I <3 NY

In June 2009 I went to New York with photographer Ethan James to assist him with photo shoots he had lined up with various models and agencies. While there I had the opportunity to work with two photographers to build my own portfolio. The first was Paul Reitz.

Paul and I were scheduled to shoot at 10am so I naturally left 2 hours early just in case I got turned around or something. This was a great idea because I got lost for an hour (ha-ha). I roamed around Brooklyn, Queens, Ridgewood, and Chelsea until I finally found Paul's studio. Shooting with Paul was fun, the style was different than what he was usually shoots and I was eager to see the photos... it is now November and I have yet to see one photo from him.

The second photographer that I shot with was Sean Watters. When I first got to his studio we decided to run to Starbucks and grab a quick drink. This was a great idea, I had been shooting since 10 and it was now 3 so I needed to recharge. The shoot was so much fun. There was a fan, ribbons flying everywhere, and loud techno music to set the pace. I can't wait to go back and shoot with Sean again.

Here are the shots from Sean Watters... if I ever get shots from Paul maybe I'll show them here too.

Fine and Dandy with Randy

Hello everyone! Okay, so it's 5am on sunday morning and here I am with blog number two. Last weekend I had the chance to work with Randy. Randy is a good ole Alabama boy with an eye for photography (who knew 'bama boys were so creative?! JK!). He's a good guy with a great personality that had me laughing the entire time. He was shooting with two other models, Colton and David while he was in town to shoot with me. It was great to meet them and they did amazing work. They definitely proved that they knew what they were doing. And even though they were such great guys I wish that it would have been just Randy and I. Things felt a bit rushed and I think that it ended up being a little stressful for us all. However, we did get some great shots. Hopefully when I visit Randy in Alabama this summer it'll be just us so we can take things slow and just let things flow. I've attached a few of my favorite photos that Randy took below. Be sure to check them out!




To see the full size images visit my portfolio online at
http://www.modelmayhem.com/482566

Introducing Ryan Ripley

I’ve always had an interest in fashion, film, and photography. I’ve wanted to model but never thought I was good enough because I wasn’t a muscle man like you see in 100’s of commercial American ads. Even though I thought it was never going to be my career I decided to pursue it strictly as a hobby. Then, one day a friend of mine introduced me to someone who has become one of my closest friends, his name is Ethan James. Ethan and I have done numerous photo shoots. In these shoots he has taught me valuable things to help me with my modeling and one day I was contacted by Evolution Management in London England. They said they had been watching me for a couple months and they have seen how much I’ve improved since the beginning. They think that I have great potential in the European high fashion market and offered me representation. I of course was EXTATIC! I never thought that I would ever be noticed by a modeling agency (at least not in a good way) but here they were.

Even though I had people who believed in me and thought that I was talented and was improving all the time, I still didn’t feel like I was a model. All I saw when I looked in the mirror was a skinny 20 year old with amazing hair. Ha ha. Part of me didn’t want to accept the fact that I was attractive enough to be a model. When I looked at photos of American fashion labels all I could see were these muscled men and how I didn’t look like them, so this obviously meant that I wasn’t “model material.” WRONG! It took a little while but every day when I looked in the mirror I thought to myself “you are good enough, you are a model.” Slowly but surely I started to believe it and now I’m not shy to say that I’m a model. I no longer hesitate to tell someone because of what they might think, things such as “how is he a model?” or “who on earth would want to hire him?” But here I am, I’ve turned my hobby into a career. And even though I’m still developing my look and bettering my skills I know that I can do this and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.