South Point Casino

This week finds me hangin’ near Las Vegas again for the annual Mid American Antique Motorcycle Auction at South Point Casino. And once again we started the week shooting Nortons and Triumphs just south and east of Vegas near the little town of Nelson. The place actually goes by the name Eldorado Canyon and more information and photos can be found at: http://eldoradocanyonminetours.com/

Does anyone wonder why I love it here? Old trucks, older buildings, great vistas and very mellow people.

Today’s victims included a Norton Atlas and a very nice black 750 Commando. Nearby is one of my favorite shots from the day’s work – love those old Internationals.

The International is a new acquisition, and made a nice background for this pristine and recently restored 750 Commando.

The place is simply amazing, everyplace you turn there’s another old building or another old truck. Later this week they have a group coming from Discovery Channel to re-enact the 10 most famous shoot outs in US history – think OK Corral. At first I thought it might be fun to be here when they start shooting – until I heard that they plan to use live ammo. Maybe that’s a good day to hang out at the Casino instead.

And if you don’t like old tucks or old buildings, there are some pretty amazing rock formations.

A couple of weeks ago I reported that Vegas is great especially when you factor in the motorcycle auction at South Point Casino. But it’s hard to take photos of the cool motorcycles when it’s snowing outside like it does back home in Minnesota.

Luckily, by Monday afternoon the snow stopped, which left Randy Baxter and I an opportunity to shoot at least one bike before the sun slipped below the horizon, so off we went to Red Rock Canyon.

As mentioned before, we plan to produce two calendars for 2012, the standard Classic Triumph calendar, and another filled with Triumph’s nemesis from back in the day: Nortons. The first bike we actually photographed is a ’75 Norton Commando. Unlike Triumphs of the day, this white beauty came with electric start. Perched on a side road just a few miles off Highway 159, the old Norton looks like it belongs out here in the west, land of open roads and rugged landscape.

This 75 Commando was certainly a road burner in its day – right up until the Japanese invasion.

Bike Number Two

Because the auction starts on Thursday (Wednesday night really) there are only about three days to photograph bikes. In order to make the most of these days, we loaded 5 bikes in Randy’s trailer, headed to the desert and managed to shoot all five on Tuesday. Wednesday we only managed to shoot three, which meant we had nine in the can when Thursday dawned bright and clear with only a little frost on the windows of the truck.

One of my personal favorites from back in the day is the ’68 TR6. There’s just something about the perfect proportions and that wonderful blue paint. We started our morning of shooting by placing the TR6 on a picnic table kindly provided by the BLM, just as the sun came over the mountains near Red Rock Canyon. Some days everything goes just right, and this was one of those days.

Lit by the early morning sun, with the mountains as a backdrop, it’s hard to find fault with this ’68 TR6.

Bike Number Three
By Thursday afternoon, the last day of shooting, we found ourselves in one of the upper parking lots overlooking Hoover Dam. With no cops around we were able to take our time and get some nice shots of the bike with a full view of the dam just behind.

The Dam Rickman was bike number twelve, which made for a very productive week. The current inventory of photos completed for the 2012 calendar is nine Nortons and ten Triumphs. Of course a few of these might end up on the cutting room floor, or saved for another year. Which means another arduous trip to Daytona this spring to shoot more bikes. Yes, it is a tough life.

Rickman built frames and body kits for the already very fast Triumphs, and this has to be one of the nicest examples of their art.

South Point Casino in Las Vegas is home to the annual MidAmerica Vintage Motorcycle Auction, the reason for my visit, mentioned in last week's blog. Every January all the old bike nuts come here to buy, to sell, and to tell a few lies.



I flew in on Monday, before the auction started, to work with Randy Baxter of Baxter Cycle fame, on the 2011 Classic Triumph Calendar. We try to change-up the calendar every few years, so the backgrounds aren't all corn stalks from Iowa, or canal views and golf courses from Florida.

The MidAmerica Vintage Motorcycle Auction is the biggest auction of it's kind in the country.

One of the locals directed us to the little town of Nelson, south of 'Vegas and a little south of Hoover Dam. Nelson isn't much more than a collection of trailers and small houses. Just down the road though is a restored mine site, kind of a refurbished ghost town. There's the general store, the barn and a collection of buildings in various states of disrepair. Scattered between the buildings is an extensive collection of old Jeeps, school buses, Chevy pickup trucks and mining equipment.



To discover this little town, run by a husband and wife team who gave us carte blanche to use the buildings and backdrops, was like being turned loose in the proverbial candy store with a pocket full of quarters. If the mining site wasn't enough, the Colorado River is only a few miles away, and the views of the desert and the river are simply to die for.

Just down the road from Nelson is this eclectic collection of buildings, cars, trucks and stuff. Lots of stuff.

Needless to say, we spent most of our time in Nelson and along the river, rolling bikes into and out of Randy's pickup truck, and then moving them this way and that until we were sure the perfect photo of the T100 or TR6 was contained on the memory card in my digital camera.

We parked this 1963 T-bird in a wash with the Colorado River as a backdrop.

As shown nearby, we did spend one night downtown. Freemont Avenue, with its canopy of lights, seemed the ideal place to photograph old motorcycles. The street has turned into a walking mall of sorts, complete with street musicians, open-air bars and lots of cops. All of who said, "no, you can't roll a motorcycle out here without getting permission." Luckily the folks who run the Plaza, on the west end of Freemont, were a little more open minded. We parked the little 250 Triumph under the canopy of lights at the Plaza, and aimed the lens at the lights of Freemont.


The MidAmerican Auction is a win-win deal for me, partly because I don't gamble (being self-employed is gamble enough). It's hard to beat great weather and endless photo ops. I'm thinking this little jaunt to Nevada could easily become a yearly event for me.

The 1969 TR 25W shines bright with the lights of the Plaza reflected in the paint, and the lights of Freemont in the background.

And for anyone who wonders, we do have some 2010 Classic Triumph calendars left.

Early one morning we parked this 1964 TR6SR in front of anther old mine building.