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Anyone
who has attended a building implosion knows the "F"
words, "fun" and "frustration". And attending
the October 23, 2001 implosion of the Desert Inn - Augusta
Tower in Las Vegas was no exception.
My adventure
began with a series of successes, as I was able to book a
cheap flight and find a hotel room at the New Frontier, located
directly across the street from the Desert Inn (ah, wonders
of the Internet). The hotel assured me I would get a $59/night
room with a view of the blast. What a deal! This was "fun"!
Arriving early the day before the blast, I checked in at the
registration desk only to be told that if I still wanted a
room with a view, it would cost me an additional $30 "surcharge".
Frustration. Nevertheless, the "fun" re-emerged
when I arrived in my room to find myself on the fifth floor
looking directly across the street at the implosion site.
What a close up view! I estimated only about 300 feet separated
me from the tower.
The Desert
Inn appeared frustratingly bare. The contractors had gutted
it, leaving only a shell. All of the outer and inner walls
were gone; only the flooring and support pillars remained.
You could see completely through it. On the plus side, the
view was unbelievable! I could easily see the charged support
pillars on several floors wrapped in black protective cloth.
The windows
in my room slid open only about six inches. (They probably
designed the windows this way to prevent casino "losers"
from jumping out.) However, that was enough room to extend
my lens out the window. In setting up my new camera (a Nikon
N80 purchased for the sole purpose of photographing implosions),
I discovered that my lens, a 70-300 zoom, had too much magnification
for the close distance. I could only get a portion of the
entire building in my field of view. Extreme frustration!
Could I ever have imagined being "too close" to
an implosion?
I decided
I needed a back-up plan. (Every good implosion watcher needs
a back up plan or two.) I took a quick walk around town and
found a spot about two blocks away that provided a distant,
but perfect view of the entire structure. Now I had a dilemma.
Do I go with the hotel room shot (closer than I may ever get
to an implosion), or go with the "perfect picture spot"
two blocks away? (Now my frustration was coupled with confusion).
I decided
to go with the hotel room view, partly because I was still
frustrated over having to pay $30 extra for the room, and
partly because I could not get over how close I was to the
blast site.
My final
frustration came later that night when I realized that the
many floodlights focused on the backside of the building for
the media photographers, and the lighting from my street-side
view was totally inadequate. (Oh, did I forget to mention
they scheduled the blast for 2:00 in the morning?) I quickly
went shopping for the highest speed film I could find, luckily
locating some 1600 ASA Fuji. Where but in Las Vegas could
one find a store open at midnight that sells, uh… film?
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