Obama Loves Vegas

President Obama chose Las Vegas for the first trip of his second term, and this time it was my turn to be part of the local pool. This basically meant that me and a reporter were carted around with the national press and rode in their fancy vans in the motorcade to and from the airport. Sadly, Obama did not make any special stops on this trip, just the speech on immigration reform at Del Sol High School. He was on the ground in Vegas for less than two hours. It was still fun though. The best part was having a different view when Obama stepped off Air Force One for the presidential wave. I've always been positioned on a riser directly across from the plane. This time I was on the ground, closer to the plane, and there was a nice cloud overhead that had been blocking the sun intermittently all morning. So I decided to go for a wide shot. It's my favorite one of the day.

World Series of Beer Pong

Yes, the World Series of Beer Pong exists. And of course they hold it in Vegas every year.
Here are my favorite shots from this year's competition.

Ladies of the Year

When I took the time to sit down and think about it, I realized that all of my most memorable photos from 2012 involved women. Everyone knows that images of women are used to sell Las Vegas, but those sex symbols are not the only kinds of ladies that live here. One of the great things about working for the local news is getting to expose the real people beneath the veneer of this often misunderstood city. This year, I've seen teen moms struggling to make ends meet, women trying to make their Vegas dance dreams come true, pageant princesses, dollar store divas, streetwalkers, proud strippers, prom queens, bingo stars, moms, boozers, athletes and drag queens.

These are my Ladies of the Year.

Broken Chains Christmas

This was a typical Christmas Day assignment: Christian charity feeds the homeless and hearts are warmed everywhere. I expected a couple dozen hungry homeless people and a few volunteers spooning cranberry sauce and gravy onto dry turkey breast. When I arrived to the parking lot of the Harley Davidson on Eastern and Sahara around 9 in morning, I was overcome by the sight of hundreds and hundreds of people. The Broken Chains nonprofit was started by a man named Pastor Cody who was a homeless drug addict (and not a pastor) nine years ago. Eight years ago he fed a dozen homeless people in a park on Christmas Day. This year he fed more than 1,000. It was quite a sight to see, and my heart was indeed warmed just a bit.