Destroy and flourish

Photo by Ryan Muirhead

I've Only Heard of These Guys.

The other day Ryan Muirhead posted this portrait and said some beautiful things about my writing, work, and our time together. Like how it was nice to hang out with someone who could remove themselves from the photo scene. I agree, but the funny thing is after watching this guy shoot and talk about the science and math of photography, the zone system, and sunny 16, I saw a huge gap in my knowledge and was inspired to teach myself everything I shunned in art school. He is responsible for turning me on to buying my new equipment  (#LeicaM2 my Digital Pentax spot meter) and he is responsible for me, pulling dozens of books out from the library to study classic photographers and technique. Watching a living master in photography do his thing, then nerd out and be able to talk about life and death is hard to come by. Real hard. I've never met such a well versed artist who is so open to life, I've only heard of these guys (I wanna meet more!) It was a pleasure hanging out with you. Please check out his portraiture work- he's right where I want to be.

Ryan Muirhead

Have you ever called up the guy or girl who's several paces ahead of you in your career path in order to gain insight? I met up with one of my favorite photographers Ryan Muirhead Photography and had one of the heaviest draw dropping conversations on life and art and how deeply integrated they are for him. Here's Ryan with his favorite Leica, at home in his backyard in Portland, Oregon.