Conrad Proposal Documentary
I had a great time getting to photograph Conrad’s proposal documentary in early December at Dow Gardens!
My Favorite Images From My First Decade Of Photography
Raccoon, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2009
This was the first image I was really happy with. After taking this photo I decided I wanted to become a professional photographer.
Nuthatch, Clare, Michigan 2010
This nuthatch hanging from my parent’s bird feeder would go on to be published in Audubon, Nature’s Best Photography, and The World of Photography Bookazine.
Mountain, Field, British Columbia, Canada 2011
This mountain peak photographed on the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It would later be published in Outdoor Photographer Magazine.
Bryana, Turners Falls, Massachusetts 2013
This studio portrait of model Bryanna was photographed while I was a student at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, Massachusetts.
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Building, East Lansing, Michigan 2013
This architectural image was photographed while I was home on spring break during my studies at the Hallmark Institute of Photography. It was later used in catalogs promoting the school.
Feona, Bernardston, Massachusetts 2013
This pet portrait was shot during my studies at the Hallmark Institute of Photography.
Ciara, Clare, Michigan 2013
This portrait of Ciara was shot in downtown Clare, Michigan at night. I used off camera flash to mimic the street light.
Ian, Harrison, Michigan 2013
This image of welder and art teacher Ian was photographed in Harrison, Michigan for the 515 Gallery.
Church of Daniel’s Band Pine Branch, Midland, Michigan 2014
This image was commissioned by the Church of Daniel’s Band during the winter in 2014.
Jason and Rachael, Grand Haven, Michigan 2014
This engagement session was done on the ice on Lake Michigan in Grand Haven during sunset.
Chickadee, Clare, Michigan 2015
This image was photographed on an early winter morning in 2015.
Amish. Clare, Michigan 2017
This image was photographed on a foggy winter morning in early 2017.
Chelsea and Dayna, Ann Arbor, Michigan 2017
This image of models Chelsea and Dayna next to a beautiful church door was photographed in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Beaverton Fireworks, Beaverton, Michigan 2017
This image of the 2017 Beaverton fireworks was shot with a fisheye lens while training my second shooter Nikki Robinson.
Matt and Chelsea, Ann Arbor, Michigan 2017
This engagement portrait was shot of Matt and Chelsea in Ann Arbor, Michigan during golden hour.
Todd and Kayla, Midland, Michigan 2017
This image of Todd and Kayla was shot at one of my most frequented locations Dow Gardens in Midland, Michigan. This was taken just outside the gardens after we were kicked out.
Sam Smoke Bombs, Clare, Michigan 2018
This image was photographed of my of favorite models Sam while setting off purple smoke bombs. This image was later used as my entry into Art Walk Central in Mt Pleasant, Michigan.
Lisa, Charlevoix, Michigan 2018
This image of model Lisa was photographed in one of my favorite cities in northern Michigan, Charlevoix. The subtle gesture and soft natural light make this image one of my favorites.
Stark Family, Clare, Michigan 2018
The Starks have been repeat clients of mine since 2017. This image of them and there several dogs remains one of my favorite family portraits.
Rocio, Clare, Michigan 2019
A portrait of a long time friend on a foggy winter afternoon.
Liberty Senior Portrait
I had great time photographing Liberty’s senior portraits in the back of The Four Leaf Brewery in downtown Clare, Michigan in early November. We were able to turn the large room into a makeshift studio space.
Jesse and Aleeshia Engagement Session
I had a great time photographing Jesse and Aleeshia’s engagement session at Dave and Buster’s in Kentwood, Michigan. Can’t wait to photograph their wedding next year!
Justin and Lauren Wedding
I had a great time photographing Justin and Lauren’s wedding in Horton, Michigan. The venue was gorgeous! This was one of the most fun weddings I’ve photographed.
Clayton and Alexis Wedding
I had great time photographing Clayton and Alexis’ beautiful fall wedding in Greenville, Michigan. All the details where incredibly beautiful!
Rommel and Tiffany Wedding
Romell and Tiffany came all the way up from Tyler, Texas for their wedding in Mt Pleasant, Michigan to make it easier for their families who lived in Michigan. They had a beautiful wedding at Sacred Heart followed by a reception at Riverwood. Both their families where incredibly kind and a joy to work with!
Charlie and Danielle Wedding
I had a great time photographing Charlie and Danielle’s wedding in Alpena, Michigan. Danielle was a bridesmaid in a wedding I had photographed a month earlier. Their wedding took place at the Aplex. Their families where super fun to work with!
Brandon and Ciera Wedding
I had a great time photographing Brandon and Ciera’s beauty and the beast themed wedding at The Riverwalk in Gladwin, Michigan. Brandon’s family came from Grand Rapids and Ciera’s came from Alpena for the wedding. These two where amazing to work with and had a beautiful wedding day!
Joe and Maria Wedding
I had a great time getting to photograph Joe and Maria’s wedding at he beautiful Venue at 501 in downtown Clare. Joe and Maria were supper friendly and I had great getting to be a part of their big day.
Daniel Headshots
Before the corona virus outbreak, I met with Daniel at Cops and Doughnuts to plan out his headshot session. He wanted both images for his business website and his online dating profile. We were originally planning the shoot for late March, but it kept getting pushed back due to the virus, flooding, and other schedule conflicts. In mid June we were finally able to do the shoot. Dan is one of the most personable people I’ve been able to photograph. I had a great timing talking with him about a wide range of topics including our hobbies and careers.
Tom and Coi Wedding
I had a great time getting to photograph fellow Clare Area Jaycees members Tom and Coi’s wedding in Fenton, Michigan. Due to the corona virus the wedding ended up having lots of last minute changes but still turned out beautiful. They were able to put a stream of the wedding on Facebook live so there friends and family could still see the ceremony despite social distancing.
Health Monitor
Just before everything shut down due to the corona virus, I got to photograph Marci for a Health Monitor publication. We did the shoot at Sunset Shores Cottages in Clare, Michigan with her friend Jeff Chadwick who is a former NFL player. I had a great time getting to photograph both Marci and Jeff!
2019 A Year in Review
Model Rocio
2019 was a crazy year. It started slow with a brutal winter keeping me inside during the beginning of my slow season. I used this time to take continuing education classes via KelbyOne, read, and write my years worth of blog posts. As the snow melted so did the slowness. As spring came I started working with a wide variety of clients ranging from brides and grooms to seniors, models, bands, magazines, and art galleries. The first wedding of the year took me to Centralia, Washington which I used as an excuse for a road trip across the country. I got to work with Chase Engel and The Night Shift who’s first EP is now on streaming services. During summer and fall I ended up beating my personal record for most weddings photographed in one year. 2019 ended up being my most profitable year in business thus far. In November I briefly moved to Florida for a long distance relationship that didn’t work out. I ended up moving back to Clare, Michigan in December 2019 with a newfound appreciation of the family, friends, church, and local communities I had left behind. In 2020 I plan to continue doing photography in central Michigan but will also be looking for a second job. I also plan on working towards several other goals and projects during the new year. Below are my favorite images from 2019.
Model Dakota
Model Cassie
Chase Engel and his dad
Adam and Cassedy
John and Valerie Wedding in Centralia, Washington
Alex and Rachel Engagement Session
Markus and Caitlyn Wedding
James and Courtney Engagement Session
Brandon and Ciera Engagement Session
Jeff and Nichole Wedding
Phillip and Abbey Wedding
2018 A Year In Review
Model Sam with Smoke Bombs
2018 was a great year here at Ryan Watkins Photography! I’ve had the opportunity of working with a ton of great clients, and 2018 ended up being my most profitable year in business thus far. Here is a recap of 2018 at Ryan Watkins Photography.
The winter is always my slow season, meaning that I have less client work. During this time of the year I focus on working “on” my business compared to “in” my business. This means I have less weddings and portrait sessions but spend a lot of time working on the internal systems in my business as well as networking, marketing, web presence, and continuing education.
Model Summer
During my slow season I got to do some personal work with several great models including Lisa, Karra, Dakota, Summer, and Sam. One of the reasons I shoot personal work is to increase my photographic skills and become more proficient with my gear. I practice with new gear and techniques on models so I will be comfortable using this gear and techniques on shoots with clients
In January 2018 I joined the Clare Area Jaycees. The Jaycees are a not-for-profit organization which focus on community service and personal development.
I first started attending events at the Energize Workspace in 2017 but in 2018 I became more heavily involved in the Energize Workspace. I became an official member of the space in 2018. Now I regularly work from the space as well as attending their networking events and classes. In March 2018 I taught my first class The Fundamentals of Photography at the Energize Workspace. I also taught another class The Photo Retouching and Workflow Workshop in August 2018. After people saw that I had started teaching workshops I had people reach out to me to do one on one teaching. I had a few one on one teaching clients in 2018 and plan on continuing and better systematizing the teaching side of Ryan Watkins Photography in 2019. Also in October I hosted a headshot day at the Energize Workspace which had 14 attendants. I look forward to continuing to be involved in the Energize community in 2019.
James and Alyxczia
In 2017 I created the Michigan Photography Network Facebook group. This group was originally created to connect photographers and those connected to the photography industry in Michigan. We had two in person meetups in 2017 and one in 2018. The group has now grown to over 900 members. I usually post two helpful links a day for fellow photographers in the group. These links are usually to articles, videoes, or podcasts which fellow photographers and business owners would find helpful. In February 2018 I got to meet Will Long, a fellow Hallmark Institute of Photography alumni, who recently opened his studio space in Williamston, Michigan this year. He hosts monthly studio meetups in Williamston which I would highly recommend attending. These meetups have replaced the Michigan Photography Network Meetups which I hosted in late 2017 and early 2018. I look forward to working more with Will and seeing what this leads to in the future.
Model Lisa
During my busy season this year I got to photograph a wide variety of work including weddings, family portraits, headshots, rock bands, events, seniors, and commissioned work for other businesses. I got to work with my amazing second shooter Nikki Robinson for several weddings. These shoots have taken me all over the state. I primarily work in Clare, Midland, and Mt Pleasant, Michigan but I have also had work in Saginaw, Charlevoix, Grand Rapids, Alma, Howell, Onaway, Trout Lake, Standish, Turner, Merrill, and Gladwin.
Mt Pleasant Craft Beer Festival
In addition to photographing portraits and weddings I like to do pro bono work. In 2018 I had the privilege of photographing Night To Shine, Royal Family Kids Camp, The Strickler Center, the Mt Pleasant Craft Beer Festival and the Clare Irish Festival.
In August I joined a local chapter of BNI: the world’s largest referral networking organization. I met a ton of great people thru BNI and it brought in many great clients, but I decided to leave during my slow season due to the chapter being over a half hour away from my home, making involvement difficult.
I’ve been involved in shows at the 515 Gallery in downtown Clare since I was in high school. I had the privilege of being part of two shows this year: Open Studio and Miniature Exhibit.
Riley and Katie
I finished 2018 by starting to pick away at my offseason to do list. The first thing I completed was giving my website a completely new look which was optimized for mobile.
2018 ended up being my most profitable year and business thus far. I can’t wait to see what 2019 will bring.
2017 A Year in Review
Models Chelsea and Dayna
2017 has been an amazing year here at Ryan Watkins Photography. I’ve been able to photograph and network with a wide variety of amazing people throughout the year. This post will showcase some of my favorite images and the plethora of projects I was able to work on throughout the year.
I spent much of my off season (winter) of late 2016 and early 2017 reading business books, bouncing ideas off friends in the industry, and listening to podcasts and lectures on the business side of photography. The late winter and early spring was spent enfleshing the ideas I had learned. Early 2017 marked some huge changes to the pricing and products offered at Ryan Watkins Photography. I radically changed my product and pricing structure allowing clients to buy products a la carte and started allowing clients to print their own photos (even though I politely recommend against it). I also started giving clients online galleries where they can buy prints and easily share photos with friends and family. These changes ended up being incredibly successful and clients loved it.
When I wasn’t reading or studying the business side of photography early in the year I was shooting fine art images of snow covered trees and roads in rural mid Michigan. Few of these images ended up being happy Thomas Kinkade-esque winter scenes but instead many were foggy scenes of rural midwestern living. Some of my favorite images from this project included chilled Amish riding down a foggy road and blistering winds blowing fresh snow thru fields. The best images shot during those months are available for purchase.
In spring of 2017 a friend and I started studying virtual reality photography. After some gear rentals and tests I found out I was able to pull off the technical side of photographing virtual reality photos. He and I started putting together the plans to start another business called Parallax. We found a few other guys who were more experienced than us to help with the sales, marketing, and programing side of Parallax. After more discussion we eventually realized that it wasn’t financially feasible and we abandoned the project. Even though it didn’t go anywhere and cost us some money I still got to learn a great deal from the experience.
I rarely photograph much of anything the would be considered documentary photography but through some unfortunate events in early summer I had the opportunity to. In June we had some of the worst flooding in Michigan that we have had in decades. Instead of staying home in my home on a slight incline I decided to drive around Clare, Isabella, and Midland country documenting the rains and their damage. Some of these photos would eventually end up getting published in local newspapers.
Every time I talked with fellow Hallmark Institute of Photography Alumni they heavily emphasized the importance of networking with local photographers. Most of the photographers in the area seemed to (more or less) ignore one another. I looked online to see if there were any good networking groups for professional photographers in my area on Facebook but few turned up. I decided to start my own Facebook group for networking with others connected to the photography industry in Michigan. In May 2017 the Michigan Photography Network was created. Currently at the end of 2017 the group has grown to over 700 members and we have had two in person meet ups (one in Grand Rapids and one in Clare). I have met several great local photographers and other entrepreneurs through the group and look forward to more future meetups in 2018. The group also got me in touch with the amazing group of entrepreneurs at The Energize Workspace in Midland, Michigan. I would highly recommend going to their various events if you are a business owner in mid-Michigan.
Beaverton Fireworks shot with Nikki
During my last off season I decided I was going to put a much heavier emphasis on wedding photography in 2017. Every time I talked with fellow wedding photographer friends they mentioned that I needed to offer a second shooter if I was going to get into weddings. In mid March I received a Facebook message from an old high school friend Nikki Robinson asking about what camera she should buy. After talking more via Facebook messenger I found out that she wanted to get into photography. We met up in Mt Pleasant in early April and discussed the idea of me teaching her how to second shoot weddings. She was on board. As the months went on her and I developed a great friendship full of inside jokes and shared bizarre experiences on photo shoots. In early November her and I would shoot our first wedding together. Her photos turned out way better than I could have ever imagined. In the final gallery sent to the client I don’t think they could even tell which images were shot by me and which by her. She has also started shooting her own portrait sessions and recently got her first major publication in Photographer’s Forum. I can’t wait to shoot more weddings with Nikki in 2018 and come back with more crazy stories from our adventures.
In addition to training Nikki to be my second shooter for weddings I’ve also went out of my way to collaborate with local wedding vendors. I have had the opportunity of working with two great Clare venues the Venue at 501 and the White Barn. I also got to work with the amazing DJ Branson Wolfgang from Epic Beats as well as the great Grand Rapids based wedding band Rebel Swain. I also would highly recommend working with Andrea and Morgan at Splendid Events for your wedding planning needs. Here are some of the images captured for local wedding vendors throughout the year.
Four Leaf Brewery
In the spring the owner of the 515 Gallery told me that the Four Leaf Brewing in Downtown, Clare was looking for local artists work to hang on their walls. I got in touch with the owner (Amy) and brought a few samples of my work. She liked them and now several photos by both Nikki and I are hanging on the walls at Four Leaf. I now frequent the Four Leaf and my friends have even gotten annoyed at me for how much I brag up this local watering hole. If you find yourself in downtown Clare I’d highly recommend stopping by the Four Leaf which has great beer, food, and service.
Model Chelsea
Every year I try to work with new models (as well as returning ones) to help add to each others portfolios. I had a great time working with Sheridan, Chelsea, Dayna, Brittany, Ashley, Dakota, and Karra this year. Some of these shoots (like those with Brittany and Sheridan) worked as good ways to show Nikki the ropes and help add photos to her portfolio as well.
Art Reach Composite
Much of early summer was spent shooting images for a massive composite with over 120 images which is now on display at Art Reach in Mt Pleasant Michigan. All of the images in the final mosaic deal with arts in mid Michigan.
Don Senior Portrait
I also got to photograph some great seniors this year. Some of the highlights included photographing the multi talented Don Owens from Midland who is an expert pianist and aspiring pilot.
Owens Kids
I ended up working with more families this year than any year before. Some of the highlights include the heavily armed Myers family and the Owens family with eleven children.
I got to work with a ton of amazing couples this year which allowed me to travel all over Michigan to cities including: Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Greenville, and Howell.
Sprout and The Organge
As the years go by the more I enjoy photographing events. I photographed many public events in 2016 (which admitabley didn’t lead to much business) but this year I decided to choose what festivals to photograph more discerningly (in addition to getting several paying event gigs). I had a great time photographing the Clare Irish Festival which lead to some of my highest website views of the entire year. I also volunteered to photograph the Mt Pleasant Craft Beer festival and became their official photographer. The Venue at 501 got me access to photograph local Clare celebrity Kari Lynch during her concert in downtown Clare. Nikki and I also shot the Beaverton fireworks together on the Fourth of July which was a ton of fun. My high school friend Alex Crafard is the lead guitarist in the Saginaw based Chase Engel Band who are in the process of recording their first album with Tesla bassist Brian Wheat. Nikki and I were given access to photograph one of their concerts in Bay City and had a blast. Lastly Sprout and the Orange (a Saginaw based jam band who’s tunes are right up my alley) hired me to photograph their concert/Thanksgiving dinner (yes you read that correctly) shortly after thanksgiving.
The 515 Gallery in downtown Clare, Michigan has been a home away from home for me since high school. As usual I had my work in a few of their shows this year (two to be exact) and also gave an artist talk explaining the process behind one of my portraits on wood.