what to I photograph in or around Las Vegas???

julianphotoart

julianphotoart

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I would appreciate any suggestions of what landscape photography opportunities there might be around Las Vegas or (even) on the way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. All I've heard about in the Las Vegas area is a place that I think is called Red Rock Canyon. Thank you for any suggestions. I leave tomorrow.
 
If all else fails, hookers can be fun (for..... photographing 😀 )


I'm sure when you arrive there will be day trips advertised for many scenic areas. Good luck!!
 
I'm a big fan of the Hoover Dam area. Good opportunity for landscape-abstracts. There's also a dry lake-bed ringed by hills in the area of Jean, NV; surreal all by itself, but sometimes folks bring their cars out there, and the dust-tails can be kind of interesting, visually speaking. Depends on the wind.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
Well, it really depends on what time of day you’re driving through, how much time you want to spend and what you like to shoot. I used to travel that road at least twice a year, and there’s definitely some fabulous landscape, but luck plays a part for sure.

Through the Cajon Pass there should be some nice places to pull off. If you’re going southbound near the bottom of the pass you can get good views of the basin…it can be quite smoggy at times though, so it’s hit and miss

If you can get down to the Mojave River or up to the ridge at Stoddard Wells you might be able to get some interesting shots.

I saw a great thunderstorm up around the Lenwood Outlets south of Barstow once, they used to have a great position for views of the surrounding area, but they were doing a lot of development around there the last time I was in the area.

North of Barstow you can get shots of the hills around Calico on the north side of I15 around Yermo Road I think

One place that might work for you is to take Zzyzx Road just south of Baker. It is (or used to be) a pretty rough washboard road that skirts the mountains east to an old resort…last time I checked it was the Desert Studies Center for the Cal State University system, but even if you don’t go all the way to the Center you can get out of sight of the highway and have a nice view of the valley and mountains. Zzyzx does go west as well, but I’ve never been that way and don’t know what’s up there

That's all I can think of at the moment...I’m sure there’s plenty more.
 
I travel to Las Vegas frequently, both business and pleasure.

Three very scenic areas come to mind immediately.

1. Valley Of Fire. About 40 miles north of the city on route 15. Somebody mentioned Red Rock, well Red Rock is scenic, but it's really the warm-up act for Valley Of Fire!

2. Death Valley. Very scenic and not too hot this time of year. Zabriskie Point and Dante's View offer gorgeous vistas. 🙂

3. Zion National Park. A couple hours north. Only problem is that they will no longer let you drive the north canyon.

I have some disorganized LV area photos here:

http://www.letis.com/dmr/pics/vegas/vegas.html
 
Ash said:
If all else fails, hookers can be fun (for..... photographing 😀 )


I'm sure when you arrive there will be day trips advertised for many scenic areas. Good luck!!
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How about a Bunny Ranch photo essay.
 
I really like all of the seedy motels and areas in the downtown and north vegas area. Be forewarned though those areas can be quite rough depending on the neighborhood your in and what your use to, i.e. use street smarts.
 
Thank you all very much for your input and ideas. Downtown sounds like a good place to practice shoot-from-the-hip style. As for the landscape stuff, the 120 Velvia is being packed away right now! I'm off real early tomorrow morning.
 
I made the trip and returned.

Zzyzx Road as the sun rose. The Cal State Desert Studies center is interesting; at the end of that corduroy road. It's the site of a soda spring where there used to be a spa. Kind of eery around there. I actually spent awhile on Zzyzx doing various types of shots.

I didn't have time for Valley of Fire. Only time for Red Rock Canyon....with 3,000 local hikers and rock-climbers running around everywhere with digital P&S's, and parking their cars with wreckless abandon. Yet, there were a few good spots there too. I had a MF camera on a tripod. A guy asked me, "that isn't digital, is it?l" I said, "what's digital?" "Oh, good. I agree. Where do you get your film?" So then we talked about that.

I'm afraid I didn't have time for night-time neon shots. Traffic is unbelievable in that place. It took me an hour to go one mile.

I was at the Bellagio. There happened to be an Ansel Adams exhibit. His signature shots were all there but there was also an unusual display of photos of him, as well as letters, notes, log books, a light meter, etc. It was really quite good. I had no idea it was there ahead of time.
 
julianphotoart said:
I didn't have time for Valley of Fire.
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If you had time for Zzyzx, you had time for VOF, it's just up the expressway. 🙂 🙂

I'm afraid I didn't have time for night-time neon shots. Traffic is unbelievable in that place. It took me an hour to go one mile.
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As long as you stay off the Strip and a few other roads which are crowded with touristas, you will be able to get around fine. You'll learn the "sneak routes" to and from the big resorts that are not too jammed. (Hint: watch the routes the taxi drivers use.) 🙂

I was at the Bellagio. There happened to be an Ansel Adams exhibit. His signature shots were all there but there was also an unusual display of photos of him, as well as letters, notes, log books, a light meter, etc. It was really quite good. I had no idea it was there ahead of time.
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I saw this some time ago, and I'm sure I reported on it here. It's an excellent exhibit. Another goodie is the Thomas Manglesen Images Of Nature gallery-slash-showroom at the Desert Passage in the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood. From what I hear, he shoots film exclusively, 35mm to LF.

In the Bellagio area, you will find some of the best LV shots within walking distance. Previously I always concentrated on the buildings, the neon, the sights and such, but lately I've been doing more "street" and people shots, things like the pornslappers (tres tacky, imao), the bikers at the HD Cafe, the vendors in Carnival Court and such.
 
I'm heading to vegas in mid may for a wedding. i'm going to take my 15mm on the bessa and do some hip shooting and see what happens. I don't usually shoot blindly, but the 15 gives me that option. Might be kind of cool. I just wish that lens were faster.
 
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