Tiffany Brown Photojournalist

20081005 off-road

last weekend i tagged along with my friend michael alden’s off-road race team as he and robby woolworth drove his ’94 F-150 to a second-place finish in the stock full class of the bilek racing silver state 300.

the race started from alamo, nevada, and traversed 300 miles of desert terrain through pahroc summit, the dalamar valley, past the cathedral gorge area, pioche, caliente and ending just outside of mesquite, about an hour northeast of las vegas under the darkness of night.

of the 173 rigs that started the race only 114 finished and many of those who couldn’t complete the race spent the night in the mountains with their broken vehicles – the later detail i thought particularly intriguing and hard core.

i grew up sailing with my dad and he had a ratty old t-shirt that said “sailing is like standing in an ice cold shower tearing up $100 bills.” i think off-road racing might be like standing in a silty dust storm doing the same. i mean, best i can gather from michael and last saturday, this sport is about spending money and fuel, fixing the truck, racing once in awhile (in-between fixing the truck), logistics and chase rigs, and dust …. and it trashes the desert and atmosphere in the process. but aside from the later, it was pretty damn fun and mike’s team was pro. i also think good company is key. ok, there’s the scenery and that “rrrrummpph rrrumppphhh” that’s awesome too.

congrats again mike and team! off-road racing kicks the ass out of nascar and the drag strip. think i’ll go ride my bicycle now.

20081003 rehab in vegas

yes, it’s rehab, but not lindsay and britney’s. this is the new vegas. the original daytime nightclub that redefined the vegas scene in summer months. it’s forever spring break for big kids in 110+ degrees in the desert and everyone is buff, beautiful and next to naked, with heels.

the hard rock hotel’s sunday pool party started five years ago as an event for locals who work in the “industry” (as it is referred to here, which means jobs in entertainment and nightclubs or most tourist-catering work). industry nights are sunday and monday since people work all weekend.

rehab exploded and now most every major hotel/casino up and down the strip has created their own version on other days of the week, such as the palms’ “ditch fridays.” these pool parties have become the new daytime nightclubs complete with everything that normally goes on under the cover of night when liquor flows.

i have wanted to do a story on the pool-party phenomenon since i moved to sin city two summers ago. rehab is so uniquely las vegas and has all of the indulgence, debauchery and sex-driven aspects of the city that i am committed to exploring photojournalistically during my chapter here…..so, this summer, with the support of my editor and working with sun reporter joe brown (no relation), i spent a handful of sundays lathered in sunscreen, donning a trucker’s hat with cameras in the jungle of summer love that is rehab.

some of my favorite stills are below. there is also a story by joe and a mixed media video that brings (hopefully) the craziness to life through still pictures, audio and video. as always with my baby steps into multimedia, i appreciate any feedback.

welcome to vegaslandia….. (exit real world)

THE MULTIMEDIA VIDEO:

20080929 circo atayde

i so thoroughly enjoyed my time visiting with the latino circus artists of circo atayde usa recently. i visited them a number of times, to photograph different people at various times before and during the shows. it was easy to motivate to make the journey to the opposite side of the valley over and again – to one of the less glittery areas of town, to make pictures and speak combinations of english and spanish, all of us practicing the other’s language.

i have friends in various cirque du soleil shows here in vegas and yet I found that despite the vast difference in caliber of artists, I have an equal respect and admiration for these performers. i think it is the heart i saw them put into their acts – which paled in comparison to the highly polished strip shows, but which they take such pride in, that really moved me. it wasn’t the show i found as interesting to photograph as the individuals in their element just outside of the big tent, and the periphery of the traveling circus in general.

reporter joe brown wrote a great story that sums up the circus of mexican heritage.

ps….i need a slideshow feature on this blog. i’m gonna look into that…

20080927 chicks with guns

my two favorite frames – that didn’t make the paper – from an assignment about a gun seminar for female police officers….. the story is a good read by sun reporter, abigail goldman.

las vegas metro police department is the only law enforcement agency in the country, other the instructor’s own department in austin, texas, that’s allowed the ladies only seminar.

20080921 sand dunes

this photo blog is called ‘exit real world,’ but over the last six months it would be more appropriately named ‘enter my world.’ its become where i share pictures from my life, my friends and adventures, and now and again out-takes from work.

these posts are mostly pictures that would sit on hard drives and never be seen otherwise, except by me (mostly) and friends and family when i get around to sending them to them (read: i get a little behind on this)

it has been rewarding, and a little nerve-wracking, to put images from my life, and therefore myself, out into the world. these * off * times are when i relax and simply shoot because i am so compelled to. sometimes they are just straight-forward pictures and other times where i try to wriggle out of the ruts that i find my shooting in from time to time.

i recently revisited donna ferrato’s ‘love and lust.’ in her intro essay she writes a line about the camera only being an extension of the photographer. that idea connects with the passion and adoration i have had for capturing life’s moments of late. i’ll leave it at that.

sharing is caring….if i may continue….

i’ve been wanting to check out the sand dunes outside of vegas for some time. friday afternoon my friend michael and i went out to the apex sand dunes (northeast of town near nellis air force base) in his off-road truck for my first glimpse…

mike and rob, this first one is for you.

and a few others….

20080914 portrait of the moment

my friend and fellow photog, brian is moving apartments tomorrow, and planning to cut his hair short again ….. snapped this one frame before he heard the shutter, looked up and the moment was gone.

20080910 strip lovin'

an odd Vegas couple? this is what it would look like if Caesars Palace and New York New York hooked up.

20080908 all the gold...

there is nothing like the smell of rain in the desert. leaning over the edge of the parking garage at red rock resort and casino gulping up wiffs of the fresh air, i made up stories about the two people there just before me, and what they drank in those glasses. did they toast to anything? rain? rainbows? then i watched until the rainbow dissolved and turned and walked in to my assignment…

20080907 ivan

in line to be a fourth generation clown, little ivan was a treasure to meet last night while working on an upcoming feature story for the paper – as well as being very patient with my still subpar spanish.

more on the story in a week or so…

20080905 summit grove

the band and the story.

20080904 dnc redux

an outtake from last thursday night at a gathering in north las vegas to watch sen. obama’s acceptance speech at the democratic national convention…

20080901 in desert, do not fall on cactus...

…..lesson #237 of living in the desert.

hiking in red rock canyon with my friends, michael, anja and terryl on this labor day….anja was the unlucky victim when she took a walking tumble as we did some further exploring after reaching the end of our trail. some laughs were had and she was a really good sport about it……but then while trying to help i knelt down and backed up into the same damn cactus.

lesson #238 of living in the desert: when helping friend with patch of cactus spines stuck in their ass, MOVE FAR AWAY from culprit cactus.

….and a few other quick snaps from the day

so we had reached the trail’s end but saw caves up the valley below a rim rock band. curious, of course, we did a little wanna-be leave-no-trace trailblazing to get there – it’s the desert, this terrain crumbles if you look at it wrong.

upon reaching the caves, i was stunned to turn and look out over the valley and the far off ridge lines to see the las vegas strip far off in the distance! it was one of the most unique perspectives of the las vegas strip i have seen. no picture is posted here for now; it was harsh mid-day sun. but i’m going back sometime soon to make the picture at sunset as the lights of vegas come on in the city and go down in the wilderness. check back ;-)

this is michael scrambling his way down from the cave jaunt. it was * a bit * trickier, and more vertical than it looks. more laughs were had….

and like any good full day of non-laboring and hiking, the day closed with yummy food and drinks, hot tubbing….and continuing to remove cactus spines from poor anja.