In all the times I’ve been to Las Vegas and surrounding areas, I’ve never taken the short trip to see the Hoover Dam.   In retrospect, that seems kinda odd. (and poor planning)  I’ve always had an interest in the history of the dam.  I’ve watched documentaries and shows on the construction, a few times in most cases, and I readily admit to an internet deep dive or three on the subject.  What’s not to like?  The Great Depression, vast, crushing nationwide unemployment, the largest, most ambitious construction project of it’s time, impossible deadlines, unbearable conditions, a brutal work schedule, 120 degree heat, the company town, completely rerouting the Colorado River, hundreds of deaths, strikes and work stoppages, company crackdowns, air-conditioning the outside, cement still drying to this day…   you should watch the video.

And yet… somehow it just never made my immediate list of places to visit.  Well, take that bucket list!  Not only did I stumble into a day trip to the dam, almost by accident, (suggested by a friend) but I walked away with at least a couple of images that I’m very happy with.  For a photographer, (or  maybe just me) the joy of being in a great place with a great sky shouldn’t be underestimated.  (Although, to be honest, sometimes it feels a bit more like having a sky that I know will look great after I work with it, because often it doesn’t look that great to the naked eye.)

As a destination, Hoover Dam did not disappoint.  Massive in scale and awe-inspiring.  A monument to the heights of human ambition, vision, tenacity, engineering and accomplishment, But also a grim and cautionary tale of the horrific price desperate people with little other choice are willing to pay to barely support themselves, as well as the cruelty, craven and uncaring avarice others are capable of when exploiting those desperate people.  A story a lot like Joker’s in Full Metal Jacket, “…a suggestion about the duality of man, Sir.  You know, the Jungian thing.”  Glorious highs and agonizing lows.

“Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

And…

“Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create – this is man.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

And finally…

“There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath