WE DID IT!!
This was our catch phrase for the week and I have no idea how that happened, but I love it so much and I suggest everyone on earth use it for every accomplishment you have, big or small.
This is a story about a quick weekend trip I had in Las Vegas. There isn’t much value for me to add to real estate investors here other than to showcase the power of networking. Real estate is about people first (in my opinion) asd I love to tell stories about people so occasionally I make little photo blogs about people.
I was supposed to go on a boys retreat to Big Bear to talk real estate and then spend a few days in Vegas, but last minute the state of California started to give us some hassle to stay at our AirBnB due to Covid. So I spent ~6 days straight in Vegas instead which admittedly is way too long but my friend Shelby showed up to annoy me for the first half which made it go by faster.
Here we are lounging around Jay’s empty house. The guy bought this huge home ~3 years ago and hasn’t put any furniture in it so we all just take turns riding the hoverboard around the empty floors.
Jay Mirando is a top notch human being. Successful Las Vegas flipper, extreme coffee addict, well read, very generous, and he’s just getting started. Thankful he always let’s me crash at his place.
Shelby and I can turn any location into a photoshoot. We were running errands at one of Jay’s flip houses and found some fantastic natural light that we couldn’t pass by.
At the time of my visit bars in Las Vegas were limited to 4 people per table so we did what any responsible adults in the middle of a (mostly) politically driven pandemic would do: we had a small party at the house instead. #rebel4lyfe
This picture makes them look like a barbershop quartet trying to serenade a lady.
One thing you can be sure of, no matter how hard Shelby and I party at night you can expect us to be up early the next morning and taking weird pictures in your house while you’re still snoozing away.
Many people know Las Vegas as nothing more than a 3 mile strip of degenerate gamblers and alcoholics, but it also has GREAT hiking!
In the middle of the city is a neat little hike called Lone Mountain, I hiked it plenty of times while I lived here and I wanted to take some friends to see it while we were all together.
My very good friend David is the reason I came on this trip.
I co-host David’s awesome podcast geared towards military and veteran entrepreneurs “From Military to Millionaire”. He’s an incredibly hard working content producer and digital marketer and he’s given me an immense amount of value over the last few years. I’ll take every opportunity I can to return the favor or just hang out with him. If you can get in this dudes social circle I highly recommend it, he’s a very good investment.
Mastermind (which I’m a part of and I couldn’t have closed my 52 unit without this!)
Then we made out a little bit because how could you not!?!?
Justin Cambra, a guy I don’t know as well but seems awesome. A fellow real estate investor and a perpetual smiler.
…and then there is this unbelievable narcissist who sees my camera and just can’t help but to express her most ridiculous self.
or as other people call her, Shelby
Lone Mountain is cool but Red Rock Canyon is on a whole other level, so we went there the next morning
I absolutely LOVE this image.
It shows depth from front to back, but it also shows a wide field of the canyon. With photography it’s often difficult to show how big natural landscapes are but I think I did a good job here and the shadows create just a good amount of contrast as well. Also, Shelby’s skin tones match the scene and he little adventure backpack fits nicely as well.
This image might not look like much at first glance, but there is actually a lot going on here.
If you notice at the bottom of the image you can tell it looks very close to where I was standing. This is because I use a long focal length lens to create depth forward and backwards in the image. Then I took ~12 total shots around Shelby to get a wide field of vision and make a panorama, so you get depth forward and backwards but also laterally. It creates a really neat visual field but it’s not actually a picture that any camera I own could create on it’s own. Tricky!
One thing I love as a photographer is having a subject that will dangerously climb a dead tree at the top of a mountain just because I said it might make a cool shot. Turns out it does make a cool shot and no one died….WIN!
I’m not sure if there are guns allowed at the park or not, luckily Jay didn’t bring any just in case 😉
Hiking a mountain is no reason not to have my hair looking fly.
Shelby is basically an infant.
She eats, she pees, she naps, and she does little else.
and when it’s time to do one of those things, she does them immediately or gets fussy.
Here is a picture of what happens when she needs a nap but we were at a restaurant in the middle of the city.
Did you know if you go ~25 minutes south of Las Vegas Blvd you can see this little art installation in the middle of the desert. It’s called Seven Magic Mountains, I got this shot of it to show you.
and lastly we went to fabulous Las Vegas Blvd to explore a little and snap a few shots
The ceiling at the entrance of Bellagio
The conservatory at Bellagio.
Long exposure at the corner of Bellagio and Cosmopolitan
I came back a few nights later to take a better shot of this, not sure which one I actually like more. Which do you think?
Thanks for reading about another of my pointless but aesthetically pleasing adventures.
Let me know if you want me to tag along on something with you and bring my camera <3
