Heidi Ryder Photography: The Blog » b school

Downtown Los Angeles Day Trip

Heidi — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:28:55 +0000

I have a couple of super fabulous weddings to blog, but until I’m ready to share them, I have some non-client work to share today. Last week I went on another day trip with a group of wedding and portrait photographers. I’ve gone a couple of times before. You may remember my posts from Calico Ghost Town, in B&W and Color, and my set from Salton Sea.

The purpose of these day trips is to stretch a different artistic muscle when we photograph and to make images that are just for us, not our clients. It’s a great time and at the end of each day trip I’m always very glad I went. This time we stayed closer to home and explored Downtown Los Angeles. We started at Union Station and hopped across the way to Olvera Street and then proceeded to walk to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Pershing Square, and then finally to the colorful Grand Central Market before heading back home on the train.

The best part about this day trip is my husband Chris tagged along! He’s not a photographer, and barely knows how to use a camera, but he’s been taking more of an interest in that world lately so I invited him along. I gave him one of my old DSLRs, showed him how to work a few settings and he went to town! He had a fantastic time and we’re in the process of editing his images now. He got some great stuff and looking at his images make me feel like a proud wife and teacher.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day. Enjoy!

Salton Sea Day Trip

Heidi — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:25:20 +0000

Earlier this week I set out on another day trip with a group of fellow photographers. You may remember my last excursion to Calico Ghost Town in November. Here are the images from that trip: Color and B&W. I had so much fun on that trip, I couldn’t wait for the next one. This time we headed out to the Salton Sea in Coachella Valley. The Salton Sea used to be a resort locale but now the lake bed is full of salt which has killed all of the fish living there as well as completely overrun any buildings or fixtures near the water. The place is completely abandoned now, save for people who are living off the grid in what can only be described as shanty towns. It really is quite eerie.

The Salton Sea is quite large so we made our first top at the North Shore. There was an abandoned building with an empty pool, the remnants of a playground and dilapidated trailer homes. Here are a few images from North Shore:

After we got our fill there, we drove over to Bombay Beach. This was the spot that really got me excited. Burnt down mobile homes littered the landscape and dead fish skeletons were everywhere. Not to mention the salt. Salt was encrusted on every inch of every object within 500 feet of the water. It really was something to see. Here are a few from that spot:

I had even more fun on this day trip and can’t wait to find out where we’re gonna go next. I got to hang out with some of my favorite photographers that I already knew and met some new people who were so awesome. Check out this rock star group (I stole this from Heather Kincaid‘s blog, I think it was taken with her camera):

Today I start packing for Vegas, baby! I will be heading out on Sunday for WPPI, the tradeshow for wedding and portrait photographers. I’m so excited! I will do my best to blog from Sin City, but dont’ count on it! Just kidding, totally count on it!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Heidi — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:44:54 +0000

I’ve always been one of those people who never wins anything. Competition makes me uncomfortable and I don’t like to lose, so I rarely participate in contests of any kind. Last month, though, I was compelled to enter one contest in particular because of one word. That word? JOWLER. In case you don’t know what a jowler is, there’s a great site dedicated to the artform that explains it perfectly. I first learned about jowlers several years ago from a friend of mine. He had me take a picture of him jowling while we were at a bar in Las Vegas. When handed me his camera and said, “I’m going to do a jowler,” I had no idea what that meant. I was mortified when he started flopping his head back and forth rapidly in the middle of this crowded bar. I snapped a photo and couldn’t stop laughing at the results. I’ve since taught many of my friends how to jowl and I’ve got a pretty nifty little collection of jowler photos that I keep handy in case I need to use them as blackmail later.

But, back to that contest. You’ve heard me mention the [B] School here before. Becker, the founder of the [B] School, together with a rowdy group of photographers known as THE MAMMOTH MEN, invited photographers to submit their best jowler photos. While it’s true I already had a very large pool of jowler photos to pull from, I decided to take a new one and my loving husband gladly stood in as my jowler model. While we were downtown doing our portrait swap with Jenny and Tyler, I decided to utilize part of the Los Angeles skyline for our jowler photo. I call it Jower and the City. Behold:

Hott stuff, right? Back off ladies, this one’s taken!!

Well, all of this is really a not-so short and to the point way of announcing that I WON! For my (and Chris’) efforts, I was awarded a Private School membership to the [B] School, which means I am now a lifetime member and I gain access to super special parts of the [B] School that regular members can’t see. It’s very exciting to me because the [B] School has proven to be a very valuable tool for me. I’m so glad I’m a part of it. And, now I’m a lifer! Thanks to Becker and The Mammoth Men for putting on a super cool contest!

Speaking of the [B] School, last night I hosted a get-together for Southern California [B] Schoolers. It was a potluck white elephant party and good times were had by all in attendance. The rain was pretty gnarly so several people couldn’t make it last minute, but we had a nice little group of photographers, I was very pleased! Here’s a few snapshots from last night:

Araxi of Araxi Photography, her husband Nick, and Jason Javier check something out on Jason’s Canon.

Matthew Saville rips into his gift.

Eric and Nicky of Eight20 Photography were there!

And so was Jenny from Fairytale Dreamer Photography! Here she is being amused by her gift.

Joel of Arellano Photography stole Eric’s sweet Lord of the Rings DVD. He’s so mischievous.

Brian Dreisbach was totally enamored with the awesome gift that I contributed to the party, as you can see. Who doesn’t love a snow globe?

Here’s Chris with his new friend, Chia Head Shrek.

Oh, and here’s Matt Saville–a die-hard Nikonian–holding a Canon. Guess he didn’t want any incriminating evidence to be posted on the Internet, though. Hehe.

And that’s about what I’ve been up to recently besides the usual holiday business that always happens this time fo year. Chris and I are heading to Colorado this week and we aren’t coming back until January. Woot! So excited. I will be doing some family portrait sessions while we’re out there so I’ll be sure to post those when I can!