Night Life

The Lights of Las Vegas

   

 

 

I have not always loved Vegas.  I used to think it was tacky.  And my opinion of its tacky-ness has not exactly disappeared.  As a photographer, though, I've learned to see it in a new light each time I visit (and I've visited often since a couple years ago when I started shooting weddings in Southern California!  It's the halfway point, made my drive much easier.)  And now I love it.  So much art, music, and people watching!  Even nature, believe it or not.  The Vegas area has a lot to offer.

 

 

 

 

So much discovery and adventure - something new every time.  My last visit was no exception.  The highlight of my trip was definitely Valley of Fire!  But I will get to that later.

 

 

First, a selfie:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now, the lights of the Las Vegas Strip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite things walking through all the Casinos is looking up.  The light fixtures, the textures, the colors, there's an unbelievable amount of details that most people never even see (like the photo above, at the Encore).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this next photo has an interesting story behind it.  It was one of my... well...  less-than-graceful moments.

 

Here's the boring setup to the story:  An amazing night - dancing to a jazz trio at Tuscany Suites, then a peaceful hour walk (yes, I walked alone and accidentally had to cross I-15 on foot.  But it was peaceful, I promise!) to see a funk/soul band called Sante Fe and the Fat City Horns (there will be photos tomorrow).  I was at the concert with my friend Wyatt and he offered to give me a ride back to my hotel, but I just wanted to jump out at the corner on the strip so I could do more photography that night.  The city never sleeps, right?

 

 

Well, here's where it gets interesting:  There is a railing in between the sidewalk and the street.  For good reason.  Way too many drunk tourists would be happy to take their stilettos right into the road without thinking twice about the cars or, you know, potential death.  So, dozens of cars on the road, hundred of people on the sidewalk... I hop out of the car at a red light and say goodbye, then climb through the railing to get to the sidewalk.  Yes, you can probably see where this is going.  Sigh... I forgot about my photography backpacking backpack ON MY BACK (it's a fantastic backpack, by the way.  Every photographer should have one)  as I try to climb through the railing.  Yeah, that was an oops.   After a few seconds, there's a semi circle of drunk pedestrians on the sidewalk staring at me and wondering how to help get me out of the railing.  That was my assumption, at least, I have no clue what they were really thinking!  Maybe they were seeing three cherries in a row...  And I'm wondering which side would be the least embarrassing to roll towards - back to the cars still waiting at the red light or forward to the sidewalk of people?  Eventually, I shimmied my way through and did a little summersault onto the sidewalk.  It was the strangest thing, though, they were all standing there, still staring like deer in the headlights. It was as if they were waiting for me to say something before they had permission to move on.  So I said "Well, that was graceful!"  and apparently it was sufficient direction for the masses to move forward.

 

 

To hide my embarrassment and to redeem myself and the camera gear on my back, I pulled out a tripod, tried to look as official as possible, and started working.  This (below) is the photo that came from it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, I got a story AND a photo out of that one!

 

 

 

 

Check back tomorrow for photos of the concert with Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

  I have been so sick this winter!  Living in Utah, the inversion has been causing respiratory problems for most of us in the valley and I keep picking up viruses.  But I figure, as it is now March, I should probably post some photos form the beginning of the year.  Here's the New Year's party from the Keys on Main dueling piano show!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PIANIST:

 

 

GEORGE

 

 

 

KENDRICK

 

ERIC

 

And everyone's favorite bartender, Benny.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the place looks like at midnight:

 

...aaaaaand this is what it looked like after the party.

 

 

CLICK HERE to see the whole gallery from that night

 

Happy New Year everyone!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End of Dublin (Night Life)

  Well, Ireland certainly has a night life.  I asked someone in a store for a recommendation of things to do in the afternoon and she said "oh, I don't know. Go get a drink.  Not much else to do."  Kind of depressing since I don't drink, but they've got music in almost every pub!  So I had a blast.

 

 

I sat at the bar of a Japanese restaurant, chatted with the sushi chefs, and ate gyoza.  It was delicious.  There was a large window to my left, so I watched as all the people hurried by.  It's just a lot of tourists, but that's ok.  They're all happy and going to food and music and, most importantly for the area, drinks.  Giant "Guinness" signs everywhere, I don't know if it's actually the Irish people or just the people visiting Ireland, but whoever it is sure likes to drink!

 

 

 

 

 

Had some awesome traditional Irish music at a pub called the Globe.  This is Fred, who we met on Tuesday, playing the bodhrán.  He gave me a mini-lesson on how to play it and I decided that it's more complicated than people think to play it well.

 

 

Before the band started playing, I ordered my non-alcoholic beverage at the bar and chatted with a few people around there.  This guy in the photo below, though, heard something about me being a photographer and said "OH! Take a picture of me.  Right here." My eyes darted around uncomfortably, but the bar was pretty empty, so I pulled out the lens and flash and took a photo.  Of course he wanted to see it.  "Hrmmm... how about another one.  I'll do my George Clooney pose."  I have no idea what he meant by that, but after 15 minutes of his entertaining drunk ramblings and wanting to pose for the camera, this is what we ended up with:

 

 

I really enjoyed the trad group, because they had three of them and they all played instruments and could sang.  This meant the sound of the song changed as they switched lead or instruments.  Made it interesting!

 

 

 

After a bit there, we went down the street to a pub with a blues band. I drank an orange juice with nothing in it and was told that was an insult to the Irish.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel really uncomfortable, so I tried to be really polite and understanding while still explaining I wasn't interested in drinking alcohol...  Oh well...  Met some other awesome people, the lead singer and harmonica player in the band was a friend of Fred's and a great musician! They had more of a Texas blues style and it really made me want to dance.  Just listening was almost as good :)

 

 

Here's the vocalist from their group.  I didn't get a good picture of it, but the coolest thing about him was he also played the harmonica!  I've met people who could kind of play, but this guy was wailing on it! So much fun.

 

 

And now we're in Galway.  Stay tuned :)