High Roller Wheel

Ron Niebrugge Las Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel Leave a Comment

The High Roller in Las Vegas.  At 550 feet high, is the largest observation wheel in the world.

The High Roller in Las Vegas. At 550 feet high (55 stories), is the largest observation wheel in the world.

Cue the Jimmy Fallon thank you note music:  Thank you giant Ferris wheel in the sky for single-highhandedly now making most of my Las Vegas Strip skyline photos completely obsolete.

Actually I can’t complain – since the opening of City Center and the Cosmopolitan a number of years ago, the Strip skyline really hasn’t changed until now – that is a long time by Las Vegas standards!

This is part of a new development known as the LINQ District- pronounced link, that does a nice job of linking this wheel to the Strip with a number of restaurants and shops.

This wheel, at 550 feet high is the tallest in the world, taller then the one in London.  It isn’t open yet, scheduled to begin operations at the end of March.  To give you an idea as to the scale, each of the 28 cars will hold 40 people, and the ride will last about a half hour.  I believe they said the ride will cost $25 per person during the day, and $35 at night.

When we were in Las Vegas for some assignment work at Red Rock last June, they were building a giant Ferris wheel down by the Luxor.  Much too my surprise, that one was never finished, this is actually further North across from Caesars Palace.

Valley of Fire Book

Ron Niebrugge Nevada, Photos, Shameless Self Promotion, Travel 3 Comments

Excited to have the cover of the latest version of this book on Valley of Fire!  Valley of Fire State Park sure has boomed in popularity since I started photographing there many years ago – back then, seemed like few photographers were really aware of what amazing scenery could be found in Valley of Fire.

This past June I detoured from our Grand Canyon  / Page / Zion trip to Las Veges to do some assignment work for the same publisher in Red Rock Canyon NCA – looking forward to seeing the final product from that work as well.

Desert tortoise

Ron Niebrugge Las Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 4 Comments

A Desert Tortoise at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

We are spending the last couple of days of this trip in the Las Vegas area doing some assignment work for a large book publisher.  I’m excited to be working with this publisher as it looks like it could lead to a lot more work.  Most of my assignment has been around the beautiful new visitor center working with a wonderful family as they viewed the different exhibits.  But, earlier in the morning, I couldn’t resist spending some time with this guy – and was lucky enough to catch him in a yawn.  In was in a large outdoor containment area in that visitor center.

Laughlin Nevada

Ron Niebrugge Nevada, Photos, Travel 2 Comments

Laughlin, Nevada at sunset.

Since it has almost been almost a week since I have posted, I though I needed to do an update as to what we have been up to over a busy week.

Recently we have lost out on some photo sales for laughlin photos because my coverage was not current enough – evidently some of the hotel names have changed.  So we ended up doing a quick three day trip over to Southern Nevada.

We then returned to Anza-Borrego for my Anza-Borrego photo workshop along with a private tour – I had a lot of fun, wonderful people and great photo opportunities!   The highlights for me included the amazing sunrise on Sunday morning and watching a young Desert Bighorn nurse just a short distance away from us on Friday morning.  I won’t be sharing photos from those days since I don’t photograph during my workshops, but it sure appeared everyone else got some pretty cool stuff and for me that is very satisfying.

Las Vegas Time-lapse

Ron Niebrugge Las Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 4 Comments

Here is a new time-lapse video of Las Vegas – most of this was filmed during our visit last Winter.  Some of the opening scenes were filmed with a tilt-shift lenses giving the appearance of a miniature city.  Enjoy!

Planet Hollywood Restaurant, Las Vegas

Ron Niebrugge Las Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Las Vegas Strip, Nevada.

Las Vegas Strip, Nevada.

Continuing on a the same theme as my last post – this image, along with a couple of others will be giant murals in the newly relocated Planet Hollywood Restaurant inside The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.  One of them is a giant panorama.

I had hoped to see them and to grab a photo while I was there in March for the NAB Conference, but it was still under construction.  That will be fun to see one day!

Can a tree cut a rock?

Ron Niebrugge Las Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 6 Comments

Dead tree branch cutting through a rock, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Dead tree branch cutting through a rock, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I know this photo will never win me any awards or make any money, but it was such an interesting sight, I just had to share.  This was from our recent winter / spring travels.

This dead branch was still connected to the tree it grew from, but part of it came to rest on this rock.  As the tree swayed back and forth in the wind, this branch would rub against the sandstone boulder.  Over what probably took many, many years the branch has slowing cut it’s way through the stone.  Now granted, on the scale of hardness, sandstone is much softer then most – but it is still hard enough that trying to cut it by hand with tools would have taken a lot of effort.  Pretty interesting.

At the time I found this, I was exploring a somewhat remote canyon hoping to find an interesting slot canyon.  Judging by the difficult access to this canyon, I think it is safe to say very few people ever visit this area – just as well, one misplaced step and this branch would be broken.  I may have to go back in a few years to see how much more has been cut.