“I’m not Over” (Las Vegas)

done

It’s almost a year and a half now since we moved back to Rochester, NY from Las Vegas, NV.  And as the post title and embedded song imply, I’m not quite over the place.  I routinely check LV TV websites and the online site for The Las Vegas Review Journal (one of the best papers in the country, in my opinion) to see what’s going on there.  As with most major U. S. cities, the economy in Vegas is pretty bad.  Visitor levels are way down, gaming revenues are anemic, and unemployment is very high.  I often wonder if I’d still have my job if we hadn’t moved back east. 

Who knows.  But aside from all that, I still love the place.  I can’t say that about many cities.  Charleston, SC is another one we enjoy very much.  I also like San Antonio, TX (and Austin), and Flagstaff, AZ.  But most cities – especially in the northeast – leave me cold (no pun intended).  I don’t much care for urban environments, generally speaking.

But why Las Vegas?  We don’t gamble (well, not very much), we don’t “party” (we’re rarely up past 10:00), and I almost never drink.  But we loved to visit the strip.  We’d drive in, park somewhere (usually at New York New York), and then just walk.  Usually, we’d walk north as far as Bellagio and then back, wandering through a number of casinos along the way.  If it wasn’t windy, we would always watch one or two of the fountain shows in front of the Bellagio.  I never tired of those excursions.  There was always something to see, always something to photograph.  Night or day.

In short, the place was alive.  People were everywhere, doing all kinds of things.  And they were there from all over the country.  It got so you could look at people and usually tell where they were from.  People from the northeast and midwest were the easiest to identify, mainly by the way they dressed and the way they gawked at what was in front of them.  If it was their first visit, they looked at the strip as if they were on another planet.  Californians were also easy to spot, especially if they were driving.  Just ask a native Las Vegan which state license plate they least like to see when they’re out on the roads.

Las Vegas, of course, isn’t for everyone.  I would never attempt to raise kids there.  The public school system there ranks 50th or 51st in the nation.  Medical care isn’t the best, either.  And yes, there’s crime.  But I really don’t think it’s any worse than other large metropolitan areas.  Probably better than some.  All I can say is that I was never, ever afraid to walk on the strip.  I felt much safer there than I would if I were to walk in downtown Rochester.  Not to mention the fact that there’s little to do in downtown Rochester – the place is dead.

So even though we lived there for less than a year, Las Vegas felt like home.  I made some good friends there and worked with a lot of very good people.  And, of course, our son is still there.  If all goes well, we’ll pay the place a return visit sometime this coming spring – probably March.  Then from there we’ll hit Yosemite in California, and then a return visit to Zion and Bryce in southern Utah.  Then maybe Canyonlands and Arches.  So many places, so little time…..

Hope you enjoy the images.  I apologize for their small size and low resolution, but I needed to keep the video file size  reasonable.  Believe me, they look much better at “normal” resolutions!

Update:  While I’ve been told that the images in the video look “OK”, I’ve added higher resolution versions on a separate gallery page (titled “Las Vegas Lights”).  Just click on any image to see the larger version.

Tropicana Avenue

Why another image from the Las Vegas strip?  Well, a couple of reasons.  First, the last one got me to looking at some other images from our stint in this town.  This one is from the same general location (the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave.).  This one, however, was taken from across the street – in front of the MGM Grand – and looks southwest toward Excalibur.  As I’ve said before, I’m a little “homesick” for the place. 

By the way, if you ever decide to visit Vegas, don’t stay at Excalibur.  The place is a dump.  I wouldn’t suggest Luxor, either.  If you want to be in the middle of things, stay at Bellagio or The Mirage or even Caesar’s Palace.  That way, you can easily walk to most of the best spots, including The Venetian or Palazzo or Wynn’s or Encore.  You’re in the middle of the “high rent district”.

And that brings me to the second reason for posting this photograph.  I’m sure you’ve read or heard about Wells Fargo canceling what was apparently a regular outing for some of its employees to Las Vegas.  According to the story, these people were going to stay at Wynn’s and Encore for 12 days.  The problem, of course, is that Wells Fargo just received something like $25 billion in bailout money from the U. S. government (taxpayer money).  Now, I personally wouldn’t have objected if they were going to stay at Excalibur or perhaps Imperial Palace (both not very nice places).  If I had to spend 12 days in either place I’d have probably said thanks, but no thanks.  But Wynn and Encore?  These resorts are anything but “dumps”.  This is where the money goes, if they’re not going to The Venetian or Palazzo.  Anyway, the thought of these folks going to those places on my dime (well, our dime) got me just a little upset.  I doubt I’ll ever do any banking at Wells Fargo.  Maybe we could ask for our money back?

Aside from all of that, I like this image because it’s about as ”dense” a photograph as I’m ever likely to produce.  If you follow Mark Hobson’s blog ( http://landscapist.squarespace.com/journal/2009/2/3/urban-ku-191-platitudes.html), you have an idea where this is going.  This, incidentally, is in no way a criticism of Mark.  What fascinates me is the fundamental difference in approach between photographers who seem to favor what I’d call visual complexity and photographers who favor visual simplicity.  Both are perfectly legitimate styles.  And they are styles that represent a range of possibilities – in some cases, they will even overlap.

What really intrigues me, however, is the “why” of the difference.  Why is that some prefer to produce “dense” images and others will consciously look for scenes that contain as little as possible?  Personally, I have no answer.  In most of my images, you simply won’t see the amount of “stuff” that exists in this one.  For me, less is more.  But I haven’t a clue why that is.  I do know, however, that it extends well beyond photography.  It is, for example, the way I’ve done my “day job” for years.  If you can reduce a problem to its simplest form, if you can peel away the extraneous layers, then you just might find the solution.  At least that’s always been my approach.  Most of the time it works.  I also realize, however, that it’s not the only way.

I guess you could say the same thing for “photographic style”.

Groundhog Day (again…)

Personally, I think Groundhog Day should be a “real” holiday.  You know, with the post office and banks closed, schools closed, the whole 9 – yards.  And not because of the nonsense going on down in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  I could care less whether or not Punxsutawney Phil actually sees his shadow; winter will go on for much longer than 6 more weeks in this part of the world regardless.  Nope, that’s not the reason.

The reason February 2nd should be a national holiday is to commemorate one of my favorite films  -  ”Groundhog Day”.  Released in 1993, this wonderful comedy with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell follows a rather mean-spirited meteorologist (and his producer) as they cover the festivities in Punxsutawney.  The problem, of course, is that the Bill Murray character (Phil Connors) finds himself in a very nasty time – loop.  He keeps reliving the day over and over and over again.  We never really learn for how long, but it’s possible that it goes on for years (but only for him, obviously; no one else is aware of his dilemma). 

Apparently, some cosmic force has decided that this guy is going to get it right no matter how long it takes.  Even multiple suicides have no effect – he just wakes up again at 6:00 AM, on February 2nd.  By the time he does “get it right”, he’s learned to speak French, play the piano, knows everything about everybody in town, and of course turns himself into an outward reaching person, completely opposite the egocentric, narcissistic asshole that he was when he arrived in town.  Oh, and he wins the girl (Rita).  And they all live happily ever after (I guess).

I’ve learned over the years that people either love this film or they hate it (my wife absolutely hates it).  Those who are of a practical bent seem to hate it – it just doesn’t make sense to them.  It’s just a silly fantasy that keeps going through the same nonsensical stuff over and over again.

But for those of us who love the film, the “nonsensical” part doesn’t matter.  It’s the idea behind the nonsense that matters.  What if there were opportunities for “do-overs”?  What if you could go back and correct mistakes, with full knowledge of what you’d done wrong in the previous timeline?  If such things were possible, what would you fix?  Could you pick one day in your life that you’d like for your personal “Groundhog Day”?  (Hell, if you had such a day, just think what you could do with Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule!).

I don’t know about you, but I have a couple of days in mind.  Wishful thinking?  Perhaps.  But thinking about such things might just influence what I do tomorrow, or next week, or next year.  The past may be intractable, but the future isn’t.  Ain’t no such thing as “destiny” (manifest or otherwise).

By the way, if you haven’t seen the movie, you should give it a try.  I may have to drug my wife to get to see it again, but it might be worth it.

Why this image of one of my favorite locations in Sin City?  Because one of my potential “do-over” days has to do with my Las Vegas experience.  Were it not for that particular day, I might be in that spot right now.