CREDIT: BOBBY WHEAT

Photographer and painter Bobby Wheat knew he wanted to live somewhere warm after cold Wyoming winters in his 20s, so he set his sights on Las Vegas, where he started out as a teacher before opening his gallery in 2011, now located in Downtown Summerlin.

Wheat explains,“ I have a whole series of images captured while rock climbing in Red Rock Canyon. It’ s a series where I wanted to show a side of Red Rock that people here in Vegas really rarely get to see.‘ Yin and Yang’ was a twoyear project. I remember walking up to the wall, thinking it was beautiful, and I told myself I wouldn’ t photograph it until I could climb the face of it.”

When he eventually accomplished that goal in February of this year, he went back at sunrise to photograph it.“ We printed it as a negative. That’ s our best-selling series. You get modern art on the wall, while staying true to the old-school analog roots with the negatives.”

It’ s fitting that a rock climber like Wheat notes,“ Las Vegas is a town that allows you to rise above your station regardless of your pedigree. It’ s a grinder’ s town.” He’ s ground it out on many a mountain face, while pushing himself as both a climber and a photographer.

“ We’ re this city that’ s thriving out in the middle of nowhere, where by all intents and purposes we shouldn’ t be. We’ ve made this amazing, worldwide destination in the most unlikely

of places. I think that tells the story of what Las Vegas is.”

The subject matter in his gallery is about half Las Vegas and Red Rock, and the other half is rotating collections. He hopes people really see,“ an evolution of how the body of work continues to change over 15 years. I hope they see something that’ s evolved, something that’ s original. I’ m a big proponent of being a devoted lifelong student in whatever it is you do.”

Wheat has made a career out of capturing both the bright lights of the Strip and the natural light over mountains, while helping his city tell its story.“ I do think our town is a wonderful story to tell.”