A Snow White Christmas

As I reflect on the past year, I see that I've been quite on the social media front... but for good reason. I've been blessed with great clients who have kept me pretty busy for the last twelve months. Exciting new projects with new faces have come my way and those who I've worked with in the past have come calling back time and time again. For all the business I am thankful.

And with the end of the each year comes time to create my family Christmas card. We had a lot of fun putting this one together, this is one of my favorite concepts to date. From my family to yours, we wish you all a Snow White Christmas! Blessings in the New Year!

-Ryan

Olympic Spirit

With the Winter Olympics going on right now, at least for me, there is this touch of excitement in the air...I can't explain it. The Olympic Games, so rich in tradition, brings together the best athletes the world has to offer. And last week while shooting down in San Diego I got to spend some time with two time Olympic High Jumper, Jamie Nieto. Jamie competed in the '04 Athens Games as well as the last Summer Games in London, and he definitely brought his Olympic Spirit with him. We casted Jamie because of his 6' 4.5" frame and his personality measured up, he kept the shoot loose and coached along our two other younger models. Needless to say we finished off the studio day at the top of the podium.

You can check out Jamie's charisma in his weekly web series "Holla Atcha Boy" where he sheds some light on current and former track and field athletes.

-Ryan

The Racket Web

It was by chance last October that I stumbled across The Racket Web, a little treasure trove of tennis past and present nestled inside of Nola's restaurant in Palo Alto. Since 1977 master stringer John Mundorff has been tending to rackets in his same little museum of a racket shop. His shop walls are covered with patinaed tennis history, rackets from the 1800s, Wimbeldon Championship Towels, Tennis Ball sleeves from long before I was born. John and his wife have been collecting tennis memorabilia for quite a while, and he has quite the collection. He also has quite a client following, he was the Stanford Tennis Team Stringer for 30 years running. Generations of tennis players, both amateur and pro have been trusting John with their rackets. The tennis legend Jimmy Connors even stood at The Racket Web's counter, the same spot I stood to ask John if I could come back and take his portrait. With his gentle demeanor John invited me back and with my camera in hand I spent a little over an hour with him. Like old friends we chatted about life, working for ourselves and of course the game of tennis. The game that is a part of John's everyday life and I can tell he loves every minute of it.

If you're in the Bay Area and you need a tennis racket strung I'm pretty sure John is the guy you need to go and see. Or if you happen to be eating dinner at Nola's, peek your head in John's door he'll welcome you with a smile.

-Ryan

A Wild Year

Every year my wife and I come up with a creative Christmas card. We kick around ideas throughout the beginning of each year, and once our concept is decided on my mother-in-law, seamstress extraordinaire, gets to work. That's right, custom wardrobe and all goes into our Christmas cards!

This year's card is more than fitting. With our move up to the Bay Area from San Diego back in March, 2013 has given us quite the wild ride. And here we are still standing tall at the beginning of 2014 looking forward to what it has to offer!

-Ryan

Familiar Faces

I walked into a local book store over the weekend and was greeted by two familiar faces. Sitting side by side on the magazine rack stood Dr. James Betts and Dr. Arzou Ahsan on the covers of Alameda and Oakland magazines. Back in September I was hired by Telegraph Media, the publisher of both magazines, to shoot the doctor feature for their December issues.

In November I visited and photographed five docs for the feature, each one tops in their field of medicine. Doctor Betts is not only the Chief of Surgery and Director of Trauma Services at Oakland's Children's Hospital but he also is a volunteer firefighter in Big Sur. Amazing guy, I had a great visit with him, photographing him in 4 different looks. My favorite was his O.R. portrait...I had to get dressed up for the occasion.

View fullsize

Being a portrait photographer is sometimes kind of like speed dating. I only have a few minutes to build a trust with my subject before I start popping a flash off in their face, I guess the same goes for doctors with first time patients...

You can see the rest of my doctor portraits in the digital versions of the magazines at the links below.

-Ryan

Alameda Magazine

Oakland Magazine

Boys of Summers Past

I spent some time on Sunday with the Oakland Colonels of the Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League. These gentlemen not only play the game like they did back in 1886, but they look the part too. Complete with handlebar mustaches and mutton chops, these ball players are donned in reproduction uniforms from the 1880's and only use period specific reproduction balls, gloves and bats. As a photographer and baseball fan I couldn't have come across a better subject, the historical accuracy makes it that much sweeter.

The Colonels home field is at Oakland's Mosswood Park, a recreational pillar since 1907. Just as the ball fields of 1886 had no outfield fences, Mosswood Park's field follows suit complete with an 1864 Carpenter Gothic style mansion as the center field backdrop. The San Francisco Pacifics came to square off against the Colonels at 12:30PM, not exactly the best time to be shooting outdoors. Luckily for me there was a building belonging to a gardening club just behind the field, its awning provided the shade I needed and it's wall as my backdrop support.

Oakland Colonel—Mouth

Location Studio

I wanted to photograph the Colonel players similar to the tobacco advertisement 'trade cards' from the 1880's...only fitting to keep the historical accuracy. The two portraits shown above are of 'Scout' and 'Mouth', I'll post the rest of the team portraits as I finish them up.

-Ryan

Hot Off the Press

I put together some of my new promos today. Joel at Dependable Letterpress did another great job on the cover. For all of you designers, the cover is 100# Classic Crest Pewter with a 1/0 warm gray 6 deboss.​ I printed the inside pages on my Epson 2880 using Moab Lasal photo matte 235 double sided paper. The Lasal photo paper really shows my images well and the matte finish is perfect.

Who knows, one of these could be showing up in your mailbox soon? ​

-Ryan

Good Impression

​I picked up my new business cards a couple of weeks ago, Joel at Dependable Letterpress in San Francisco's Dogpatch District did an awesome job. The designer in me feels the need to let it be know that my cards are printed on a sturdy 165# Classic Crest florescent white. My logo is a blind deboss and my contact info is PMS 110. And yes I will be giving them out for free to any and all takers, no purchase necessary. 

​I've got Joel working on another project of mine that should be done soon, I'll post some pics when it's complete.

​-Ryan

Patrick Faulk

​Patrick Faulk is a ​​creatively gifted, one-of-a-kind all around good guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him back in September of '06 when I started working at Buchanan Design, he was a junior designer there fresh from receiving his undergrad. Now on the verge of earning his MFA, Patrick is continuing to turn heads with his creative thinking. Art editor Evan Senn recently wrote a piece on Patrick as an artist and his latest creation. I was honored when Patrick asked to use the portrait that I took of him in his grandfather's basement workshop ​in Point Loma, CA. Check out the article here.​

​-Ryan