Lauded as one of the nicest hotels in the world, Bellagio opened to much fanfare in 1998 on the corner of Flamingo and Las Vegas Blvd in place of the Dunes which had previously stood in that spot. Featuring some incredible restaurants, salons, water fountains, art exhibits and (I assume) hotel rooms, it still holds its place as one of Vegas’s most extravagant.
Category Archives: Photos
Chris at Angel Park
It’s a par 3 course so nothing too crazy here, but the ball did land within a few feet of the hole off the tee. This was probably the best shot of the day amongst the three of us who were there so I captured the moment.
Dustin for Scale
For reference, my armspan is just over six feet. That makes this tree something in the neighborhood of 60-90 feet in circumference. Huge! Climbing a couple hundred feet into the air, this sequoia may not be the largest in the area, but it still stands as one of the largest living organisms on the planet.
Cthulhu Rising
While in Sequoia National Park Jennifer and I hiked to Tokopah Falls, the waterfall seen here. It was a pretty easy hike… well-maintained trail and not terribly steep. This picture was taken at the end of the trail from the foot of the falls. I took a number of photos and this one stood out. See that tentacaled head emerging from the water? Cthulhu rising! Apparently he’s not trapped in the South Pacific!
Jeremy Gustafson Final
Another photo of Jennifer’s brother Jeremy. Light skin retouching, adjust white balance, vibrance, saturation, add a vignette and some sharpening made this photo come to life.
Jeremy Gustafson
I’ve decided to begin exploring portraiture as a means to supplement my income a bit. For now my portraits will be of friends and done for free with the idea of expanding clientele via word of mouth. This is Jennifer’s younger brother Jeremy at Red Rock Canyon shortly after sunrise with only some minor post-production work. The lighting is decent though I would prefer to have had my own additional lights… a reflector to illuminate the dark side of his face a bit better at a minimum.
Jennifer for Scale
This photo is somewhat self-explanatory. I guess the point is to offer a hint at the size of these trees. I’ll include better examples shortly, but know that General Sherman, the largest amongst these trees, is actually the world’s largest living organism by mass. There are taller and wider trees, but the Sequoia holds the record that beats all others… largest. Full stop. Now that is damn impressive.
Trail of the Sequoias
I previously mentioned the various hiking trails running through Sequoia National Park. This image was captured while on the Trail of the Sequoias, one of the many trails that take you through the park’s sequoia stands. I honestly felt as if I were on a different planet… Endor perhaps. As it turns out, those scenes were filmed in another California park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The California redwoods are closely related to the sequoias.
Crazy Sequoia Flowers
I have no idea what sort of flowers these are. I tried some rudimentary searches with Google, but they didn’t turn up much. I also tried an image search by uploading this photo to Google and seeing if it could match anything. Nope. So here you go… some crazy little red flowers growing amongst the sequoia groves in Sequoia National Park.
Tree Rings Closeup
A number of years ago the National Park Service decided to cut down one of the immense Sequoias within Sequoia National Park because its impending collapse threatened a nearby cabin. So they cut it down in a controlled fashion saving the cabin and allowing for this image. These are the tree rings of a giant sequoia believed to be between five and six thousand years old. I didn’t count them.