Bingo

In 1981 my father started publishing the Bingo Today newspaper in Seattle. It was filled with photographs he took of bingo players and stories about the prizes they won. Advertising by local bingo halls paid the bills. My mom wrote the horoscopes. I was introduced to the world of bingo when I was eleven and my parents took me to a bingo session for kids. I won $300. Within a few days I bought the best BMX bike I could find, a red and blue Redline MXIII. It was my dream bike. I went to a custom shop and put it together piece by piece. Bingo seemed all right to me. In very little time it had bought me fortune and the envy of all my friends. When I got my driver’s license at sixteen, my dad gave me the job of delivering the Bingo Today to bingo halls and convenience stores all around Seattle. Ten years later I returned to Seattle to visit my parents for Christmas and decided to revisit the some of the bingo halls with my camera. The bingo hall managers and regulars greeted me warmly and I began photographing for this project. Over the next six or seven years I expanded the project and photographed in many other bingo halls around the United States.