Aerial Photos of Las Vegas at Night Surrounded by the Pitch-Black Desert

Filmmaker and photographer Vincent Laforet recently captured the infamous city of Las Vegas in a way that we don’t often see. Instead of photographing the high-energy glitz from street level, he traveled 10,800 feet above ground via helicopter and shot the metropolis from a bird’s-eye-view. The results are a brilliantly-colored series titled AIR: Sin City. It features countless dotted lights surrounded by the intense, total darkness of the Mojave Desert.

Part of the allure of Laforet’s series is the visual contrast between the Las Vegas Strip - a long street that’s home to gambling, hotels, and fine-dining restaurants - and the sea of black that’s just outside its radiating glow. Laforet says that his camera picked up a mix of yellow Tungsten light, green fluorescent lights, and blue LED daylight-balanced lights. The LEDs are responsible for the intense colors we see in these photographs.

It was no easy feat capturing this fantastic series. For starters, Laforet had to open the door to the helicopter. “Once the door was open, and that I'd taken the step out onto the skids, it took a few minutes to get my heart rate down to be perfectly honest. But Wow. What a sight…” You can read more about his experience on Storehouse. And, if you enjoy seeing Vegas from above, check out Laforet’s aerial New York City series.