It's always nice to be able to spend some time at a Temple, walking around and enjoying the beauty of the building, the landscaping and the peaceful feeling there. It would be even nicer to discover a bunch of powerful photographic compositions with perfect light and dramatic clouds. Such is rarely the case, and the Las Vegas Temple offered no exception.
     In a previous post I mentioned some of the things that make this Temple difficult to photograph. When I wasn't finding what I wanted up close, I decided to walk further away. I didn't have to walk too far - just across the street. The Albuquerque Temple was another case where further away was better. Sometimes a change of perspective makes all the difference.
     With so much gear, I decided to drive my car to the spot where I wanted to set up. After extending my ladder and the big tripod, I attached the big camera and got it ready to shoot. I had to do a little shifting around because I wanted to show as many of the Temple spires as possible. Placing myself a little right of center I was able to include five of the spires and show Moroni.
     The composition was instantly powerful to me, especially with the spires piercing the deep blue sky. I was shooting nearly perpendicular to the sun, which created more dramatic side-lighting. The clouds drifted from southwest to northeast and the light was constantly changing. I made several set of exposures and took a break, waiting for the sun to set further. I walked to the other side of the car to get some water when disaster tried to strike.
     The once-gentle breeze turned into a blast coming off the mountain. I had a pretty good idea what was about to occur and I took off running. I'm definitely not known for my speed but I would have given Superman a good run. The wind blew my ladder over, which tipped the tripod (with camera attached) over. Thousands of dollars of gear were milliseconds from shattering on the ground when I reached out and caught the top of the tripod in one hand and the ladder in the other. Spider-Man would have been proud of that move. Even super-heroes need to know when to quit, so I packed things up and moved to a safer spot.