Washington-scape: Rear View
[Boy selling flowers on NY Ave]
Welcome to My World
06/26/09 I’m getting the hang of this photo-blogging thing! For those of you just joining me here – thanks and welcome to snarkinfested! It’s a mash up of my personal and professional photography which I started back in April. For the first month or so now I’ve just been concentrating on the boring basics like layout and photo size, etc. Very soon though, I’ll be rolling out more content and features including listings of up-coming events and interviews with photographers and photo editors I admire. “Washington Portrait” – a series of candid and posed portraits I’ve made in DC – will become a regular feature as will something I call “Washington-scape.” Guess what that is about.
Savvy viewers will notice certain themes developing and subjects I consistently photograph. First of all, I’m from a large family and I like to take photos of them.
[nephews Declan and Eamonn]
I started out as a photographer by taking pix of my family. I can’t remember how old I was when Dad taught me about f-stop and shutter speed but I was very young – maybe 6 or 7. I naturally began by photographing the people I love most.
I’m very interested in politics.
[Candidate Obama shakes hands at the Society of Irish Women Dinner in Scranton, PA on St. Patrick's Day 2008]
Washington is a company town. I grew up here. My parents had friends from across the political spectrum and it was fun to hear them argue at parties growing up. I’m fascinated by politics as history. I collected presidential campaign pins as a kid. I’ve worked on campaigns. I’ve covered Capitol Hill and the White House as a photographer and photo editor for a couple of newspapers.
Which leads me to journalism and the media . . .
[Media horde surrounds presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani as he meets and greets on the streets of Nashua, NH 2008]
Some of my best friends are journalists. Hah!
I cover DC’s social scene.
[Actor George Clooney holds court at a party at The Palm restaurant.]
My fashion shooting consists of a bunch of commercial assignments; many, many comp cards/portfolio pix.
[Ashl'y 2007]
DC is not even close to NYC in terms of fashion but every year there are more local designers and fashion shows, etc.
Finally, I’m interested in photography as an art form and I want to use this blog to talk about all types of photography not just my own.
I’m pleased and surprised at the number of hits I’ve been getting since I’ve only told a few people about this experiment. Thanks again for stopping by.
The Philanthropist Premiere
06/24/09 Actor James Purefoy star of NBC’s “The Philanthropist” chats with Kareem Dale, President Obama’s Special Assistant for Arts and Culture at the show’s premiere in Washington, DC.
From the press release: “The Philanthropist chronicles the heroic adventures of a billionaire turned vigilante philanthropist.” The purple prose reminded me of the old Johnny Dollar radio program which revolved around a “fabulous” freelance insurance investigator “with the action-packed expense account.” The “vigilante philanthropist” idea is amusing. Does he forcibly give money to people who don’t want it?
Washington Portrait: Patrick Okura
06/23/09 I took this photo following the opening ceremony and dedication of the National Japanese American Memorial in June of 2001. The memorial honors the loyalty and courage of Japanese Americans during World War II. Patrick Okura points to the name of his younger brother Susumu inscribed on the memorial wall. Sususmu Okura died in combat in Italy in November 1944 after joining the U.S. Army from an internment camp.
Street Photography
06/19/09 Wikipedia gives a good but bland definition of Street Photography.
Here’s a half dozen examples of my work:
“Thrasher” Los Angeles 1997
Tommy
Midway Charles County Fair
Untitled
Asleep in line outside the Uptown Theatre in DC for the premiere of The Phantom Menace 1999
Girl With Tattoo (Little Tokyo, LA 2000)
Photo Collage
06/17/09 Here’s what my photo collage work looks like. Some of these are digital images stitched together in Photoshop but most are cut up prints pasted on white board. I like the primitive feel of the physical prints. I notice that when I work with digital images in collage, I focus more on the graphic or the look of the image while with the prints I am more interested in conveying a thought or emotion. All of these works are for sale, btw and the prints do not have my copyright notice plastered on them.
Untitled (On Melrose 1998)
I use repetition as a theme in my photo collage work.
Of2Minds
Preacher in front of White House
Bus9626OutOfService (Protesters at ’04 GOP Convention in NYC are carted off to jail in city bus). The print version of this digital collage is 6 feet long.
4 Seasons Hotel in Georgetown
Outside Ford’s Theatre
06/14/09 On 10th Street just outside Ford’s Theatre.
Dairy Rotunda
06/11/09 Boring dinner in a ballroom of the Capital Hilton. It’s always a strange feeling to be back in the room where I had Senior Prom.
Galapagos
06/12/09 This post is in response to a request from my friend Jim Allen who asked me to show some of the photos I took in the Galapagos islands a couple years ago. Here you go Jim!
I’m not a wildlife photographer. The closest I get to that kind of work would be, for example, the photo of a chipmunk killed by my dog Jenny I posted on facebook page the other day. It’s a bit of a fluke how I wound up on the Equator photographing Blue Footed Boobies and Marine Iguanas. In January of 2006, I was bound for Iraq and combat zone photography. Two days before departure however the trip was canceled because the reporter who was going to Baghdad with me could not make it. So here I was all dressed up – in my Under Amour and Kevlar – with no place to go. I had a chunk of time on my hands. One thing led to another and I found myself aboard the MV Santa Cruz making stops at the islands of San Christobal, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Genovesa, N. Seymour Island, Bartolomé, Santiago and Baltra. The natural beauty of the islands and the fascinating variety of wildlife is simply amazing. The animals have no natural predators so they are totally unafraid of humans. You can walk right up to within inches of just about every bird and reptile and photograph them as if they were statues.
Blue Footed Boobies always nest on the ground while Red Footed Boobies only nest in trees.
Giant Glapagos Tortoise
Frigate bird
The vegetation and topography varies wildly from one island to the next.
Red Footed Boobies
Iguana
Weed Man Book Party
06/11/09 Very fun book party last night at The Tackle Box in Georgetown for John McCaslin’s Weed Man.
From the dust jacket: “The Remarkable Journey of Jimmy Divine – is John McCaslin’s account of the unbelievable exploits of a Jimmy Moree – a law-abiding citizen turned million-dollar drug trafficker, who, amidst sometimes unbelievable, hilarious and escalating circumstances, risked life and limb to both make – and give away – a fortune.”
McCaslin signs a copy of his book.
Maybe it was the unusual venue but this was a smashing party. John has a lot of interesting people for friends and movie star Owen Wilson wandered in at one point. The appetizers were real food – generous portions of fish tacos, fried oysters and shrimp. Then there were the frozen margaritas. They hit the spot after a gruelingly hot day. The company I kept was stellar as well – the lovely Liba Z stunned onlookers. My brother Tim survived a harrowing cab ride to make the event. Kelly D. warned me about the dangers of Hot Yoga. Our friend Doug H. regaled us with his vast collection of tales from the military.
Doug and Liba
Revelry.
Red Sky At Night
06/09/09 I left the house at 5:45 am this morning and drove across the river to Virginia and right into a thunderstorm I could see approaching. Torrential rain with thunder and lightning right on top of me. We had a major thunderstorm again this evening as a bookend on the day. A house in my neighborhood was struck by lightning and DCFD sent all of their trucks – or a lot of them at any rate. After the storm passed, the sunset burned bright red for about twenty minutes before extinguishing. This photo does not do justice to the deep, deep red I saw with the naked eye.
McAuliffe Votes
06/09/09 Gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe casts his vote in the Democratic primary at Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Va. Photo © 2009 by Patrick G. Ryan
Roxana
06/08/09 Here are some more images of lovely Roxana from my studio shoot on Saturday. Makeup by Lindsey Clark Hansen.
Al Called Me
06/08/09 I got a call last night from my friend Al Eisele who was enthused about snarkinfested.com and was especially taken with the image I posted of a then Senator Obama at the White House where he was remarkably NOT the center of attention. I thanked him and reminded him of a photo I took of him with our current President a couple years back. Al had forgotten about it so I sent it along.
This was taken on 03/09/06 at a party to celebrate the new hq for the Tribune Co. in the old Woodies Building downtown. Al is telling a joke and I can’t remember if it’s a dirty one but clearly he’s enjoying it as much as his audience. It’s great to go to an event in Washington with Al. He’s been involved in politics and journalism for so long that he knows everybody. He’s also very curious about people and not shy about introducing himself and asking questions. If Al goes to a party and does not know everyone, he will make a point to know them by the end of the event. And this curiosity does not apply exclusively to the VIPs. Al talks to the waiters and the bartenders and the maids and the taxi drivers and the doormen and the security people, etc. Al is constantly collecting stories. He never stops. It is a skill lacking in a lot of reporters who refuse to leave the newsroom or even talk to strangers for that matter. They make their living re-working press releases and “covering” events they watch on TV. Why bother? Where is the fun in that? Don’t get me started on the vast majority of bloggers – the guys who sit in their underwear all day commenting on what some other blog wrote about what some other blog wrote about what some other blog wrote about an actual event in the real world. They have as much chance of coming up with an original insight or interview or reporting an unknown fact as a monkey does typing the complete works of Shakespeare. Al Eisele is the real deal.
Saturday Morning in Studio
06/06/09 I spent Saturday morning shooting at Pitchfork Studio on Capitol Hill. It’s a funky spot down a cobblestone alley located in the loft (a real loft – as in a place for hay) of what used to be a stables. I’ll post some more of the images I shot there later.
Cuteness Squared
06/05/09 Friday was a day of kindergarten graduations. My niece Fiona was first at 9 a.m. followed closely by my niece Maura at 10. Hard to imagine something as cute as a kindergarten graduation only to be followed by another.
Fiona is not camera shy.
Nor is Maura
Kythera
06/04/09 There’s a lot going on tomorrow night but I’m going to try and catch this
From the press release (pretty sure they meant to say the photographs and not the photographers will be available for purchase):
“Under the auspices of a J. William Fulbright grant, Williamson spent over a year living and photographing on the Greek island of Kythera . Over the years, Kythera has suffered through massive waves of emigration of its people in search of better opportunities abroad. These mass migrations have caused the population of Kythera to drop to a current mid-winter population of 2,500, leaving many villages laden with vacant homes and some completely abandoned. To the remaining Kytherians, these deserted homes and communities stand as visual reminders of a society once unified by tradition now transformed by ambitions of a different life abroad. The photographers will be available for purchase. Please RSVP to sep@wilsoncenter.org“
1/2 Dozen White House Backstage Pix
06/03/09 Over the weekend, I read The Boys on the Bus by Timothy Crouse. It tells the story of the 1972 Presidential race from the perspective of the reporters covering the contest. It’s one of those books that media types reference all the time even if they have not read it – in the same way English professors speak authoritatively on Joyce’s Ulysses; a novel I am convinced no human being has ever read in it’s entirety.
Boys was entertaining but things have changed so much from the era of typewriters and Western Union that it’s almost like reading about the election of Charles V to become Holy Roman Emperor. On the other hand, I was also struck by how things haven’t really changed at all.
At one point, Crouse tells the story of how the Nixon White House tried to move the press corps off the White House grounds and into the New Executive Office Building. They relented after howls of protest and wound up covering up the swimming pool LBJ used for skinny dipping and turning it into what is now the Press Briefing Room. The Briefing Room got a major overhaul in the last year of the Bush presidency and now looks like a set from Star Trek. It had become rather tattered and worn down over the years. After the success of the TV show West Wing it became popular for tourists to the White House to want to see the Briefing Room and they invariably would give a disappointed “Is this it?” when they were ushered in to have their photo taken behind the podium.
The book sparked memories of “behind the scenes” moments I’d had at the White House. Here are a half dozen of my atypical (meaning non Presidential photo-op) White House photos.
09/28/06 Sacha Baron Cohen, in the guise of his character Borat, attempts to gain entry to the White House in order to invite “the great warlord George Walter Bush” to a screening of his movie followed by a cocktail reception at Hooters. The officer at the gate was either an incredible straight man or had no clue about what was going on. This was before the Borat movie premiered.
9/15/03 Marine One takes off with President Bush aboard from the South Lawn of the White House.
03/30/04 Zipper check. David Gregory NBC, John Roberts CBS, Dana Bash CNN (standing on a box) and Terry Moran ABC prepare for telecast immediately following the President’s departure from the briefing room.
02/25/04 Fence jumper is arrested on the North front lawn of the White House. He shouted “I’m the victim of terrorism” over and over as he was hauled away.
04/25/06 Then Senator Obama (D Ill) leaves the West Wing after a meeting with President Bush on immigration. Notice how no one is paying any special attention to him.
09/27/02 Free Harry Goldgar, Telepath. Photo taken in front of the White House on Pennsylvannia Ave. as I rushed in for a press conference.
Polly
06/01/09 My dog Polly died last week. I thought I’d wait awhile before writing anything about her in order to do so unemotionally. But that’s a ridiculous thought since that day will never come.
Polly was a Black Lab. She lived to be 16 years old. So she was an old, old dog. Towards the end, she had trouble walking. We had to carry her up and down stairs. Her eyes were milky with cataracts and I’m pretty sure she was deaf. She was nonetheless always a very happy dog and she made the people around her happy.
I’ve probably taken thousands of pictures of her. Here are just three. When she was a pup, I’d make her sit for a photo and she’d jump straight up at the lens when she heard the shutter click. I shouldn’t have laughed the first time she did this because it became a game to her.
My Dad used to say that dogs are great teachers. They expertly teach the virtues of loyalty and unconditional love. They show us the power of Play. Finally, heartrendingly, they teach us that life is very short and has to be lived to the fullest.
Goodbye friend.
