Michael McLeran

Michael resides in Nevada City, California, a very small gold mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains.  He and his wife Eileen, moved there thirty years ago to be closer to the mountains, high plains deserts and the vast Great Basin all being a photographer's paradise.  They are writers and photographers and travel extensively, preferring small towns and back roads.  They love to document rural life in America and attempt to let the camera do the editing in order to produce reality-based photos.  They often find themselves many miles from the nearest power source, ruling out computer enhancing.  Some thoughts from Mike and Eileen:

"Our writer's shack sits on a one hundred acre parcel in the middle of the Buena Vista Valley in Northern Nevada, 25 miles from our nearest neighbor.  "The Shack" provides a base of operations when we travel Nevada looking for new faces and places to photograph.

We take pictures and stick to the basics and try to avoid digital manipulations that can create false representation.  Eileen uses Canon and I use Nikon equipment.  After years of taking black and white pixs and laboring in the dark room, we finally switched to digital, allowing us more time in the field.

Nevada is one of the few states where you can lose yourself in the vast expanse of open range and really experience the adrenaline rush of being hundreds of miles from the nearest gas station.  The desert has a certain calling that grows on you and calls you back.  It's the thrill of pushing the limits and placing yourself in a situation where if things go wrong, they really go wrong! At our little red barn, it is so quiet you can hear your heartbeat."

Within the galleries, click on any image for a larger view.