I look for secret place'

Mark Andrews said the most appealing aspect of his art is "being out there."

"I'm first attracted to the open spaces when I arrive to make photographs in a new region. My eye is drawn out and up to the sky beyond, like a spire pulls your view to the top of a church," he said. Using a handmade wooden camera that takes big 4-by-5-inch images, he tries to capture that first impression while it still seems new.

"After the first thrill, I look for the secret places that are usually right there, too. Next time you photograph a landscape, try making a second picture just by turning around. Chances are, there's a secret place right there overlooked, like a quiet, reserved friend who is never the life of a party but always makes you glad you were there."

Andrews was the producer of The Photographer's Way, which won an Emmy for Las Vegas' KLVX-TV, Channel 10, in 1999. His prints hang in private and corporate collections nationwide. Largely self-taught, he pioneered a watercolor printing method. He shot his first Kodachrome slides at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in New Mexico and has lived in Las Vegas since 1974.

There's another good way to find those photos others don't, he said.

"Try being out there without a camera. Some night, for an hour, sit silently in the desert. ... You can read a newspaper in the light of the full moon.

"Try floating in a small boat on Lake Mead or Powell at night. If you pick a small cove far up the lake towards the canyon of the Colorado, you'll find no noise, no lights, no waves. Stay awake all night and you'll see constellations, meteors and distant airplanes, and even satellites floating by." Look down into the black water, and you'll see the same beauty in a different way.

Remember the way you feel that night, and shoot pictures that feel the same. ...