studio Archives - New Jersey, Philadelphia, NYC Personal Branding, Commercial and Editorial Photographer

#fff Fashion Friday Flashback

June 3, 2016/0 Comments/in Editorial, Fashion Photography /by Deirdre Ryan

Back when we lived in Los Angeles, CA, I had a friend who is gorgeous and I asked her to be my fashion model for me. So, I rented a studio downtown, I had another friend created custom jewelry who wanted to have great shots of her stuff. My friends, my husband and I had a fabulous day of creating great images.

We were all so young, in our 2o’s, no kids(except my friend who modeled at the top) and just having fun! It was still difficult because we all were working to pay the rent, the bills, student loans(still have that), eat, and basically survive. I saved up to rent that studio and it was the cheapest one that I could find and I loved that space. Got it for $400 for a full day rate, it was in a loft not too far from us when we lived in downtown L.A. in the Pico Union District. I organized everything for that day, snacks, schedule, and someone makeup. It was all for portfolios, everyone loved the images.

This one was shot in the Sequoia National Forest, we had arrived too late to get further inside to see the larger trees. She made this 12 foot long kimono, so I had her get on top of this large rock. Shot using a Yashica Mat Twin lens camera with Fuji film.

Studio Portraits of a Beautiful Family

April 7, 2016/0 Comments/in Families and Children, Portraits /by Deirdre Ryan

People do ask if I can photograph their family and I can of course! Normally, I prefer to shoot in natural light outside, but with the bad weather we had here in NJ, an indoor session was what this family wanted.

Such a beautiful family! The boys were great! The youngest was acting his age of course. You need to be patient and try all the tricks in the book and work quickly, never stop shooting, or look away. Eons ago, while in art college, I worked for Expressly Portraits in the mall. There I learned how to photograph all kinds of people and work with them. I quickly learned how to be patient, and hone in on customer service skills. Unlike those days, I don’t need to rush my clients, I take my time, relax everyone, and work with everyone.

I got the shots my clients wanted, plus some great ones of the parents. Thank you for choosing me to be your photographer!

Mom wanted a photo of her and her “baby boy”.
His little brother didn’t want to get too close while standing up, so after this, I had them sit down.
Their mom and dad suggested they do something they like to do in the car, and it worked!

Studio Portraits Of My Friend Roseanne

March 7, 2016/2 Comments/in Editorial, Headshots, personal, Portraits /by Deirdre Ryan

My dear friend Roseanne has just opened her Pilates Fusion and Barre Fitness Studio here in Bordentown, NJ and I couldn’t be more proud of her! This tiny powerhouse, former ballerina, mother of three beautiful girls, juggles a full time job, teaches Pilates both as a group class and in private homes, and is a weightlifter who holds the record for bench press at 105 lbs! She won the First Place trophy for the World Natural Powerlifting Federation(WNPF). But something tells me that she can do much more than that 😉

The above and below images are used with the permission of Rosanne Joy.

So I asked if she could help me test out some lighting that I wanted to try out and she said sure! Her youngest came along, and it was perfect because my 9 year old and she could play upstairs together. We had such a good time, just the two of us, and the images of her turned out beautiful! But of course that’s mainly because she’s in them 🙂

Thank you so much to my beautiful friend! These were what I was looking for and more! I can’t wait for our next project together! Congratulations on your studio!

And thanks to my loving husband, David, who took this image after we shooed him away. As you can see, space is tight in our basement. It’s our family room, my office, and our daughter’s play area. I used one Dynalite strobe with a 46″ Photek Softlighter II Umbrella on it with a double sided 5’x7′ Savage popup black/white background. I also had a Savage 5 in 1 Reflector out to help modify the light a bit, that’s what the extra empty stand with the reflector clamps is there for. I tethered my Canon Mark 5D III to my Macbook Pro and used the Canon EF 85mm f1.8 lens.

Graceful Beauty

November 7, 2015/0 Comments/in Fashion Photography, personal, Portraits /by Deirdre Ryan Commercial Photography

I had a former ballerina model for me in Los Angeles and what you can’t see is the fun we had with a hair and makeup artist. Laughing between takes, she was a natural, with a few directions from me. What transpired is what you see below, beautiful, black and white photographs.