Oliver Gagliani

Who was Oliver Gagliani?

Oliver Gagliani was an American photographer, a master of large format photography, darkroom technique, and the Zone System.

Upon seeing a retrospective of Paul Strand's work in 1945 at the San Francisco Museum of Art, he was convinced that photography could be considered fine art. Mostly self-taught, he is best known for his beautiful and haunting black-and-white photographs of ghost towns of the southwest.

Born in Placerville, California, Oliver studied under and worked with some of the greatest photographers of the 20th century including, Ansel Adams, Minor White, Paul Caponigro, Cole Weston, Paul Strand, Ruth Bernhard. and many others. He loved sharing his knowledge and in his later years conducted photographic workshops in Virginia City, Nevada.