Viva Las Vegas - Days 2 and 3

I had originally planned on a new entry each day, but each day was not interesting enough on its own. I spent about 3 hours on Monday night on the strip photographing the lights. I wanted a slow shutter to get light trails from the traffic, so I used f/22 for my aperture. The one thing I forgot is that past f/16 you start to get diffraction which leads to softer, fuzzier photographs. I did not realize this until I was post processing the photographs and they were not as sharp as I would have liked.

I used my tripod for almost all the shots, and this caused problems with the elevated ones. I was shooting from walkways and I could feel the bouncing as people walked past. During a 6-8 second exposure this vibration really shows up. In hindsight, I should have used the tripod less and depended on the vibration reduction of the lens. I might have had more noise, but the photographs would have been sharper. Even so, for my first time shooting on the strip at night, I am fairly pleased with the results.

This was shot from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.


I shot these two from an overpass designed for foot traffic.


The first time I saw the MGM lion, I dismissed it. The more I walk around it and the surrounding statues, however, the more I intriguing I find it. I really like this shot of it at night.


I think it is interesting that Las Vegas tries to be like other places, such as New York and Paris. It does makes for interesting photographs. I have never been to the real Statue of Liberty or the real Eiffel Tower, so it is interesting to see the representations of them in Las Vegas.


One of the most impressive sights on the strip is the water show in front of the Bellagio. I don't know how high this fountain shoots up, but it must be 50 ft. or more and it has to be thousands of feet long.

I shot this from the opposite side of the Paris balloon and I really like the composition. I met a fellow photographer at this point who was very nice. His name is John Harris who was visiting from Alaska. We had a very nice talk and shot a few photographs together. Meeting John is one of the things that makes a trip special. We forget the things we see over time, but the chance encounters we have with people can stick with us for a lifetime.


My last photograph of the evening was a gentleman panhandling for his next drink. It is an honest sign, but still a sad representation of where some people end up.

The next thing I would like to do is get off the strip and find the less glamorous side of Las Vegas (besides the homeless people panhandling on the strip). This is easier said than done, however. The strip is very strategically designed to KEEP you on the strip, at least if you are on foot. There is a freeway on one side and the other side quickly disappears into what appears to be an industrial area. The South end of the strip appears to degrade very quickly once you get past Circus Circus. With a second or third shooter I would be more eager to explore this area, but on my own that is probably not the best idea. I am going to see what I can find tonight that is safe enough to explore, but not quite as glossy as the strip itself. I may not find anything, but I have to at least try.

Viva Las Vegas - Day 1

There are rules in blogging. If you want a reasonable sized audience you are supposed to have good content, keep each entry about the same length, and post on a consistent basis (daily, weekly, etc). So, here I am, having not posted anything of substance in over a month, and now I am going to slam you with several entries back-to-back. Oh, and this post is long also. Did I mention I was never very good with the whole rules thing?

***warning*** This entry is for adults. I doubt any children follow my blog anyway, and there is no nudity, but it does deal with the things I actually see while I am here, and some of the content is mature in nature.

I am currently "on location" in Las Vegas (on location is a fancy photographer term meaning I am actually here, as opposed to a sound stage in Hollywood). I am actually here on a business conference, but I have a fair amount of down time also, so I have lots of opportunities to shoot photographs.

My fist day was very interesting. I got up at 5:30am so I could catch my 8:30am flight. I always arrive several hours early when flying in case I have any security problems. I never do have any security problems, so I always end up with a LOT of time to sit...and....wait. While waiting I was fortunate enough to see the sun rise. The light from the rising sun shone through the waiting room and made some very interesting silhouettes on the frosted glass where I was sitting.
























Before I boarded the plane I met an interesting older man who was returning home to Montana (or Wyoming, I can't remember for sure). He had been in Kansas City taking a class to learn how to make artistic engravings on firearms and jewelry. He has actually had the opportunity to meet Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott through his contacts in the firearms industry.

On the plane from Kansas City to Salt Lake City (the longest leg of my journey) I sat next to a woman named Margi (with a hard G). She was in her mid-fifties and we had a very interesting conversation on a variety of topics including the smoking ban on the ballot in Kansas City this next week, scooters/motorcycles (we both ride), and how to teach our children to become independent thinkers. The most interesting part for me was Margi's destination and why she was going there. Margi was on her way to Hawaii on vacation. Many years ago, Margi's sister was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Before she died, she wanted to make a return visit to Hawaii. She finally did this, but it was very late in her illness and she ended up dying while she was there. At the time, Margi was unable to go to Hawaii and retrieve her sister, so she had to leave this to others, and she was quite upset about it. Now, many years later, Margi is headed to the spot where her sister died to honor her sister's memory.

On the plane between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, I sat next to a gentleman who worked for SUNY (the State University of New York). His job is to manage the card readers that control all the doors, electronic equipment, and even washing machines on campus. Ok, no big deal, right? Well, there are hundreds (thousands?) of these readers and there are 15,000 people with cards spread out over five campuses. Sounds like a pretty big job to me. This is one of those jobs no one ever thinks about, but are vital to the way our world works today.

Once in Las Vegas, I checked in as fast as I could, grabbed my camera, and headed out to walk the strip. It was still early afternoon, so there were not very many lights on, but I wanted to get some photographs while everything was still fresh and new to me. I walked the entire length of the strip and had to take the bus back. I grabbed some of the traditional tourist shots first.


To me these represent the sanitized verison of Las Vegas you see on the promotional literature. I like them, but they only tell part of the story.

Within 30 minutes of walking on the strip my senses were completely overloaded and I had difficulty focusing on any thing in detail. Everything is so big and bright and loud that your attention is always being pulled in a new direction. It is so difficult to take everything in that my mind just started blocking out large chunks.

There is also a very big culture for someone coming from the midwest. The Las Vegas "anything goes" attitude is pervasive and dominates everything. In Kansas City you have an occasional billboard advertising for a strip club. In Las Vegas you have video displays the size of buildings with full motion video, billboards on trucks that drive up and down the strip non-stop, and people pushing business cards and flyers at you every 20 feet offering to deliver girls to your room.


Another thing that was very unusual to me was watching people walk around on the street with beer and mixed drinks. There in no public drinking allowed in Kansas City, so I found this surprising.

Of course, there were street performers everywhere and the only place I have not seen a slot machine (yet) is in the bathroom. At about 8pm I returned to my room completely exhausted. I closed the curtains, processed the photos from the day, and crashed hard.

Tomorrow I am going to try to get more night shots of the strip.