photograph

I’m not much of a gambler.

I can go to a Casino and play the slots for a bit. I especially like strolling around on the floor and watching others play card games or other casino games because it’s something I don’t have the ability to do well. It’s truly amazing how well people know the game of blackjack and others like it.

I don’t do poker nights. I’ve gotten completely out of fantasy sports and I rarely, if ever, bet.

There’s no real reason behind all of this, but I’m just not a gambler. The most I do is the occasional lottery ticket and that is done not as a gamble, but because I am a massive daydreamer.

But on a recent trip to the Jersey Shore, I had planned to go to Atlantic City for a photo walk. Well, with weather a little iffy, the walk leader moved the walk to the following day. The problem there? It’s a one day worldwide photo walk event, the weather wasn’t that bad (it stopped raining around 2 p.m., the walk was at 4), and I was sitting in the parking lot when the e-mail arrived.

Needless to say, I wasn’t happy.

However, I had already paid for parking and I was there, so I should do something, right? I decided to leave my camera behind and head to take a peek inside some casinos and then walk the boardwalk on my own. I went with the iPhone figuring I could get some images that way and just kind of do my thing.

Turns out it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

The casinos were rather entertaining. From the older ladies with the bright pink lipstick parked at the slots (or hovering around others to see when they’d leave a specific one), to the smoke wafting in certain parts, this was the kind of casino you see in the movies. I visited two that day – Resorts and Trump Taj Mahal.

I didn’t do much in regard to gambling. I played some slots and then hung out at one where my $20 lasted about an hour before I lost it all. In the end, it was worth the money because it entertained me for a while.

It seems like photography isn’t such a no-no inside the casinos anymore, either. I took a few snaps with my phone, but I saw somebody else with a DSLR who was snapping photos with a flash and all. I thought that was interesting.

After spending a bit of time in the casinos, I took to the boardwalk. I snapped a bunch of photos on this drizzly fall day. There were still plenty of people on the boardwalk that day, so I had the chance to do some people watching. A bunch of guys walked by discussing the night of gambking and debauchery they had planned. People were being pushed around in covered carts. Vendors were trying to get people to come in and spend money.

Basically, just what you would think about a boardwalk.

I strolled a good portion of it that day, and I saw some of the closed casinos. As a photographer, I’d love to get into one of those and take photos. But from the outside, even, it’s sad to see anything close, especially a place that generates that kind of revenue and employs so many people.

Going in and out of the shops or just peeking at things was enjoyable, too. So many different types of people were there. The beach is easily accessed, too. I

I also spent some time at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, but I’m going to save that post for a different day.

In the end, I did my own photo walk, albeit with the iPhone. I had the chance to see many different aspects of that area of Atlantic City, as well as a couple other areas I drove around before and after being at the boardwalk. I’d go back again to explore, but definitely on a day with more people and more sun

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