To Have and Have Not (In Las Vegas)

To Have and Have Not (in Las Vegas), a street photo, was taken within

sight of Sin City's most fabulous shopping and most luxurious

casinos. Your comments and critiques are invited and most welcome.

If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your superior photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

I like the image and composition. It works well in black and white.

I posted the original elsewhere in color, but it is perfect for this particular folder as a B&W capture. I think its composition holds up on its own (it was a pretty good color photo, too).

 

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

John (Crosley)

 

copyright notice: This image is copyright 2007, John Crosley, all rights reserved.

The picture says it all. Great shot. Regards ~Russell

I agree.

 

That's why it stays posted, even with now only 3 rates.

 

I am not a great fan of Las Vegas (Lost Wages); it's a transient town, both with workers and visitors.

 

And, it's not really a clean town.

 

In a way, although it is 'spread city' in many aspects, it's far from an attractive city, despite all the wealth that's there, but concentrated in few hands.

 

Definitely not this subject's hands this particular day, hunh?

 

Thanks for the encouraging comment.

 

John (Crosley)

John, this is a great shot of our times. It speaks out to the viewer about the imbalance of of our social programs. Great documentary photograph..oh, I have lived and work in Las Vegas for the past 28 years. You really want to see the city you have to get away from the strip. Lots more out here than just Las Vegas Blvd. Keep Shooting,you have a great eye...RAY

As a local, you may recognize the location -- right in front of and to the right of the major department stores just off Las Vegas Blvd (The Strip) and across Las Vegas Boulevard to the north a little bit from the Convention Center (and behind it -- The Venetian -- a plush, upscale casino)

 

She's literally waiting for the bus to go home in the center of some of Las Vegas's most expensive territory (and some strip territory is extremely expensive real estate and attracts amazing amounts of money).

 

You are right about the disparity in the social welfare system, but at least she's got a bus to wait for; in many areas there are no or very bad buses to take. Until recently, Los Angeles, to the west and a little south, was a leader on lack of halfway decent public transportation, and the advance they have made is mostly in new, modern-looking buses.

 

Thanks for the find compliment. This particular photo was not a hit with raters, but 'so what?'. It was good by my own standards, and I post what I like, not what I think raters will eat up. If I did that, I wouldn't post 'street photos' at all.

 

I try to post, sometimes, socially significant photos, but also ones with some sort of good composition. Here, I used the 'rule of thirds' only I turned it sideways, basically. Nobody that I know writes of such things, but to me, they seem basic -- one third for the woman and her 'screen' -- one third of 'negative space' and one third for the sign with its message of affluence.'

 

For me it seemed a natural, taken from a car window stopped briefly in traffic one afternoon.

 

Just goes to show you, one ought to have a camera with them at all times. I didn't even hold up traffic to take this one.

 

;~))

 

Best wishes.

 

John (Crosley)

It could also symbolize the fatalist and the optimist. When you see the glass half empty you already assume a defeated position like lowering your head and hiding it like an ostrich burying your face under your arms. Seeing the glass half full on the other hand makes you "put your best foot forward". You live up to that thought in your attitude towards life and wake up every day with a smile looking your best.

Very good observation.

 

Of course, this woman probably got up at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., worked a full shift at some demeaning job, and just rested her weary head before getting a bus home (no car).

 

Casinos and casino-hotels are full of jobs, but jobs that pay almost nothing.

 

Casino towns/cities like Las Vegas are havens for renters . . . transients are many, including some who came to gamble and gambled it all away . . . I've seen it happen.

 

I was even next to one guy in a hotel on his honeymoon as he gambled wildly, his new bride on their honeymoon night, begging him to stop, in tears, and him assuring her he was going to win 'the next one' until he ran completely out of money. I hope that marriage did not last; he certainly disrespected her and his new marriage.

 

Casino towns are places you see such behavior. At least Harold Smith Sr. who ran the fabled Harold's Club in Reno, would provide unlucky gamblers with bus fare home, no matter what. He wanted them to return and lose again. A sign posted said 'gamble only what you can afford', a folksy touch.

 

His son and grandson sold the casino.

 

The son with megamillions bought another, cheap casino nearby and sported drinks, etc. for his numerous new 'friends'. Ten years later he was living in a mobile home park subsisting on Social Security and SSI.

 

Great lesson about casinos in there.

 

Even the rich can lose everything.

 

In the casino industry, when one gambles, it pays to be pessimistic.

 

;~)

 

John (Crosley)