I talked about this project a bit on the podcast, Photography Matters/INSPIRED over the past couple of months. During that period of time I often found myself waking up; being wide awake around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I finally decided to start taking advantage of those episodes of wakefulness. I would get out of bed, get dressed, load some film in my camera and head downtown to see what was goin’ on down there.
Typically I would park in the same place I always park whenever I go down to do some night shots; around the corner of Ogden and 7th. I usually get the same parking space every time. I don’t know why I think that is cool, but I do.
I gotta say, man, I loved those outings. Sometimes I’d be a little tired, but most of the time I’d be wide awake; loving the fresh air; the atmosphere and energy of downtown Las Vegas at that time of night; and every once in a while there would be a soft, gentle breeze. The temperatures were usually in the 60s (Fahrenheit), so man, that’s T-shirt weather for me. It felt great!
The weekends were the most fun. Even that late, or early, depending on how you look at it, there would be the few remaining diehard party people that were still enjoying their Vegas experience that they started the night before. Most of the ones that remained seemed to be running at a little lower energy than they probably possessed a few hours earlier. But people still seemed to be in good spirits (literally).
I’ve decided to go ahead and wrap this project up. It seems my body is now enjoying sleeping through the night (for the most part), and this is probably a good thing. The days following my 3A.M. outings weren’t always my most productive days. (sometimes felt a little trashed).
This zine contains 30 photographs that I managed to get during those late night/early morning outings. I figured I’d narrow it down to 30 to go with the theme of “three.” Not so much of a series or anything of that nature, just a photographic tribute to my insomnia. Fun project; fun stuff, man. I hope you enjoy it.
Ted
04.08.2019
Las Vegas, Nevada