Though I have earlier digital images and captures from the 1990s, probably floating around on a CD or DVD, this one was an improvisation and is on my minnie JBOD farm beneath my desk.
It's from a Nikon Coolpix 775 with all of 2 mp, jpegs, and a 38-115 equivalent lens, not wide enough for me. Memory cards were about $100 for 128MB at Costco back then...
I was driving on a warm summer evening, 5 o'clock somewhere, middle of July 2002... I knew about the Longbranch Saloon in Nevada. It always appeared closed when I would be passing through, usually earlier in the day and heading to somewhere else in the Great Basin.
The Longbranch Saloon was in Luna, Nevada, along US 95, the main western Nevada north-south highway and about half-way between Reno and Las Vegas. The front door sat about 5-6 feet from the curve of the busy highway. I think I was heading home from Arizona and Las Vegas after shooting an assignment for a magazine that grew too fast and pulled the plug the next year. That would lead to another opportunity and subject for another story.
This drive-by would be different and it was open! I stopped across the highway and grabbed the least intimidating camera I had, the Coolpix 775 and not having a wide angle lens, did what I could to record several beats of the clock, one frame at a time. In the photo are three characters who have since departed the earth :-(, bartender and owner Dick Pegg, USN, Retired, is on the right, with two of his patrons, Bonnie Sichra of Mina and David Hasley of nearby Mina for their afternoon cocktails. The photo would later be a winner in Nevada Magazine.
I later brought back photos for the three after the photograph graced the pages of Nevada and all were tickled to have graced the pages. The following year, I photograph The Long Branch Saloon and Dick Pegg and both Bonnie and David for America 24/7 and it was further imortalized on the pages of the Nevada volume. Later, I heard from the woman's daughter that she had died and if I could send along a photo of her mother who cherished this photo which I gladly did.
In many ways, this little digital camera became the "Polaroid" and visual note-taking device of the new century.
So despite newer, better, more, etc., the best camera is the one you have with you and it will capture the moment if you will simply be creative and just use it.
