Lucas Oil Modifieds and Spears SRL Southwest Tour
Returning to the Bullring for the first time this season I wasn’t remotely aware that I would be in for a long night at the track as the start of the Spears SRL Southwest Tour “Blackjack 121″ didn’t get a green flag until close to midnight.
Link to Photo Gallery
8 minutes of 2012
The end of 2011 and I am looking forward to the new year.
Chasing Light – What wakes you up at 2 am?
Returning to the comfort of my bed at 1 a.m. following an evening of chasing light, I was rattled out of bed with the sound of thunder at 2:00 a.m. I looked through the blinds and saw a bright flash and it was on; grab the photo pack and head out the door to chase the storm around the valley. As I rolled out the garage door I noticed the storm was right on top of us in North Vegas so I had to move quickly to get into position. There is usually no time to waste when shooting lightning because one moment it’s there, and the next gone. With some luck, anticipation, and a little experience I should be able to find a spot where I don’t get cooked by a lethal dose of death from above.
I drove out to the Cannery Hotel and Casino and parked. While getting the gear set up lightning crashed down about two blocks away that sounded like a gunshot had gone off; I was still too close. I could hear buzzing on my radio antenna like electricity flowing through the high voltage power lines down in Jean so I knew it was sketchy but I operate quite comfortably in the sketchy zone. I snapped a couple of shots and headed for the outskirts of town.
Arriving at my next location at Apex and Nellis Dunes I set up and again I could hear the buzzing coming from my antenna on my truck. Oh, yeah it was sketchy and the storm was moving fast across the valley as I could see the sheet of rain coming across the valley. At one point I could not see The Las Vegas Strip. I quickly set up and snapped a few more shots when an extremely large bolt of lightning hit the runway at the Nellis Air Force Base. I could see the little landing light explode and glow orange. This was quite the storm yes but unfortunately the shot was out of frame. I did manage to capture a frame with a bolt blasting away at something on Frenchman Mountain adjacent to the base.
With the sheet of rain approaching and the lightning moving North across the Valley it was time to move again. I drove down to the Love’s Truck Stop and set up under the canopy. I did not anticipate so many truckers stopped at Loves even with the power being out, the parking lot was full.
I waited out the deluge of rain under the Loves canopy and then moved back towards Apex to get behind the storm. The rain was coming down so heavily I could not see the road with full wipers and driving at 25 m.p.h. I was amazed at the power and intensity of this storm.
With the rain passing I drove back to Nellis Dunes and shot there the rest of the morning from a safe distance.
Here are the rest of the images I shot that evening.
Chasing Light – Lightning in Nevada
Cruising facebook I had read a post that there was lightning in Nevada, oh snap in Sandy Valley; of course while I was away in Anaheim right? This storm was pretty massive I guess as the evening news in Anaheim was reporting power outages and flooding in So. Cal. Impressive. I was not impressed with the fact that I was away at a Yankees game while this was all going on but didn’t lose a bit of sleep over it; the game was awesome regardless of the Yankees failure to show up to the game and PLAY.
While traveling back home I ran across some lightning next to the airport and only heard the thunder as an airplane was taking off. I stopped and camped out for a moment waiting for the next plane to take off so I might catch a little lightning action vs. airplane. Apparently, the airport had already realized the storm was knocking on their door and delayed all the flights. What? didn’t they know I was waiting with camera in hand for the next strike? The Storm passed, however, looking around it appeared like it was sticking around in Nevada for a while.
I quickly drove home and grabbed a couple cameras, tripods, and took off into the open desert. Here are a few shots from that evening.
Step Into The Light
A photo is almost always the first element of an ad, brochure, magazine cover or Web page that registers with the viewer. It is the handshake, the first impression. It is what cuts through the visual clutter and captures attention. It is the difference between reaching a target audience or failing to reach it.
Kodachrome
Here is a little something I shot over a few weekends at one of my favorite places to go to “get away.” Kodachrome is a wonderful place to visit and offers a great place for some solitude from the daily pressures of cubicle/office life just a few minutes drive from the Las Vegas Valley; not to mention it’s a great place for the outdoor photo enthusiast.
Time Lapse: Apex
This time lapse was created with 320 stills and produced with iMovie.
ISO 400, 1/400th, F/16, 10 seconds between shots.
Enjoy!
Meetups: Vegas Vision Studio Lighting Workshops
I recently attended a lightning workshop hosted by Vegas Vision Studio. Although I was a bit reluctant to go to the workshop I painfully decided to take a step outside my comfort zone and take a drive to the studio.
Arriving at the studio I met professional photographer Bobby Deal who also owns the studio. Bobby was laid back and my first impression of Bobby was he wasn’t an arrogant shithead. After doing a meet and greet with the other photogs we jumped right into the workshop. I unzipped the camera bag, grabbed the Canon and realized that I had forgot my batteries on my desk at home. Marshall, a staffer at the studio loaned me his Nikon D700 and I was back in business. Blasphemy you say, however, the ergonomics of the Nikon kicked ass. It was a bit challenging trying to get the Canon memory out of my hands and fingers which also affected my shooting a bit, but I managed to get through it and the model, staff, and other photogs were very patient with my Canon hands.
The topic of the workshop was Pinups Classic vs Modern. Bobby jumped right in and started talking about the differences of Classic and Modern Pinups. We followed up the discussion with some shooting. If you haven’t had the opportunity to shoot in a studio I highly recommend Vegas Vision Studio. The atmosphere was excellent and worth the price of admission and I am looking forward to spending more time at the studio. The studio is top notch and the crew is laid back, funny, knowledgeable, and professional. Because of this experience, I think I just became a studio junkie jonesing for another fix of studio lighting taking me further outside of that comfort zone.
Here are a few of my shots from the workshop as a little video clip with audio:
Chasing Light
Las Vegas had an interesting monsoon season.
What monsoon season?
Lightning this year was not like previous years as most of the weather was setup for activity to the east of Vegas. Thinking I was going to be skunked this year, I was rewarded in early October with a storm that passed through the valley. It would be the last lightning producing storm of the 2010 season.
Doubleheader Weekend at the Bullring
Click on image to take you to the Doubleheader Weekend at the Bullring gallery.
Las Vegas 2010
Spending the 2009 monsoon season taking photographs and dodging lightning bolts sounds dangerous to some, however, over the past couple of years I have spent my time photographing lightning around Nevada. In 2009, I decided to “stay close to home” and shoot any lightning that rolled into the Las Vegas Valley. The result of hanging around sin city proved to be fruitful with many spectacular shots of bolts crashing upon the Las Vegas Valley. I compiled 12 of the best shots and created a 2010 calendar. With that being said, I am currently working on the next one….