Boarding Pass: LAS
Photo map of southern Nevada ghost towns. Click image for interactive map.
Las Vegas and I go a long way back. I’ve taken more weird trips there with friends than I can count. My first Christmas gift to Jay when we were dating was a pair of tickets to see Elton John at Caesar’s Palace, and we got married in the drive-thru of the Little White Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard the next year ($40 wedding, highly recommend).
In early 2021, I was on a kick of photographing abandoned places. When designing my next photo trip, my attention was possessed by the ghost towns of southern Nevada. It was perfect; easy access via Las Vegas, and multiple locations within driving distance. Vegas glitter with road trip grunge? Here for it. You know ya girl loves her contrast.
Traveling from the East Coast, our first day was just travel, dinner, and sleep. This is the trip where we developed our strategy of Time Zone Denial. Since we were only going to be there a couple of nights, we just stayed on EST. Early to bed, early to rise. Ideal for early morning shooting. At our 0400 shoot meeting upon awaking the first morning, we decided to defer Downtown Las Vegas until the following day. Instead, we struck out early for Rhyolite, near the California border.
The sun was high when we got to Rhyolite. My circular polarizer was about to earn its keep. Despite the harsh light, I was able to find angles to shoot backlit behind the crumbling abandoned structures of the town, as well as the Joshua trees that were scattered in between. The Goldwell Open Air Museum provided quirky subjects with an expansive backdrop, and I was able to translate some of these shots into beautiful day-for-night pieces in Darktable when I got home.
Ghosts of the Goldwell Open Air Museum, shot in full sun at midday, edited in Darktable.
Proximity to the border led to a lunch date in Death Valley. We grabbed pizza from the gas station in nearby Beatty, and rolled into the first picnic spot across the California border. That view would give the Stratosphere a run for its money. Heading back toward Las Vegas, we made a pit stop back in Beatty, and were greeted by several free-range burros who populate the town. They were quite accommodating models, and even let me scratch their ears. They were conveniently across the street from the Atomic Inn, another interesting photographic subject. Beatty didn’t draw us there, but it provided some fantastic shots. Never underestimate the next-door neighbor.
4 am, take two. Off to Fremont Street in the cold dark of morning to get some neon shots with fewer people around. No time was wasted; a quick dip into Dunkin’ for coffee and a brief thaw was the only break in shooting. Breakfast plans had been made for Peppermill, a classic Vegas restaurant that you have definitely seen in a movie sometime. As we drove south toward the Strip, things got interesting. Crazy statues of wild horses and fire-breathing dragons appeared on the roadside, along with funky restaurants and a straight-shot view of the sunrise. We would later learn that we were in the Las Vegas Arts District, and dinner plans materialized.
After a delicious breakfast interlude of French toast and tales of famous patrons from our fabulous server, we loaded back up and headed for the Valley of Fire. Beautiful landscapes and bighorn sheep ruled the sensor here. We then made our way to Henderson and Three Kids Mine, an abandoned manganese mine with a distant view of the Las Vegas skyline. $5 at the gas station next door buys you parking and a few tips for staying safe in the mine. This would be a perfect spot for a Thunderdome-themed shoot, for those who share my love of all things Auntie Entity and Master Blaster. The crumbling graffitied pits, including the infamous Wheel of Misfortune, make a devastating post apocalyptic backdrop.
Spinning the Wheel of Misfortune at Three Kids Mine, Henderson, Nevada.
All this was complete by about 1 pm (holla at an early start). To cap off our big day, we headed south to the Nelson Ghost Town. This was a more managed and curated experience, with a $10 fee to take photographs. After checking in at the office, we were turned loose to shoot crashed planes, Road Warrior-worthy vehicles, and abandoned structures. There were professional photographers there shooting with clients as well, but there were enough prime spots that we were able to maneuver around them with no problems.
Scrubbed up and starving, we made our way back to the Arts District for dinner at Able Baker Brewing. I am a nuclear nerd, so I was amped to eat at a joint named after the first two atomic bombs detonated at the Nevada Test Site. We enjoyed a great dinner in a funky space, and were excited to discover a part of Las Vegas that was new to us. I was glad that we kept our eyes peeled for more than just photos as we drove from downtown to breakfast that morning.
Whew. Yeah. That was a lot of ground to cover in just a couple of days. Logistics are crucial when driving long distances to multiple locations. In the American Southwest, the empty space can distort your perception of distance, making you think things are closer together than they are. A clear plan, a map, and realistic travel time estimates prevent frustration and optimize coverage. Show up prepared, and you won’t need luck to hit the jackpot.
