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Asa

Roughing It #5: Pancakes

By Nevada, Roughing It

This is the fifth in a series of posts detailing my 2010 photo series ‘Roughing It.’ The images are based on characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s eponymous volume about his travels and adventures in Nevada and other Western states.

 

“And while upon this subject I will remark that once in Star City, in the Humboldt Mountains, I took my place in a sort of long, post-office single file of miners, to patiently await my chance to peep through a crack in the cabin and get a sight of the splendid new sensation–a genuine, live Woman! And at the end of half of an hour my turn came, and I put my eye to the crack, and there she was, with one arm akimbo, and tossing flap-jacks in a frying-pan with the other. And she was one hundred and sixty-five [Being in calmer mood, now, I voluntarily knock off a hundred from that.–M.T.] years old, and hadnʼt a tooth in her head.”

Credits: Steph as the old woman. Makeup by Kari Vandenberg.

Roughing It #4: Mark Twain

By Nevada, Roughing It

This is the fourth in a series of posts detailing my 2010 photo series ‘Roughing It.’ The images are based on characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s eponymous volume about his travels and adventures in Nevada and other Western states.

Three months of camp life on Lake Tahoe would restore an Egyptian mummy to his pristine vigor, and give him an appetite like an alligator. I do not mean the oldest and driest mummies, of course, but the fresher ones. The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldnʼt it be?–it is the same the angels breathe.”

Credits: McAvoy Lane as Mark Twain. Canoe courtesy of Tahoe Maritime Museum.

Roughing It #3: The Washoe Zephyr

By Nevada, Roughing It

This is the third in a series of posts detailing my 2010 photo series ‘Roughing It.’ The images are based on characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s eponymous volume about his travels and adventures in Nevada and other Western states.

“This was all we saw that day, for it was two oʼclock, now, and according to custom the daily “Washoe Zephyr” set in; a soaring dust-drift about the size of the United States set up edgewise came with it, and the capital of Nevada Territory disappeared from view.Still, there were sights to be seen which were not wholly uninteresting to new comers; for the vast dust cloud was thickly freckled with things strange to the upper air–things living and dead, that flitted hither and thither going and coming, appearing and disappearing among the rolling billows of dust–hats, chicken and parasols sailing in the remote heavens; blankets, tin signs, sage-brush and shingles  a shade lower; door-mats and buffalo robes lower still; shovels and coal scuttles on the next grade; glass doors, cats and little children on the next; disrupted lumber yards, light buggies and wheelbarrows on the next; and down only thirty or forty feet above ground was a scurrying storm of emigrating roofs and vacant lots.

It was something to see that much. I could have seen more, if I could have kept the dust out of my eyes.”


Roughing It #2: The Miner

By Nevada, Roughing It

This is the second in a series of posts detailing my 2010 photo series ‘Roughing It.’ The images are based on characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s eponymous volume about his travels and adventures in Nevada and other Western states.

“I had been a private secretary, a silver miner and a silver mill operative, and amounted to less than nothing in each, and now– What to do next?

I yielded to Higbieʼs appeals and consented to try the mining once more.”

Credits: Lamar Baxla as the miner

Roughing It #1: Slade’s Wife

By Nevada, Roughing It

This is the first in a series of posts detailing my 2010 photo series ‘Roughing It.’ The images are based on characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s eponymous volume about his travels and adventures in Nevada and other Western states.

“Slade was captured, once, by a party of men who intended to lynch him. They disarmed him, and shut him up in a strong log-house, and placed a guard over him. He prevailed on his captors to send for his wife, so that he might have a last interview with her. She was a brave, loving, spirited woman. She jumped on a horse and rode for life and death. When she arrived they let her in without searching her, and before the door could be closed she whipped out a couple of revolvers, and she and her lord marched forth defying the party. And then, under a brisk fire, they mounted double and galloped away unharmed!”

Model & Makeup Artist: Kari Vandenberg

Roughing It 1: Slade’s Wife

By Roughing It

This is the first in a series of posts detailing my 2010 photo series ‘Roughing It.’ The images are based on characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s eponymous volume about his travels and adventures in Nevada and other Western states.

“Slade was captured, once, by a party of men who intended to lynch him. They disarmed him, and shut him up in a strong log-house, and placed a guard over him. He prevailed on his captors to send for his wife, so that he might have a last interview with her. She was a brave, loving, spirited woman. She jumped on a horse and rode for life and death. When she arrived they let her in without searching her, and before the door could be closed she whipped out a couple of revolvers, and she and her lord marched forth defying the party. And then, under a brisk fire, they mounted double and galloped away unharmed!”

Solitude

By Nevada, Photography

 

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.

Shiny & New – website, logo, and studio!

By Life, Photography

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!

‘Roughing It’ RN&R Commission

By Uncategorized

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.Mark Twain at the Territorial Enterprise