Chasing Vegas to Reno Through the Nevada Desert

There are probably easier ways to see Nevada.

But following an off-road race through the desert sounded much more interesting.

After Colorado, we headed to Reno for the 30th anniversary of Vegas to Reno.

Except this year, there was a twist.

For the anniversary, the race was running in reverse… Reno to Vegas.

I'd found out that a group of Aussies were heading over to race with an American friend of theirs. They'd managed to get their hands on a Can-Am that was already prepped and ready to race.

There was just one small detail.

They hadn't actually been in the car before.

What could possibly go wrong?

We Nearly Missed the Beginning

Our arrival into Reno didn't exactly go to plan either.

Our flight was delayed and then the wait for our hire car seemed to take forever.

By the time we finally escaped the airport, we'd already missed the first half of qualifying.

Not exactly the grand entrance I'd imagined.

But we made it in time for the trophy trucks.

And if you're going to catch only part of qualifying, that's certainly not a bad part to catch.

Suddenly we were back amongst off-road racing again, watching some incredible machinery being pushed properly hard and getting our first taste of what the next few days were going to look like.

Tech Day

The following day was Tech and Contingency.

And this is one of my favourite parts of American off-road racing.

Before everything disappears into the desert, you actually get a chance to walk amongst it.

Cars everywhere, race teams preparing, people stopping to talk, engines firing up and something interesting happening every few metres.

We spent the day wandering through it all, meeting people and taking photographs.

For me, days like that are a goldmine.

I'm looking at the race cars, obviously, but I'm also watching everything happening around them.

The people working on the cars. The details. The little interactions. The things happening in the background that you might completely miss once race day begins.

Because I'm not only thinking about what I'm seeing.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm already wondering what might eventually become an artwork.

And Then… Race Day

The next morning it was on.

We jumped in with one of the chase crews and started following the team south through Nevada.

I'd been to Nevada before, but seeing it this way was completely different.

Instead of flying over it or driving straight through on a highway, we were following a race across it.

Moving from one location to the next, waiting for the car, watching it come through and then getting moving again.

And the landscape was incredible.

The Nevada desert has this enormous sense of space that photographs don't really prepare you for.

Long roads, mountains in the distance, dust hanging in the air and race cars appearing out of seemingly nowhere before disappearing back into the desert again.

It was exactly the sort of environment I love being in.

Experiencing a Race From the Other Side

I've been around off-road racing plenty, but following a team as part of the chase crew gave me another perspective on it.

A race like Vegas to Reno isn't just the car and the people sitting inside it.

There's this whole moving operation travelling through the desert behind them.

Chase crews, fuel stops, repairs, people waiting hours for a car that might flash past them in seconds.

And then everyone packs up and does it again.

For me, that's where some of the best stories are.

Not necessarily the obvious moment everyone photographs, but everything happening around it.

That's what I wanted to bring home.

Back to the Studio

By the time we reached Vegas, I had another ridiculous collection of photographs and ideas to take back to Australia.

Some of those moments have already started finding their way into my artwork.

Others are still sitting there waiting.

That's become one of my favourite things about travelling to events like this.

I don't go knowing exactly what I'm going to create.

I go to experience it.

I photograph what catches my attention, draw when the opportunity presents itself, meet people and follow whatever story starts unfolding in front of me.

Then I bring all of that home.

And somewhere between Reno, Vegas and my studio in Australia…

the next artwork usually finds me.