Leaving Las Vegas - The Morning After by Arjen Roos

About "Leaving Las Vegas - The Morning After"

by Arjen Roos

About the artwork

A deserted highway winds through the Mojave Desert as the first sunrise colours the tarmac a soft orange. In the distance, the neon line of Las Vegas glows; the heady heart of the night is suddenly just a wafer-thin trail of light. In the foreground, a brand-new newlyweds stumble away from what seemed like the ultimate love ritual just moments ago.

She - barefoot, wedding dress grey with dust and sand - lifts the crumpled hem just enough to continue, but not enough to hide her regret. He still wears his black jacket, but the open collar betrays a hangover that outweighs the ring on his finger. Their gazes no longer touch, but their shadows continue to fall in the same rhythm: two souls who will always be pictured together, even as hope flakes off along the way.

With cinematic colour grading and a touch of Erwin-Olaf-like mise-en-scène, this work captures the moment when dreams evaporate and reality turns sweltering hot. An image that makes the silence after the party palpable - exactly that gut feeling that Olafique is all about.

This work is part of my Olafique series: photorealistic and experimental images that focus on emotion, gut feeling and a strong narrative. Each scene captures the breaking point between dream and reality-often without the main characters touching, yet inextricably linked to the story I am telling.

Created by Arjen Roos with support from AI.