Three of my images were chosen for the 2015 Single Image Contest in Black and White Magazine. The three images are: Lone Tree – Panama City, Fountain – Guatemala, Three Falls – Sierra Mountains. Great to see these images chosen for this magazine. This is the third time my images have been published in Black and White Magazine and the second time in 2014… Very Exciting!
On the Beach at Sunrise, Trinidad, Ca.
I was back on the beach in Trinidad, Ca. a few weeks ago taking photos at Sunrise. This combination image was taken with my Iphone5S. I just upgraded to Iphone6 and am anxious to see how the camera works when on location. The morning I was taking these images the fog was moving in and out on the beach. What this means is that one minute is very foggy and the next minute the sun is shining. As can be seen by the upper color image the sun was rising in the east and was being filtered by the fog hanging on the coast. I thought this was a beautiful view and loved the colors of yellow from the sun and the blue of the sky. Hoping to get back on the beach soon to take more images.
Images from a Glass Eye 2014 – Merit Award

Images from a Glass Eye International Photography Contest 2014 – Gary Wagner Merit Award
Judge for contest: Ibarionex Perello, Los Angeles photographer, writer, and host / producer of The Candid Frame
Viewpoint Member Show 2014
One of my recent images from the California North Coast is on display at the Viewpoint Gallery Member Show 2014. The show will run from July 8 – August 2, 2014. Viewpoint is located at 2015 J Street, Sacramento, Ca. Take a look at their website for hours. https://www.viewpointgallery.org/
The show includes images from over 50 member photographers with a great variety of subject matter. Very interesting show and not to be missed!
The image I have on display is titled “Clouds and Surf” and is a sunrise photo taken at Clam Beach which is just south of Trinidad, Ca.
I took this image because I loved the look of the clouds extending down the surf line and how the sun picked up their texture and reflected in the surf below.
The Northern California Coast is a magnificent area to do coastal images!
gary
- Viewpoint Gallery, 2014 Member Show
- Clouds and Surf, Trinidad, Ca.
- Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, Sacramento, Ca.
Santa Fe, New Mexico – Workshop and Photos!
I spent last week in Santa Fe, NM attending a photo printing workshop with Jon Cone the owner and creator of Piezography inks for black and white inkjet printing. Jon has been making Piezo inks for over 20 years and has perfected them to provide the smoothest and most beautiful tones on paper possible using injet printing! Jon has made this possible by using 7 shades of gray ink to produce the print instead of the usual two or three shades. To further enhance the inks they are available in several tones of gray including: carbon, selenium, neutral and others. The workshop was sponsored by Don Messec, artist and teacher at his Making Art Safely Studio located in the hills surrounding Santa Fe. I had a great week learning more about this ink process and discussing photo with Jon, Don and 11 other photographer/printers from around the country and Canada taking the class.
The highlight of the trip for me was on the first night we did a photo outing to Plaza Blanca, which is a spectacular mountain and rock area made famous by the artist, Georgia O’Keefe. This was a magnificent landscape area with massive rock formations created by wind and water over thousands of years. We spent a couple of hours at sunset trekking and taking images of this famous landscape.
This was my first time in Santa Fe but I am making plans to return soon!
gary
Black and White Magazine Merit Winner 2014 – Gary Wagner
Three of my images were chosen for the Black and White Magazine 2014 Portfolio Issue. All three images were taken in Trinidad Ca. which is located on the Northern California Coast about 75 miles from the Oregon border. I have been taking coastal images in this area for the past 25 years and find the light, surf and sand to be ever changing and always spectacular. I had submitted ten images from this collection and three were published.
In 2012 I also had images published in Black and White magazine. Those images were Sierra Mountain water images.
It is always exciting to see my photos in print! The magazine will be at the newsstands soon.
Gary
Link to Black and White Magazine
http://www.bandwmag.com/
Central America and Mexico
New Gallery! New Images!
Taking a leap from my usual photo subject matter of water, rocks and trees my new gallery shows some of the many images I captured on my recent trip to Central America and Mexico. When I am traveling I usually have two cameras with me and take photos with both. One camera is a point and shoot to record places and events and it is constantly being used to capture the details of travel. My other camera is used to capture visions that stood out to me as unique and could be part of a larger project or collection. Many of the images in this gallery are religious based as I was most visually moved by these. Clearly religion and the local churches were the center of activities in many communities in the countries that I visited. I have tried to include a few of these images in this gallery as I found this part of the culture and look of the countryside to be most interesting.
Other images included in the gallery include flora and architecture of the landscape. It was exciting for me to see and capture a new landscape part natural and part cultural. I always find it interesting see how man has altered the landscape in different ways in different parts of the world to fit the look and needs of land and the culture.
Thanks for reading.
Gary
Still Collecting Photo Books
How many photo books does one need?
My answer is as many as one wants.
Last week I could see an issue needed to be resolved when I was out of floor space in my photo/computer/library room to put any more books. I have been collecting photo books since my teens but it has only been in the past ten years that I have really seen my collection growing significantly. The reason for the rapid growth has been the internet and the ability to find books on line in minutes. Amazon and Abe books are my first search places to find a book. Many books can be purchased for a dollar or two plus $3.99 shipping. I don’t know how people can sell books for this price but I just keep buying. I am a little behind in reading… maybe a dozen or two.
Well I did do a major reshuffle and reorganized my books by some method to get them off of the floor and on to the shelves. My top shelf that is difficult to reach is all of my books on film and photo processing. Since going to digital in 2006 I have not been reviewing these books very often these days but they bring back great memories of the glory of film and my life in the darkroom.
Other shelves contain sections on favorite photographers including the Ansel Adams books that I used in the last post and Weston, Porter, Muench, Sexton and many other of my most admired black and white photographers and photographers of the landscape. I also want to mention my most recent favorite photographer that I now have several books by and that is Michael Kenna. I have really come to love his work. I saw a show of his in SF last year…beautiful images! Still doing film…what can I say.
One last comment and that is last week I was in a thrift store looking at the books and there was a Camera and Lens by Ansel for $2.99. I thought do I need this book? I think I already have two copies so I put it down walked around a bit more but I could not leave without it. Turns out it was a discarded Library book from Indianapolis and since I was from Indiana how could I pass it up? It is now on the floor with several other recent finds that are waiting for me to review.
There is a lot more that I could say about my photo books but I will have to save those words for another day.
I think I should take some pictures today.
gary
Earth Day and Ansel Adams Day
April 22, 1970 was the first Earth Day and today we celebrate that day 44 years later.
Today is also the 30th anniversary of the passing of Ansel Adams on April 22, 1984. Having been a follower of Ansel since my teens and having read many of his books I know he was not only a prominent black and white landscape photographer but also a staunch defender of the earth and wilderness areas. Ansel served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club for 37 years and wrote hundreds of letters to Congress in support of environmental issues. Ansel used his magnificent images of the American Landscape to further his cause for the protection of the earth. Nothing could be more fitting to celebrate Earth day and the work that Ansel Adams did to defend our earth on the same day.
gary