RhyoliteNevada

2009

By Ian Barber

I was born in 1966 and raised in the town of

Doncaster in the United Kingdom wher I still lives today.

Since the age of 10, I developed a keen interest in experimenting with electronic circuits .

After successfully constructing my first Crystal Radio receiver at the age of 11 with the help and enthusiasm from his Grandad, I quickly became not only intrigued, but

some would say obsessed with all forms of Radio and Radio Communication.

During the coming years, I perfected my Radio Construction projects and at the age of thirteen, I attended Doncaster College where I passed the City and Guilds examination and qualified as a fully licenced Radio Ham.

Photography did not become a serious part of my life until around 2006 when I purchased my first Nikon D50 DSLR camera whilst on holiday in Las Vegas Nevada USA.

From 2006 onwards, my passion for photography has grown to the extent just like Radio, and has become an obsession in which I am constantly trying to perfect the art to the best of my ability.

All my photography skills including the extensive knowledge

I have gained in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom have been self taught over a number of years.

Digital Black and White without a doubt is my preferred choice but I do on occasions work in colour.

In my style of photography, I attempt to capture moments in time that have a quiet emotion to them. I have a tendency to avoid human presence, instead focusing on the objects that humans construct, manoeuvre and discard.

I strongly believe that a photograph should be in service of the print and when that print is made, it gives a final resting place for pixels to rest, thus completing the journey and process for that capture.

Personal Webpage: http://www.ianbarberphotography.co.uk

About the author - Ian Barber

Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles

northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley.

The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. Many settled in Rhyolite, which lay in a sheltered desert basin near the region’s biggest producer, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine.

Industrialist Charles M. Schwab bought the Montgomery Shoshone Mine in 1906 and invested heavily in infrastructure, including piped water, electric lines and railroad transportation, that served the town as well as the mine.

By 1907, Rhyolite had electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house, and a stock exchange. Published estimates of the town’s peak population

vary widely, but scholarly sources generally place it in a range between 3,500 and 5,000 in 1907–08.

Rhyolite declined almost as rapidly as it rose. After the richest ore was exhausted, production fell. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the financial panic of 1907 made it more difficult to raise development capital. In 1908, investors in the Montgomery Shoshone Mine, concerned that it was overvalued, ordered an independent study.

When the study’s findings proved unfavorable, the company’s stock value crashed, further restricting funding. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss, and it closed in 1911. By this time, many out-of-work miners had moved elsewhere, and Rhyolite’s population dropped well below 1,000. By 1920, it was close to zero leaving all the buildings to decay under the desert heat.

This Rhyolite project is available to buy as a set of prints. Email ian@ianbarberphotography for more information.

R h y o l i t e d e a t h va l l e y n e va d a

Rhyolite Mercantile

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Rhyolite

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Bank

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Bank Entrance

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School

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General Store

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Post Office

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Post Office Interior

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Dwelling Living Room

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Dwelling Bedroom

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Easy Chair

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Dwelling Attic

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Six Wheel Truck

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Bottle House

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Union Pacific Rail Carriage

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Rhyolite Ghost Rider

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Last Supper