Southern Nevada

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Mike B in OKlahoma
Posts: 1048
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:32 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Southern Nevada

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

I returned from a trip that included shooting in Southern Nevada and in the Grand Canyon. Although the Grand Canyon was spectacular, I didn't get many good photos--Haze was hideous always, and sunrise and sunset were completely socked in by clouds 3 of the 4 times I saw it! :-( On the other hand, in Nevada I got some photos I was very pleased with.

The wind and especially water have produced some amazing eroded rocks in the desert. This one reminded me of a submarine. The US Navy considers most submarines as boats rather than ships, else I'd have to make a joke about "Ship of the Desert" (sorry Ken!).

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These stone cabins look like something from the pre-Columbian era, or at least the Spanish colonial era, but they were actually built by WPA workers in the 1930s! They're very well-integrated into their spectacular environment.

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I acquired a fascination for curving highway shots taken in interesting surroundings during this trip. This one was probably my best, taken with my 16-35mm lens zoomed as wide as it would go. I also took several shots at a more sane focal length for stitching later. But the wide-angle effect gives this one a sort of cool factor. This one was cropped heavily to get the ratio, and contrast was enhanced a lot to punch up the boring sky.

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Nellis Air Force Base is in this area, and the US Air Force is constantly holding exercises. When I saw this bird of prey perched on a rock with a jet contrail behind him, I envisioned a shot showing two mighty predators of the air, but viewing the shot at 100% indicates it is "just" a peaceful airliner zipping through the sky. This is a merging of two shots for DOF reasons, but it does reflect faithfully what I saw.

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I did get some decent closeups of petroglyphs (of which there are lots in the area and I took a fair number of lizard shots, though I seemed to be under a curse on my lizard shots, there were problems with nearly all of them this trip!
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

Ken Ramos
Posts: 7208
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:12 pm
Location: lat=35.4005&lon=-81.9841

Post by Ken Ramos »

I have often wondered why, Mike, that the US Navy referes to submarines as "boats." I am quite sure that there is a really good reason for the nomenclature now being used, which brings to mind an old saying I have heard oh so often, "there is my way, your way, and the NAVYS way." You can guess who's way wins out. :lol: Beautiful shots here Mike. I have spent quite a large amount of time in Nevada, at NAS Fallon, where my old squadron (VF-51, the Screaming Eagles) would go for bombing excercises/training. We flew F-4 Phantoms back then and it was often said that the F-4 is proof, that if you put J79 engines on a rock, it will fly! :lol: The state of Nevada is quite beautiful I found out though and interesting things just seem to pop up out of nowhere at times. :D

beetleman
Posts: 3578
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Southern New Hampshire USA

Post by beetleman »

beautiful pictures Mike.....great work. This country is so beautiful...I hope I can get to see some of it before I pass on. I have never been out west at all :cry: I love the highway shot...has that zoom-zoom feeling :wink:
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

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