WISH YOU WERE HERE:

After some fun with Elvis

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Leila Navidi

People take pictures to share a time or a place with friends and family. Leila Navidi enjoys making pictures of people recording those special moments, and asking them why then, why there, what does it mean to them? When they exchange snapshots, photographer and photographed share a memory from two perspectives. Wish you were here.

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Kristine Madsen, far left, takes a photo of her mother, Aileen Madsen, and sister Kathryn Larson in front of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Sept. 18, 2007.

“I won the Fat Elvis dance contest,” said Kristine, a web and graphic designer from Brookings, S.D., referring to Big Elvis, who performs up the Strip at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon. “Fat Elvis was playing and they had a dance contest. He picked three people out of the audience and I was one of them.

“And he says to dance and whoever looks like they’re having the most fun will win a prize. I spent a lot of energy on that. I wasn’t dancing traditionally. I had my arms and legs flailing and running around. I won a CD with some of his songs on it.

“So that was kind of cool. My Fat Elvis pictures are pretty good.” In her four-day trip Madsen took 400 to 500 photos. “Making something that you can feel, not just see, but you can feel. I think that’s the difference between a normal photograph and something that really catches you and moves you. There’s passion in it. It’s like painting.”