Oh, The Places We’ll Go…Las Vegas!

It was exactly one year ago today, that, with visions of neon planted in my head, I embarked on my first “real” vacation in over 10 years. 

Destination – Las Vegas!

I know, I just shocked some of you. I’m not a gambler – or a drinker for that matter, just someone who likes to see and do fun things; and Vegas certainly  has no shortage of fun things to do! I’m also a fan of the Oceans 11 movie, which I watched a time or two before the trip;)

Decades before, I had visited Vegas several times while my father was there attending trade shows. He would work, and my mom and I would tour around. We’d wander in and out of the beautiful casinos, stare for what seemed like hours at the white tigers and amazing volcano erupting at the Mirage, and watch the gondolas go up and down the canal at the Venetian as passengers were serenaded by the rower. Sometimes we’d rent a car and wander out to the mountains, driving through Red Rock Canyon or Valley of Fire State Park. It was magical to me back then.

Over the years I’ve developed a deeper appreciation for beautiful architectural elements, and started dreaming of visiting Vegas all over again. As I pondered the thought while thinking about goals for the new year, the Little Voice inside my head said, “Poop or get off the pot! Just do it or stop thinking about it…!” So, deciding I could make it work, I found a photo buddy to join me on my adventure. “What’s the plan?” she asked. As I went through my lengthy list, her reply was, “That’s a lot of neon…”, meaning, non-Landscape photography. Well, yeah-it’s Vegas! After some compromises, we both agreed on a fun few days. So off we went!

I arrived several hours before my friend Linda(lindanickell.com), so after checking into Harrah’s, I hit the ground running. Stopped a few doors down and grabbed a quick bite at an In-N-Out Burger (can you believe I never ate at one of those before?), while watching in amazement as zipline riders flew over my head near the High Roller. I can’t imagine the thrill, but am too afraid of heights to find out!

From there I headed straight to the Bellagio. I knew I wanted to see the amazing Chihuly glass ceiling again, and was pleasantly surprised to find the garden area set up for the Chinese New Year. It was a crowded, but lovely display. Using a fisheye lens, which was the widest I had for my little Olympus mirrorless camera, I was able to get a large portion of the scene in the frame.

When I had my fill inside, I headed out to see the world famous Bellagio fountain show. If you’re unfamiliar with it, do a Google or YouTube search, (or watch the end of Oceans 11 🙂 It’s an absolutely fabulous show that is probably the top thing to see when visiting Vegas. The view from the casino looking out towards The Strip and is a fantastic place to start. Here you get a great view of the half scale, 540-foot tall Eiffel Tower. There was a special light show on the tower that took place every hour, I believe, where the colors changed red, white and blue. Below you can see the lights both during the show and as normal.

The Bellagio show ran every half hour, and each one featured different music and matching choreography. Sound pulses from powerful speakers hidden all along the concrete railing. A few quick notes for photographers here-the music causes strong vibrations, so you want to be careful if you have your camera sitting on or touching the railing. Check if you are getting image blur before shooting hundreds of photos and regret the mistake later. All images inside the casino were hand-held, just letting the ISO go as high as it needed to. All night time shots outdoors were taken using a tripod.

I photographed from dusk, through blue hour and then into darkness before my travel companion arrived. And then, we went back together and did it all over again! Well, until about 11pm, when the change in time zones finally got the best of me. That made it 2 am my time, and I had gotten up at 3, so enough was enough for the day.

Enjoy my favorite images from Day 1, and stay tuned for more!