dream. Every single book was a cookbook from late 1940s to recent. Years and years of cooking knowledge all in one room. Amazing!! Oh! Ha! These are 2 images put together. As you can see by the weak photoshop blending on the back book shelf. ha!! Careless… I know:)
Anyway. Back to the burgers. The objective was to create a beautiful burger. Perfect seasoning, fresh veggies, quality meats, etc. Everything was quality for this design presentation.
Once everything was cooked. We needed to prep the burger for the shoot. Chef Moonen making sure everything was good to go!
And finally it was my turn to catch the burger in all its beauty!! Beautiful! Tastey! Colorful! Art!
For those of you who are confused about the blog title. Or maybe you are thinking that for all this time Carlos Larios has been shooting with an out of date, worthless, shitty, camera?
Yes, you are right! Now-a-days there are camera phones that shoot with a higher mega pixel rate. ha!!
Well, I was always the one who wanted to get good at something, before I invested in upgrading to Professional gear. I managed to be able to come up with images with my 10D, that some photographers with full frame cameras still can’t achieve.
And for that I feel very blessed, as well as thankful for my experiences and friendships with the many talented industry photographers that I had the chance meet.
I write this blog as a thank you and farewell to my Canon EOS 10D!! Because soon I will be sporting the Canon 5D Mark II. Yes, it is in route! That is all I can say about that:)
So what better way to say farewell, then to post the last photos we took together.
This was shot recently. This cute little girl is my niece. It was her birthday.
Also… During the last days of the 10D, I thought…. Why not shoot the people closest to me:) I think it would be a nice parting…. ha!! (I’m a nerd)
Recently it snowed in Vegas (1 week ago)
This was the 1st time my son had a chance to play in the snow!!
It never snows in Las Vegas…. Like, NEVER!! Seriously… NEVER!
A little lens flare action….! I didn’t have my flash with me. THe only light source was the out door lights by the house. I had my setting at 1/60 F 2.8 400 ISO. Not the best photo in the world, but I think it caught the moment:)
What is funny is that on this very day, we were getting on a plane to hit up this place….
f/16 1/160 100ISO… It was a bright day!
Yeah!!! The Bahamas. Atlantis Resort.
The beach was so beautiful and private, I think it is every business persons dream. The reason I say that is because of the peace and quietness. And the ability to not worry about things or deal with stupid people like these idiots or hipsters , Thank God!!! ha!!!
Anyway. I had a blast, and my kid had a blast.
Kids are the best!!
So happy building his sand castles….
Anyway it was a great time and it was so pleasing to spend time with old friends. I got introduce to some awesome people… hit up a bunch of local spots and was treated like family.
I even got to see some familiar adverts!
It’s still funny seeing my old designs still being used…. it’s an honor thou
Great times we had and great images we produced, my 10D and I
About a month ago, the west side, suburbs of Las Vegas were graced by the opening of Via Brasil Steakhouse.
(Ad, Photos by: Yours Truly)
A beautiful, authentic Brazilian “Churrascaria”!! It’s an extension of the award-winning Via Brasil restaurant in New York City, Via Brasil Steakhouse offers the same exceptional cuisine and personalized service to Las Vegas.
Shooting food isn’t a new thing to me, so when the opportunity came my way, I took it!!
Tasty!!!!!
For those who don’t eat meat, Via Brasil Steakhouse has a variety of options…
Salad…
& Fish…
Hands down, Via Brasil Steakhouse is the Best Brasilian Steakhouse in Las Vegas!!
And I don’t even eat meat! Just ask the guy who shot this!
His mouth started drooling when the sausage came out….;)
Sausage…….Yummy…….
I shot some interiors as well, but you will have to wait til the website is complete to see how I did with those.
Anyway, if you’re ever in Las Vegas and are into Steak houses.
Come check out Via Brasil Steakhouse in Summerlin!! Great place! Reasonable price!!
Recently, I was in NYC to add a helping hand, as well as supporting my dear friends’ demo at the Chocolate Show! It was a presentation promoting their upcoming restaurant B.B.D’s.
B.B.D’s is an innovative Burger Bar concept which is opening in Babylon, Long Island. (Close to the Hamptons) Its a Rare Concepts Group project.
The Chocolate Show is one of the Biggest Events in the Culinary Industry! It’s a 3 day event, that displays and introduces the new and upcoming individuals and brands that will be hitting the Chocolate Industry. About 4 to 6 thousand people attend this once a year event.
In Fashion….
Chocolate Iron Man
Chocolate Bat Girl
Chocolate Hats
KICK ASS Chocolate Blaster Guns!!
To Market…
The place was jammed packed!!!
My buddies Ralphie and Hugo’s presentation was a simple but tasty item!
The ICE BOX CAKE!!
This event was the 1st of many PR events that the Guys would be doing.
Longtime friend of the guys Eric Hubert from Jean George, NYC came to give a helping hand as well!
Food Network’s Keegan Gerhard hosted the demo and introduced Ralphie and Hugo!
He was a very nice person to meet! He said very nice things about BBD’s Concept and was very excited to come to the opening!
Ralphie’s niece helped out in the presentation:)
Ralphie and his niece did a great job….
…and the people watching were very delighted to have a bite of the ICE BOX CAKE
as well as taking home a custom recipe:)
After the demo was over we went to The Blue Ribbon in SoHo to eat.
If you’re ever in NYC check that place out during Late Night…. Off the Hook!!!
Almost each room was covered with bookshelves, stacked with books. I thought it was incredible.
Chef Moonen making sure everything was good to go!
Beautiful! Tastey! Colorful! Art!
