This is a syndicated blog post from Format magazine. Originally done by Jill Blackmore Evans. Photos by David Egan.
Far from Las Vegas, David Egan’s night photography documents Nevada’s roadside motels and gas stations.
Photographer David Egan captures the neon glow of Nevada at night in his series I always hoped for better. “Journeying throughout the entire state of Nevada allows me a level of satisfaction that I rarely achieve,” Egan says of the project, which he says was inspired by a “fascination with elements of the past.”
The series definitely feels as if it was shot in a different time. From old-fashioned hotel rooms bathed in pink light, to classic motel signs and lonely lamps illuminating quiet gas stations, Egan’s night photography documents a Nevada that feels worlds away from Las Vegas.
Egan’s Nevada has all the Americana charms of Vegas, but none of the glamor. These photos record a landscape that feels like it was left behind sometime in the 70s. (In one of the strangest images, an otherwise blank building displays a sign reading “Welcome Back.”) Despite being shot entirely at night, some photos in the series are as bright as day, with neon signs and harsh streetlights creating a perpetual blue-and-orange twilight.
See more of David Egan’s work at his online portfolio.
