| Las Vegas at Night |
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| In November 2001, Elaine and I had a chance to visit Las Vegas. It doesn't take much to get into night photography in Las Vegas, so this page is an addition dedicated to the wonderful nighttime scenery in and around Las Vegas. The picture above is taken at dusk from the bedroom community of Henderson, Nevada. It is an upscale retirement community; one of the holes of the desert golf course can be seen in the foreground with "the strip" dominating the upper center of the picture. |
| Let me take you on my night photography walk of the strip. First, I wanted to get an aerial shot of the strip, but couldn't find anywhere with good photographic access. Shooting through a window produced a reflection, so I needed an outdoor platform. After searching for some time, I was wandering through Caesar's Palace, shown below left, and found a fire exit on the upper floors. This can be seen in what appears to be a row of vertical windows on the extreme right of Caesar's Palace. I was something like 13 - 17 stories up, leaning on the railing, holding the camera out as far as I could reach, to get the picture shown below and right. In that photo, you can see Bally's on the left, Paris Las Vegas, and the green and yellow lit building being the MGM Grand. Not bad for a hand held night shot! |
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| Later on my walking tour, I noticed an elevator running up the Eiffel Tower (built to 1/2 scale of the real tower), and decided that would be another good location for photography - and it was, offering a commanding view of the strip. Shown below left is Caesar's Palace with the Mirage, the hotel where we stayed, in the background. The photo below right shows the Aladdin Hotel in the left foreground with the green and yellow MGM Grand in the left rear. On the other side of the street, you can see the tall towers of New York, New York, with the brightly colored Excalibur close by, and Mandalay Bay Resort at the far end of the strip. The Luxor is hidden behind the Excalibur - but if you look carefully, you can see its searchlight as a bright dot in the photo. |
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| The Bellagio - the hotel featured in the movie "Oceans 11" and shown on the previous page, has a water show every 15 minutes throughout the evening. Dazzling movements of water, shooting up from a large lake, accompanied by music, produces a true water ballet. Tourists gather along the sidewalk viewing areas to watch this water spectacular. Very entertaining. There are a sequence of shows. One was choreographed to Lee Greenwood's, "God Bless the USA." When the show was over, everyone - the tourists seen here, pedestrians, people crossing the walking bridge over Las Vegas Boulevard, broke into applause. This may be the best free show you'll ever see. |  |