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HOTELS ARE NOT A RESPITE FOR MARK WIELAND. THEY ARE THE BREAD-AND-BUTTER ACCOUNTS FOR THIS ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHER. BY JACK NEUBART
AGAINST A BACKDROP OF STARRY skies and a mountain of stained glass stand rows of slot machines welcoming visitors to this part of the newly expanded Mohegan Sun resort, in Connecticut. The Casino of the Sky, the subject of our first photograph, houses the Sky Dome, the world's largest planetarium dome. At its center is Wombi Rock, a three-story structure of onyx and alabaster that charms visitors with its own unique dazzling light display. The trick, though, was to capture these two pivotal elements and convey some sense of the grandeur of the space. We had to be ever vigilant to keep stray light off the dome. In all, this was a 2 1/2-day shoot, encompassing eight shots.
The shoot came about through the auspices of Sonalysts Studios, with John Visgilio as creative director on the project.
I scouted the location two weeks before we were scheduled to shoot, only to learn that the work was still in progress, being assured all would be ready on time. Well, not quite. The place was abuzz with work crews the day we arrived to shoot, with other obstacles just around each corner.
We had roughly 2 1/2 to 3 hours per shot, for setup and shooting. It took five assistants to pull it all together, with my first assistant David Pipkin, leading the way We didn't have a layout, but, together with the art director, we arrived at the best shooting angles as we proceeded. He did specify 4 x 5 and wide, so we shot on a Horseman, with 65mm lens. Film used was Fuji RTP II, exposed at f/22 for 1/2 second. All the lights were mostly Lowel Totas, with one Omni for good measure.
The lighting for the entire casino floor was controlled from within Wombi Rock, with several people up there in communication with us by walkie-talkie. One of my concerns was that I didn't have any control over the lights on the slot machines. Even after previewing Polaroids, I was anxious that they would burn out to glaring blobs of white, while all I wanted was for them...