Troy Paiva, AKA Lost America, has been creating light painted night photography in abandoned locations and junkyards since 1989. His documentarian, yet surrealist, sometimes playful, sometimes haunting work examines the evolution and eventual abandonment of the communities, infrastructure and social iconography spawned during America’s 20th century expansion into the cities and deserts of the West–and the intensely exhillerating, yet strangely comforting act of sneaking around in the middle of the night, creating art from its ruins.
Over the last eleven years this website has gone viral repeatedly, spawning millions of hits. Troy’s imagery has appeared in print, in over a dozen countries–including three Stephen King book covers–and two award-winning monographs: “Lost America: Night Photography of the abandoned Roadside West“ in 2003 (Motorbooks International), and “Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration” in 2008 (Chronicle Books). Troy’s work has appeared in museums and galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Sweden and San Francisco. In 2010 and 2011 he appeared as a guest judge on the Singapore reality TV show The Big Shot.
The current craze over light painted night photography in abandoned places started right here, with this website, back in 1999. As a result, Troy’s low cost, high impact light painting techniques have been emulated all over the world. The “Lost America” body of work is a true original.
Troy can be easily reached by e-mail: paiva@designshed.com
INTERVIEWS
Lensflare 35: Podcast interview
Cameradojo: Podcast interview
The Ballardian blog: The Light-Painter of Mojave D: An Interview with Troy Paiva
Interview on Andy Frazer’s “Night Photography” blog
American Photo: Interview
Resource Magazine: Interview
Hemmings Classic Car Magazine: Auto Art.
The Night Photography of Troy Paiva at Kotori Magazine.
Mentalfloss.com- Nighthawks Behind the Lens: Interview With Troy Paiva
Photopreneur.com- Troy Paiva’s Lost America: Discovered Niche
Environmental Graffitti.com- The Boneyard: Where Airplanes Go To Die
Photographica.com- Q & A with Troy Paiva
Popcultmag.com- Website of the Week Interview
TELEVISION
The Big Shot- Singapore
Artland- UK
SELECTED SHOWS
Lost America- Alstromerka Magasinet, Alingsas Sweden
Off the Grid- Kumukumu Gallery, New York, NY
Lost America- Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA
Darkness Darkness- Three Columns Gallery, Harvard University, MA
Highways- Rasdale Gallery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Night Light- Lightbox Gallery, Astoria, OR
Lost America- Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
Boneyard- Lucky JuJu Pinball Club, Alameda, CA
Night Photography- Truxtop Gallery, Silverlake, CA
Wheels- The Montclair Gallery, Oakland, CA
The Glory of Living- Cyclorama performance at “The Playhouse” in San Francisco, CA.
Lost America- Center For The Performing Arts, Mountain View, CA
The Brightmail Invitational Night Photography Exhibition- San Francisco, CA
BOOKS
Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration- monograph, Troy Paiva, Chronicle Books
Lost America: The Abandoned Roadside West- monograph, Troy Paiva, Motorbooks International
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER / WRITER
The NEW Joy of Digital Photography- Lark Books
Night Photography: Finding Your Way In The Dark- Focal Press
Night and Low-Light Photography- Amphoto Books
Weird Arizona- Barnes and Noble Books
Weird California- Barnes and Noble Books
Weird Texas- Barnes and Noble Books
Weird Nevada- Barnes and Noble Books
Weird USA- Barnes and Noble Books
Creative Vision- AVA Academia Books
Lighting- AVA Academia Books
As Long As The Moon Shall Rise- Holy Cow Press
MAGAZINES
Air & Space Magazine- feature article
Hemmings Magazine- feature article
Hot Rod Magazine- feature article
Automobile Magazine- feature article
Trend Magazine- feature article
Car & Techno- feature article
S7- feature article
Mondo Arc- feature article
Times Journal of Photography- feature article, interview
Digital Camera Magazine- feature article, interview
San Francisco Magazine
Moholy Ground Magazine- cover, feature article, interview
Elena Magazine- feature article, interview
JPG Magazine- Issue 5 “Photography is NOT a Crime”
JPG Magazine- Issue 10 “Beauty Redefined”
Focus Storia
Yahoo Magazine
Rod and Custom
Popular Photography (2004 & 2009)
E Week
BOOK & CD COVERS
Christine- Stephen King
From a Buick 8- Stephen King
Mile 81- Stephen King
Middle School Science- McGraw Hill
Strategy By Design- Palgrave Macmillan
Creative Vision- AVA Academia Books
Snakebite- Stan Ridgway
Holiday in Dirt- Stan Ridgway
As the Dark Wave Swells- The Bambi Molesters
Lost Wages- Magik Vapor
So Much for the Classics- Black & White Band
Late for the Show- Brian Rung
Sound and Diversity- Leiah
Penny Black- Penny Black
Red Sands- James O’Keefe
Heart of Anthracite- Campbell McGrath
American Graveyards- Ray Nayler, TTA Press
Crimewave- Anthology, TTA Press
TEACHING & LECTURES
The Pearsonville Night Photography and Light Painting Workshops
2008-2012: Owner-operator of a semi-annual 3-day workshop held in a Mojave Desert auto junkyard.
2003: Santa Monica College, CA.
2005: The Las Vegas Book Festival
1990-2011: The Nocturnes Workshops
2006: UC Berkeley Photo Department
2007-2009: San Francisco City College
2009: Fagerhult Lighting, London, England
2010: Industrial Light and Magic, San Francisco, CA
