meet ryan

Hi! My name is Ryan!

I am an artist at heart, always have been. Always drew my way through school not really paying attention because I was too ADD. Drawing and such was the one thing that could keep my attention – much to the frustration on my teachers and mother, but hey I think I turned out ok!? I enjoyed many professions as a child but for some reason I could never find my niche.

As you can see I was a rainbow keeper, a kitten whisperer, male escort, and british horseback police/NBA player.

As I grew up I trudged my way through school usually handing in all my assignments at the end of the semester so I could pass. Not really caring.

Actually I had a pretty tough childhood, truth be told. My parents split up when I was 5 and then my mom’s new husband had an alcoholic relapse after 9 sober years. Which was pretty rough but maybe it was a good thing to scare me from that life. I never really found a good fit anywhere in life and had a really hard time finding myself.

It took me 21 years to find out for myself that God was real. Weirdly enough He showed me His power through the number 27. which has always been a special number to me being my sister and my birthdate (july and sept. 27th) Ever since I got to know the Lord’s will and motives, my whole life made sense and I finally found purpose and love. I went to a program called YWAM

I met so many amazing people coming to do the same thing I was doing, which was really awesome. We all formed such a tight bond that it’s kind of sad I dont get to talk to many of them since they are so far away. You can only see all the fun times but we actually had a full time lecture schedule including worktime (hence the taming of the hawaiian jungle). Either way it was a very different experience that takes you out of your comfort zone in a lot of different ways so that you can stretch who you think you are.

After the lecture phase came the outreach phase in which I traveled and lived in two different cities in Cambodia for 10 weeks.

We spent a lot of time getting to know the locals, teaching english and driving vans through rivers =) I even had a little art class! It was kind of hard since I didn’t have a translator, but there was a couple talented little orphans! Of course the local currency was 4000/1 US dollar so I felt like a baller when I went to change out a $50 for some local change!

One huge thing about the whole YWAM experience is that I got my first camera before going there and found a whole world that I didn’t know existed as far as digital goes! I sure wish I had the camera I do now back then, I could have gotten some flat out amazing shots. I did get some pretty cool ones with the point and shoot I had which you can see here. That trip made me realize what we are now planning on doing in the off season, which is going to different countries and compiling the images we get into phonebooks depicting things you don’t see when you are there as a tourist. We really want to dig deep into the cultures and show the world what they wouldn’t have seen otherwise

When I got back to the states it was pretty hard adjust since I didn’t really have many close friends that hadn’t moved out of state. So I basically tucked myself away and read up on cameras and photography techniques until it became somewhat of an obsession. Finally, I got my first big boy camera. We are both self taught photographers and really pride ourselves in not letting a educational education show us how to do things the way everyone else does them. That being said I love teaching other people technical skills so that they are not limited by there understanding so they can be creative in there own way and make the camera and lens give them the look they have in mind!

We are all about helping people with what they would have learned on their own in time but there are some things we like to keep for ourselves to stay unique.

Random facts:

I graduated high school with a 1.9 gpa yet tested 2 points below my sisters IQ which had a 3.8.

I went to 3 class periods in college but then stopped going when I was offered overtime @ $22 and hour.

I worked for the Target corp. for 6 years, Construction for 3 years and went full time photography within 1 and a half years of starting our business.

I am very lucky God blessed me with a talent I can make money at as I would have probably never been able to work for myself.

I never took a photography class or workshop ( well until this aug.) everything I learned was online. It’s out there guys- save your money and find good websites!

I am just now figuring out flash after 2 years. Used to hate it but I think it has really taken us to the next level!

I have a $30,000 equipment wish list =)

I have spent at least $2,000 on iTunes because I feel convicted to pay for it.

Last year we grossed $30,000 and expensed $34,000.

We take our work really personally.

I have so much to learn and so many ways to improve.

I hope this gives you little peek into who I am… Holly says she doesn’t even know me =) But hey… I don’t even fully know me. I am just trying to learn one lesson at a time while I am not here and use my talent for good.