Ryan Phillips Blog

Yes, you read correctly, this is my last blog post! I always thought I would stop blogging one day and it would be some great post with some mind blowing image and pearls of wisdom but at alas it is not. In today’s Social Media driven world I feel that Facebook is a far more effective tool than blogging so to that end I will be updating my Facebook page more regularly. You can follow me at www.facebook/ryanphillipsphotography. I will post more often and you can follow me through my world if you like. From shooting celebrities, to weddings, to commercial shoots I will try my hardest to take you along on the journey and give you something interesting. Please feel free to look at the blog for inspiration (if you are a photographer) and (if you are a potential client) to see more of my work and learn about my approach to shooting. It’s been an amazing 5 years of blogging and thanks to all the people who stuck around and read. I may be back at it one day but for now my focus will be on WeddingPhotography411.com and of course RyanPhillips.com where you can see all my wedding work.

Other places on the web to find me…

If you haven’t checked out WeddingPhotography411.com it is a site for Brides and Grooms to learn about the ins and outs of wedding photography. Check it out and pass it on. If you have specific questions you would love answered, please email us.

www.PurePhoto.com is an amazing place to buy images for your home from artists from across the globe at affordable prices. Skip ZGallerie, Pottery Barn and West Elm and go for authentic original art!

Also stay tuned for our commercial division…rolling out in a few months…..

So there has been a lot of press lately about the Gretzky card vs the Kardashian card so I thought I would lay it all to rest. For starters the Toronto Star report is accurate for the most part. The photo was not some “leaked photo” Paulina was simply sharing her family photo with friends and followers. They are all very close and despite her “bad-girl” persona, she is very down to earth and very close with her family. People love to create a scandal out of nothing.

So here is the real photo / the photo as it is manipulated for the holiday card ( i.e the snow) / the gate-fold cover of the dog / and the alternate shot that we didn’t use. Almost every shot I took has the family laughing and smiling and having a good time however the concept of the card was to have their dog Louie on the front and open to a Burberry Ad-esque (moody) shot of the family with snow. It was meant for a close friends and family and the obvious A-List celebs that they are associated with. It does not go out to that many people and wasn’t meant for public consumption. Every year we do a different concept and have a lot of fun with it. Shoots like these are fairly common in L.A. although this was a full commercial production in order to pull off the concept.

For you Photo Geeks out there, it was shot with a Canon Mark 1D and a 50mm 1.2. The front side is lit with a 43 inch Mola Dish on a Profoto D4 pack. The top light is a 1×3 Profoto strip light with crates attached to another Profoto D4 pack. The alternate shot was lit with 2 heads with stock 7 inch reflectors on them but we added tough spun to the front to soften it up. I shot across the pool but had I had more “ground” to work with would have added the 43 inch Mola to the front side for fill. There were a few other lights behind the couches to light up the background.

A big thanks to my close friend Mike Hedden for helping me pull it all off! 

The Final Image

The Final Image for The Card

The Alternate Image That Wasn’t Used

Louie – The Best Dog I have Ever Photographed, Even Their Dog Knows How To Work It!

Paulina

Trevor

I shot famous Iranian singer Dariush this past weekend. He is working on a new CD that was written by students in Iran with lyrics about what is going on over there. Dariush has been on the phone and connecting via email with them to hear their stories and help them write. Dariush had produced over 200 songs across 26 albums over the past few decades. We were shooting for the cover of his new CD. The title roughly translates to ‘The dark corners of your mind” so we had that theme in mind when shooting.

We rented a killer studio in downtown LA called LA Daylight. I haven’t seen a place this nice with Northern light pouring through every corner since I left New York. If you need a great daylight studio call Felicity and she will hook you up. Tell her I sent you. They have the best service!

I am going to start posting some of my favorite photographers each week. These are masters of their craft in every way. These are the people who have inspired me through out my career. It goes beyond their stunning images and into presentation, client list, marketing and all around sense of purpose in their work. Look closely at the technical perfection. This is why they work on the biggest campaigns in the world and why their client list hires them over and over. To produce a great shot is easy. To produce a thousand great shots year after year is the real art of being a professional photographer! These photographers have their share of bad days, family problems, technical issues. It is the true professional who excels despite adversity. Whether a bride, a multi-national corporation an A-list Ad agency, the job has to be perfect and the client doesn’t accept excuses. The life of Pro Photographer can be very stressful at times but the rewards you reap outwiegh the stress. I am not going to showcase their images here, I want you to visit their sites, see how they present their work and study it. If you want to get better, they are the best in their field for a reason. Figure out why! This week’s Photographer has been a source of inspiration for me for many years. His lighting, creativity and style have propelled him from the life of a professional skateboarder and surfer to be one of the hottest photographers in Los Angeles. I am particular drawn to his editorial work but all of it is great. His editorial and advertising work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Malibu, Blackbook, and many others. He is the driving force behind the creative vision of Malibu Magazine, a loving husband, environmentalist, mentor and father of two.

Cool Video

This is such a great quote and check out this shoot. Simply amazing! This was shot one year before I started assisting him. I didn’t know him that well but this seems so out of character for him. A great departure! He was one of the nicest photographers I ever worked for. One more thing…this was all shot Large Format with zero effects! The degree of difficulty to shoot this with only styling and lighting on an 8×10 Film Camera is insane. In addition, if I remember correctly, everything was Speedotron…not the most consistent light source…especially back in 95′!

“And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.”

Richard Avedon – 1970

Click Here to see the whole shoot:

Here is a sweet behind the scenes look of me shooting a private client in Africa.

Equipment:

ProFoto 2400 w/s D4 pack, 4 heads, a 5 foot Octa-Bank, a 3×4 Soft-Box, One light through a giant scrim, 1 light bounced from the side, a 580 EX II on a stand for a slight kicker in the back and an Acute 600 R Battery Pack at the top of the stairs for the rim light…plus a whole slew of C-Stands, Pineapples for sandbags and a ton of Canon gear. The stand bag alone for one leg of an international flight was $600!

I recently interviewed Jeremy Cowart for the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) magazine. Here’s the excerpt in case you missed it!

Jeremy Cowart PPA July 2010 Article

I also just turned in my article on Joey L for the September Issue. I am really excited it about it. If you are not familiar with Joey L, check out his work at www.joeyl.com or search through my blog to see some videos on him.

Earlier this month we taped a 4 hour interview with legendary photographer Guy Webster at his studio in Venice Beach, California. The interviews will air in a multi-part series on PhotoZen next month. For those of you unfamiliar with him, you should check out his work. With a career that spans over 40 years he has photographed some of the most famous and influential people in the world. Displayed on the wall behind him are some of the most famous images in rock and movie history but to him they are all his friends, most of whom are now deceased. Our interview was colorful to say the least as Guy is the closest thing Photography has to it’s version of Hunter S. Thompson. He holds nothing back as he shares stories from a long, drug filled, politically charged, rock-star lifestyle. In this interview you will hear everything from why Jim Morrison appears shirtless and Jesus like in the now famous photographs and about a female rocker strung out on heroin peeing on his tripod. That is, by the way, where he draws the line…

Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with Guy and follow him in the future as one of PhotoZen’s sponsored Masters! For now, enjoy 6 of the 12 shots he let me take of him. His people say he doesn’t like to have his picture taken and judging by the 30 year old bio pic on his site, maybe that is true. However, as he looked down at my “digital” camera; I think this long time film photographer was testing me and wanted to see what I would come up with given only twelve snaps of the shutter. Hopefully I did not disappoint…

You may remember Ryder’s friend Ellie. She came in to town for Ryder’s birthday party this weekend. She allowed me 5 minutes to shoot…seriously she said I had 5 minutes and then she was bailing. However when you are shooting a personality like Ellie all you need is 5 minutes. Rock star all the way!