Bally's Neon Tube

One of the first toys I recall having as a child was a "Lite Brite", which is basically a plastic box with a low wattage light bulb inside and a plastic front panel full of holes. Multi-colored plastic pegs are inserted in the holes and light up like LEDs (light emitting diodes.) Different designs made from black paper come with the Lite Brite, and have letters showing which colored plastic pegs to insert to create a design. "G" would mean you insert a green peg; "R" means a red peg, etc. The black paper blocked light from leaking through unused holes.


It wasn't until my 12th or 13th trip to Las Vegas when I made the connection between my fascination for shooting photos of colored neon lights against a black background and my childhood toy, the Lite Brite. I was only 5 or 6 years old when I had the Lite Brite. I recall being attracted to colored lights at that time. I don't know, however, if that's just the way I am; or if having the Lite Brite made me that way.


The last time I was in Las Vegas, March 2006, I was staying at the Jockey Club next to Bellagio. My last night there, I recall walking past Bally's and feeling too tired to take more photos of the neon rings, which I had taken photos of the year before. A typical day of shooting photos in Las Vegas for me begins around 10 AM and ends around 2 AM; so by 10 PM I'm usually pretty tired of walking or driving (or both) and am pushing myself in search of that "one great photo."


I'd estimate that about one out of 100 of my photos are worthy of calling "great." The photo above, however, is not one photo; but four different photos taken from the same spot pasted together.


As I mentioned, I'd felt too tired to shoot these but my fascination for neon at night overrode my fatigue. I rode the moving walkway and got off at that special spot about halfway to the casino where you can capture this viewpoint of the neon rings around the pedestrian walkway looking west from Bally's property towards the strip.


I've seen a lot of photos of Bally's on the Internet, but don't recall ever seeing this particular angle on anyone else's web sites. And if I recall correctly, the neon did not always have this variety of color. My March 2005 photos only show the neon rings in green and blue; whereas in March 2006 there is also red, purple, and orange.


In any event, in March 2006 I learned that one should never ignore a nearby photo opportunity even if you've been there many times before and think you already have enough photos taken from that spot; because you may still capture something rare. Las Vegas is constantly changing and Bally's could decide to demolish their neon rings or reduce the variety of colors at any time.