Evening Stage

Description

Dad was very close to creating the perfect stagecoach shot. But just before this picture was shot near Medoza Canyon, Arizona, a terrible rainstorm caused a flash flood. The river rose so high, the stagecoach couldn’t navigate across it to the photo shoot location. Everyone cooled their heels an hour or two waiting for things to settle down.

Once conditions improved, Red Wolverton and his crew lined up the stagecoach with the mountains. Dad only had three passes of the stagecoach to get the action, the light and mountains just right.

He used two camera rigs with different lenses for this shoot. Both cameras were ensconced in plastic bags to protect them from the dust. Despite the torrential rain a couple hours earlier, the dust was horrible. By the end of the day everyone was coated in a thick brown layer of grime and the only option to salvage their clothes was a garden hose. But Dad had successfully created the photo he’d envisioned for months.