I’ve taken a hiatus from social media lately, but it’s time to return. I have a long list of updates to make to this site, but we’ll start with this image. It’s somehow fitting since it was taken with an analog camera, a Rolleiflex loaded with Fuji NPS 160 on a particularly poignant day in the Nevada desert.

The awesome folks over at Ad2Reno recently made me their featured member for September 2011. Thanks!

Also, I’ll be hosting their Ad2sday event at the studio this month on 9-27, 6 PM. Come on by!

2011 has been a busy year so far. Busy enough that it doesn’t look like I’ve updated my site in a very long time! For a while now, I’ve been working on the facelift that you see. It’s not quite done yet (still have to finish the portfolio section), but it’s working very well so far.

You may be wondering about my new logo. Here’s the background. My initials, of course, are A.G. In addition, I live in Nevada – the Silver State, and although it isn’t used as much anymore, silver prints were the standard in black and white photography for a very long time. Ag is the designation on the periodic table of the elements for silver. And of course, the Polaroid-esque frame ties everything back in to my profession.

The biggest event of the last few months, however, was the move into my new photo studio. Although I’ve had a studio for several years now, this time I devoted a lot of time and energy to construction a 40 foot cyclorama. This endless backdrop is a joy to work on. Where my old studio was limited by the size of backdrop paper that I bought, I can now photograph a motorcycle, a car, a small elephant…well, you get the idea. Come by and check it out sometime!

Last year, The Reno News & Review commissioned me to create a series of photos based on classic American literature – to be specific, the book ‘Roughing It’ by Mark Twain. This was an incredibly challenging photo series to produce, but I met some fascinating people along the way and am looking forward to doing more work with a strong historical basis.

There are 10 images in this series, not including the cover shot. I’ll be doing a separate blog post for each of them, and will include quotes about the Twain characters that they are based upon. We’ll start with the cover image portrayed below. This is McAvoy Lane, renowned Twain impersonator. He’s sitting at Twain’s actual desk in the old Territorial Enterprise office in Virginia City. Twain worked there as a reporter for quite some time. It was quite an experience to watch history come to life right before me. If you’re ever in Virginia City, I suggest visiting the Territorial Enterprise Museum (where this was photographed) and taking the tour.

In the course of working on the Tutto Ferro project, I photographed Sezmu Restaurant. It’s a newer establishment and I haven’t yet had the chance to sample their food. I will say that if their food is as good as the architecture of the restaurant, it will be amazing (and by all accounts that I’ve heard, it is). I was mainly concentrating on the bar and metal details, as these were the items that Tutto Ferro had produced. However, I did get a chance to photograph the exterior as well.The owners are very nice people and were quite helpful with arranging the shoot. Sezmu is on Mt. Rose street in Reno, just east of Arlington.

Last month, I photographed Tutto Ferro for Reno Passport magazine. They do high-end custom metal fabrication and have been involved in many of the more iconic building projects in Reno. It was a fun assignment and gave me the rare opportunity to combine architectural photography and environmental portraits into the same series.

Paolo, the owner of Tutto Ferro, carved out a few minutes from his busy schedule for our photo session. His warehouse/work space is filled with interesting projects (his racing Vespa will hopefully be the subject of another photo shoot), but I finally settled on the above background. I’m guessing that it is destined to be a clock, but it was the perfect background to establish Paolo as the company’s visionary and leader.

This is the image that was used for the Passport’s cover. In keeping with Paolo’s ultra-modern minimalist aesthetic, all the roll-up doors in his shop are painted bright yellow.

I’ll follow this up with another post about Sezmu Restaurant, one of Tutto Ferro’s projects. But for now, I’ll close with this image of Paolo’s sculpture by the River Walk in downtown Reno. It’s near the corner of Sierra and First if you’d like to check it out in person.

During the Tuaca photo shoot, I was able to set aside just a little bit of time for an architectural photo of the Aces Tattoo building. It’s on Virginia Street, just south of downtown. This area is full of interesting old buildings, and I’ve always liked the neon and hand-painted signage of this one. Glad I got a chance to light it a bit and photograph it just for fun.

I recently photographed Reno tattoo artist Elijah Cole (of Ace’s Tattoo) for a Tuaca advertisement. In larger markets, Tuaca produces a Body Art Ball – a body paint and dance extravaganza. In smaller markets, like Reno, they’re running ads that profile a local tattoo or body paint artist. I think that’s a pretty cool way to work with the local art community, so I was excited about the project.

Elijah is a truly talented artist. The depth and detail of his work is incredible. I realized while looking at some of his pieces that most tattoo artists learn to draw a nice hard line and stop there. Not Elijah. He can produce some of the most subtle shading I have ever seen in a tattoo, adding a depth and subtlety to his work that is rare to see.

The model, of course, is Jenessa. I’ve photographed her for album covers and clothing companies before. She is always fun to work with, and since Elijah is working on an extensive tattoo project for her it was a natural fit.

For obvious reasons, I can’t post the image used in the ad until it’s published. However, the above shot is an outtake that I really liked, and here’s another shot of Jenessa.

Leslie and the Badgers incorporated one of the images from our recent shoot into the cover art of their new album, titled ‘Roomful of Smoke.’ I can’t wait to hear the album…this band is incredible! It will be released on iTunes starting July 7th, and I’ll update this post with info on ordering a physical copy as soon as it’s available.

I was recently commissioned by Reno Passport to photograph some of the female artists involved in Nada Motel (a yearly art festival in downtown Reno). I’ve been excited about the whole concept of environmental portraits lately and decided to approach this series as a group of independent portraits even though it would have been much easier to have everyone just show up at the same place for a quick photo. For example, Jill Marlene, the talented performance artist, was photographed in the Trocadero Room where she frequently performs. Stephanie Hogen was photographed in her home studio. Trelaine Lewis and Elaine Parks both ventured out to the ruins of a ghost town for their photos…an appropriate setting for both of them. Elaine lives in Tuscarora, Nevada (a small artist community/ghost town) and Trelaine’s art frequently incorporates bones and skeletons found on back roads.

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