Viva Las Vegas!

The Digital Underground workshop took to the streets of Las Vegas.
The Digital Underground workshop took to the streets of Las Vegas.

I’m back from leading a workshop with Deborah Sandidge to the always target-rich environment of Las Vegas, Nevada! This workshop was the first in a series we are calling “Digital Underground,” where we look for urban and edgy subjects, especially after dark!

Over the four day workshop, we hit some pretty amazing locations! You can see a gallery of images from the workshop here.

Downtown Las Vegas/ Fremont Street

The entire Fremont Street area is a great place to photograph neon lights and old-style Las Vegas. What was great about it was that it’s far less crowded than the “strip.” There are lots of places to eat there, too!

Fremont Street at night
Fremont Street at night
El Cortez Hotel (long exposure)
El Cortez Hotel (long exposure)

Nelson Ghost Town

We photographed in the Nelson Ghost Town (Eldorado Canyon Mine) and it was a photographer’s playground. There are tons of old buildings, cars, and even a plane wreck (from a movie shoot) that you can photograph. It’s perfect for HDR, monochrome, and vintage film effects.

Odell_20140411_2539_HDR-Edit-Edit
The ghost town of Nelson had a little bit of everything!

Neon Museum Boneyard

The Neon Museum was probably the highlight of the workshop. We arranged a private shooting tour after the museum closed to the public. Normally, tripods are not permitted in the museum. Here is where all the old hotel and casino signs go to rest, and they are illuminated by constantly changing colored lights. It was amazing!

Odell_20140411_2915-Edit Odell_20140411_2862-Edit

Las Vegas Strip

No trip to Las Vegas would be complete without visiting the main casino strip on Las Vegas Boulevard. We could easily have spent four days shooting different parts of it! We stopped by the Bellagio/Paris and also the Venetian/Mirage for some fun twilight shooting opportunities.

Odell_20140412_3114 Odell_20140412_3025-Edit Odell_20140412_3081

Digital Underground was a complete success and Deborah and I are looking forward to scheduling more of these workshops very soon! To be notified of all new location workshops, please visit Luminescence of Nature Photography Workshops.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.