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.

POND the Band

 POND, Doctopus & Peter Bibby.

I shot bunch of Ausie psych bands in Seattle the other night in a small ass venue called Tractor Tavern. POND here, blew up in AUS a while ago and there slowly catching on over here. It was a core crew in the house with the front row all in love and on drugs.

I brought my Minolta srT 101 in with a roll of 3200 iso tmax film, and set my camera at f.2 and 1/60s.

Check out the rest of my photos from the night here.

My mind is going lucid inside itself.

Surfer: Noah Wegrich.

See? There is no one above us, just bodies below.

It's late afternoon and we stumble into an empty warehouse bar. We grab a beer and watch the dust particles dance as we move further inside. I recognize the song and tell the bar-back to turn it up until I can't recognize it anymore. We shyly pretend to dance. I want this buzz to keep going. The fringe of her dress trips her so the sun moves to catch her. She's on the hardwood floor with her blouse pulled down, and laughing. The stairs above her are lit, but I won't go.

Ghosts In The Field

Two years ago Rachel left school in Vancouver and returned home to Bainbridge Island (outside Seattle) to reset her life. One night, biking home from work she was hit by a careless driver just blocks from her family farm. She was bed ridden. With her new friends out of state, and old friends moved on she was depressed and alone.

"They held the ferry and everything to get to the ER on the mainland. I spent the night at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle listening to three people die on the other side of the curtain- a young kid in a car accident, and old addict, and a dude in a bar fight. It was terrifying and humbling. I wasn't treated for the whole night because I wasn't dying. Somehow I was grateful for that. But I didn't know if I had nerve damage and would walk again, so I was scared as fuck. My mobility is priceless. Luckily I'm just shorter than I used to be. I'm 23 and have the back of an 80 year old. I was stuck in a brace for three months. Depressed and on painkillers. I quit that shit fast. That's when I got my runty, weepy eyed cat named Bonzo from a sketchy woman off highway 99. You can also buy drugs or company by the hour. I was told I shouldn't keep him because he might not live very long. But we're both fine. He's honestly the only way I got through it."
 

As we walk away from the field she gives me a smirk and tells me that the earth below us is where her and her family buried their dead animals. "This hallowed ground we are standing on was dug when my first puppy, a chocolate lab named Josie, was hit by a car. There's two llamas, a blind alpaca, three cats a lizard and some fish."

It's been two years of healing. Rachel is very grateful for her current state of health. She's on route to becoming a naturopathic doctor at Bastyr University, and tomorrow is off to climb Mount Rainier. Jah Bless.

Now that we are lonely.