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
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
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.
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.
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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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.
