Photograpy at Nellis

[Rumwolf]

I am stopping in Las Vegas next month and am hoping to have an afternoon (or morning) outside the fence at Nellis. I am sure I have read somewhere that the DoD have bought up land around the base and moved the fence outwards making photography much more difficult. My current lens is a 70-300mm.

I would be very grateful if anybody could offer tips/thoughts/suggestions on photography outside the base, best spots for shooting and any issues with the local AF or civilian police etc.

Many thanks in advance.

[scotthldr]

Haven't been there for a few years now, 1997 was the last but I don't think things have changed that much.

If they're using RW21 L/R a good place to be at is the speedway track on Highway 604, from here you will get good views of the landings on 21L/R and take off's on 03L/R

At the opposite end of the base there used to be access down a side road called East Cheyenne Avenue off Highway 612, this road led to a building yard of some sort and access was available to view landings on 03L/R and take off's on 21L/R.

As with anywhere else if you behave and don't loiter right at the fence or photograph directly into the base the police/security will leave you alone, they may drive by a few times and will more than likely stop for a friendly chat.

As I said above it's been a while since I was there, maybe someone else will be able to add to the above.

[Seaking93]

I normally stay at the speedway side of the base as you can see all the movements within the airfield and be ready for when they takeoff, also its where they turn in to land at that end so some great pictures are possible. Never had a problem with either base security or LVPD while standing by the road up there, in fact LVPD use the skid pan at the speedway for training so you will see a lot of police bikes and cars, usually get a friendly wave from them. Don't forget to take plenty of water with you as it will be very hot at this time of the year and of course sun block, if you need anything of course theres the large Walmart including a McDonalds just down the road, have a great time.

[swingy]

Stay on the opposite side of the road from the base. Base police will stop you and delete all your images if you stop on the base side of the road. This is because the road is the boundary of the federal land and the base police have control on the federal land. Seen it happen a number of times so not an uncommon occurence.

[Rumwolf]

Gents (I assume you're all chaps), that is superb. Thank you very much for the information. Hugely appreciated.

[747woody]

Have a look here:

http://www.fencecheck.com/content/index ... Nellis_AFB

and here:

http://www.scramble.nl/airports/index.html

Spot 10 is worth a visit early morning, you can see what's in from up there. Most stuff at Nellis deploys there to use the ranges, you don't get too many visitors popping in.

To get a feel for what's there, have a look here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eor1/

You may get a few other clues here:

http://www.nellis.af.mil/library/flyingoperations.asp

so there should be a Green Flag on for the next two weeks. However aircraft doing Green Flag usually work from the revetments on the south east corner, and they usually use RW 3R/21L, which is the furthest away one. If you keep an eye on EOR1's Flickr page, you should see what turns up (if anything, they do get cancelled occasionally!)

They sometimes use both runway directions at the same time, so if you're not careful you'll end up swapping ends and missing things - a scanner is a useful tool! The other option is to follow EOR1 (he's in a white pick up, with EOR1 on the plates), he's there most days so knows what's going on!

The light is best late in the day, the rest of the time you're shooting into the sun, but the end of the day light is gorgeous, as long as you've got something to shoot in it!

70-300 should be perfect, provided you're in the right place. The problem is you wont know if you're in the right place until it's too late to move! It's all a bit of a gamble, but then it is Vegas!

Happy hunting.

PS some recent samples here. Not mine, but I was stood right next to him!

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=45581

The departure shots are from Cheyenne, mostly early afternoon, the landing shots are from outside the Speedway later in the afternoon, but from various different spots.

PPS don't forget to have a look at McCarran, it often gets military visitors, especially at weekends.