Troy Paiva is a commercial artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. For his entire adult life he has been an abandonment explorer and back-roads wanderer, especially at night. Sneaking around in junkyards and dead roadside towns in the middle of the night, he was doing Urban Exploration years before the term even existed.

In the late 80's, he sat in on a few night photography classes and when the subject of light-painting came up briefly, he had a revelation. Here were techniques that were perfect to capture the atmosphere and mystery of these modern ghost towns. The time-exposures allow the stars to spiral in space and the clouds to smear ethereally across the sky. Through the 90s he developed and perfected his technique of simple, yet effective, hand-held lighting. Since 1998 lostamerica.com has been online in one form or another. Over the past 9 years his low cost / high impact lighting techniques have been implemented by amateur and professional photographers all over the world.

Many of the places and objects in these photos are already gone; bulldozed, burned down, subdivided, melted for scrap or just vanished under the shifting desert sand.

In 2003, his book "Lost America" was published by Motorbooks International, receiving positive reviews in newspapers and magazines worldwide. With over 145 color and black & white images and 4 in-depth essays, it examines the evolution and eventual abandonment of the communities, structures and social iconography spawned during this country's 20th century western expansion.

C.V. HIGHLIGHTS:

SHOWS
"Darkness Darkness" Three Columns Gallery, Harvard University, MA
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
Lucky JuJu Pinball Club, Alameda, CA
Truxtop Gallery, Silverlake, CA
The Montclair Gallery, Oakland, CA
“The Glory of Living”- Cyclorama performance at “The Playhouse” in San Francisco, CA.
Center For The Performing Arts, Mountain View, CA
The Brightmail Invitational Night Photography Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
St. Michael's Alley, Palo Alto, CA
Renzo Salon, San Francisco, CA
The 540 Club, San Francisco, CA
Mae’s Coffeehouse, Berkeley, CA

BOOKS
“Lost America” book, Troy Paiva, Motorbooks International
“Weird Arizona” Barnes and Noble Books. Contributing photographer and writer
“Weird California” Barnes and Noble Books. Contributing photographer and writer
“Weird Texas” Barnes and Noble Books. Contributing photographer and writer
“Weird Nevada” Barnes and Noble Books. Contributing photographer and writer
“Weird USA” Barnes and Noble Books. Contributing photographer
"Creative Vision”- Jeremy Webb, AVA Academia Books
“Lighting”- David Prakel, AVA Academia Books
“As Long As The Moon Shall Rise” Ellen Moore Anderson, Holy Cow Press

MAGAZINES
"Air & Space Magazine" feature article
“Hot Rod” magazine, feature article
“Automobile Magazine” feature article
"Trend Magazine" feature article
"Car & Techno" magazine, feature article
“Times Journal of Photography” feature Article, interview
“Digital Camera Magazine” feature Article, interview
JPG Magazine- Issue 5 “Photography is NOT a Crime”
JPG Magazine- Issue 10 “Beauty Redefined”
"Yahoo Magazine"
"Rod and Custom"
"Popular Photography"
"E Week"

COVERS
"Snakebite"- Stan Ridgway
"Holiday in Dirt" - Stan Ridgway
“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 Magazine” Anthology, TTA Press

LECTURES
Las Vegas Book Festival
The Nocturnes Workshops
San Francisco City College
Santa Monica College, CA.
UC Berkeley Photo Department