Las Vegas (2009)

Candid camera

My aunt and uncle from Quebec came to visit us in Atlanta, GA.  My uncle brought with him his Canon Digital SLR.  I fell in love with it.  At the time, I had a Nikon point and shoot and was quite comfortable with the Nikon and its features, but when I saw the simplicity of the Canon I fell in love all over again, and literally with photography.  My aunt tried to sweet talk my uncle into leaving me his camera, but try as she may he was too attached to his toy and after playing with it, I couldn't blame him.  I wasn’t above having the means of acquiring my own, so I did some research and landed on a deal that afforded me two lenses along with the camera body.  

Now since I came to the US I have traveled all over, unfortunately, not always with a good camera in hand.  I have been to New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, California, Nevada and of course Georgia. Having this new toy I wish that I could retrace my steps and capture some of the beauty of those cities.  It's not that I do not have shots of these cities, I do.  These shots however, are mostly with my family, friends, or co-workers, no intended sceneries or landscapes, although I do have the occasional animal.  

I have been told that photography is not based on the equipment but on composition, lighting, aperture, depth of field and shutter speed.  Equipped with this knowledge, one can secure very nice photos with a camera phone or regular digital camera, otherwise known as 'point and shoot'.

I would like to take the time to showcase some of these travels and cities as seen through my lens, my eyes, my emotion, my feel, my touch.  Please indulge me.  

First stop – Las Vegas

I traveled here in September 2009 for a work conference.  We were able to get out and about in the streets mostly at night.  These are a few random shots as the others show coworkers and parts of the conference.  This is just out and about photography, not always of the highest quality because of the instrument at hand, because remember my high resolution toy never came until 2012 and I was only now beginning to crawl up the hill of an undiscovered art.

These are all taken with my Nikon point and shoot.

We walked along the main drag because we wanted to see the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio, it was beautiful.  The cascading waters moved to the beat and timing of the music piped out along the queue via outdoor speakers.  Many folks were lined up against the railing for the water concert that ensued.  The city’s architecture is also notable, some buildings copied major historical cities of Europe, others had modern sharp edges or rounded curvatures.  The buildings are colorful in the day time and brightly lit at night, all this adding to the aura of the city.

Another thing is that I found myself in constant need of lotion.  This city is very dry, drying your face, skin and depleting your body.  You must consume water by the mug full, to stay hydrated.   

On a different note I had to also applaud this city for honesty.  I lost my IPhone on the shuttle that brought us from the airport to the hotel.  I called the shuttle company off of the receipt given and after 2 days without a phone, got my phone returned to me at the hotel. As you can well imagine I was an extremely happy camper.

The strip...

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