I recently took a trip through Nevada to travel to my home town of Washoe Valley, in between Carson City and Reno, for Christmas. To get there from Las Vegas it is pretty much a 500 mile straight shot up the Highway 95. This road can have a lot of side attractions that unfortunately many will not be able to bring to you in this post. Its far more to shoot in one quick trip.

I left on a friday morning at about 5:30am. Since my car didn’t have headlights at the time I wanted to leave early so I would arrive at my destination with light still available and still be able to shoot a little bit. This fist photo was shot at about 6:30am from the road while I was moving, I just pointed the camera out the window and this is what I got.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Our next stop takes us to a spot just south of Tonapah. This place was an entire abandoned community, including a gas station! There is a panoramic photo I am working on from this location as well. Anyways, this was the only photo that i converted into black and white. For some reason, to me, the message seams much louder and clearer in black and white. It has an almost post apocalyptic feel to it.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100

I knew when I hit Tonapah I wanted to get a couple photos of the Mizpah Hotel. Known for being a haunted house and in general, plain creepy. I really wanted to shoot the interior since in looked like it was still furnished and ad been sitting for 50 years. Maybe people are too afraid to clean it out, or maybe they are keeping it like that for the nostalgic feeling. I was lucky enough to photograph two haunted houses this trip. The old brick makes the sides of the building look like an old prison. It has a menacing demeanor about itself. The photos are desaturated slightly and shot with the sun directly behind the building. Don’t take my word for it though. Check it out for yourself.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/350)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 12 mm
ISO Speed: 100

If you are familiar with the highway then you know it runs directly through the largest military ammunitions depot in the country, possibly the world. This place is called Hawethorne. I actually wanted to shoot some photos of the town but there was so much heavy fog I could barley see 20 feet in front of me. This made for some dangerous driving and poor photographs, so I kept trucking on.

Just a few miles north of Hawthorne is a small community and beautiful lake called Walker. The dense for was still lurking around but was more off into the distance now. While driving I came across a boat landing that caught my eye and I instantly knew I wanted to take photos of it, I drove done the little road to a sign which told me that there were explosive devises all along the south shore and that the beach was closed. Bummer. I really wanted to take a picture of my RX-8 on the dock with the fog rolling in, but I couldn’t. This was the best I could do, and still an amazing image if you ask me.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 12 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Heading even deeper north you will come across a town called Yerington, a small community about an hour outside the states Capitol. As far as the excitement level going on in this town, its become virtually nill. At the outskirts of the town was something awesome I had came across. Ok, so its really been there for a long time, this was just the first time I could photograph it. I’m also glad I waited this long, the snow really helps with the atmosphere and feel. Here is the abandoned Yerington Drive-In Theater.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Once I got t the capitol Carson City I shot the old Stewart Indian Reservations with Skeever. It was so cold when we were shooting. It was about 13 degrees and slightly snowing. I couldn’t stay long since I had been ruined by the Las Vegas weather. Here is my only usable photo from that session.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 28
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100

The view from my moms house is quite epic. In fact she has one of the best views in the world in my opinion. The mountain is the slide side of Mount Rose, Lake Tahoe.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Also not far from my moms house is Washoe Lake. In fact its practically in her back yard.  This next photo is another one of my self portraits. It was shot at the boat dock by the beach. I might make a new post of all my pictures from Washoe Lake.

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 12 mm
ISO Speed: 100

These last two photos are of the haunted Bowers Mansion. Growing up I always loved seeing this place, and to capture it with a few feet of fresh snow in front of it made it instantly one of my favorite pictures I have shot yet. The second photo just had my RX-8 in front of it from a different angle. I hope you enjoy!

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 12 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 12 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Thank you for viewing my post. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did shooting it. Check back often for updates and much more photos.

- Travis Sackett