Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne headlines the America’s Most Wanted Festival at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Ill., Saturday, August 10, 2013.

In honor of hop-hop artist Lil Wayne’s triumphant Chicago-area return tomorrow to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, I dug out this set that I shot almost a year ago to the day at the same venue for the Chicago Sun-Times. As with most concerts, I was given the first three songs to get whatever I could of the spectacle before being whisked back to the venue gates by Live Nation reps. Due to a communication breakdown with the aforementioned reps, however, I only got escorted to my shooting position at front of house (the sound and lighting board control area) about 20 seconds before Lil Wayne began his set, leading to me juggling lenses and extenders in the pitch darkness as the audience screamed into the humid air around me.

Front of house at Tinley is about 150 feet from the stage, so most of these were shot with a 400 2.8 lens with a 1.4x extender on a Canon 1D Mark IV (1.3x crop body). Even then, in the uncropped files, I was barely head-to-toe on the artist. So, if you’re ever sent on a concert assignment, bring your longest glass and extenders just in case! I also recommend bringing a small step ladder, as arms-up-stretched smart phone wielding fans in front of you are going to make it very difficult to get a clean frame.

As for Lil Wayne’s performance, he shocked me with his discipline and clarity with regards to his microphone usage. Most rappers cup their hands around the grille of the mic (a huge no-no in the sound world) and scream their otherwise carefully recorded studio tracks in the heat of the live moment. Not Lil Wayne. He obviously has been molded and trained over the years on proper mic etiquette, for I could actually understand every lyric to his most popular tracks.

In the end, I enjoyed my experience documenting one of pop culture’s most iconic (for whatever reasons you may choose to cite) artists.

As a lighting designer in my other dicipline, concert photo assignments mean that wide shots of the entire rig are a must. Artists spend a lot of money and time on the productions they take on the road, so showing this in your take is essential.

Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne headlines the America’s Most Wanted Festival at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Ill.

Lil Wayne takes a moment to thank his fans for coming out. These between-song chats added to my total shooting time, so I welcomed them!

Pro skateboarders (complete with a quarter pipe) on stage? Check. Backing vocalists? Check. Lil Wayne does a great job of breaking the stereotype of what you’d expect to see at a hip hop show.

Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne headlines the America’s Most Wanted Festival at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Ill.

Showing the audience (whether massive, as here, or sparse) is also a part of the story that shouldn’t be left out when covering a concert.

With this bow from New Orleans’ own son, my three songs were up and the night was over!

Members of the group Mariachi Acero pose during a promotional portrait shoot on Frenchman Mountain in Las Vegas. The group, based in Las Vegas, is comprised of area youths led by instructor Erik Ramirez (third from right).

Just to my left, the view outside the window of the 737-700 aircraft I’m currently flying aboard offers a never-ending view of white, flat-topped clouds. Some 40,000 feet over Denver, the sun is fast on its way to setting, leaving the tallest parts of this cloudy expanse dabbed with crisp, warm light. As with the last time I traveled to Las Vegas, nature is once again reminding me that the visuals out this way are just a little more special.

I don’t know what it is about sunsets in the desert southwest of the United States, but they usually end up being a visual artist’s dream. Perhaps it’s the dust that swirls high into the sky, helped aloft by strong, arid winds? Perhaps mother nature simply shares a penchant for bold colors, just like this photographer? Her paint brushes at sunset in the desert drip heavy with intense color saturation and texture, painted upon a clear canvas broken only by mountains a million years in the making (and made a million years before the cameras I often use to capture this spectacle were even a consideration).

On one of my last visits to Las Vegas in April, 2012, I was asked by my longtime friend and Las Vegas resident Erik Ramirez to create a promotional portrait of his youth musical group, Mariachi Acero. The group is mainly comprised of high school students who’ve learned the mariachi music discipline at the school where Erik teaches. While I could have just knocked out a quick photo at the school and called it a day, in true Guy Rhodes fashion, grander visions began to dance through my mind.

Members of the group braved a steep climb up a rocky incline in slippery boots (large instruments in hand, no less) to reach the location for the shoot at the base of Frenchman Mountain.

On previous trips to Las Vegas, Erik has been quite helpful in assisting me with scouting great locations to make beautiful images of Las Vegas. From Betty Willis’ fabulous Las Vegas sign on the southern end of the strip, to airport observation areas on the fence line of McCarran Airport, Erik has been instrumental in providing locations from which to make great images, both for work and entertainment.

When the idea of the mariachi group portrait was presented, one of my favorite past photo locations, Frenchman Mountain, immediately came to mind. As its namesake implies, the mountainous area on the extreme northeastern edge of the Las Vegas metro area offers a great elevated perspective of the entire strip, flanked by additional mountains just to the west. With several ridges just a short hike uphill from the road, the Frenchman Mountain area would give me a great place to compose the group with their home city as the backdrop.

I decided to set the call time for the group to arrive at the location one hour before sunset, and I’d roll the dice and gamble on mother nature adding in one of her desert sunset spectacles with my already great perspective of the city. Luckily for me, and even luckier for my excited photo subjects, she didn’t disappoint!

A stiff breeze at the location vibrated the strings of group member Joey Manzano’s harp the entire time we were shooting. Between this, and the eerie sounds of fighter jets streaking high overhead from nearby Nellis Air Force Base, the location had an unnerving energy as the group posed for me in otherwise complete silence.

All it took was one glimpse of my camera’s LCD screen by the group of the great results I was getting once the sky started to explode with color, and I had their complete and total cooperation for the rest of the shoot. Here, I lit the musicians with 2 Vivitar 285HV battery operated flashes atop small, portable light stands. The flashes were triggered with Pocket Wizard Plus units.

This is one of those accidental images that only I typically love, and my photographer friends typically hate. My front light flash wasn’t completely recycled, and didn’t fire, creating these ghostly silhouettes.

By the time night fell, the location had fallen into almost complete darkness. This made it very difficult to adjust my lighting angles on the rough terrain, so there’s a few harsh face shadows here. This was compounded by the lack of modeling lights in the Vivitars. Still, the city lights behind the group look kinda cool.

Even though night had fallen, the guys still wanted to do some quick single portraits with the Las Vegas lights in the background. Because of the darkness, the autofocus on my camera was useless. Manually focusing was out of the question as well, since I couldn’t see the subjects through the viewfinder. To combat this, I had each group member hold their lit up cell phone as they stepped up, so my autofocus would have something to “grab” on to. This technique has saved my behind on numerous occasions.

The nighttime single portraits wrapped up our session on Frenchman Mountain.

(From left) The Glen Theater board chairman Vernon Smith talks with African-American Achievers Youth Corps members Joshua Perry, 16, of Merrillville, Ind., along with Gary, Ind., residents Christopher Woods Jr., 16, Ramon Luckett, 17, and Stephen Jenkins, 17, prior to a production held at the theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007. The youth corps members work shows at the newly re-opened theater, completing tasks such as ushering, cleaning, and technical jobs behind the scenes.

In keeping with a New Year’s resolution to myself, I’ve decided to prevent the dust from accumulating on my often-sedentary blog. A new feature that will help me attain this goal is something I’m going to call Rewind, where I’ll feature a shoot from my archives that I may have never shared before.

This first rewind comes from Saturday, November 10, 2007. I was assigned to shoot the African Achievers Youth Corps, a group that worked the then nearly-reopened Glen Theater in Gary, Indiana. It could have been one of those shoots where I stayed for a half hour or so and banged out a few keepers and bailed, but I quickly realized the group of teens was quite literally running the entire show. From taking tickets at the door to running the concession stand to lighting and sound, the amount of opportunities for storytelling images was quite abundant. I decided to stay for the entire evening and produce images of everything the youth corps was responsible for at a given show.

Looking back on this take made me realize how far digital cameras have come in just the past couple of years. I shot this on Canon 1D Mark II cameras, and when compared with images from the 1D Mark IV cameras I used today, I was surprised at how muddy and noisy the higher ISO images were – noise levels that were perfectly acceptable to me at the time.

I was also happy that, now as with then, I was willing to take risks with some of my more “artsy” images, such as the concession worker reflected in the glass, or the ticket being handed off as seen reflected in a velvet rope station. A few colleagues at the time voiced a lot of disapproval at this frame, but I always try and mix in my extreme personal vision when shooting stories along with what would be typically be considered “safer” images. Because, after all, you have to shoot for yourself while on assignment as well!

Glen Theater worker A.J. Taylor, 17, of Gary, Ind., figures out how to put on his bow tie prior to working a show at the theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007. Taylor, a high school sophomore, is a member of The African-American Achievers Youth Corps. Taylor and other youth corps members work shows at the newly re-opened theater, completing tasks such as ushering, cleaning, and technical jobs behind the scenes.

Usher A.J. Taylor (left), 17, of Gary, Ind., takes a ticket from a patron in the lobby of The Glen Theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007. Taylor, a high school sophomore, is a member of The African-American Achievers Youth Corps.

Usher Stephen Jenkins (second from left), 17, of Gary, Ind., hands out programs to audience members prior to a show at The Glen Theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007. Jenkins, a junior at Wirt High School, is a member of The African-American Achievers Youth Corps.

Usher Ramon Luckett, 17, of Gary, Ind., keeps watch over The Glen Theater house during a show held Saturday, November 10, 2007. Luckett, a senior at Lew Wallace High School, is a member of The African-American Achievers Youth Corps. The group works shows at the newly re-opened theater, completing tasks such as ushering, cleaning, and technical jobs behind the scenes.

Usher A.J. Taylor (right), 17, of Gary, Ind., jokes around with fellow usher Stephen Jenkins, also 17 and from Gary, during intermission of a show held at The Glen Theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007.

Concession stand worker Christopher Woods Jr., 16, of Gary, Ind., readies the counter for patrons at The Glen Theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007.

Glen Theater worker Lee Moore (left), 17, of Gary, Ind., takes care of patrons at the concession stand during intermission of a show held at the theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007. Lee is a member of The African-American Achievers Youth Corps, who work shows at the newly re-opened theater, completing tasks such as ushering, cleaning, and technical jobs behind the scenes.

Stephen Jenkins, 17, of Gary, Ind., operates a follow spot during a show at The Glen Theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007.

Ushers Torian Washington (left), 17, of Gary, Ind., and Ramon Luckett, also 17 and from Gary, make sure patrons are situated in the house of The Glen Theater in Gary prior to a show held Saturday, November 10, 2007.

(From left) Glen Theater workers Joshua Perry, 16, of Merrillville, Ind., Christopher Woods Jr., 16, of Gary, Ind., and Ramon Luckett, 17, also of Gary, share a laugh after Ramon accidently knocked candy boxes off a shelf while cleaning up the concession stand at the theater in Gary, Saturday, November 10, 2007.

Glen Theater board of directors vice president Dwight Pointer (right) critiques the performance of theater crew members following a show held at the theater in Gary, Ind., Saturday, November 10, 2007. The theater crew members are all members of The African-American Achievers Youth Corps. The group works shows at the newly re-opened theater, completing tasks such as ushering, cleaning, and technical jobs behind the scenes.