CLEAR FOCUS: Pahrump Shutterbugs club still developing

There’s a new group of “bugs” in town.

If you encounter one of these “bugs”, just strike a pose and say “cheese.”

They are the Pahrump Shutterbugs, a photography club that is still developing, but they have their goals in clear focus.

According to club organizer Darla DeFur, members of the club like to get together to learn and have fun. The club is really informal and the members are at all stages in photography skills.

“We get together and talk about different types of photography, different equipment that we need and we’d like to be able, sooner or later, get people in to help us have some classes and stuff,” she said. “But, we haven’t got that far yet.”

The club likes to go on monthly shoots to photographic places such as Scotty’s Castle, China Ranch and the Hard Luck Castle.

Member Randi Case likes looking for abstract objects and scenery to photograph.

“Shooting at China Ranch with an infrared camera so that everything looks very ghostly,” Case said. “Or, going and shooting shots of graffiti and ruins and piles of concrete garbage that contractors have left behind. I just look for unusual things.”

What really catches her eye is something “off the beaten path.”

“That really started when I discovered American Flats (outside of Virginia City) and started going out there,” Case said. “Because, every time you’d go out there it was like a totally new canvas. The kids had been out there painting all their new stuff and I fell in love with it.”

Case has one camera with an infrared filter to take black and white shots. An infrared filter takes out all lights and colors except black and white. But, she has another camera for color photos.

Black and white shots are very popular. At a recent show, the majority of photos she sold were black and white.

“These aren’t just typical black and white, these are extreme blacks-whites,” Case said. “There is no color in it whatsoever.”

Lenora Danielson likes to travel in the summertime and takes a lot of pictures of what she calls “desert sculpture.”

“Going out, driving out in the desert and you see an old car abandoned out there that’s been there for 50-60 years,” Danielson said. “To me, that’s desert sculpture. An old fencepost sticking up out of a creek bed or something like that.”

Danielson is also an artist and sometimes paints the scenes she has photographed. She especially loves the colors of the sky and clouds out here, compared to when she lived back in Massachusetts.

“The sky influenced me when I was younger,” Danielson said.

DeFur never had any formal training in photography and took a lot of pictures while living in Oregon. She never did anything with them until she moved to the desert.

“The desert’s always called me,” DeFur said. “And, I finally got here. So, I’m here now. I’m taking pictures and I love it.”

While DeFur was living near Sedona, Arizona her work was “discovered” when she showed some of her photos to a friend.

“She found this person, he owned a gallery there,” DeFur said. “He took a look at all my pictures and all of a sudden I ended up with my pictures in his gallery. It was just a fluke, it happened, people liked it.”

Despite her love for photography, Danielson also never took any formal classes but she grew up with a father that was always taking pictures and making movies. That’s one of the reasons she joined the Pahrump Shutterbugs, to learn something. She was a young teen living in North Africa and her father was a good photographer according to Danielson. He had a 35 millimeter slide camera and an eight millimeter movie camera.

“He would take all kinds of pictures and I thought, gosh, if he can do it, why can’t I,” she said.

Case, who is also an artist, started shooting photography at a really young age and then got away from it when she started painting in college. She took up photography again after her children were born.

“You know, you’ve got to document every moment of their lives,” she said.

To become a member of the Pahrump Shutterbugs, you don’t need an expensive camera, or other fancy equipment. Any pocket, point and shoot camera or even a cell phone camera will do.

Some of the group’s work is on display at the American First Bank, 3340 S. Highway 160, and GEMS Café, 1330 Highway 160.

The group meets the first Tuesday of every month at 11 a.m. at the Pahrump Valley Museum, 401 E. Basin Ave. You can also view a glimpse of the club on their Facebook page.