What got you into lasers?

[lasermaster1977]

I can tell you that if you google image search for "dreamscape," a lot of weird stuff shows up, but none of it relates to what we're talking about!!

So true, but if you google Paul Earls you will get his photo, LinkedIn hits and early videos of his artsy approach to lasers and music, original music. Dreamscape only toured museums to my knowledge and was sponsored La Roche Laboratories and supported by Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. I'll scan some stuff later today.

Also found a 4 color printed flyer and newspaper clippings for "Laser World" I'll scan and post, yet another company touring state fairs with inflatable domes in the early '80s.

[dsli_jon]

..Yep, just like the title-sayeth.. First, it was the Dec. 66' Nat Geo on Lasers - seeing that Dr. Whoever he was, with that 'mini Ruby in a 'Buck Rogers'-style ray-gun', popping a balloon - inside a balloon - OooOOOoooo.. ..That issue lit the laser-fuse, but.... It was the Mar. '84 Nat Geo - and... *this image* http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...9&d=1199508062 ..in-particular, that cemented the death-spiral.. Then of course, seeing Laserium, was like Oh.. My.. G O_O D...

..But, it wasn't till ~1990 that, whilst working at Kodak as an illustrator / graphic-designer, that I got some 'hands-on', finally, and yup.. First 'owned laser' was a glorious HeNe... and then came the 'MWK-turned 60x'.. ..And later, a year + working for 'Stone Mountain Lasers', at a large-venue install in NY, I finally got hands-on experience with the 'big-guns'.. 171s and I-400s, oh yeah, baby.. And *pouring* over every-inch of the LaserMedia projector, and 'how it was all done'.. The rest, as they say 'is history'..

..But, ya.. It really-is all Pat's fault.. ..Especially once I first laid-eyes on the 'entertainment-KTPs', OMWow.. the first one I ever saw was the 'LFI I-2000', and it blew my mind (..even though the I-2000s were a *shadow* of the system's Pat designed / built (the 'CobraRay', etc..) *Those* were and are the best KTP systems made, imo.. Anyhoo.. 'oh this mortal-coil'..

It is indeed a small world. I too saw Laserium at...

..seeing several references to this in yer posts.. We should 'talk'.. ie:...

...and of course my Apple IIe automated computer graphics system and console...

..Got Choreographics? ...Let's chat sometime..

Power to The Photon-People..
j

[carlos3621]

for me, it was a few things:

Mobolazer 1 watt argons, inside local night clubs,
a 5mw red hene I saw ,I don't remember where,
and MWK lasers, where I went and saw high powered multi-line white light lasers at their open house, with tunable prism....

since then, its been draining on my bank acct....

still don't regret it though, as there is nothing that comes close to laser light, even side by side with moving heads or LED walls,,, way different effect!

[MountainGoat]

5th grade. Local science museum had an outreach program and someone came to our elementary school with a tiny HeNe laser and light bulbs to teach us about light. I was hooked.

I asked for a laser that Christmas and my father replied "why do you want that? What are you going to do with one of those?"

So much for supporting and inspiring curiosity.

[Laser57]

I asked for a laser that Christmas and my father replied "why do you want that? What are you going to do with one of those?"

Did he add "you'll shoot yourself in the eye with it"?

[MountainGoat]

Ha! That is hilarious!

<singing> "You'll shoot your eye out. You'll shot your eye out... Hahaha."

[JRGixxerfreaK1]

Really really embarrassed but this was when I was 7 Years Old :P

Its wrong in many ways I know!

[Eidetic]

Really really embarrassed but this was when I was 7 Years Old :P

Its wrong in many ways I know!

Very cool for 7!!!

[MountainGoat]

I love the "20mw!" callout, very cute.

Not knowing your age, roughly what year was this?

[Allensmusic]

I am gonna write a book here. This is my first post on this forum, and i cant think of a more appropriate place.
My love for lasers developed before I had even heard of lasers, much less saw one. I am now 50 years old, and I was maybe ten years old when I first developed an interest. I was in a geeky age where I was playing with flashlights and mirrors, bouncing the light around. this is back in the 1970's, I was living in rural iowa. I was lucky to get a cheap two d cell flashlight with a pair of "D" cell eveready batteries.
anyways, at some point I wanted to make the beam brighter. I came up with this crazy idea of bouncing the light between two mirrors to gain intensity. I got a one way mirror and a regular mirror and experimented. obviously this got me know where at all.
a few years later I read about lasers, and how they operated. I learned my biggest problem was the wavelength.
a few years after that the movie "Real genuis" came out, and I learned even more. I saw my first laser in the late 80's at a rock concert.
I am also a mobile DJ and I got a few 5mw lasers ten or fifteen years ago, and was really disappointment.
Last year I purchased my first real laser, a x-laser mobile beat 450mw RGB animation laser. shortly after that i purchased a x-laser x-beam 1watt RGB. I use pangolin and an FB3 to control them. My goal this winter is to build a 3-5 watt RGB laser.This will only happen with a lot of help from this forum, so expect to see more posts from me in the near future.