Gary Wagner Biography
Gary Wagner’s love of the photographic image and craft began when he became the photographer for his high school newspaper in Kokomo, Indiana. He continued his education at Indiana University, in Bloomington eventually moving to Santa Barbara, California, to attend Brooks Institute of Photography. For the past 30 years Gary has made his home in Northern California.
His photographic images have been recognized by exhibitions in many galleries and publications. Having won numerous awards, including Best of Show for two years at the Sacramento Fine Art Center, Best of Show at the California State Fair Fine Art Exhibit 2022 and received awards 10 years annually in Black and White magazine. His most recent achievement was the publication of his books, “iPhone Photography for Everybody, Black and White Landscape Techniques” and “Digital Black and White Landscape Photography, Fine Art Techniques from Camera to Print” both published by Amherst Media. Gary is also the author of three self-published books: Sierra Nevada Mountains, Redwood Coast: Sea and Land and Iceland: Forces of Nature.
Gary’s professional career spans more than three decades and includes, fine art, portrait, and commercial photography. His knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm for the photographic image enabled him to successfully teach theory and technique at the college level and seminars in Europe on the English country landscape. Fluent with all film formats, from 35mm to 8x10, Gary has now embraced the digital image and the ever-changing environment of photography in the current technological age.
Gary works exclusively in black and white. This medium best relates the shapes, lines, and tones of the landscape and more fully captures what he is viewing when he looks at a scene. He finds the creation of photographic art today to offer endless possibilities for creativity and the making and sharing of visual art. As an artist, he tries to not only pay respect to the natural order and beauty of the earth but also to show his vision of the land, sea and light.
