Hello, thank you for your inquiry.
Unfortunately, you seem to be the only other person in the area interested in doing this. I even put an ad on Reno Craig's List, and didn't get any bites.
I'm not saying that we can't do it, just that there hasn't been any other response so far. But the month is still young, maybe we can organize something for the end of September. I'm going to contact a professional photographer friend of mine who lives in Reno, and ask her if she or any of her colleagues might be interested.
Where exactly in California do you live? Do you think anybody in your area might be interested in coming with you? If you're up in Tahoe or some other place near the border, we could certainly extend the range of the event to include it. South Lake and some of the other border towns could use some more photographs anyway.
-TB
Well, Sacramento is a bit out of the way for me. Money's tight, can't afford that kind of gas, so I don't know about including it. Which is a shame, because I'm actually quite a fan of your town. I've spent a couple of birthdays there before, visiting out the museums, Old Town, and the Bugorama. Anyway, if you and your party are interested in coming here, we can definitely plan a day.
I was thinking mainly Virginia City and Carson City. Both towns are important to Nevada's history, but there aren't a whole lot of photographs of them on Wikipedia. They're also quite close to each other (less than a half hour drive), so both could easily be toured in the same day. It would also probably include my hometown of Yerington, which also seriously lacking a photographic presence.
I don't know if you've ever been to Virginia City, but it's definitely worth seeing at least once. Ignoring the blacktop on the streets, it's hard to tell you're NOT in the old west, so many of the buildings from it's boom town days are remarkably well preserved. And still in use, I might add, which you can't say about most towns like it. People still live and work in these 150 year old structures, it's no ghost town... well, I guess that depends on your definition of "ghost town". It's reportedly one of the most haunted cities in America, it has many ghost legends associated with it, and most of these "hauntings" happen in specific places that we could photograph. There's a couple of good museums, a cemetery that's been in use since the beginning, and if you get tired of all of that, there's plenty of kitschy (but fun) tourist attractions to see. I find it quite impossible to visit the town without buying a sampler box from Grandma's Fudge Factory on C Street. A friend of mine lives in an old house his grandmother is converting into a bed and breakfast, I could probably get him to come along, and maybe tell us some more about the town that I don't already know.
I lived in Carson City for three years, and it's also got quite a bit going for it for such a relatively small town. It's Nevada's capitol, as it has been since the beginning, so it's got several old government buildings we could shoot. There's a neighborhood on the west side of Carson Street that is filled with these quaint old houses, many of which were owned by famous settlers, also a great photo op. The Nevada State Museum, which includes the building that once housed the Carson City Mint, is worth a look, and there's an old church across the street from it that should probably be shot. There's a very old cemetery that most people don't know about, fairly close to where I used to live. It's a bit of a hike, but might be worth checking out. I'd also like to make a quick stop at the Western Nevada College main campus on the north end of town. It's where I went to school, and there aren't any pictures of it here.
Yerington is the seat of Lyon County, but the court house (the only building that really matters in that regard) already has a picture on here. But I would like to take a shot of the Yerington Grammar School/Jeanne Dini Theater (maybe we can plan this on a weekend when there's a show there), the old Sagecrest Drive-In, Main Street, and a few other landmarks. I'll be honest, I'm not sure if Yerington is anything you'd be interested in (I'll be the first to admit the town doesn't have much going on), so maybe I'll just snap some shots of it on my own.
Please get back to me as soon as possible. If you're serious about this, I need to start making some phone calls and arrangements.
-TB