I am grateful to say I feel like I have lived a charmed life. It started having the privilege of growing up in San Diego. If you’ve been there you know it has the best weather on the planet. After high school I traveled the country off and on in my van with a friend. I had made it to most every state, curious as to what the rest of the country was doing. My recollection now is that I grew up in the four corners of the continent, with a special affinity for the national and state parks. Life was good for Gary Russ. People were interesting and good to me. I can’t tell you how many American families treated me to their hospitality, from California to Maine. I fell in love with my country. But every college I drove past called me.

In 1975 I was 22 and enrolled at Chico State. I studied creative writing and played on the basketball team. Thirty-seven years later I would marry my beautiful Chico girlfriend, but that’s a story for another day. Eventually I left Chico on a freight train to Austin via Canada. I arrived in Austin with 38 cents in my pocket. That was 1978, and Chico was a distant melancholy memory.

After a couple years in the photojournalism department I left the University of Texas with a black and white portfolio in hand. Defying common sense I began visiting ad agencies, offering to shoot advertising projects for free, looking to develop a style and hone my craft. Thankfully, a few benevolent art directors handed me comps and sent me out the door. Slowly I began to earn paying jobs while learning on the fly.

Austin was a very small market but I saw opportunity. So I learned to shoot everything: Computers, cars, architecture, interiors, food, people. I put together a small studio with a darkroom and processed my own black and white and Ektachrome. Over the years I taught myself lighting. Like everyone else I dabbled in trendy lighting concepts: Hosemaster, cross-processing, Polaroid transfers, etc. And when digital cameras began to compete with film I was one of the first to take that major leap and was rewarded for what seemed then like a very risky venture.

G. Russ Images became the largest and best equipped digital studio in Central Texas. I remained steadfast in my belief that I did not have to specialize to thrive. I kept retooling my skill sets and business model to make certain that I gave my clients the best blend of creative and business services.

I did okay for myself and eventually owned the largest photography studio in Central Texas, and was one of the first Texas photographers to dive into high-end digital world. I had great clients like Miller Lite, Coca Cola, Dell, American Express, Southwest Airlines to name a few. I had a great time and an illustrious and financially rewarding career. During that time I married a Texas girl and we had two wonderful boys. And now my first beautiful grandson has arrived. Life is good!

So what am I doing here and why? Honestly, I am looking for creative purpose with variations on the old themes. The Fuji camera will be more fun than a phone. And I promised myself a long time ago that I would write again. The writing angle will take more effort. But with 7 decades of life experiences I may be able to parlay that into a few verses or paragraphs.

And lastly, I want to give a very warm thank you to all of my professors, client’s, art directors, assistants, family and friends who helped me along my amazing journey. Those relationships are what I value most. I won’t forget.

All the best!