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Adobe MAX, Las Vegas

In October 2017, work sent me to Adobe MAX. It’s a design convention that I’ve been wanting to go to for years. This time, I finally got my chance to go. It was also the first time I’ve been in Vegas.

It was a busy time. So busy I didn’t even gamble a single dime. Sure, I could have thrown a dollar into a machine, and watched it disappear. But that wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to take photos during any free moment I had. I did however get two $5 chips from my visit. One from the Bellagio and another from the hotel I stayed, the Palazzo.

The thing that made this trip a bit different than others though, just two weeks prior was the Vegas shooting.

This was the view out of my hotel room. I was up on the 45/46th floor. There only just a couple floors above me. The thing that I loved about this was that the seminars started early enough that I was up before the sunrise every morning. So I’d use the automatic shades opener and watch the sunrise every morning as I was getting ready.

Jon Favreau was even there to talk to us about filmmaking.

The morning of the last day of the conference, I decided to take a cab down to the far end of the strip to see the welcome to Vegas sign. I walked back the entire way. The more I walked, the more people kept lining the street. Soon police cars would block crossroads. I stopped and asked a photographer, who obviously knew what he was about to photograph, what was going on. It was a funeral procession for one of the off-duty officers who was killed during the Vegas shooting.

I kept moving until I could see the cars coming down the road. I made my way to in intersection where this officer was blocking the road. As the lead cars got to us, I was torn between showing my respects, or capturing this moment. I wasn’t an easy decision, but I decided to capture this officer paying his respects.

Always bring a tripod with you. Knowing that I was going to be in Vegas, I knew I had to bring one with me. But the one I own is large and heavy. Something I don’t like to carry with me when I’m doing a lot of walking. But the one we used at work was much smaller and lighter, so I stuck it in my luggage. Always bring a tripod with you.

These are friends of mine that I’ve known for years, but had only met for the first time here in Vegas. We call ourselves HOWies. We all met on the HOW Design magazines forum back when it was up and running. Today, we’ve migrated over to Facebook. While I know a lot about their personal lives through what they post on Facebook, it was great to actually meet them and talk to them in person.

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