How You Can Turn casual Street/Travel snapshot photos into Extraordinary Photo Stories!

A walk down Las Vegas Boulevard turns ordinary photo snapshot moments into an unique photo story!

The minute you turn onto Las Vegas boulevard after driving through miles of barren desert roads there is a rush of excitement. People, lights, and some of the world’s most iconic landmarks are brought together in one location! Of course they are only replicas of the real deal in either Paris or New York and other exotic locations around the world but nowhere else can you visit each one by simply crossing a street.

There was something unusual about this morning...

Set out to walk one morning with my family on the Las Vegas strip armed with something out of my regular camera setup, an iPhone upgrade and an imagination that is intrigued by the way light is sculpted from shadows like it does shining through a stained glass window (sometimes that's all you need unless there's a specific reasoning behind another camera).

While I didn’t storyboard and write out the full vision for this photo story I had a seed of a vision that yearned inside me to be recorded in photos. The goal when I set out on the walk to the location was to elevate the shoot beyond the modern photo-journalistic style of “spray and pray” that has become trendy thanks to digital technology. I wanted to create a cohesive story of at least 2 to 3 photos. A question like, how can I make a photo that is less common than trendy tourist photos taken on the Las Vegas strip?

It wasn't long before I started to frame, play, and achieve photos of the wild city in the middle of the desert that aren't seen everyday in mainstream media.

The light and colors continuously entering my consciousness as I worked to frame as intentional of an image using design principles on the spot was a series of moments of pure joy like the way light shines through crystal glass.

Before long I started looking for specific instances of how the light plays in the shadow areas of the landmarks and how I can play with the lines and shapes created through this interaction to compose something someone might want to look at longer than a casual snapshot. Afterall, that’s all any image of interest is, a series of lines and shapes and more specifically, dots if you really want to get technical/granular...

After an hour and a half of recording instances that stood out to me because of the way the light played in the image before me I had not only become more confident using a new technology to do an age old photographic technique without a tripod but also tapped into the core strength required to hold any camera steady. The zoom lenses are more sensitive to camera shake.

Bringing it Home

Lastly, after I got the photos to home base I started color correcting (because who can trust the colors right out of a digital camera that hasn't been specifically profiled up front?). With a bit of patience and testing you can fine tune the colors back to the original scene that you remember or reminiscent of an old film look (something about that I personally love).

I would call this photo story street exploration a success.

For instance, if I showed you the shots above first and asked you, where do you think they were taken - what would you think?

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I’m starting to think that good street or travel photography is a level way beyond where I am right now but I am using it not to get the next hero shot but as a study, like an active, on the go photographic sketchbook to inform present and future projects (afterall each project isn't just the sum of the parts of that project but of all the field experience built up previously).

Sometimes the greenest grass is closer to home than you think.

I love the long exposure technique because I think it plays well with the name of the hotel, "Mirage" as it makes you wonder if what you’re seeing is a mirage or reality in the middle of the Mojave desert in one of the world's most popular travel destinations - Las Vegas, Nevada!

This exploration taught me way more than just a new digital technology but helped me build patience, confidence in creating a unique photo story, and foresight into something that's becoming like a lost art today, which is the art of preparation in photography.

I hope you picked up something new along with me that you can now use as fresh insight in your next photo or design session. If you enjoyed this article please give it a "♥️" and consider sharing with those you think might enjoy it too. After all isn't that why we share, not to keep knowledge hidden but to uplift and empower others with us?