JOSEPH SZYMANSKI

Dancers, Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas Nevada. September of 2008.

Leica IIIF, 35mm lens, Tri-X 400 film pushed to ISO 1000.

Elvis impersonator, 3:45 AM on the Vegas Strip. Las Vegas, Nevada. August of 2008.

Leica M6, 28mm lens, Tri-X 400 film pushed to ISO 1000.

Fremont St., Old Las Vegas Strip. Las Vegas, Nevada. August of 2008.

Leica M4-P, 35mm lens, Tri-X 400 film pushed to ISO 1000.

The Riviera, Las Vegas Boulevard. Las Vegas Nevada. August of 2008.

Leica M4-P, 35mm lens, Tri-X 400 film pushed to ISO 1000.

In hindsight, there is something a little unsettling, at least to me, about hopping a plane to Las Vegas on a Friday night with all of eighteen dollars in my pocket and a handful of film in the bag, though a free ride helped stem the discomfort, and a hotel room twice the size of my apartment would alleviate the rest, and nothing makes photographs quite like the most ridiculous city ever created by man, woman or god, so it wasn’t as though I could turn down the offer.

Both white trash and new money were out in full force, Elvis was, as a matter of fact, in several buildings, lounge lizards and blue hairs, pumping the slot machines like rats hitting the feeder bar for another tasty food pellet, and just when I thought I had seen it all, in strolled a young woman in white with full bridal party in tow, groom and groomsmen dressed to the nines, they made their vows to one another right then and there, in a shopping mall food court.

“Who are these people? These faces? Where did they come from? They look like caricatures of used car dealers from Dallas, and sweet Jesus, there are a hell of a lot of them at 4:30 on a Sunday morning. Still humping the American dream.” – Hunter S. Thompson

Thanks Doc, for the Vegas bender…