Ryan Phillips Blog

Carrie and I have been talking about shooting high school seniors for years now and we are just months away from rolling out our full program and a new array of products. I’d like to thank Paulina Gretzky for being our test model and 08′ cover girl. She is absolutely stunning and a complete natural in front of the camera but that’s not hard to believe when your dad is Wayne Gretzky and your mom is Janet Jones. She is an aspiring singer and actress and you can check out her music HERE. We shot the last few back in December while at their house shooting the family for their x-mas card.

We are only doing a limited number of shoots for 2008, 25 to be exact so don’t drag your feet on this one. If the idea of a cap and gown shoot or bad posed pictures of you on a fence make your head spin than this might be for you. We are producing full blown fashion shoots that fit your style. Basic shoots start @ $500 and include a make-up artist. We offer a full list of services from advanced hair and make-up to custom chairs, props and backdrops. For our senior shoots we have lined up an exclusive deal with Cathryn Van Breene and The Studio Agency. Cathryn is one of the most recognized make up artists in the industry and has graced the covers of Elle, Los Angeles Magazine, Grace Ormonde and Martha Stewart to name a few.

I met up with Thao and Shawn in downtown LA for a little urban engagement session. Thao has such great style and wore this really cool 1950’s style dress. They are getting married at a fabulous private estate in the hills of Malibu. 
Check it out.  Villa De La Vina 

We met Kadie a few years ago and were so excited to hear that she just got engaged. She is the Store Manager for Monique Lhuillier’s Beverly Hills Store. She and Justin are from Chicago and are the friendliest people! We had a great shoot that started inside the store and then hit some other favorite spots around town. Kadie wore a killer pair of Prada shoes with flower heels.

We had a great session with Kristin and Dave in Los Angeles a few weeks ago. Their wedding is coming up fast in a few weeks at The Adamson House in Malibu. We had lots of fun cruising around Beverly Hills taking pics. Enjoy…  

A friend of mine, lets just call him “Joe” said I am way too long winded and post too many images so we are unrolling a new format here for future blogs. We will put the vital details in a list at the top and keep the images to a minimum :-) Now with that said, I am going to talk a little bit about Clara and Shaun since they are one of my favorite couples :-) It was a pleasure watching them get married, they are so in love with each other. They are also unbelievably nice to everyone around them. You could see it on the faces of all the guests too.   

The Details…

Location: Huntington Hilton

Coordination: Serenity Events, Caroline Chang (She Rocks!) 

Florist: The Spiraled Stem

Hair and Make-Up: Joyce Luck 

A few people have recently written and wanted to know what I took to shoot the Mexico wedding so here it is…

The Hardware:

2 Mark III 1D’s
2 5D’s
1 D60 converted for IR

The Glass:

1 400mm 2.8 lens (a.k.a. The Beast”)
1 70-200mm IS 2.8L
1 100mm Macro
2 85mm 1.2L1 50mm 1.4L1 45mm Tilt Shift
2 35mm 1.4L
1 28-105mm
1 17-35mm
And last but not least the new bad boy on the block…my new 14mm 2.8L Recti-Linear It’s Like a fish eye but without the fish part. Tack sharp corner to corner!)

Lighting:

5 580 EX Flashes
4 Pocket WizardsBitchin new Acute 600r battery Pack (1200 w/s)
3 CP-E3 Battery PacksAbout 100GB of CF cards (2 CF readers)
1 Foldable light stand
Sekonic 558 Light Meter
IR Transmitter (completely unnecessary :-)

Back-Up:

2 Epson P-4000 downloaders
1 15 inch Mac Laptop
A stack of DVD’s
1 160gb Shock-Proof Lacie Drive

Other Randomness:

1 Tripod (neotec with side handled pistol grip)
1 Wimberly Carbon Fiber mon-pod for “The Beast”
64 rechargeable batteries and assorted Camera batteries, chargers, cable releases, cords, bags, rolling cases, wires, CF card cases, etc…