More thoots pictures - lots of BIG pictures!

Folks,

Well, somewhere in that first batch, I mentioned that I had many more to go through. Well, I finally found some time to go through more, so here's another batch for you, coming right up!

First off, if you haven't seen the first batch, or would like to review, the pictures are all still here:

http://www.travel2vegas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6781

And, all of those pictures are in my Pbase gallery, here:

http://www.pbase.com/thoots/vegas2005

The ones I'll be posting now will also make it up there, eventually. But, enough of that, and on with the pictures!

That first batch had the most spectacular pictures -- the night shots. But, there are plenty of interesting things to see by the day light, so that's what we'll begin with here. Let's head back up to the top of the Eiffel Tower....

A typical shot towards Mandalay Bay:



And, a close-up for you MB fans:



Another view -- I liked how this shows the Sphinx at the Luxor:



I had my trusty teleconverter lens, which gave me about a "10x" zoom, so let's zoom in a bit -- how about the Bellagio "bell tower"?



With the Palms in the background, of course. And, there's some kind of apparatus in the Bellagio bell tower -- what do you suppose that is?

How about some red Caesars Palace roof tiles, and a few columns?



And, the home of Celine:



Gosh, I hope they've got enough satellite dishes there....

Enough for this message -- next!

 

Second picture post

Hmmm, looks like a slow day at Olives. This was mid-afternoon -- maybe they're not open? Or, maybe it had something to do with the 107-degree heat....



Here's the Wynn, with the Stratosphere Tower in the background. You can see the thrill rides atop the tower, including that "teeter totter of death" on the left side, ready to fling its riders to the street below:



A slice of the Strip:



Pretty much the same picture as above -- I couldn't decide which one to show, so I decided to show them both:



Turnberry Place. Not to be confused with the Turnberry Towers, which will be two new ones, across the street:



Man, how would you like to have a penthouse suite in one of these!!

Here's a long view down the Strip:



Oh, and speaking of that shot, I've always wondered, "Why doesn't anyone ever zoom in on one of those Aladdin pools, below? Well, part of it has to do with the darn tower not having a "camera opening" that'll let you get a decent shot, but I tried anyway:



I couldn't use my big teleconverter lens, so, yeah, that's a pretty lame pool shot...

Here's an interesting shot, a bit more of a close-up down the Strip:



Can you spot the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign? It's at the far end of the second "dirt median" beyond Mandalay Bay. Heck, just a couple of blocks away -- you ought to be able to walk there in a few minutes, right? Hee hee!!! Not exactly....

 

Third picture post

Here's an interesting view -- look how close the Jockey Club is to the Bellagio property:



This is a slightly different angle -- let's talk about some "future Vegas," shall we?



So, you think the Jockey Club will soon be just as "gone" as the Dunes or the Sands? Well, think again!

That nice, new, curvy street that goes over the freeway is, I guess, the new alignment of Harmon Avenue. Why they moved it away from the straight, older bit, sure beats me! But, I can tell you this much:

The new "Cosmopolitan" Hotel/Casino will be going up on "this" side of that street -- right next to the Jockey Club. In fact, if you go to the Cosmo web site:

http://www.cosmolv.com/

You can dig up a view from north of Bellagio, and see that there's actually a "notch" on the side of the Cosmopolitan property, which the Jockey Club fits right into. If it's not going to get eaten up with this construction, I figure it's gonna be there a long, long time to come!

That new construction across the freeway appears to be the Panorama Towers, which you can check out here:

http://www.panoramatowers.com/index2.html

Eventually, especially with the new Augustus Tower at Caesars, Bellagio is going to look very much "fenced in" by these new high-rise towers!

Finally, presumably the Boardwalk will take a dive, and the whole area between Harmon Avenue and Monte Carlo becomes that "Project CityCenter," with just dozens of towers and things. Keep this photo so you'll be able to remember when all of that was just a parking lot "back in the days!"

Moving along, here's the elegantly-designed Caesars Palace complex. Or, you might be one of those who refers to it as a "cluster-" something-or-other.



One thing that just boggles my mind is that fence of power lines going through there. So, they put up a billion-dollar tower, and can't manage to put those wires underground?!? OK, probably not a billion bucks, but can you imagine how they built that thing right next to those power lines? Anyway, I just can't believe that they've still got those power lines going through there....

Now, looking a bit farther down the Strip, towards Mirage:



Finally, a couple of shots of the viewing area up atop the Eiffel Tower:



See the "camera holes?" Sure, you've probably seen them before. But, did you notice the "lower" ones? There's one by the nearest guy's arm -- see? It took me a while to notice those things, and they sure helped to get some of the shots here....

And, another shot -- this right in front of the elevator that takes you up and down:

 

Thoots, I just love your pictures. They make me lust for Las Vegas more and more each time I see them. Plane leaves in less than 24 hours! Southwest Checkin in about 1 1/2 hours!

Vegas, baby! Vegas!!!!

 

Fourth picture post

Well, I've got a few more "night" shots laying around -- how about this one?



OK, kind of a "dusk" or "sunset" shot. Oh, and I think that low, red-fringed building to the left of Mandalay Bay is the local Fry's Electronics off in the distance -- hallowed ground to a geek like me!

Here's a look at the Paris balloon, and the traffic below:



And, a nice dusk shot before the lights really came on and took over:



Getting back down to Earth, here's an interesting street shot:



"Hustle and bustle," I guess....

Tram station sign:



Excalibur color:



That's it for the night shots -- back next time with more day shots!

 

Awesome shots! Looks like "Jet Vegas" (Mirage's new nightclub) is going to be pretty big telling by the construction.

 

Great pics! Even Excalibur looked awesome (which is no minor feat)! And I really like your shot of the balloon at Paris. Great job!

 

My dad told me a few years ago that Jockey Club is condos and needs a certain majority approval to sell and the owners who want to sell (to the big guys who want the land for other, more profitable projects) can't get the rest of the people to sell.....

Love the pictures!!!

 

Great photos. You're an excellent photographer.

I loved the ones of the Strip at night.

 

Fifth picture post

Back out in the blazing sunshine, here's the Mirage, dolphins, fountain, and so on:



Everyone knows who these are:



Looking up the street:



I really like this shot, right at "the curve in the Strip:"



Same shot, pretty much, but now trying to get the stuff atop the buildings:



TI:



I think this is the Venetian's parking garage:



Hehehehe -- no, that's the "museum" building, I suppose you could call it....

And, gosh, they must have been drunk when they paved this driveway:



Hee hee, kidding again -- that's the Venetian's driveway, and I think they made it look that way intentionally....

 

Awesome, thoots, thanks!

 

Sixth picture post:

More Venetian -- not exactly the kind of view I can get in my home town:



A fountain at the Venetian, with everyone's favorite, the new TI sign, in the background:



More Mirage and fountain:



More Venetian, with TI in the background:



More Venetian, with Mirage in the background:



More of the Mirage fountain:



I thought this was an interesting shot, and check out that busy Strip traffic:



This is a fountain outside of the new Forum Shops expansion:



More later!

 

Film question

Just awesome pictures. I actually have a question for you which I posted on the wrong thread.

Bought two 35mm Kodak 800 film disposable cameras and was told by the clerk these were good for night shots, dark places and inside pictures. Well none of them came out decent or at all. I have never used 800 film only 400. Could that have been the problem? Help me out so I don't do this in the future.

Thanks!

 

Great pics.....if they don't give you the itch to go, nothing will..

 

Again, beautiful pictures! Excellent work, thanks for sharing them with us.

The picture with the Bellagio Bell Tower I particulary enjoyed. In the background, you were able to capture the quarry near my house. I drive by it daily, but I've never been able to see the depth of it before...

Btw, you captured my company's roofing work quite well in your shots taken from the Eiffel Tower.

 

Man oh man oh man!!! Is it September yet???????

 

That's where they hang the cheaters.

Great pics again thoots!!

 

Seventh picture post

OK, back to the Strip!

Here's the Imperial Palace, behind Harrah's "courtyard" area:



Hmmm, I just noticed that bunch of white dots up in the sky -- must be UFO's over from Area 51!

Actually, I took this through the big picture window in the Forum Shops expansion -- it probably has something to do with that....

Only in Vegas:



This is heading south on Caesars Palace property, now looking back at the new Forum Shops entryway:



And, from pretty much the same location, now looking more down the street:



This is from the pedestrian overpass that'll take you across Las Vegas Blvd.:



Now, we've gone across the street, and quite a ways south, now in front of Paris:



Ahh, the proverbial picture of the fountain in front of Paris and the Eiffel Tower.... And the stinkin' thing wasn't even running!!!



Finally, a little farther down the street:

 

Eigth picture post

I've got a few more outdoor shots to go before we go inside to get out of this heat!

The entryway to the Desert Passage shops at Aladdin:



The view from atop those steps:



Checking to see how many innocent pedestrians get mowed over by the taxicabs:





Finally, heading south in front of Aladdin:



That's all I've got for now, but we'll keep on heading south a bit later. And, we'll go through the Forum Shops and the Venetian, coming up next. I'll be on a bit of an "adventure" this weekend, so I might miss a day or two of posting here, but to quote Arnold, "I'll be back!"

 

Well, let me see what I can say about this.... I guess, mainly, I'd be able to tell you more if you could describe what the results you got looked like. Where the pictures "too bright?" "Too dark?" "Blurry," maybe?

Short of that, I can just talk in a few generalities:

Mainly, the bigger the ISO number (800 vs 400, for example), the more "sensitive to light" a film or a digital camera is. So, yes, the 800 camera should be better for indoors and night shooting. But, my impression of disposable cameras is that they really don't "adjust" anything else -- they have a fixed "aperture" and "shutter" setting. i.e., no fancy electronics to try to actually meter the light and adjust these settings to capture it properly.

Well, that might work OK in daylight -- especially bright sunlight -- but when you talk about "indoors" and "night" shooting, you're probably talking about a very wide range of lighting conditions, whereas the camera is only optimized for one particular amount of light. So, to the extent you stumble upon the exact amount of light the camera was optimized to capture, you might get some good shots. But, the farther you get away from that "optimal" amount of light, the less likely it is that you're going to get decent results.

So, that's what I'd expect. The "solution" is mainly to get a "real" camera, which will actually adjust to the lighting conditions and hopefully come up with much better results. Also, "familiarity" is very important -- you really want to have used your camera in conditions close to what you expect to see in Las Vegas (or whever else it is you're going), so you can learn to expect what your camera will produce. You definitely don't want to be finding out what to expect from your camera after you've come home after the trip -- you want to find that out long before you head out the door!

I hope this helps -- good luck!