Living a life in the west, on the range and away from urban influences, requires a certain grit and a certainly simplicity. Deon Reynolds finds that simplicity with a disposable plastic panoramic camera and a terrain that allows his imagination to wander back in time to a place where the cowboy once roamed. Much of his work is shot in Nevada and captures places that have played a part in the development of the West: abandoned ranches and mines with the ghosts of cowboys and drifters, hard lives and hard living.

Deon lives in Eureka, Nevada, in an 1880 bank building, complete with a vault that is an exhibition space, The Eureka Gallery , showcasing regional artists. A life-long photographer, Deon works with a variety of cameras and approaches, but for now the panoramic capture perfectly suits wide open places. Deon currently has an exhibition at the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko, Nevada through June 22.

The plastic camera has helped me grow artistically over the years, removing some of the technical aspects of the photographic process and bring me back to pure design and aesthetics.

I am a visual explorer. I survey what is before me not with eyes that wonder what something is, but with all thoughts directed to aesthetics. Whether I am with camera, sketch pad, or walking our dog, I look at the world around me designing it into graphically pleasing ideas.

I like two shapes to design within, the square and the panorama. Panoramas convey the idea of the landscape so well, my eye tends to see that way when I’m in this kind of space, naturally lending itself to my mind’s ideas.