Ryan Flynn | seattle wedding photography

THIS BLOG IS DONE!

2009-04-22T02:11:00.000-07:00

I just launched a mint new blog on my site, so check that out instead. This one won't be updated anymore!

See you HERE. :) And thanks for waiting...

new lens | misc

2009-04-08T22:59:00.000-07:00

I'm headed to NYC for a rad wedding in about 6 hours, but I figured I should throw up a couple new photos from a nifty new tool I picked up. made a few frames of a couple of my favorite people :)

clients, I'll be back in a few days, but should be in touch mostly via email this week/weekend. cheers!

Tami and Nathan | Wedding preview

2009-04-01T18:30:00.001-07:00

Another preview! woohoo!

These guys are hanging out somewhere in Thailand right now... so I wanted to give them something to look forward to when they get home in a couple weeks. Hope you guys are having a rad time, thanks for having me at your wedding... it was a pretty amazing day.

Amy and Patrick | Wedding preview

2009-03-30T00:04:00.001-07:00

Boo on me for another Preview, I know. I'm working on something bigger and badder for the blog, and I want to post more good frames on there! Not too much longer...

So in the meantime, here's one from Amy and Patrick's awesome day a few weeks back. I love all the separate personalities you can see in this.

St. Patty's day | landscapes

2009-03-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

In honor of yesterday, one of my favorite holidays, I thought I'd post a couple images from a trip to Ireland back in late 2005. This was when I first starting getting into photography, as a hobby. Crazy how time flies ... it's always a kick in the pants looking at images you made when you were a noob, and first learning the difference between an f-stop and a bus stop.

Hope your St. Patty's was a blast, and some of my Irish pride rubbed off on you all.

You spin my head right round...

2009-03-13T17:33:00.001-07:00

A few frames just because.

Melissa and Ross | sneak peek

2009-03-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

just wanted to share one frame from Melissa and Ross's wedding last week. i know this frame contains neither bride nor groom, but i like it :)

Andy and Raeleen | anniversary

2009-03-02T14:31:00.001-08:00

Shot this a while back out on the Washington coast with my good friends Andy and Raeleen. They're awesome photographers, too, check 'em out HERE.

this shot almost resulted in the tragic death of my 35mm lens and one of my cameras. well worth it, though.

new dvd cases | misc.

2009-02-12T00:10:00.001-08:00

i should be packing now, but i wanted to post up some shots of the new cases i'm using to carry DVD's of clients photographs. i'm pretty stoked on the look of these, and on the fact that they're a very "green" product.

already sent out a few, and i'm looking forward to sending out lots more this year!

Bryan and Kim | wedding

2009-02-07T16:00:00.001-08:00

another awesome 2008 wedding. that never made the blog. but my blog-fail days are behind me.

hope you enjoy this set. one of the happiest couples i've had the pleasure of working with, and kim's smile is positively infectious.

today's image | misc.

2009-02-03T15:08:00.001-08:00

today (almost) feels like summer, so here's an image of some dear friends that always makes me think of summer.

international district, Seattle | Misc.

2009-02-02T14:26:00.001-08:00

it's not often enough that i shoot just to shoot, just to make images. it's definitely refreshing and challenging when i do, and one of my New Year's commitments should be to do it more.

here's just a few from a couple days ago.

Jense and Lauralee | wedding

2009-01-27T17:40:00.001-08:00

so, to follow up on their engagement shoot below, here's Jense and Lauralee's amazing wedding. i LOVE the images i got on their day. such a fun day! nice light and lots of attractive, fun people. gotta love my job! The Manor was such a great venue, too. nice touches throughout, and the grounds were a beautiful setting for an outdoor wedding, and some cool photos.

gotta give the groomsmen credit for this idea, it was pretty sweet, haha.

lauralee and her mum.

my competition, haha.

i love this series.

Jense and Lauralee | eShoot

2009-01-21T12:09:00.001-08:00

ask me what i learned about blogging, this year.

hey thanks, glad you asked. i learned that shooting a bunch of weddings can make an already blog-slacker even worse! so i'm continuing to post weddings and engagments from '08, and i'll be working '09's into it as well.

jense and lauralee's engagement shoot was at DeLille Cellars, this beautiful venue out in Woodinville wine country. their wedding was hands down one of my favs of the year. awesome couple, awesome day.

Amy and Patrick | eShoot

2009-01-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

so, i'm still posting lots of shoots from last year. this was one of my favorite eShoots from this year. i love Amy and Patrick's story ... how they met, how they grew together. i had a great time at their wedding this past saturday. photos from that in the near future.

christmas and new years | misc.

2009-01-05T16:46:00.001-08:00

hope everyone had a great time celebrating some (or all) of the holidays over the last couple weeks. i know i did! it was fun/weird being so disconnected for so long. no blackberry, no laptop.

i made some photos that i really like, while i was out an about.

+10 internet points if you see two couples in these photos who's weddings i shot.

straight out of the camera... no photoshop, no filters.

happy new 2009, everyone. hope you got to kiss the person you wanted to when the clock struck 12.

oops!

2008-12-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

sketchy weather

too much fun

epic fail. be careful out there, kids!

Wedding Book goodness | misc

2008-12-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

just got in another awesome album, and wanted to put up a couple pictures. i'm really loving these books. the leather covers are incredibly soft and wrap around the covers perfectly. nice, thick pages that won't get bent corners easily, and do a great job of showing off the print quality. i really like how flat they lay, too, and the fact that the gutter really doesn't mess up the print at all. the print quality is amazing, too. Every bit as good as any print I've ordered. overall, just really high quality handmade albums. big thumbs up to KISS.

hope everyone had a sweet Thanksgiving. i know i did, once i recovered from my food-induced coma.

cheers. hope the rest of your holiday season is brilliant!

fall music | MISC.

2008-11-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

just wanted to post up some sweet tunes that I’ve been listening to over the last month or two. some different styles, so there’s a little something for everyone.

Greg Laswell – Three Flights From Alto Nido

definitely one of my fav’s of the whole year. intricate, atmospheric, fantastic vocals. my top tracks are: #4, “Comes and Goes (in Waves)”; #8, “I’d be Lying”; and I think the best song on the album: #11 “And Then You”.

Common Market – Tobacco Road

besides Optimus Rhyme, these guys are my favorite seattle hip-hop artists. check them out if you like hip-hop with a message beyond cash, big wheels, and women of ill repute. super talented.

Joshua James – Fields & Floods

james is someone I never get tired of listening to. thoughtful storytelling, a unique voice, and a truly gifted musician. all his albums are great, but this one has some Christmas tracks on it, which makes it THAT much cooler. good folk music + Christmas = sweeter than santa.

Joshua Radin – Simple Times

generally happy music, but not saccharine-sweet like some music. just right. I like track #1, “One of These Days”. i think it hits home for people who’ve loved and lost.

Matt Pond PA – Last Light

not really a new album, but it never gets old. the guy can write some brilliant lyrics. he does a great job at avoiding clichés, and really evoking some emotions and tangible imagery. if #2, “People Have a Way” doesn’t get your head bobbing and your feet tapping … you’ve probably flat-lined.

William Fitzsimmons

thanks to Kristy’s blog, I checked this album out, and promptly became obsessed. and that was before I heard the banjo. incredible hushed, urgent vocals, with lyrics that are obviously held close to fitzsimmon’s heart. sort of a somber album, but in a very good way. this is music for your soul. #4, “If You Would Come Back Home”, does it for me.

Underoath – Lost in the Sound of Separation

probably too heavy/hard for most people, but this album is a perfect evolution of Underoath’s music. I like how they’ve fleshed out their sound, and managed to grow their message, too.

Forrest and Erin | wedding

2008-11-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

Getting back to blogging some sweet weddings from this past summer and fall. Forrest and Erin got one of the hottest days of the summer for their wedding day ... I have to say, though, it was a totally awesome day. Lots of fun people, tons of sweet images.

Forrest is a great photographer in his spare time, and it's always cool to shoot for people who "get it". It was cool to watch these two begin their lives together ... it couldn't be more obvious that they were meant for each other. plus, they like good microbrews, which just cranks up the cool factor.

i love these next couple from their first sight of each other. it's always sweet when couples do this, as it gives you more time for photos (good), and a intimate moment for them to connect.

gotta love superfast lenses for low-light receptions. f/1.2-1.4 and ISO 6400 baby.

Yeasayer subway concert | miscellaneous

2008-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

so, thanks to natalie for showing me this today, it's so rad. awesome band, playing a concert, in the streets, on the subway, with just their voices, and spoons and beer bottles for instruments. might need to skip like 2 minutes into the video for the music.

the band is Yeasayer, and they're coming to seattle next month, so you should go.

one more:

seattle - sunriver - san diego

2008-10-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

this is gonna be a big one.

just got back from an awesome surprise trip from seattle down to san diego for my grandparents 50th anniversary. we stopped in sunriver, oregon on the way down. so fun, and so inspirational to see people in love through thick and thin, for 5 decades. came back with about a million photos of my ridiculously cute cousins, family, friends, puppies. such a great time! i had a devil of a time picking out pics to post, hence the massive image drop.

sunriver was FREEZINg ... like 13 degrees. awesome, especially when you pack for sunny san diego. it was cool to fly down on a smaller plane, too. much different, and more fun.

i did this whole trip with just one 50mm lens, too, which was very cool and a great challenge.

mount bachelor at 6am ... who needs tripods?

my mom and grandma.

one of the easiest kids to take good photos of, ever.

50 year old wedding album ... when wedding photography was $50 and you got 15 pics.

loved seeing my grandparents dancing like this... fifty years!

yeah, i get down.

had to throw this up, my awesome cousin Jenna took this. can't wait to see her develop her photography skills.

i think i'm in love.

that's my camera strap in his mouth.

seattle (44degrees) < san diego (79degrees)

2008-10-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

be back in a few days. :) i'm off enjoying the land of my birth ... socal!

XDR-TB slideshow

2008-10-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

so, a little departure from the usual. one of my favorite photographers, and a huge inspiration to me, James Nachtwey, shot these images for a topic that he feels strongly about.

i think this goes a long way to show both the power of still imagery, and also how much we need to keep our eyes and hearts open to what's going on around the world.

Anthony and Jennifer | eShoot

2008-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

i've got a bunch o' weddings and eshoots to post, so I'm just putting them up in basically random order.

anthony and jennifer are such a fun couple ... gotta love when you have clients that are the type of people you'd hang out and party with anyway. and these guys know how to party.

Seattle to Pend Oreille | miscellaneous

2008-09-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

well, well. look who's blogging again. it's been a long break, but things have been super awesome and busy. been editing weddings faster than greased lightning, so stay tuned for some sick wedding and eShoot images.

for now, here's just a few from a little road trip we took out to Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho between wedding craziness.

Forrest and Erin | eShoot

2008-08-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

it's always fun shooting with people who're into photography, like Forrest. it's also fun shooting people like Forrest and Erin, in general. fun shooting fun people. just fun.

i had such a good time shooting their wedding a weekend or two ago, so expect a post from that soon.

Christi and Dave | eShoot

2008-08-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

got to shoot with Christi and Dave a while back. these guys know how to rock a shoot. they are to awesome what Batman is to a cape. get it? i do. i'm stoked for their wedding in a few weeks ... it's always fun times hanging with these two. on to the images!

dave dropped the new look on us.

David and Lexi | wedding

2008-08-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

i'm a little behind on blogging weddings, but a couple months ago i had the pleasure of capturing David and Lexi's two-day wedding. the first day was an awesomely colorful traditional Cambodian ceremony, and the second day was an equally fun American shindig.

day 1.

day 2.

loved this one of Lexi dancing with David's grandfather, who's well into his 90's and dances like a champ!

miscellaneous | summer .08

2008-08-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

just spending a quiet sunday editing, so i wanted to put up some fun randomness from the last month or so.

regularly scheduled wedding and engagement awesomeness will return this week. SO much to post!

this is my normal face. :)

Adam and Ari | just because

2008-08-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

adam and his sister ari are like two peas in a pod. because they came from the same pod. so to speak. too much info? i love these guys.

Emily | just because

2008-06-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

i love the sun. and it loves me. and you.

Adam and Ari | portrait preview

2008-06-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Had a super fun shoot with my good friend Adam and his sister Ari last week. Here's a little peek. This shot just makes me laugh, 'cause it's totally Adam.

Kim and Bryan | eShoot

2008-06-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Kim and Bryan definitely win the award for "earliest eShoot" ... we all got up early (ok, it just felt early) on a Sunday and went and shot around on this amazing, sunny, dewey morning. So much fun shooting with these guys. And an abundance of laughter and smiles is always good. Plus Bryan is a master beer brewer, and I still need to try some of that brew!

Joe and Kellyn | eShoot

2008-05-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Joe and Kellyn are professional laughers. And musicians, social workers, coolmakers ... but especially laughers. Don't try and tell me that's not a word, either, 'cause Google said it is.

I had a blast this last weekend shooting their wedding. Especially the llamas. More on that later. Their eShoot was mostly cold and wet, but rockstars don't even care about the weather.

Their relationship is amazingly deep, and that depth and intensity is part of the wellspring that their joy together flows from.

Melissa and Ross | eShoot

2008-05-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

I was pretty sure Melissa and Ross were going to be rad. I was totally right. Ross's Volvo is also exceedingly cool, if you ask me. These guys have a really special relationship, and it was so easy to see it when they looked at each other. Can't wait for their wedding ... thanks for being so entertaining and easy to shoot, guys!

photojournalism and MediaStorm | inspiration

2008-05-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is totally unrelated to weddings, but I feel like it's well worth sharing anyways. We all need to find inspiration from various sources, people, or events that speak to us. For me, photojournalism is a huge inspiration for me, and a challenge and aspiration. There's so much going on in our world that we're simply unaware of, whether unintentionally or otherwise. We live in an amazing age for sharing information across the globe.

MediaStorm isn't a particularly new company/initiative, so some of you might have heard of them. But for the rest of y'all, I just wanted to put them in my own tiny limelight.

On top of being technically excellent in their combination of stills, video, and audio, the impact of their projects is brutally powerful. It's awesome seeing companies and individuals who are pushing the boundaries of media and journalism, and helping shape how we see the rest of the world. Glad there are eye openers like these out there.

All the projects are worth watching, but these two really struck me. The "Rape of a Nation" project by Marcus Bleasdale is incredible.

Bowling for Photographers...

2008-04-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Got to hang out with some swell people this past weekend for a little bday celebration for Chris Rhoads. Chris and Sarah were there, of course, keeping it real. Kristi Lloyd and her husband, Marianne and Jason, Crystal and Jason, Airika and Gerald, and Erwin Wijanto came to throw down, too.

I had a sweet time bowling some of the worst games of my life, and it's always fun hanging out with cool photographers. Next time I hope to bowl over 75.

I nicked some images from Erwin's blog ... we all made his camera the community camera for the night. Go check out the rest on his blog. Or just laugh at the super-flattering pictures of me, below :)

Jeremy and Katie | eShoot

2008-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and Katie are cool. But you already knew that. We had a lot of fun shooting around in the cherry blossoms and around UW's ginormous campus. I'm already counting down the days till their wedding! Well, I would be if I could count past 10. Haha, just kidding. I can totally count to 14.

Thanks for hanging out guys!

WPJA Q4 2007 Contest results

2008-04-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

I was clicking through all the fantastic shots from the winners of the WPJA's quarterly contest, and saw one that looked really familiar ... then I realized I shot it :). Pretty stoked to have an image place, now I just want to place higher!

Highly recommend checking out all the contest results ... there's some really inspirational stuff there.

New Zealand Ch. 2 | Wedding

2008-02-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

Even though I got to make an awesome vacation out of it, the real reason for my trip down under was to shoot the wedding of my dear friends Nick and Hannah. Nick is like a brother to me, ever since we lived together in college ... then he decided to go be a professional outdoorsman in New Zealand, and proceeded to meet, and woo, Hannah.

It was such a fun day, in an incredible setting in this green river valley. There was just so much love and friendship ... everyone was happy and having a blast. Nick and Hannah are super into each other, which makes my job that much better and easier. Enjoy the huge picture post!

Miss you guys, and big thanks to Hannah's family for their unflagging hospitality.

Incredible sunset the night before the wedding

Hannah is an incredible designer and seamstress, and did a stunning job making her own wedding dress, and the bridesmaids' dresses. So cool!

Our transportation for the day were these sweet vintage cars ... got so many looks cruising in these!

New Zealand | Chapter 1

2008-02-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

So, it's taken me forever to blog the pictures from New Zealand ... between moving, and working on new shoots, these personal images got a little buried.

Getting there was a long flight, and I was a little worried, since the weight limit for carryon's was 5kg, and my bag with my camera gear and laptop was 19kg. Oops. The people were all sweet about it though, and let it slide when I told them what was in it.

New Zealand is a truly incredible country. I was so stoked to go there, and it did NOT disappoint. Not only was the weather gorgeous (except the couple rainy days), but the people were super cool. It was a little dodgy having to learn how to drive on the left (not knowing any of the rules of the road), for the first time, in the biggest city in the country. But it just made the adventure that much better.

After the wedding, a few friends and I just rented a car and drove around the amazing South Island, camping everywhere from Nelson, Wharariki, Haast, Queenstown, and back up through Christchurch.

I'll save the wedding photos for the next post, this weekend. Enjoy...

The aptly named "One Tree Hill".

This area in NZ, called Pupu Springs, apparently has the 2nd clearest waters in the world. The first is the water in Lake Vostok, under the ice in Antarctica. It was absolutely crystal clear ... so cool.

There really are THAT many sheep down there. They probably outnumber people like 20:1...

Feeding the weka's ... funny little dudes.

I'm not really that into landscape photography, but seeing places like this, it's impossible not to just shoot it.

This is how photographers camp ... laptops and camera gear everywhere!

Never seen so many stars in my life. For the curious, I used the 24mm f/1.4L lens for a lot of the trip, and it especially rocked for the star pictures. It let's in so much light, and is still pretty wide, which makes it a seriously versatile lens.

I figured, "They're just kidding, right?", and wandered on past it, and proceeded to climb up some slickrock bluffs, and then nearly got rimrocked (when you climb up something, but can't climb back down), and then nearly fell into the rushing glacial river :). It was pretty fun.

This was the only penguin I saw the whole trip, sadly.

Bungy jumping in Queenstown was so sweet! Man, what a rush, jumping headfirst off a bridge, and having the rope stop you right as your head dips into the river 160 feet below you. That's me above...

up, up, and away...

2007-12-27T20:28:00.001-08:00

So, in the midst of trying to pack for travelling, and pack so I can move out of my apartment and (hopefully) into a new townhouse ... I somehow am blogging twice in one day. It's a Christmas miracle :)

I leave tomorrow for Los Angeles, and then the next day jump on a 12.5 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand, and then down to the town of Nelson, on the South Island. It really hasn't even hit me how excited I am. I get to shoot the wedding of some awesome people (one of whom is like a brother to me), in one of the most incredible places on the planet. As if that wasn't enough, I have the blessing to be able to coast around New Zealand for a couple weeks, and then head up to relax on the beach in Fiji, before coming back to good ol' rainy Seattle :).

Just over 16,000 miles of flying ... let's all pray for an aisle seat!

I will try to blog as I'm there, but I'm really not sure when/where I'll have internet access, since we'll be travelling most of the time.

If anyone from NZ happens to read this, call me or email me, and let's kick it while I'm down there.

Hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas, filled with family and fun and love and all that good stuff. Spending time with my family is always so much fun, and we got a kick out of this next image ... time flies! My boots from age 4ish, and now, at 24.

Kara, Gavin, and fam | portraits

2007-12-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

Kara and Gavin asked me to come create some portraits/lifestyle images of their beautiful family (dog included, of course :) ), a few weeks back. We were blessed with perfect weather and had a great time shooting. It's always fun when I get creative freedom when I shoot, to capture people and families as they really are, not in cramped, static poses ... and when they get to show off their character. Thanks, guys!

p.s. When I said I had fun news, "in a couple days", I had no idea it would turn into like a month. My bad, I suck at blogging sometimes! Anyhow, the news is that I leave soon (tomorrow) to shoot an awesome destination wedding in a country I've always wanted to visit, since I saw Lord of the Rings.

First, some of the images from Gavin+Kara+fam's shoot.

Wedding Photojournalists Association

2007-10-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

So, I found out the other day that I was accepted into the WPJA ... sweet! I'm excited to be a part of a group that has so many consistently talented wedding photojournalists.

I was REALLY looking forward to entering some of my images into their quarterly contest, but it looks like the payment and the whole process of getting my account set up made it so I barely missed the deadline. So sad. Next time. I was so stoked about it partly because the judges for this quarter (and hopefully other quarters), are some of the members of VII, a photo agency comprised of some of the world's best photojournalists (James Nachtwey, Lauren Greenfield and Antonin Kratochvil are particularly amazing). How cool would it be to have some of my heroes judging my images?

I'll have some new blog material in a day or two ... and something that I'm getting pretty excited about, and may be able to share on here soon. Couple good ideas bouncing around in Ye Olde Skull of mine.

Jessica and Stephen | slideshow

2007-10-12T18:52:00.001-07:00

Here's the slideshow from Jessica and Stephen's beautiful wedding ... enjoy, peoples :). Crank the speakers!

jessica + stephen | wedding

2007-10-03T14:19:00.001-07:00

Jessica and Stephen tied the knot a couple weeks ago at the beautiful Bella Luca Gardens in Snohomish, WA. It was an awesome, hot, colorful and emotional day. This was officially the first time I've (almost) cried at a wedding ... the bond between Jess and Stephen, and Jess and her dad especially, was really moving.

I had a heck of a time picking out less than 1 billion photos to blog, so I apologize if it loads a little slow.

I loved being there for your day guys!

i loved this sequence right before Jessica and her dad walked down the aisle...

I think Jessica's hand slipped when she was feeding Stephen the cake. Oops ;)

Congrats again, guys, I hope your new life is blessed beyond belief.

New blog!

2007-09-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not really new, per se ... but I tweaked it a little, and I think it fits me and the rest of the "look" I'm going for, better than the old one. I like my wedding photography to be "clean" and poignant, and I like websites/blogs the same way - almost minimalistic.

The best part is that I figured out how to get bigger images! I hate the small ones, and having to click to see big images ... so I'm pretty happy about this. Let me know what you think :)

-ryan

bryan + jane with sean flanigan

2007-09-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Jane and Bryan were hitched a couple weeks back at the very cool Windmill Gardens in Sumner, WA. I had an awesome time shooting with one of my favorite photographers, Sean Flanigan ... check out his killer shots from the wedding on his blog. Despite all the rain and generally sogginess, it was a really special day, and I had a lot of fun shooting the beautiful bride and her super cool groom. Thanks for having me, Jane, Bryan and Sean!

p.s. sorry I'm behind on blogging! I have an awesome wedding to post up here very soon...

- Ryan

Megan + Aaron

2007-08-21T20:50:00.001-07:00

I loved this moment from their first sight of each other ...

It hadn't rained on Megan and Aaron's wedding day in 120 years ... and when it rained all day, they were incredibly calm and we all rejoiced when we got 30 minutes of nice weather for the ceremony! I loved being a part of their beautiful wedding, and had a blast shooting the beautiful couple throughout the day. All the best to you guys...

As usual, click for bigger pics :)

ryan

Dan + Jenny

2007-08-17T01:18:00.000-07:00

So ... I'm a bad blog-updater-man. But it's ok, I'm getting back on the horse.

Dan has been one of my closest friends since we were lame little freshmen in high school ... which seems like forever ago (forever = almost 9 years). Now we're older and a little cooler, and he and his very cool wife are moving to Boston, so I wanted to get a couple stylin' photos of them before they leave.

Miss ya guys!

Jessica + Stephen | e-session

2007-06-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Back in the day Jessica lived in the dorm room above my roommate and I, and we used to communicate by stomping and pounding on the floor or ceiling ... Morse code is more effective than you might think!

Jessica and Stephen have had a long road leading to their committment to spend their lives together. Their relationship is deep and beautiful, as is their love for each other. They're both sharp as whips, and they'll do incredible things over the next decades.

Click the pics to make them bigger :)

Bless you both!

- ryan

Doug and Meghan | Wedding

2007-06-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've known Doug for a while, and he's always been one of the best guys I know. Hard to explain it beyond that ... he's the guy that manages to be a cool dude and the guy that moms want their daughter to marry. Doug and his new wife, Meghan, are so genuine, kind, and fun.

We had some gorgeous weather for their Seattle wedding, and I had a blast photographing all the precious, fleeting moments of their day.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your wedding day, guys ... I wish you a beautiful life together.

Caitlin - senior portrait session

2007-04-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I've had an actual shoot with my awesome "little" sister, Caitlin. I still can't believe she's graduating this year, I can't say how old that makes me feel! We had a fun time shooting around in Seattle ... thanks for being a good sport even when the location was a little sketchy looking :)

Enjoy!

e-session with Megan and Aaron ...

2007-03-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

I went out with two close friends of mine and did a super fun engagement session ... and ... we were lucky enough to catch a gorgeous early spring day in Seattle. It's been so rainy lately I'm still amazed we got such nice weather!

Shooting with these guys was so easy and fun ... they made my job a piece-o-cake, since they're so relaxed (and beautiful) and totally head-over-heels for each other. I wanted to get some great portraits of them individually, too, since they'll be an ocean apart for a couple months before their wedding.

Enjoy your photos, guys, thanks for being awesome :)

...Peru photo-post, finally!...

2006-09-06T01:27:00.000-07:00

So, this took forever and a day to get all the pictures processed and edited, and then downsized and uploaded to here.

My excuse is that my desktop won't connect to the internet anymore, so I have to do double steps and do it through my laptop.

There's a lot of pictures, so if you have a slow connection, go get some coffee and wait. Click the small versions to get a bigger image. These are only my favorite 50ish images out of about 800, so if you want all of them (since there are lots more, with more snaps of people in the group, etc), on a CD or DVD, email me or leave a comment here, and we'll do that. If you happen to want any of them printed, tell me so I can get you a full-resolution version.

Because of this page's formatting, the trip runs "backwards" - the pictures towards the top of the page are from the end of the trip; the pictures on the bottom of the page, are from the start of the trip.

Peru was an amazing place. As we hiked the Inca trail, and walked through the Andes mountains that were dotted with ancient ruins, it was one of the most memorable trips I've taken.

Hope you like looking at these half as much as I liked taking them!

View from the main Plaza de Armas in Cusco, Peru.

The taxis, and drivers in general, were crazy.

On our last day there, we got to wander through the sights and sounds of a religious festival, I think it was celebrating the ascension of the 'Blessed Virgin'.
I have no idea what this guy has to do with a Catholic festival?
The cars really don't stop for pedestrians...

My dad, happy we finally found somewhere that serves espresso.

On our train ride back from Machu Picchu to Cusco, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere... and a large group of kids just surrounded the train, hoping to score some easy money off the blancito tourists. Instead, I opened the doors in our boxcar, and one of the girls in our group started handing out stickers to the kids. As soon as the other kids realized there were stickers to be had, there was nearly a riot. Definitely one of the most memorable moments of the trip, for me. Not just because it was funny, but because some cheap little stickers could be such a huge deal, and bring so much happiness to these kids...

One of our amazing guides, getting to relax on the trainride back with us...of course, you can't relax in Peru without Cusquena.

Our porters were awesome. The trip would have been a lot different (to say the least) without them, and it was a bonus that they were such cool people. After the trek, we had the good luck to run into a couple of the porters in Aguas Caliente.

Touring Machu Picchu (with a billion other people)

I wish I knew what this animal was...

Setting foot onto the site of Machu Picchu:
One of my favorite frames I shot on this trip: morning sunrise coming through in Incan Sun Gate, illuminating Machu Picchu, and Huayna Picchu. Pretty unforgetable sight, and an awesome way to end our hike.
Nearing the end of the Inca Trail:
Looking out over a huge valley, from the top of an Incan terracing site.
Tents at night...
One of the many Incan tunnels (or "inca toenails" as the guides pronounced it) along the trail:
The everpresent llamas:

Looking down from the top of Dead Woman's Pass (~13,500 ft. elevation). We started at the bottom of the valley in this shot, and hiked up in about 4 or 5 hours. If you ask me, it was pretty brutal.

Looking out over the Sacred Valley.
Before we started our hike, we got to stop in a tiny Amerindian community to do some shopping and sightseeing and give out some school supplies. It was cool to watch the women dying and weaving the llama wool into the rugs and hats and everything else.

The kids were impossibly photogenic.