Saturday, March 24, 2012

Lost Las Vegas Photo Collection Discovered

In October 2007 a fan of this blog gave me a disc of photos he had taken during various trips to Las Vegas.  Jim Johnson of Pennsylvania is the photographer of this (cropped) photo of The Mint, and approximately 58 others on the disc.  He said that I should use them as I chose.

I may have posted one in 2007.  As well at the time however, I slowed down on this blog greatly because I didn't have the time.  The disc over the next few years became lost.  Recently I found this lost disc, and looked over this photo collection again.

It is like taking a walk back in time in Las Vegas.

Some of these Las Vegas photos are from 1979.  The Atari 2600 was still a big deal in 1979.

Taking photographs used to be involved..  I've shot digital, 35 mm, 110, and 126.  I still have a package of individual flash bulbs (not cubes) that I used with my 126 camera in the 70s.

When you took photos during a trip, there was wait time before you knew how they came out.  The film often traveled back home with you, before you would drop it off for developing.  Finally after a few days, you would pick up your developed photos, and while looking at them, remember your trip.

So from a roll of film, (likely Kodak) that sat on a shelf in some store in 1979, a man took photographs of Las Vegas, probably flew with the film home, waited while some store got it developed, and now decades later, these stored paper photographs are in digital form and are a sort of Las Vegas time capsule.

In 1979 your phone was at home, and your camera probably needed help to flash.  Bulb, cube, flip flash, whatever.

I'm not too fond of flash though.  It has it's use, certainly, but why not capture natural lighting whenever possible?

I digress.

Now that I am being somewhat more active with this blog, it is almost time to publish the recently rediscovered Lost Las Vegas Photos of Jim Johnson.

Here is a cropped photo of The Mint.  I will release the uncropped when I publish the entire set, probably next week, over a period of 7 days.

Thank you Jim.

Thank you for visiting http://royvegas.blogspot.com

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