Speed Limit
by Deon Reynolds
We had been camped for several days in the ghost town of Star City, which is up a canyon just north of Unionville, in the Humboldt Range. Other than the couple of miles of pavement, this sign is the first piece of civilization we had encountered for some time. It just cracked me up. I think I was chuckling to my self the whole time I was in Unionville, and it still makes me laugh. I shot several rolls of film on this sign alone. For me, it's definitely the most photographed subject in Unionville. After spending a few hours in Unionville, we decided that we had enough of civilization. So off to Kyle Hot Springs we went, getting clean and having a good soak. Then we headed south through the Buena Vista Valley, ending up camped in some lonely canyon in the Stillwater Range. Days later we emerged, still having not seen a soul, then our van lost a fan belt. I was putting the spare belt on when along comes a truck, a rancher and his son, smiling faces eager to lend a hand.
I shoot these black and white panoramas with a disposable Kodak panorama camera. The first thing I do is tear off the cardboard cover, pry open the camera, and pull out the color print film. Using a fine file I distort the frame inside. Then I load it with Tri-X black and white film. Some of my disposables have had over a hundred rolls of film through them.
Click here to learn more about Deon's book of photography, Nevada, with essays by Jon Christensen.