Nicholas Price Special to the PVT Nicholas Price hangs mounted photos prior to the exhibit's opening. Advertisement

A special photographic exhibition recently enjoyed a weeklong Independence Day display at the Bob Ruud Community Center.

Called "Cleared Hot!" the exhibition is a black and white photographic essay about the men and women of the U.S. Air Force that was created by artist and fine art photographer Nicholas A. Price, who was given unique access by the senior leaders of the Air Force.

The artist funded the entire two-year project in which over 8,000 photographs were captured on film. Each of the photographs selected for the exhibition was hand-printed and framed to museum-quality standards.

"My work is all about telling a story," Price said. "In this particular case, I wanted to show the human story of the Air Force from the ground up. Many people think that the Air Force is all about reversing the plane out of a hangar and flying off to some war. My project is all about the men and women who choose to put on the uniform and who have pride in what they do.

"I wanted to capture that pride, I wanted to capture their story in this evergreen project."

Many of the visitors to the exhibition were moved by what they saw, their emotions evident in the messages they left in the guest book and their own stories told to the staff manning the exhibition.

One Air Force veteran added his own commentary as he explained in detail to his wife what every photograph illustrated in terms of the person and the job he or she was doing in the image.

With tears in his eyes he turned and said to a staff member that he had never had his job in the Air Force recognized so publicly before.

He was pleased Price recognized the role he played in the Air Force as being an important one and hoped the public would acknowledge it too.

Of the other visitors attending, most had some kind of personal link to the military. From the daughter of a World War II B-17 pilot who flew 35 missions to the parents of a youth soon to be deployed to Iraq, these pictures meant something to each and every one of them.

The exhibition has been on a national tour, which will conclude at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, in October and will stay there until April 2008.

The exhibition in Pahrump was not planned for that tour but was brought to the state at the special request of Nevada leaders who wanted to ensure that this important photography was seen throughout the rural communities.

"Many people in rural communities never get to see a museum-quality exhibition like this. Mr. Price's mission with all of his work is to ensure that his work is seen in public domain. Access to the arts through his work is important if inspires anybody, young or old to take an interest in the arts, to give the pause for thought or even inspire them to be creative in all shapes or forms. It's what he has been doing for years," said Grace Price, president of marketing and business development for Nicholas Price Enterprises, the company that manages the artist and his work.

"This was an important event for both our company and for this town. The response was valuable and emotionally rewarding to the artist. We are proud and honored to have brought this exhibition to Pahrump," Grace Price said.

For more information on the Cleared Hot! project and Nicholas Price visit www.NAPrice.com.