In last week’s Style Issue, Jonah Lehrer wrote about the casino designer Roger Thomas, who has given lavish makeovers to the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the Wynn Resorts. We sent Jeff Minton to photograph Thomas amid his work in his slot-machine room at the Wynn Las Vegas. While scouting, Minton collected dozens of shots of the casino’s baroque interior, which he put together into this video.
Minton had wanted to shoot architectural details inside the casino, he told me, but a publicist stopped him, citing security risks and privacy for the guests. Minton then looked at the ground, defeated, when he realized that if he shot straight down or up he would avoid those two problems.The publicist agreed, and Minton focussed on the carpets and ceiling treatments. “I did the whole thing in an hour as we walked,” Minton told me. “The publicist thought I was crazy. We would walk a hundred feet, shoot a picture of the floor, then lie down in the middle of the casino and shoot up at the ceiling.”
