It's a boy!

Welcome to the world, little one. Just a few months to go...

Fall 2013

There's something for everyone at Alexis Ryan Photography! Please feel free to like or share any of these photos on your own page to spread the word.

Now through the end of 2013, any 1-hour photo session also comes with an additional free 8x10 print, when you bring the promotional poster (found on the Alexis Ryan Photography facebook page) to your session!

 

Changes on the Blog

There are some big changes here on the blog - I hope you enjoy them. First - new background color! Black was getting a little gloomy. I thought with Spring in full bloom, something brighter was in order.

I have also added an ABOUT page, a CONTACT page, and a link to my SmugMug photography account and Facebook page.

I hope these new changes make navigating my blog easier and more enjoyable. Please feel free to comment below with any feedback you have! Thanks!

-Alexis Ryan Photography

Free Print!

There several promotions running right now with Alexis Ryan Photography. To celebrate 100 fans on Facebook, I am giving away a free 8x10 print with your next photo session booked in 2013. To top it off, if we make 115 fans by tonight at 8:00 pm EST, I will give a free one-hour session away to the first person to comment on the following status update.

If you haven't 'liked' Alexis Ryan Photography yet, please make sure to do so! And tell your friends!

Playgrounds and Growing Up

On the first day of Spring, Nathaniel and I took our son to Rita's for his very first taste of water ice. As the cool, lemony-sweet crystals dissolved on his tongue, he looked up at us with a beaming smile. It's the little things in life. Watching the world through his eyes is such a beautiful reminder of all the things we easily take for granted. Everything is new for him. Every bus that drives by is a "Bus! Bus! Bus!!!! Bye, bus." Every dog is an "Oof, oof!" When he is sad, he wants "Mum mum mum" and when he's hungry he wants "Mur" food. It's so much fun to watch.

The weather has been just beautiful recently, so we broke out the shorts today and walked over to the playground for an adventure. At first, I tried putting him on the slide by himself and holding him as he went down, but he was a little nervous about that. So I climbed up and went down the slide with him on my lap, and he liked that. After a few times going down the slide together, he was feeling brave enough to go by himself (while I held onto him). By the end, he was getting to the bottom and giggling, going "Wowwww!"


If there's one thing I'm learning, it's that these moments really do go by so quickly. I can't believe how big he's getting and how quickly he is learning things. It seems like he's learning at least one new word a day, and even how to put words together. And the photos I have of him when he was younger are so precious to me now that he's getting big. With each new day, I look back at the memories those photos provide and cherish this incredible life that we have.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me...

And I'm feelin' good.

Spring is finally here - and with it, longer days, more sunlight (plus that extra hour we got back with daylight savings!) and the thing I've been missing most of all is on its way... warmth! Bare feet weather! How I've missed you, you'll never know! I can't wait to go on adventures with my little man and explore the world around us!

Already, I've been working on fun projects for summer - a string of paper egg-shaped bulbs to fit around white lights and hang, a gallon jug became a lantern, and right now I'm waiting for two bowls made out of Trader Joe's grocery bags to dry! At the thrift store the other day, I picked up two saloon doors for $5. I'm going to grow herbs in coffee cans and hang them from the doors. These little projects are a lot of fun and great ways to reuse things creatively.

The ones we love.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Here's to the ones we love. Please remember to be thankful for the people in your life. Maybe it's hokey, but I don't think it can hurt to have a day dedicated to remembering all that we can be thankful for. Hopefully, we're remembering more than just once a year!!!

Thirteen weeks - and two days!

Smoosh is thirteen weeks and two days old today!  It's so exciting to learn about how our tiny one is growing and developing - so much is happening right now!

I promised one of my oldest friends that I would take some current belly pictures - there really isn't much of a belly to show off yet, but you can see a tiny little bump.  It was a fantastic day for taking photos - sunny and warm and beautiful!  I took these while Nathaniel was replacing the brake pads on our car over in Jersey.  I didn't have a tripod with me so I propped my camera up on a lawn furniture table with my phone and the lens cap under the lens.  Necessity is the mother of all invention!

I'm enjoying some rest now after walking around the neighborhood and describing things to Smoosh.  I can't wait until he or she can see these things in real life - there is a lot of beauty in this world.

I hope everyone else had a lovely day!  I'm off to enjoy the rest of mine. =)

Heartbeats.

These last few weeks have seen a lot of changes for the Ryan family.  We're excited to be nearing the end of our lease and to be spending two months house-sitting for a relative in a beautiful little nook near Abington (I'll be able to walk to Whole Foods!!!).  After that, we're not sure what the future holds, but we've been considering our options for a while now.

Two weeks ago we went to our first pre-natal appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat.  It was the most astonishingly beautiful moment - I could hardly believe it.  But there was the sound - the rapid beating of a tiny little heart in a tiny little body.

Today I am thirteen weeks pregnant!  Wow, time has flown by so quickly.  I think I'm getting some of my energy back, but I'm also SO hungry all the time - and if I don't eat right away I quickly become nauseous, which is really frustrating.  I'm trying to stay on top of eating lots of good fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy, etc., and getting my vitamins.  But it's more work than I ever thought it could be.  I'm worn out just from trying to keep up with eating!  I never thought I'd say that!

Even so, with all the changes, I am happy to be carrying this little one.  I am growing more and more in love every day.  I can't wait for this summer when I can totally rock my beach-ball belly!

Teddy.

I've known Alyssa almost all my life.  When we were little, I used to go to her house and sneak soda because we weren't allowed to have any at my house (sorry, Mom!).  Over the years we've been in and out of touch, so I was excited to hear just over a year ago that Alyssa was going to be a mommy!


Last Friday I had the joy of catching up and meeting both Teddy and his dad.  Teddy is such a sweet, happy baby, and both of his parents are obviously head over heels in love with the new addition to their family.  It was a pleasure to work with them, and to see how much Alyssa has grown up since the days of soda espionage.


The more happy moms with happy babies I take pictures of, the more I know that this is what I want to do.

And now, for something completely different.

Last night, Nathaniel and I had the pleasure of doing an engagement shoot with our wedding photographer, Faye Murman.  Faye is also a professional photojournalist and a teacher at Temple University.

We had so much fun!  The three of us wandered through the park where Nathaniel carved our initials on a tree so many months ago, wading through ivy and splashing in the creek.  Faye was an absolute joy to work with - she has a perfectly professional attitude and is constantly looking for unique and beautiful opportunities, but she keeps a laid back, friendly demeanor that makes it easy to open up and get good photos.

My time at Temple is teaching me a lot, but a great deal of it is not in a text book.  There is a lot of value to make your subjects feel comfortable - it allows you to get incredible photos like this one!
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(Photo belongs to Faye Murman and may be viewed on her Facebook page, which you can be come a fan of here!)

Digital Art

Something you may not know about me is that I am very, very picky about my personal taste in photography.  Although it spans a broad range, from abstract landscape portraits of crystalized salt formations in Nevada to runway chic with countless variations in between, I am still pretty selective about which images impress me the most.


I hope that this has been translating into my own work over the past few years.  True, whenever I look back at my photography even from just a few months ago I feel that it could use some improvement, but I am always learning and gaining new techniques, new information.


Something I've always had fun with is post-work that pushes the envelope beyond reality.  I get kind of annoyed when I see something that's supposed to look real and doesn't (inexperienced "glamour" photographers airbrushing every natural detail out of a human face is one of my biggest pet peeves!!!) but when a photo blends with post-work to create something altogether new and different from the original product, it's exciting for me.  I love photography more than I can say, but I was steeped in many types of art as a kid and I enjoy many mediums.  With photography changing so much now, the rules are shifting drastically and this new kind of experimentation is  more acceptable.


I was up far later than I should have been last night messing around with this image and I thought I'd share!


Edit:  Here are two other versions I came up with, as well.

Sea Turtles, mate.

Hello, all!  I'm taking this opportunity to ask that you please support my very good friend, Shea Hofferica, to reach her fund-raising goal for a trip to La Tortuga Feliz in 2011.  Here's her description of what she'll be doing there:


"La Tortuga Feliz is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of sea turtles in Costa Rica and once I complete my Associates Degree in Chemsitry next May I am flying down to volunteer for 35 days! Volunteers help out by patrolling beaches at night, guarding the hatcheries, helping with maintenance of the buildings and creating an ideal environment for the turtles to lay their eggs safely and without danger of poachers and fisherman. I am super excited for this opportunity and the experience it will give me in the environmental sciences. I need all the help I can get funding my flights, lodging fees and my travel pack necessary for the duration of my stay there, but I hope that with support, donations towards the cause and facebook/email forwarding I can make it down there for this experience of a lifetime!"


Please help Shea raise money for her trip, and if you have any questions about the program she's working with, feel free to visit their website.

Road trip!

Part of me loves road trips - I enjoy getting out of the Philly area and seeing new places.  In West Virginia I didn't get the chance to take quite as many photos as I would have liked to, since we were first and foremost celebrating my aunt's birthday.  We had a beautiful, relaxing time, but I'd really like to go back some time soon to devote a lot more into capturing that area.  What in interesting world!


Tomorrow is another exciting day!  I'll be heading off to Washington D.C. for the day to photograph Sarah and Terence and their nearly born baby Gabriel.


I can't wait to spend the day with them!  Sarah and Terence are such a beautiful couple and Gabriel is going to be an amazing addition to their lives.  I'm really excited to see what we get!

Y'all come back, now.

This weekend was such a beautiful and needed time away from the city.  My aunt's birthday was cause for a West Virginia mountain celebration - so we packed our tents and drove the four hours to their newly purchased 14 acres of land!

What a lovely place we found when we arrived.  Trees and tree saplings everywhere, and in the distance a farm on a hill where in the early morning you could just make out a rooster's crow.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

We had a little rain, but we all managed to have a good time anyway.  It was so good to be with my family for a few days and enjoy their company.  My fiancé and I were able to relax from the business of wedding planning and classes and take some time to go on a walk or stand in the rain.  It was wonderful. I'm excited to go back again some time soon!

Three months and one week!

It's so bizarre to think that in just over three months I am going to be a wife.  Have I reached "grown-up" at long last?  Can I now begin this long and complex journey to wrinkly and rocking-chair?  I'm excited.


Yesterday was muggy and 80 degrees, but it could have been worse, and out in my backyard it actually felt pretty nice, so I decided to take a few pictures.  I'm going to miss my backyard so much when we move.  I'm hoping for something equally beautiful, or even more-so.


There was a nice soft light underneath the trees that I took advantage of for these.  It really feels like walking into another world out there, I love it.  I wanted to plant a garden but I feel now sort of like there's not much of a point if I'll be leaving in just a few short months.


In other news, things are finally in the works for my Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 lenses!  So excited!!! I should, if all things go according to plan, have them in the next few weeks so I can familiarize myself with them before the wedding I'm shooting in August.  Can't wait!

Dreamweaver.

Hello all.  The semester is coming to a close and I am relishing the free time to catch up on the rest of life! The wedding is just over three months away, can you believe it?


I had an interesting assignment in my Design for Journalists course.  My introduction to Dreamweaver was to create a website.  At first I was really confused about how this program works, but after some greatly appreciated help from friends Kevin Cook and Arielle Morgan, I was able to get things up and running.


I used my school domain for this project, but now that I understand how Dreamweaver works a little better, I am excited to build a website under my own domain.  How great to be learning these things, finally!


If you'd like to see what my school website ended up looking like, you can check it out here.
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Edit:  I reserved a free domain for my work and uploaded all of the HTML to that as well.  I also bought AlexisRyan.com, but I still need to work on getting that up and running.  In the meantime, please check out my current, working site!

Exit Reality

There hasn't been much time for writing, lately.  It's finals week, and there has been a lot of work to get done.

Tomorrow, I'll be displaying and selling work at Temple's Main Campus from 3:00 to 8:00 in the Annenberg Atrium!

I have to admit, I'm looking forward to having a little break before Summer I starts up.  It's been a long and tiresome semester.  I've learned a lot of really valuable things thus far and I'm gaining a lot of really useful contacts, which is awesome.  But I'm looking forward to having a free few days to straighten up my apartment, work on the wedding plans and get a nap or two before it all starts up again.


Nathaniel and I went back to the Kimmel Center yesterday, where we were engaged.  The clouds were absolutely amazing and felt so close, standing up in the garden.  I had to take this photo - somehow this is just what I feel like right now.  I have so many things happening at once, I just want to open a door somewhere and walk into a cloud and absolute silence except for the whir of air going past my ears.  The semester will be done soon.  There is an end in sight.  I will survive!

Spring Fling

Well, despite the rain, wind, and cold, students and teachers alike were outside yesterday for Temple's annual Spring Fling.  There were tables lined up all along Liacouras Walk and musical guests, including N.E.R.D. and Girl Talk playing all day long and well into the night.  I wasn't there for most of it - I had class and homework that needed to get done, but I was able to go out and take a few pictures.


These two girls, Julianka Bell, a Psychology major, and Kristie Williams, an Advertising major, both seniors, were bundled up to keep warm but still managed to look fantastic.  They run a blog together, I encourage you all to check it out!

All you need is love!

Sorry there haven't been many updates in recent days.  Life has been so busy.  My fiancé and I visited the location for our reception on Thursday - it is truly like something out of a fairy tale.  You drive down a long, winding road in the middle of the woods until it dead ends in a valley by a creek and right there, where the road stops, is the most beautiful little inn on earth.  It's perfect.


Yesterday we looked at an apartment that we both really love and that fits our budget beautifully... and it's right across the street from where I am now!  Whew, but a long move that'll be. =P  We're so happy - everything is really coming together.


Today, we found out that some friends from church are getting married next week and the congregation is invited... which means I can see what an Orthodox wedding looks like!  How amazing!  What layers of blessings we are receiving - I'm so grateful.


I can't wait for August!!!