God and Chance

Is "The Loneliest Road in America" a place for rebels or crazy, dangerous outsiders? You never feel safe in Nevada. It's a state where extraterrestrial life is invited. And it's a desert where they let bombs be tested and then used as tourist sites where the guide tells you earnestly that the radioactive material stays in the hole. And it's not just everyone else that frightens you, the fear is exasperated there that you might discover risk feeds you and that you wish you'd never heard of Las Vegas. I am a portrait photographer so a desert without a road is just land.

I used Linhof 612 and 617 panoramic cameras and so the silver gelatin images are powerful in 80 by 72 inch prints. They are also in the book "In Nevada: The Land, the People, God and Chance" by my husband, David Thomson.