ONLY IN VEGAS

The Sphere - Las Vegas

It has been a busy week and I spent it in Las Vegas, Nevada where the annual trade show of the printing industry took place. I’m not really interested in the activities Vegas is known for, however, while walking back to the hotel after dinner one night I found an unobstructed view to the SPHERE, the music and entertainment arena and the world’s largest spherical structure. I recorded some footage of the impressive display at night and I hope you enjoy it.

Photo and videos: Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S

THE OLD RULE

I had an early flight yesterday morning from Las Vegas to Chicago. The sun wasn’t even high enough to touch the desert and mountains below after we had crossed Lake Mead, but its first light was reflected nicely by the clouds north of us and the inlet cowl of the jet engine nacelle on our aircraft. The Nikon Z6II was safely stored in my luggage in the overhead compartment and so the old rule, that the best camera is always the one you have with you, was confirmed to be true ones again. I shot this quickly with my iPhone camera before this brief and magical moment was over.

VEGAS AT NIGHT

The most interesting time in Las Vegas is at night, with all the lights, shows, glitter, and glamor. The strain of sensual perception is hard to deny. Joan and I had a great time the night before the wedding, just walking around, having a drink here and there, and shooting some pictures... I didn’t bring a tripod for proper camera support and wasn’t able to experiment with real long exposures, but I had fun chasing the light at night. It helps to use a lens with vibration reduction, and except for the picture with the light and water show in front of Caesars Palace, all photos were made handheld. Exposure times were between 1/4 s and 1/60 s and in most cases I took multiple shots, sometimes leaning against a wall to stabilize the camera. You can click on each image for best viewing.

TIME IN LAS VEGAS

I took a break from writing here in the blog for a week and there was a good reason for. Joan and I attended the wedding of Joan’s daughter Ellen and her husband Danny this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. No, I didn’t shoot the wedding, the wedding photographer they hired knew what he was doing and however his images will turn out, they will be better than what I can contribute to an event like that.

I haven’t been in Vegas since 19 years and of course, much has changed. It is still the city of endless fake to me but it also has a fascination that sets it apart from any place I have traveled to in my life. We had some time to explore the city and these are some of the photos I came up with.

It was a photographer friendly weekend in Las Vegas, with great clouds and even some rare rain. All what the lady at the wedding chapel had to say about it to me was, I don’t even own an umbrella…

Fake everywhere you look in Vegas. The indoor copy of the Grand Canal of Venice is fascinating but at the same time just mind-boggling for someone who was born in Europe…

You may used to see wildlife photos in my blog but all “wildlife” I can show you from this trip are the flamingos who had their own habitat in the gardens of our hotel… More to come, so please stay tuned.