Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas
This is my first time visiting Las Vegas. I am not sure what I had in mind, but a spectacular place in the middle of the dessert was not even remotely in my thoughts. We landed around 11am, rented a car, checked into our hotel and drove a short 30 minutes to The Red Rock Canyon conservation area. The park has a visitor’s area and a 13 mile driving loop with plenty hiking paths on different levels: easy, moderate and hard. The first area we visited was the Calico I, with massive orange-reddish rocks. As I would learn later in the trip, Las Vegas is the place for extremes: extreme cheesiness, extreme luxury and extreme nature. The Red Rock Canyon was a spectacular place, the Mojave Desert at its best. Bring water, sunscreen and a camera… a polarizer or neutral density filter are a must to get the deep blue sky and manage contrast between the bright sky against the rocks and mountains.
Canon 7D, Tamron 10-22mm 3.5-4.5, B+W ND gradient filter.
A mega bucket list
If you have to summarize your bucket list in one sentence, what would it be? I want to………
Imagine if the bucket list is written by a bunch of college kids! Jam with Eric Clapton wrote one, a Ferrari wrote a couple, Meet Ellen, Change the world? Really? Don’t you do that every day?…
And it occurs to me that I cannot be that brief, that precise. Truth is we are all dying one day at the time, so everything I do I am doing before I die. Grim, I know but liberating LOL I guess I am lucky. I rather think of the wonderful things I’ve accomplished than all those things I may never do! A matter of perspective 🙂
Toys make the perfect subjects
Today I went with Aidan to his favorite joint: Playmobil Fun. That place is toy’s heaven! I took the time to bring my camera and make the toys my subject of the day. They don’t move, they have amazing colors, they are the best subject! Well, almost. As I started taking pictures I had my own rule: I would leave all toys as they were left in the tables, I would not stage them. I also wanted to get some pictures for the Active Assignment group in Flickr.
I do not have macro lenses and I did not use a tripod. I am learning to love my 55-250 IS lens so I had to crank up the ISO and shoot wide. Trusted the IS… lots of blurry pictures! LOL
I still managed to get some decent shots. My new camera is amazing at getting the right exposure.
Tip: remember to set the white balance to the right light; in this case I used fluorescent setting.
Who would’ve thought….
Years ago, my friend Linda was our social coordinator. From dancing until the wee hours in Ft Lauderdale clubs, to speed dates or St Patrick’s Parades, I owe her many hours of great fund. Fast forward 8 years and motherhood has taken over! Out late nights are feverish kids or pee-pee dancing. Today Aidan and I spent couple hours with the girls: Linda, Samantha, Stacey and Eve. Beautiful girls! Samantha is walking now; I think we are getting back our social coordinator! We’ll just have to switch Taverna Opa for Latte Fun!
My Life on a Frame 