Nau speak: Vegas: Valley of Fire part 4

This will be the last in the series of Valley of Fire posts I'll be doing for now, so if you're sick of seeing all these pictures of pretty rocks you can rest easy as the posts on this blog will soon be back to different subject matter. As for me, I absolutely love Valley of Fire and am excited to get back out there again soon and take more photos! Anyone with access to a camera can be a photographer, really, but it's the practice and personal perspective you bring to it that defines you from the rest- at least in my little ol' opinion. Everyone has a different way of seeing the world, as is especially clear when asking others to take photos for you when you have a particular vision in mind. My camera is nothing terribly fancy, at least compared to those massive lensed things I see the professionals using, and I've had it for years yet I'm still learning how to fully utilise all the functions it has at it's disposal and am always finding something new and interesting to try. So far it has worked well for my needs and I'm grateful to my past self for picking it up on a whim back at that shopping center in Shin-Urayasu station. Every day, every outing, is a new opportunity for exploration and experimentation and documenting it along the way helps to preserve those memories for years down the road. As long as digital media remains I can literally scour digital impressions of my memories. I think that's pretty amazing.

And Valley of Fire? It's beautiful. I highly recommend going if you're ever in the area. We didn't even set foot near their visitor center, but if you have the time you can learn a lot about the area and it's history. By this point in our stay the sun was starting to dip lower in the horizon and we were starting to feel a bit of a crunch for time. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, and once the sun goes down it gets dark out there- very dark. The city lights of Las Vegas are miles away and the winding roads are only sporadically lit with street lights, making it a bit of a nerve-wracking drive if you're not careful. By the time we neared Lake Mead it was far too dark for photos as the distance between pools of light grew and their pale beams barely pierced the shadows.