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.
[nggallery id=8]This was one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve done in quite a while. Leslie & The Badgers are one of my favorite alt-americana bands. They’re all amazingly talented musicians, and Leslie’s voice has a soulful depth that is rare in today’s music. When they played in Reno last month, I jumped at the chance to meet them and take some photos.
They were on their way back from Utah, and I meet them outside of town at Love’s Truck Stop. We proceeded to a halfway deserted little town that I had scouted beforehand and shot till the light was gone…and then back to Reno for their show at Davidson’s Distillery.
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Last month I photographed the principals of ‘Champagne & Bacon,’ a Reno/Tahoe event production company. It was a fun shoot…nice folks, interesting location (the back of a downtown bar). The photos were for the cover story of this month’s Reno Passport magazine. Keep an eye out for it around town! Below is the cover shot.