The second day we were in Vegas, we rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam. We stopped to have a look, we took about 37 steps, still about a hundred more until we could of been standing on the Dam... it starts raining. We get in the car and head deeper into Arizona, running from the rain in hopes of getting some dry photo time with Kellan Studios aka Ryan and Kelly Portnoy. And it wasn’t just the four of us, we also had the real pleasure of having Amy Martin part of our crew. Amy was part of the group throughout the three days and it was awesome to get to know her. Do yourself a favor and discover her work at amymartinphoto.com.



We suddenly decided on a location and skidded off the highway onto the shoulder, piled out and clambered over an embankment into wild, dry, silent desert. But no sand just stones, horrible to walk on especially for those that chose fashion over function, which was all of us. Well, Ryan and I have the clambering skills of an ibex so shoe choice held no weight on us.



I used the power of my cloven hoof to get to this dried up river bed. Everyone else was waiting for Ryan to get dressed: which would have been too short of a wait for me to explore BUT Ryan, 6’6” Ryan was changing his whole self inside a Dodge Charger. I had some time to kill. So, I went wandering and discovered this creepy gulch which I will affectionately dub: “Puma Pounces on Portnoy... Gulch”. If you look hard enough you’ll see the Puma or Cougar or large predatory cat on the right, mouth a gape, and fearless man Portnoy on the left, his face brave and confident, apparently unconcerned that the giant jurassic cat is about to gnaw his brave face off.




The vast desert rock garden.



It is good for us to remember that cringe you get when there’s a camera in your face. We felt goofy, out of place, like there were a million eyes wide eyed on us, a million minds thinking how nerdy we looked. But the encouragement, the comments, and the humor of Ryan and Kelly quickly made us comfortable. We each took turns in front and behind the camera. It was really a lot of fun. And we are so grateful for these friends, they have given us strength, given us guidance and very bestest of all... they’ve straight out loved us.














Ryan and Kelly were having a hard time getting all smoochy in front of us but I love their interaction with each other, they would get lost in being intimate then suddenly realize we were watching and get all giggly. I think its perfect, I think they’re beautiful.

The Lords of Leap. Ryan and Kelly told us they loved getting jumping shots because even if they’re cliche they keep doing them at weddings so that when they’re back at home editing thousands of images these shots come up and bring some perfectly timed laughs. Yes... we agree... suckers.

ok, ok... this next one is our all time FAVE...
... SHAZAM!

We had an awesome time shooting with them, so awesome that three hours flew by without us giving permission. We headed back to Vegas, our lungs filled with fresh air, our ears filled with nature’s calm and straight into ridiculous stand still traffic. We were stuck in line on the Hoover dam, we still hadn’t peered over it’s edge. I hopped out of the car, Ryan popped the trunk. Pulled out my camera bag as the car moved with traffic and weaved through the street to the edge of the dam wall. Right then, I got nauseous at the thought of dropping 3000 dollars of camera over the dam railing. Neck strap... check. Wrong lens... car is leaving... people... slow w a l k i n g t o u r i s t s... snap... snap... woops dropped something... where’s the car?... snap... snap... HOOOF IT! I zipped as I zagged, looked as I lunged over the dam curb, bobbed through dam traffic and threw the car door open, and sat down in a sweat. That was the Hoover dam for me. Can’t say I wish we would’ve stayed longer but I was the only person in that car who saw the incredible dam awesomeness. They looked at my dam photos in pure jealous fever. But, due to my dam adventure the photos were blurry... at least my camera didn’t somersault, knockety-knock down the dam... dam.



There are so many photos... we’ll get another post out of this trip yet.

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Tags: Lethbridge Photographers, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Ryan and Kelly Portnoy, Kellan Studios