Viva Las Vegas!

I am just settling in after my week long trip to Las Vegas from attending the WPPI Conference at the the MGM Grand. It was an amazing event that included seminars and lectures by the top wedding and portrait photographers in the world including Jerry Ghionis, Yervant, Laura Novak, Matthew Jordan Smith and Bambi Cantrell (just to name a few). I was fortunate enough to win complimentary admission after entering a photography contest displaying my work and I was honored to be learning, training and to be inspired by the best of the best. Although I was in class most of the time I did have a chance to step out into Old Town and visit Freemont Street as well as the infamous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. I have been to Vegas a few times before but never wandered out of the center strip area to these locations so it was an adventure.


Three funny things instantly caught my eye while I observed this scene which made me have to grab this shot.

#1. Deep fried twinkies 99 cents (look at the right side). This casino offered Twinkies that had been deep fried in chocolate......how healthy can that be?

#2. The man takes the flyer from the "mermaid" and begins to enter the casino while the two woman at the right side of the photo hesitantly read over the literature that was handed to them. Were they scared off by the mermaid or just not tempted by the budget twinkie delight inside?

#3. Do these colorful women look like mermaids to you? Since when do mermaids have feathers and look like they belong in a mardi gras parade? Well, at least they did match the sign out front.



This photograph caused quite a stir at the Freemont Street Casino, obviously photography is not allowed but I sneaked one in before I got reprimanded.


A woman on her way to work. I am sure that you can guess what line of work she is in.

-HN

Embracing this Loooong Winter

I don't know about you but I have had enough of this snowy, icy cold weather. This winter has felt like one of the longest winters that I can remember. As a child I remember stumbling into my house after sledding all bundled up with beads of sweat below my layers of clothes, yearning for that first sip of hot cocoa. These days I arrive home iceskating up the driveway in my boots carrying all my gear, anxiously awaiting that first sip of hot tea.

I can't help to recall a book that I read years ago, Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. The book chronicled the autumn of 1880 through spring of 1881. It was such a snowy season that it was documented as "The Snow Winter" in history books. Apparently, blizzards lasted three days and occurred every couple of days.....OUCH! So, in hindsight if we get one big storm a week and the groundhog has told us that we only have six weeks remaining of this frigid frosty weather we are in pretty good shape. I am going to keep my head up...literally. Today the sun is shining the sky is clear and if I don't step outside to feel the frigid temperatures or look at the blanket of snow on the ground, I can pretend that June is upon us.

A post always has to include photos so I included some that I took a few weeks back when I wandered out on a snowy morning to this covered bridge nestled next to a frozen pond.