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pop (revised)

I shot this series with my pop recently. We were hanging out last weekend as father and son often do, and I happened to have all my gear in my car from a recent shoot with OPTION//CONTROL. I asked him if he would be up for having his picture taken, and he agreed right away. I threw up an SB-800 and a silver 45" Westcott umbrella and shot it Strobist-style. I'm very pleased with the results, and I hope to have the opportunity to photograph my pops again in the near future! As a side note, I had four Profoto strobes and a 6'x4' softbox in my car, but it seemed excessive to drag all that gear into a relatively small office space, so I opted for the single Speedlight and a simple umbrella as a light modifier. Just goes to prove you don't have to have the latest greatest gear to create some well lit images. "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." Someone a lot smarter than me said that once, and I think there's truth in it.


Thanks Dad.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

light meter?

Who needs a light meter?  You have two already.  Many times, I've used my hand to check my exposure after setting up lights.  It's especially useful if you're working alone and prefer to look professional and have the set lit before your client arrives.  It's a starting place; a place to begin and work from, until you find your perfect exposure.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

in motion

Although I'm not usually one for anything but tack sharp focus, this image seems to work well with it's imperfections. A good friend of mine (and incredible black and white photographer) Jerry Tovo, mentioned it had a certain "mystery" to it, and I find that to be very true.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

stairwell

It's been far too long since I posted anything, and I'm getting back to it.  I've been focused on some new business ventures as of late, and it's occupied a lot of my time.  Starting this week, I plan to be shooting and posting regularly again. This image was snapped with an iPhone 4.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

target

Interesting how the same scene can communicate so differently when the approach is changed.  These images were shot with the same camera seconds apart in broad daylight.  Except for some very minimal post work, the effect was created in camera.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

icu

These images haunt me. They were captured with my iPhone 4 as I sat in silence with my thoughts. There's an entire series of images resulting from my time spent in hospitals recently, and I thought maybe by sharing them with you, they may begin to relinquish some of their hold on me. I'm considering working through each of them and placing the series in the featured section of the blog. They are, however, very personal to me, so I'm torn...

treadway monologues | vietnam

I wanted to shoot some video tests with a new light and the 5D Mark II, and Dave was happy to oblige my creative endeavors. He wrote a couple monologues for the shoot, and delivered them as the characters they were written for. Here, he riffs through a Vietnam script. Please note, the purpose of this video is to inspect visual elements, so Dave isn't in costume. We realize a Vietnam Veteran would probably have a very different appearance.

Thank you to all who served and fought for our freedom.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Photographer + Cinematographer

treadway

If you've followed my blog for awhile now, you've seen this man before. I had the pleasure of working with David on a video project recently and took the opportunity to shoot some new stills of him. The video project consisted of several monologues he wrote mostly for the purpose of testing lighting and audio settings in the studio. He performed several different characters throughout the evening, and these two images stood out to me. The first image was shot with my Nikon F5 on 35mm, and the second is a digital capture. Look for the monologues to be posted soon as well.
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tribute to irving

In October of last year, our industry lost one of it's best in Mr. Irving Penn.  This is a subtle, and humble tribute to him and his timeless work.  His portrait of Pablo Picasso was my inspiration for this image, and David Treadway was gracious enough to lend his time and talent to contribute to my effort.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

Click here to view the original.

brother

This image of my brother came about last week.  He came by to visit and I had recently purchased the Nikon F5 pictured earlier in the blog.  I loaded the only roll of film I happened to have, Fuji Superia 400 from at least 8 years ago, and shot him near a window.  We rushed out to the nearest Walgreens to have the film developed! They offered to scan the negatives to a disc, and I was happy to let them.  An hour later, I picked up the film.  I particularly like his stare in this image.  It reminds me of the old tintypes of early western settlers from history books.

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

kindred spirits

Here is my humble attempt at the incredible black & whites Jerry Tovo is becoming increasingly famous for. Over the past couple years, he's become my mentor and a very good friend. We recently collaborated on a shoot together, and as photographers do, shot a few test images of each other while setting up our lighting. Of the four or five I snapped, I thought this one lent itself well to trying my hand at the technique he has long since perfected. One catchlight. See, I've been listening!

Ryan Walters  |  St. Louis Portrait + Commercial Photographer

Here's to kindred spirits and parallel universes.

Smatterings: Young Ryan and Parallel Universes