All Hail Atari

Reprinted from thisdayintechhistory.com

by Marcel Brown

June 27, 1972 - The iconic video game company, Atari, is founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Their first video game, Pong, was the first commercially successful video game and led to the start of the video game industry. In 1977, Atari’s Video Computer System (known as the VCS and later the Atari 2600) popularized the home video game market. Before the video game crash of 1983, Atari was the fastest growing company in the history of the United States at the time, and the brand was synonymous with video games.

All those who have enjoyed video games, whether we started playing in the 70’s, 80’s, or just in the last few years, should take a moment to reflect on the company that single-handedly spawned the video game industries we so cherish. I propose that the best way to do that is to … well … stop what you’re doing and play a video game right now!

The cliffs at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

The cliffs at Playa Vista in LA

Images from my visit in LA last week.

I spent last week in LA, my home town. I've lived in the SF Bay Area for over 30 years, so I find myself seeing LA with fresh eyes every time I return there. And to a photographer, fresh eyes results in fresh subjects and material. Take a look at some work from last week.

Images from a trip to Utah.

Images from my recent trip to Utah.

A highly regarded Silicon Valley figure, Bill Campbell, passed away yesterday April 18, 2016. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet and photograph him in 1989 while shooting a series of portraits at Claris, the software company owned by Apple.

Apple's website homepage today features a photo of Bill, and a short tribute to him. The Apple creatives I worked with back then are online today with their remembrances and high praise.

Bill Campbell on the Apple.com homepage. April 19, 2016. Image ©Apple, Inc.

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