City Center Revisit

City Center is one of the landmark in Vegas where I can visit over and over, yet still see new things every time I go there.  My Las Vegas Document class decided to shoot City Center again this week.  This time I'm focusing on architectural elements, especially its lines & shapes.  The massive reflective surfaces and the complex lines and angles are so interesting.  They proved endless composition options. We were lucky to hit a beautiful weather.  The colors really pop when the sun is shining!

Water Street, Old Town Henderson

After taking a break last week, we resume shooting again.  This week we went to the older section of Henderson.  Water Street is the main street of Henderson downtown where the city hall, convention center, coffee shops, gift stores, old fashion barber shop, restaurants and casinos... etc. lined up both sides of the street. Just a block off Water Street is an area where older residential homes located.  It's an interesting neighborhood. I have never seen such a concentration of junk collectors in a given neighborhood as this one. Almost every home has a guard dog of some sort in the backyard.  Most of them are seriously mean creatures. Walking down the back alley shooting pictures through broke or bar-wired fences with dogs backing at you was quite a nerve racking experience. Nevertheless, there were some  charming old homes which reminded me of rural community of Oregon where I once lived.

Wynn Encore Pano

Finally, I have learned how to do panorama shots in photoshop!  Tried out my first pano here.

Las Vegas China Town

The China Town in Las Vegas is actually an Asian District along the main street of Spring Mountain Road, where it filled with restaurants, shops, markets, services and auto mechanics. 
I personally do most of my Asian grocery shoppings there, and often luncheons with friends, or place my dinner to go orders.  For a mid size city like Las Vegas, the area of the district it covers, and variety of services it provides are pretty impressive. Being close to the Strip, it naturally attracts tourists as well.
For photography, there are so many colors and Asian motifs around that can sometimes visually over crowded and distracting.  I had to constantly remind myself to stay focus on simple elements and once again try looking at my surrounding with a new perspective and different angle. Because the colors are so brilliant, I had to tune down the saturation in post process, or even to transform images to B&W in order to express the architectural lines and shapes in some cases.