Ryan Phillips Blog

About 2 hours outside of Portland on the Oregon Coast sits a very real place called Lincoln City. The people are down to earth, the food is great, the scenery is intense and the weather is about the only unfriendly thing in the area. The weather, as harsh as it is, is what makes the coast tick. Crashing waves, big storms with heavy rain and temperatures well below freezing, is just another winter in Lincoln City. If the weather doesn’t destroy something, the salt in the air will cause even the heaviest of metals to rust in a season. We were hired by the new owners of one of the popular hotels in Lincoln City. The job is in two parts, the first was to document the fabric of the town for the website and hotel literature. Carrie, Ryder and I spent 4 amazing days on the coast. Even in the 30 degree weather and the rain this place is still amazing! We drove up and down the coast and experienced everything it had to offer. From old school candy shops and working fishing villages to big bold landscapes and quaint towns with only one restaurant, this place has it all. As one visitor described it, “It’s a place were I come to decompress. All my neuroses just fade away the second I arrive.” It is truly amazing to watch how relaxed people are here and how friendly they are to each other. Carrie and I can’t wait to go back for the 2nd part of the job, in the summer! The hotel is being completely transformed into a boutique hotel. It will be a very organic structure designed to be luxurious but not lose the flavor of the place and the people. It will be part of the culture while still being able to serve the areas needs of a high end hotel. If you are headed that way, call The Surftides, it is the best jumping off point for everything the coast has to offer…

The Surftides…

The Alder House is a very unique glass blowing place on the edge of Siletz Bay just south of Lincoln City. They close up shop for the winter but we were lucky enough to bump into Buzz walking down the road eating an apple. In true Oregonian fashion, he offered to take us back to the shop. open er’ up and give us a tour…

I know this may look disgusting but it was Gooooood! It was a bourbon sauce covered bbq smoked pulled park sandwich with a spicy slaw on it! Check out Quimby’s in Nye Beach to get yourself one of these bad boys! Ask for Jenny but hands off, she’s Ryder’s girl. She gave him a chocolate mint and he fell in love. He screamed her name the entire way back to Lincoln City:-)

Don’t forget to stop at the Hawk Street Cafe in Neskowin. This is one of our favorite towns along the way. Carrie and I may try to rent a beach house there next year.

Obviously not Los Angeles….

I’ll follow up this post in February with some really cool pieces of driftwood and other color, shapes and textures from the area. We have a collection of over 300 scenics from this trip and I am still sorting it all out.

This was such a fun session! The Picataggios are one of the coolest families I know. They own an uber-hip hotel in L.A called The Farmers Daughter. I highly recommend a stay there if you are headed into L.A. The hotel also boasts one of L.A’s finest restaurants, Tart. They are working on a new project on the Oregon Coast which I was lucky enough to photograph a few weeks ago. They purchased an unbelievable piece of property with 90 percent of the rooms having an oceanfront view. If you need to get away, call the Surftides now, and book a room. The town is what life was like before cell phones and internet. The people are the real deal and there is so much to do there. They are going to be remodeling the hotel over the next year and I am sure it will be nothing short of spectacular. I am blogging that trip later this weekend so check back in a couple of days for a VERY long post.  Anyway, they just moved into their new house and their oldest daughter was in from NYC for the holidays. Enjoy… 

So we finally made it through the portrait season…with over 60 sessions in the past 2.5 months!!! We’d like to thank all of our clients who came to see us again this year and hope to see our new clients again next year. We are still catching up from the holiday rush and will continue to post more amazing sessions over the next two weeks, so stay tuned.

The Ellis Family…We have been photographing Griffin since he learned to walk and it has been so cool to document him as he grows up.

Here is his new baby sister Paige… This was her first time at the beach…

The Handler Family…At their Lake Sherwood home. They have an amazing view of the lake!

Can’t forget the family dog, Bailey…

Victoria, Brennan and Jack…You may remember our friends from our recent trip to Argentina which you can see here. We just popped over the other day to get a few holiday pics for them. If you are wondering about where you can get a front door like that, Her dad made it. He owns a store called Argentina Polo & Leather

Christian…
This was the end of Baby’s first year package with the Martinez Family and Christian was a superstar like usual! Except for one little snafu seen below…

Apparently he doesn’t like Elephant noises…

Carrie and I just thought we would share some great news…This is the first of 6 published weddings out in magazines this year. I’ll keep the others a surprise but here’s the first, Amy and Scott’s Texas Wedding. The Knot Texas: 

To see more images from this wedding you can check it out at our old blog here…
http://www.ryanphillips.com/oldblog/C1741721601/E20070530230411/index.html

Teresa and Jim had a fabulous wedding at Adamson House in Malibu. They planned every last detail themselves and it was amazing! So sit back and enjoy…


Jim designed the invitations himself…not too shabby.


They had these amazing glass coolers with lemonade and hibiscus punch to cool the guests before the ceremony started.