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…..

I had a great shoot with Becky and Greg last week in Santa Monica. We started out with a little 1950′s inspired shoot at their apartment and then headed to the beach. Becky could easily have been a shoe-in for any actress from the 50′s. Can’t wait till their upcoming wedding at a private villa in Malibu, the place is spectacular! Enjoy!

A few weekends ago I headed up to San Francisco to shoot Avnish and Sheila’s engagement session in my former home town. It was an amazing trip and these two were fantastic on camera! First off though I’d like to give some props to my new Audi A3 turbo diesel. Coming from the largest SUV on the road at 11mpg anything would be amazing but my new whip at 45mpg got us to San Francisco on about $36 of gas! Alright now onto some pics. We had a perfect day considering that it was winter in San Fran. These guys just ooze style so we had a stellar shoot!

Love these guys! We had so much fun in Santa Monica from getting kicked out of the Huntley to shooting on a giant chicken car, we pretty much covered all the bases in a standard Ryan Phillips shoot. Enjoy!

There are fabulous couples and then there is Lisa and Kemper. Besides the fact they are overly intelligent Type A’s with amazing careers, they ooze style, have wicked senses of humor — and they’re extremely fun to shoot! They are the type of couple you would want to hate for being so perfect but their best traits are that they are insanely nice, warm and deeply in love with each other. I thought I was in for a casual shoot at Griffith Park Observatory, when, at the last minute, the park was shut down due to wind damage and we needed a Plan B. Plan B? There was no Plan B! After scrambling for alternate locations, I found out Kemper had a “beach house” in Malibu that we could use.

I wish I had video of the scene, but it was straight out of a movie. Beach house doesn’t really describe this amazing place over the water in Malibu. I had a few minutes to look around before they arrived, and we were running out of daylight fast! I walk outside and see Kemper and Lisa pull up in her Porsche. Lisa steps out with a half drained bottle of Roderer, mountains of fab designer clothing, and a stylist from Vogue, who will from hereon be referred to as “The Geoffrey.” The Geoffrey does many of the top people including Anna Wintour herself. I could get very used to shooting with The Geoffrey. I would have killed for more than the hour of daylight we had left and 5 more outfit changes, but it was not to be. We chased the light all over property as best (and fast) as we could and walked away with some stellar shots! I also got to see my first real “MTV Moon Man” which was located next to a case full of Emmys (which I have seen before, but never that many in one place). I am looking forward to their wedding at The Reserve Club in Palm Desert this summer — it is sure to be spectacular. For now, enjoy some pics….

Malibu Gothic vs. American Gothic

I just got back from Palm Springs shooting the engagement and wedding of San Francisco Giants pitcher Dan Runzler to Sports Reporter Michelle Phalen. We started off with a killer engagement session in the desert. Here are just a few pics from that but more to come when I get to them in a week or two. The next day we shot their wedding which was so awesome to watch. I love destination weddings when you have a tight group of old friends and everyone is so involved in the wedding weekend. It was 4 amazing days AND I got to shoot with one of my closest friends the extremely talented Mike Hedden from Evoke Photography who helped me out. Stay tuned…

I had a great shoot with Claire and Jason in Santa Barbara last week. We had a blast together and Jason wit and humor had weazing all afternoon. I am excited for the Northern California wine country wedding this summer. At the end of the shoot they had a friend bring their dog who was by far the best behaved dog I have ever had on a shoot.

Loved this shoot! Diana and Martin came with stylist in hand and Diana had several great outfits although my fav is the black and white coat. Some of their friends showed up towards the end which was kind of fun…like a little photo shoot party. It helped keep them smiling as I just kept “one more shot-ing” them since I was having so much fun….

This was such a fun shoot! John is the executive chef at Cafe Firenze(Fabio from Top Chef’s Restaurant) and his food is out of this world good! A few months ago he had Carrie and I in and served us so much food we could barely walk out of the restaurant! Kim is the head honcho in charge of weddings at one of the top venues in Southern California…Saddlerock Ranch and Vineyard in Malibu.

We started out at Cafe Firenze for a few shots and then headed over to Saddlerock with a few bottles of vino. It is an amazing piece of property that I have had the good fortune to be a part of for many years. I shoot a lot of commercial work for them as well as engagements and weddings. I recently shot their ad for Los Angeles Magazine so look for that this month. I’ll write more on that later this week.

For now enjoy some photos….

I couldn’t even tell you what is going on here but it was hysterical!

This was such a fun shoot! We headed down to Abbott Kinney for their session. There are so many places to shoot down there, it’s one of my new L.A favs. I am super excited for their Beverly Hills SLS Hotel wedding in a few weeks. Stay tuned, the next two months are crazy and there will be lots of new blog posts…