Red Rock | Las Vegas

I freaking love Las Vegas. Yep, I’m sayin’ it out loud: I love it.

I could go on & on about it, too. The cost of living, an international airport, the new-ness of the properties, twinkle lights everywhere at night, the atmosphere, the fine dining, the outdoor dining year round, the attractions, the sheer amount of CHOICES available to you for anything you’d ever want to buy, the proximity of national parks + the desert + lakes and, thus, the kind of hiking and outdoor activities available to you — I just love it all. For example, V & I donned workout gear one morning and headed to the Strip. We agreed we’d walk all the stairs we possibly could, be it along the Strip (there are bridges that enable you to safely cross the super busy multi-lane roads) or in the hotel properties (running the stairs at the Luxor or the Cosmopolitan up from entrance, lobby, and casino areas). But, if we saw something we liked, we’d stop to check it out (i.e., The Shake Shack at New York New York — cheese fries were had). Seven miles later (according to our Charity Miles app, where a random corporation sponsors us per mile walked to raise money for the charity of our choice), we’d been in & out of a ton of places while also getting a great workout. Where else can do you something like that — where it’s socially acceptable to be in fitness gear at the hot spots, no less?! Anyway, we also couldn’t remember where we’d parked our car, so that was another mile of walking around the Excalibur’s outdoor lots… but that part wasn’t nearly as fun.

Another thing I love about Sin City is the light. Which is why I was really excited to photograph my brother (death metal musician John Boecklin) and his wife in the Vegas desert on our most recent visit. The irony is that it rained throughout our whole trip, so I didn’t get that magic light that my Contax just looooooooves to soak up. BUT, you know? It didn’t matter. We went out to Red Rock Canyon National Park as planned, drizzle hitting our windshield, V’s eyes drilling into me with his ‘this isn’t gonna work can’t get the cameras wet you see that it’s raining right?’ face. But onward we pushed, and we ended up having maybe 5 minutes of heavy-cloud-no-rain weather that enabled us to capture the following super quickly. And, to echo my feelings about Vegas, I freaking love these shots. I love that John & Liz are smiling like that. I love how he holds her face when he kisses her. I love that she wanted a piggy back. I love that he was just as into it. I love that John gave me some crap about the silliness of it all and I gave it right back to him. I love that I got to share what I do with my brother on a shitty day in the desert. It’s a nice memory captured, plain & simple, and that’s what my work is all about.