Road through Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
It is easy to see why this stretch of road is used in many TV commercials – one of the more dramatic stretches of road anywhere.
Techatticup Mine
Inside one of the many buildings at the Techatticup Mine, South of Boulder, Nevada.
Yesterday we visited historic Techatticup Mine, near Boulder Nevada. I have visited this area in the past, but must say, Dean and has family have done a wonderful job restoring this historic place. There is so much old stuff to see, you could spend hours. This site has hosted countless music video shoots for the bands like The Killer’s, Beyonce and Luke Bryan, not to mention numerous movies. This time, for the first time, we did mine tour – definitely well worth the $12! Next time you are in Laughlin or Las Vegas looking for something to do, I would put a visit here high on the list!
Nevada Wildflower Report
Wildflowers, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
In general, I would say Southern Nevada is much greener and has more wildflowers then what we found in California. There aren’t the huge fields like us photographers like, but some very nice pockets here and there.
Valley of Fire State Park had the best, especially in some of the cooler, shady pockets – I found one particularly nice area in the back-country. In general, the brittlebush was the best, and blooming along the highway in spots. There was beaver-tail blooming a many places as well. In addition, I also found some desert gold, phacelia, rabbitbush and even two weakstem mariposa.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area also had a few blooms here and there. There were some nice bunches of desert sunflowers near the North end of the park. The best area was just passed Mile 38 where there was an abundance of blooming beavertail cactus on both sides of the road.
Valley of Fire
A place I call the Sherbert Hills, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
We spent the last few days camping and exploring around Valley of Fire. I remember first stumbling on this amazing geological feature many years ago while exploring Valley of Fire – I was so excited. I searched high and low on the internet, and at the time couldn’t find another image of this place, so I kinda feel like I discovered it even though I’m sure I didn’t.
So discoveries like this were part of my motivation for returning to VOF to look for more. We did a few long hikes into the back-country and found lots of cool things like animal bones, tracks and just cool remote land, but nothing that compares to this discovery at least photographically. Guess I’ll need to go back!
I say we camped in Valley of Fire, but it was actually full thanks to Spring Break, so we camped nearby in Echo Bay, part of Lake Mead Recreation Area – a place time has forgotten as it is almost a bit of a modern day ghost town. But, I have much faster internet on my phone out here 30 miles from the nearest business then I did right in Las Vegas! Go figure.
Here are lots more Valley of Fire Photos.
High Roller Wheel
The High Roller in Las Vegas. At 550 feet high (55 stories), is the largest observation wheel in the world.
Cue the Jimmy Fallon thank you note music: Thank you giant Ferris wheel in the sky for single-highhandedly now making most of my Las Vegas Strip skyline photos completely obsolete.
Actually I can’t complain – since the opening of City Center and the Cosmopolitan a number of years ago, the Strip skyline really hasn’t changed until now – that is a long time by Las Vegas standards!
This is part of a new development known as the LINQ District- pronounced link, that does a nice job of linking this wheel to the Strip with a number of restaurants and shops.
This wheel, at 550 feet high is the tallest in the world, taller then the one in London. It isn’t open yet, scheduled to begin operations at the end of March. To give you an idea as to the scale, each of the 28 cars will hold 40 people, and the ride will last about a half hour. I believe they said the ride will cost $25 per person during the day, and $35 at night.
When we were in Las Vegas for some assignment work at Red Rock last June, they were building a giant Ferris wheel down by the Luxor. Much too my surprise, that one was never finished, this is actually further North across from Caesars Palace.
LED Lights for Photography
Slot Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
I have had a number of people ask how I was lighting my night images like this statue, or this slot.
First, as a general technique, much like using camera flash – multiple light sources, off camera work best since you get shadows and depth. Second, in order to see the stars, you really need very little light on your foreground. If the foreground is too bright, then the shutter speed it too fast to really show most of the stars, so it really takes very little light.
So in my search for a LED panel, I had a few goals. Battery powered was a must, preferably rechargeable. I really wanted one that was dim-able so that I could control the intensity. I was hoping it would have gels, since most lights need to be warmed, and barn doors to help direct the light would be a big plus. Finally, I didn’t want to pay a fortune. Since I live in Alaska, I wouldn’t need them in the Summer – these will sit in our RV and only used for Winter travels.
What I ended up with was Yongnuo Professional LED Video Lightflash YN300 At $70, it was definitely inexpensive. At 2,200 lumen, it is very bright! In fact, I end up using it a the dimmest possible setting. It takes readily available Sony video camera rechargeable batteries – you can find third party batteries and chargers also at Amazon. A 5,800 mah battery lasts over 2 hours at the max power, and forever on the min power. It has attachable gels, barn-doors, and handle and even a remote control.
I’m sure the much more expensive lights are built more rugged, but this light has worked fine even after the tripod it was attached to blew over in the wind. So far, I would say for the price, it is a great value.
Now for additional lighting, after reading some positive reviews, I opted for this Coleman LED Lamp: It has 4 separate removable panels giving me up to 4 more separate lights. I like using it in the lantern mode for setup, then pull of individual panels for supplemental lighting. I do tape some warm gel material since they tend to be a bit cool for my taste.
The biggest drawback to the Coleman – even though the individual panels have a built in rechargeable batteries for when they are removed from the base – the base is powered through a bunch of D batteries. I do wish it had a rechargeable that could be plugged in. It isn’t dim-able either, so I vary the intensity my adjusting the distance. But, other then that, it has worked great, it gives me lots of flexibility giving me 5 total lights.
Sharp Memorial Hospital San Diego
This LED backlit image of San Diego is one of 19 in a newly remodeled section of Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego, California.
Last week we got a call from the folks at Sharp Hospital letting us know that our 19 large images were hanging up and looked great! They were really hoping we could see them and sign a plaque. We have images in other hospitals, including Veterans Hospitals in Alaska and Las Vegas, but have never seen the final result – so decided it was worth making the round trip to San Diego this past Friday to see the results – I am sure glad I did!
It was great to meet the contractor, and the key people involved in the project, including our main contact who had been so helpful during the whole process. But what was really rewarding was seeing the actual images on the walls. Not only seeing them, but hearing how hospital personnel who use this hallway to transfer patients to surgery will challenge the patients to try and identify the different San Diego attractions represented in the photos, giving the patient a much needed distraction to what is a stressful situation.
So much of my photography is a solitary endeavor, where I spend countless hours waiting for the perfect light, sometimes coming away with nothing. When capturing these San Diego images, little did I know how they would one day be used. To hear stories of my images having an impact on another persons life is incredibly satisfying.
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