On the way back from southern Utah, Mary and I spent a few days in Las Vegas recovering from all of the Best Westerns (though we do love them), bad food, and early mornings. We relaxed most of the time, but did spend one day walking up and down the Las Vegas Strip from Encore/Wynn to New York New York. We carried Mary’s infrared Canon Rebel (see Mary’s post on infrared photography) and my Canon G12 and no tripods. We were looking for architectural abstracts (see Mary’s post on making abstract photos), but also anything else that looked fun. There are so many things to photograph along the way. Here are a few of our favorites.
The Wynn is a fairly boring brown hotel with a graceful curve. Closing in on the plain windows and white stripes was interesting.
There is a lot to see inside and outside the Bellagio, including the fabulous fountain shows. Everyone loves the Murano glass ceiling in the lobby. Mary captured it with her infrared which took out the color, but really highlighted the textures. It looks even more like glass jelly fish than in color. As many of you know, the Bellagio Atrium has seasonal displays. When we were there, it was fall colors and Thanksgiving. Mary thought the ceiling even more interesting.
CityCenter is one of the newest areas and most modern in architecture. We probably spent an hour inside and out finding many interesting subjects. Here are just a few.
There are several hotels and condo units in the CityCenter complex. They displayed incredible reflections that were irresistible.
Caesar’s Palace is a Las Vegas icon. It is also a huge complex and has the classic Roman architecture. Though we made many photos, this one turned out to be our favorite.
The Venetian is a great subject with its faux St. Mark’s square and canal system. Again, we probably spent an hour here playing with different subjects and angles.
Paris has a pretty busy exterior with them jamming in many of the features of the city into one small half block. You can’t go wrong with this shot.
New York New York does not have many opportunities for abstracts, but it does have the grand skyline and Statue of Liberty. Mary made these photos with her infrared and then brought in some color in post-processing.
Lastly, MGM has the giant golden lion on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. Mary used her infrared and a “flood” filter to create this unique photo.
Becoming a better photographer in many different kinds of situations will enhance your overall photography skills. I love doing big landscape shots and probably always will. They just appeal to me. I would like to get better at smaller nature shots, macro photography, architectural photography, photojournalism, travel photography, and portraits. Walking the Las Vegas strip was out of my comfort zone, but was really fun and I learned to see things a little differently than I had before. To see more of our photos, please go to www.pamphotography.com.
pamphotography 
These are lovely! I’ve done trips similar to yours: fly into Vegas, drive up to Zion, Bryce, etc., return to Vegas for a night, fly back home. It’s fun to combine the glitz of Vegas with the sublimity of Southwest Utah. I’m not big on gambling, but Vegas is a delight to any photographer.