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One of the most visited sites in Las Vegas is the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas….or old Las Vegas. I do remember what it was like to drive down Fremont Street, way back when I was a visitor here myself. The Fremont Street Experience was built as a way to attract more tourists to the downtown area, to bring business back to the ‘old school’ casinos such as Binions and The Plaza. Essentially, it did just that. It is an interesting and unique spot in Las Vegas. Lots of photo ops, lots of unique characters…
In continuing with the Self Park series, this shot was actually taken last summer – during the Summer of ‘69 celebration series. Both of the annual Kelby Photo Walks were at Fremont Street. I think for the next one I want to take it out to the Strip….I digress.
Whenever we go down to Fremont Street, we park in the main parking garage that is not part of one of the casinos – it is at the tail end of the experience, right above Hennesseys. I always thought it had a nice view from the parking garage, so I did finally make it down there to get a few shots. This is an HDR of five images, taken at f/25, tone mapped in Photomatix Pro and I made a few other adjustments with white balance in Lightroom. I have played with this with many different white balance settings – from the absolutely garish to the hardly there and this is the one I like best (today anyway). That is the beauty of expressing your self through imagery….you can make it whatever you want. There is still a lot of discussion out there in the photographic world on the right way to do HDR – I agree with those that are like minded with me – whatever level of tone mapping you do and your end result is up to how you want it to be. There is not hard fast written rule on how HDR should look, it is simply another way of translating.
Nikon D300, ISO 200, 32mm, f/25, HDR of 5 images
As I have mentioned in the past, I am not native to Las Vegas. However, I have been here long enough to become familiar enough to know that there are two sides to Las Vegas. The way visitors see it (or expect it to be) and the way the locals see it. When I first started this blog it was to share with others what it is like on the local side. My mind wandered on what sort of topics might be of interest.
Architecture of Las Vegas is often discussed, the feats accomplished or the smartness of how the scale of Las Vegas is displayed in the buildings that make Las Vegas what it is…hotels/casinos. If you spend any length of time with someone who lives here they are likely to tell you that they don’t spend a lot of time on the Strip or at Fremont Street (unless it is because they are at work). So, what is it that the locals do here – or what do they see.
When I go places, I go looking for what the locals do, where they eat, how they get around…one ongoing project I have started with a funny little side trip on my honeymoon (more to come on that later). So, what is it that locals in Las Vegas see that not all visitors do. Partly, we see the other side of the architecture. This first photo I am posting is just the start of the idea and we will see where it goes. This is the view from the parking garage at the Monte Carlo. I started the Self Park project awhile ago as just a way to keep the juices flowing – and so far it is mostly comprised of photos taken with my Canon G10 (as that is the camera that is with me all the time). Frankly, who knows which tool I will use to capture now days, the G10 is always with me – but so is my phone……
It isn’t during the golden hour, it isn’t even the best time of day to have taken it – I was just there at that moment. Stay tuned for more.
