Las Vegas Weekly

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Las Vegas is one of the most photographed cities in the world. Images pumped out by marketing machines and tourists blend together as one sweeping collection of lights and ostentatious decor.

But a suite of images by Charles Morgan at RTZvegas shows an intimate Las Vegas of yesteryear, one with visual breathing room, where each hotel and marquee stood sculptural in the open desert sky.

Shot at street-level angles (taken about 16 years ago), hotels such as the Dunes, Sands and Stardust become individual monuments. They stir an excitement while paying homage to the architecture in an artistic and contemplative way. The printmaking process—xerox transfers on paper—enhances the absence of today’s slick digital photography, and the compositions tug at the heartstrings while highlighting exemplary design from another time.