ANGELA B. PAN

One of the awesome benefits of staying on the Strip while in Las Vegas is the freedom to just walk around and have so many cool things to see all around you. It’s also pretty awesome when you are still on east coast time on the west coast. So waking up for a sunrise walk on Las Vegas Blvd wasn’t a part of my plan but somehow just happened.

This was the very first image I took on the trip. I loved the way that the palm trees were framing each other but what really caught my attention was the sunlight hitting the side of the Mirage hotel and casino. Those yellow and orange lines are something I feel like you could only see in Vegas. I thought it made for a very cool backdrop and loved how all of this came together.

As I mentioned before, Las Vegas definitely has a very special place in my heart. I used to love visiting as a child so walking up and down the strip, pretty much alone brought back so many memories. Apparently not many people are around at 630 in the morning in Las Vegas so it was like I had the whole place to myself. LOL. And the Mirage used to be one of the coolest hotels to visit and I remember visiting pretty often. Mostly because I remember watching Siegfried and Roy and their white tigers. It used to be one of the best tickets around in the 90s so I was also glad to see how they are honored outside of the hotel with a statue. And I had no idea, but the Mirage actually has a pretty cool night show outside the hotel now. Similar to the Bellagio that you could just walk up and see it but this one is with a Volcano eruption.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/320th sec at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

If you’ve never been to the Neon Museum, I’d highly recommend it. Out of all the times I’ve been to Vegas, I can’t believe I’ve never been before. It’s a really cool place with lots to see and reminisce on what used to be.

My mom and I used to go every summer while I was growing up. Her sister and family lives there so we would go and visit them all the time. I loved it. But what I didn’t realize was how family friendly Vegas was trying to be in the 90’s. At that time there was Circus Circus, Excalibur, Luxor was just built and for those super hot summer days, Wet and Wild was my favorite place to be. It wasn’t until I took the tour at the Neon Museum where I realized that that was happening and I was actually happy I grew up in the era of the “family friendly Vegas”.

Now it’s the total opposite of that but it’s still really cool to see these vintage signs. For example, this sign of the Stardust. I totally remember visiting the hotel and casino but even more so I remember watching the the building blow up on TV. My cousin told me that her and her friends were sitting on top of their car and watched it in person. Pretty cool if you asked me.

So if you’ve never been, I’d highly recommend the art talk provided the the Neon Museum. It was entertaining to listen to and learned a lot of cool facts. To be honest, the “boneyard” itself wasn’t big. I actually did a whole lap around before I found out about the art talk, attended the art talk, and then did another entire lap around the property. It worked out well because I challenged myself to keep the same lens on for each lap I did and could only switch when I was done. It definitely challenged me to be more mindful of things and I probably saw a lot more detail than I would have if I was just constantly switching the entire time. In case you’re wondering, 3 laps around the boneyard took me about an hour.

My camera settings for this image is F14 at 1/250th sec and ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.