(The Other) Las Vegas

Last month we went on a day trip to Las Vegas.  Las Vegas, New Mexico, a small town east of Santa Fe, about 66 miles by road.  I had wanted to visit there for awhile, after both reading that the town had over a hundred buildings that have received historically significant designation, and having driven by there (twice) and just thinking that it looked like an interesting place to visit (and photograph).  It also didn't hurt that significant portions of "No Country For Old Men" (and many other movies) were filmed there...

Walking around the downtown square area, and the adjacent side streets, was more interesting than I had imaged for several reasons.  First of all, I found the historical aspects fascinating.  Finding out that I was walking on part of the old Santa Fe Trail, or standing where Francisco Coronado stood in 1541, was thought provoking, as I've always been interested in history, an interest that has been reignited with our move to the Southwest...  Secondly, seemingly everywhere I turned, I wanted to take photos.  Old buildings, quirky buildings, that I immediately wanted to photograph, and later on seemingly screamed to be processed using high dynamic range (HDR) processing techniques.  I've done quite a bit of HDR photo processing over the last couple of months, and have been refining my use of it, but the images I captured in Las Vegas just called for going a little "over the top"...

Like this drug store...

And the corner of an antique store (that was a treasure trove of cool stuff)...

Or this old, but still operating, cafe...

A shuttered building...

And this is only a sampling.  I also ended up with several shots of old, abandoned buildings, found in another part of town, that I'll have to share in another post...

Purchase prints of my New Mexico photos here

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX