Music Photography Archives - New Jersey, Philadelphia, NYC Personal Branding, Commercial and Editorial Photographer

Hey I’m Amazed by Gigantic A Pixies Tribute Band

March 26, 2018/0 Comments/in Concerts, Music Photography /by Deirdre Ryan

UPDATE! Scroll down to see a video from the night that they performed!

So this past Saturday was not a very good day at all. Actually as you may have noticed, the past few weeks haven’t been the best, I haven’t been my best.

My mom suggested that my husband and I go see a band perform called Gigantic-Pixies Tribute, at our friend’s place, Randy Now’s Man Cave, make it sort of like a “date night”. Friends of mine were going to a local bar called The H.O.B. afterwards because Saturdays is karaoke night. I had no idea just how much we needed that night until the music started to play. They made me feel so much better!

I love The Pixies, started listening to them in HS and then throughout college to Frank Black’s solo works, and even now. I brought my Olympus mirrorless camera and the Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens and asked if it was ok to take some pictures, and I was told yeah. Normally I tend to bring a Canon full frame with a 16-35mm f2.8L , Canon 50mm f1.8 and at least my Canon 100mm Macro f2.8 lens. But I was so not in the mood, so I went minimalist.

I got to chat with Joe Ujj the lead singer a little bit beforehand and the wife of one of the band members who was sitting in the back. If I am able to, I try to introduce myself, talk “shop” about gear and let them know who I am, that while I am a pro photographer, I’m there for the music and usually when I do this, it’s my night off LOL

The video embedded below gives you an idea of how awesome they are.

Here is a list of what they played, I can’t remember all of it:

Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Gigantic
Crackity Jones
Hey
Mr. Grieves
No 13 Baby
Caribou
I’ve Been Tired
Allison
Is She Weird
Manta Ray
Weird At My School(I think)

They played an incredible set, I can’t remember all of the songs, but anything by the Pixies takes me waaay back to a time of HS with my art, theater, hanging out, studying, boyfriends, besties, and then art college if you didn’t know who they were you did now. Their first 4 albums were in constant rotation on my portable Sony CD/Tape player. Yes, I’m old enough to remember when these albums were first released. Wave of Mutilation has 2 versions, the slower one from the UK Surf, was used in the movie with Christian Slater in the 1990 Pump Up The Volume.

The pitch of Joe’s vocals was practically perfect, the drums, guitars and bass were spot on. I mean these guys were incredible, and I hope that they continue on this streak because like I said, they were amazing. Check out their Facebook page and keep looking for a venue and date that they’re playing next. You will not leave disappointed.

Later on, we walked to The H.O.B., had a drink, ate something yummy, and met up with our friends. I normally sing at karaoke but I wasn’t feeling it. However my husband sang Don’t You Forget about Me by Simple Minds(he was great and I’m not just saying this) and my other friend belted out Ballroom Blitz among others, and practically took the house down!

Thanks again for letting me photograph that night everyone, you’re awesome! Check out more photos of musicians by clicking here. If you want to get a hold of me, just click on the red Chat Now button. Be sure to follow everyone, especially Randy Now’s Man Cave on Facebook for upcoming concerts and events!

UPDATED: The band JUST released this video from the night of this performance and tagged a bunch of us on Facebook. Thanks guys so much!

Pixies / Weird At My School (by Gigantic – A Pixies Tribute)
Shot by Allegra at Randy Now’s Man Cave on March 24th, 2018 in Bordentown, NJ. Thanks to Randy, Amy, Deidre, Christina, Anawim, JP
Posted by Gigantic – A Pixies Tribute on Friday, April 6, 2018

The Successful Failures Ichor Of Nettle Album Launch with The Paper Jets Opening

November 13, 2017/0 Comments/in Concerts, Music Photography /by Deirdre Ryan

In case you didn’t see my previous post, it shows the photos from the shoot for their new album that I did with them.

The Successful Failures album launch happened on October 2oth, 2017 at The Record Collector with The Paper Jets opening for them. The Paper Jets are a local NJ band and my friend Mike Virok is a member of. I don’t know why I didn’t know this, I guess I’ve been under a rock or something LOL! Mike also owns the Bordentown Guitar Rescue.

Before the show starts, I walk in to see what’s going on and where I should stand, etc. It was good to see everyone, they’re doing sound check, and I’m pretty excited to hear the bands play. I packed light that night, using a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens, Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L lens and a Canon 100mm Macro f2.8 lens with my Canon Mark 5D III camera. I didn’t want to bring my huge Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L non-IS lens because that night I didn’t think it was necessary and I was right. But I did have to push the ISO way up for the lighting inside.

The Paper Jets were INCREDIBLE! I bought their CD Strange Friends that night. The SF gave me their Ichor Of Nettle CD and I bought their live vinyl LP, Into The Battle.

Finally at one point I just sat back and relaxed to watch the show. I did take a video below:

Here’s another one of my cell phone videos:

These down below are from another channel and I did my very best to stay out of the frame. But you can see me on occasion.

At one point I was taking pictures behind the stage and they had just finished a song when they started talking about the album and how it was all done with people from the Bordentown area. When they mentioned Mike Virok who did the graphic design and then they mentioned me as their photographer. I was so flattered and caught off guard because I was still taking pictures. LOL I’m wondering if anyone has video of that? And if you do can you contact me please? Thanks 🙂

It was a great night, my friend Jim Parker helped hold my lenses while I was in between the aisle. My friend Dolores was in town visiting a friend and so she stopped by. After the concert, my friends, Stephanie and Jackie went to the H.O.B. Tavern for some food and drinks and invited the band to join us and they did. My husband’s train had also just come into town, so he was able to join us which was a really nice surprise. It was the perfect way to end a great night.

Thanks to everyone that made it possible!

The Successful Failures Album Ichor of Nettle Cover Art Photoshoot

November 13, 2017/0 Comments/in Branding Photography, Editorial, Music Photography, personal branding photography, Portraits /by Deirdre Ryan

Now that their album has launched, I can post some photos from our shoot.

In case you didn’t hear, it all started one night, I was at the show to watch Men Without Hats and The Successful Failures opened for them. Quite honestly, I was amazed, I was like holy shit, these guys are awesome! Then I posted that blog link, and Mick, the lead singer of the band contacted me. They really loved the photos that I shot. We went back and forth and next thing I knew, we were trying to get a date to photograph everyone for their next upcoming album. Even saw the band perform at the Chesterfield Inn, chatted with Mick’s dad along with our friends. That was a really good night.
Then this past January of 2017, we finally did and it was a cold day. I mean it wasn’t just cold, it was REALLY bitter cold, like it was about to snow with ice mixed in. And I had a gig at the NJPAC up in Newark that night too and the weather on the NJ Turnpike was horrible. But we got it done and I made it to that gig safely.

They wanted pictures of them at their recording studio and then I wanted to get some shots at a location in Bordentown, and we did, bitter cold or not, it got done! LOL

Inside while they were playing, I used one wireless Canon 600EX RT flash with a Westcott Rapid Box on a lightstand. When I’m shooting, my goal is to not be there, or just be a part of the environment. And since I had to use the flash, I decided to be a part of the environment, we chatted, joked around, but I mainly listened and looked for cues. Being in an intimate session like this was great, getting to know the guys better in their studio surrounded by items that enable them to create was helpful for me. And for the most part, I just let them do what they do best, be themselves and play.
(Behind the Scenes Photo by David Ryan)
After they finished playing, we took some shots of them all together inside the studio. At first some were sitting down, so then I had them stand up, then I said, ok, grab an instrument.
These are what they picked up. Then I saw the couch behind Rob’s drum kit, so I had them get cozy with each other on that.
And I was like, these are okay, but I still want to take you guys to another location. So we had some time and we did. I was thinking back to what Mick was saying what he originally wanted and there was this alleyway/street in Bordentown that has these fire escapes. So we get in the cars and head over to the location. I get there first, setup my wireless Canon 600EX RT Flash and a Photek Softlighter on a stand and use my husband as a stand in and I’m ready once the guys show up.

It’s bitter cold and the temperatures dropping. These guys, I tell ya, I really love them. They take their warm coats and hats off and endure the temps and me telling them what to do for these shots. I love that they trusted me and what I wanted to do for them.

(Behind the Scenes Photo by David Ryan)

So there’s a shot before this one, we’re all trying to get Ron to smile and he’s doing his best, and then Pete does his “thing” and that’s how this shot came to be. LOL

Then we went across the street to my friend’s house because these row of colonial homes fit what I was looking for. So with her permission, we used her front porch.

Back in May they performed at Randy’s Man Cave and used one of the images I shot for the promotional poster and the single online. And of course I took pictures. The space is tiny and they had someone take video, and if you click on the link for Randy’s Man Cave, you’ll see it all there.

The album launch happened on October 20th, 2017 at The Record Collector. The Paper Jets opened for them and I am now a fan of them. The two bands compliment each other really well.

Working with the guys, collaborating, staying true to who they are, their brand, what they wanted for their new album was just awesome. I let them tell me what they wanted, listening to their ideas, and it went from there.

The Successful Failures gave me a copy of their CD, Ichor Of Nettle and I bought the LP, Into The Battle. Here’s what it looks like(I just used my iPhone SE):

At first I wasn’t sure about the cover art, and Mick was like, she’s going to KILL US. But honestly I thought well there has to be a reason behind it all. This is their vision to go with their music.

And then he showed me what happens when you pull out the insert:

Now that’s cool! These are the details you miss when you buy on iTunes or a digital download from Amazon. I recommend going to your local music store and buying the physical CD and ripping it to play on your iPod or phone. I also love seeing my name and work in physical print again 🙂

Below are two music videos to market their new album and in my next post, I’ll show images from their album launch with video from a guy who seems to be at every local band event. He’s super cool and I’m so glad that he’s there to document these.

Thanks to Mick, Pete, Ron and Rob for having me to photograph you and having a great time. I’m forever thankful to you guys! To see the album launch party at The Record Collector, CLICK HERE.

If you’re interested in having me as your photographer, please contact me and let’s get together to chat about your project. Thanks!

UPDATE:

Here’s more of my images, but this time in print for New Jersey Stage Magazine, thanks for the photo credit!

Why You Need To Copyright your Images

August 11, 2017/3 Comments/in Concerts, event photography, Music Photography, personal, Photography Business /by Deirdre Ryan

Long Overdue Update 10/31/17:

I’m pretty excited to have had this post re-posted in very well respected The Phoblographer <—–click on link. Thank you Chris for spreading the word! Since then, I’ve tweaked the formatting on my post, but it’s still the same. I have also heard from another photographer whose work was also stolen from this same band. I’m waiting to hear the outcome of that. When I do, I’ll update this post.

In this post, I want to share a “bedtime story” with you all. Yes….for my closest friends and family members, you know what this post is about. I’ve waited a long time, but with so many stories showing up on PetaPixel, two years is long enough I think. For the sake of what happened, I can’t name the band.

But first!

Why do I need copyright my images? I mean, once I click the shutter and take the picture, it’s mine.

Ok, technically that’s true legally. However if someone steals your images, if they are not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to anything bad happening, you may only recover “actual damages” instead of “statutory damages.” What this means is that you as the photographer will only be entitled to the “fair market value” of your work, instead of what could be up to a $150,000 award, plus legal fees. (Parts of this description came from https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/photography-copyright-law-guide )

So if you need to hire a copyright lawyer, the first thing they will ask you is if the images in question have been registered yet. If yes, then you can proceed. If no, well, that’s going to be harder if your case goes all the way through and in front of a judge. The reason behind this is that professionals take the time to register their images because of the value to them and their livelihood, whereas say a, hobbyist, may not. Someone stealing images from a person and using it means a huge loss in revenue for a photographer.

I’m not going to go in detail on how to go through the process of registering your images. There are plenty of sites that can help you with this if you Google it. My favorite sites are:

The Photo Attorney

The ASMP

A great article from Photoshelter 5 Things Photographers Can Do to Protect Their Images Online

Here is a great video from Scott Wyden Kivowitz on how to prep your images for the US Copyright Office using Lightroom. Lately I’ve been using Capture One Pro, but I can apply what he does here to that too.

A fellow photographer got me into this site Pixsy and what they do is really cool. You sign up, and sync your images with them either directly from your computer or social media site, website, etc. They find matches of your images online, and send you an alert. Then they’ll give you options on how you want to proceed, and yes they can handle international infringements. The service is free for up to 500 images. If you have more images that you want to have monitored they have different monthly plans. Now you don’t get the full amount if you win, they keep 50% except the the highest paid plan, you keep 55%. Overall, it’s not a bad system and I did have an image that their software found. I contacted them and they took care of it, done. I highly recommend trying it out and going with it, if you do find something that’s a huge deal then get a copyright lawyer.

Ok now that we have all of that taken cared of let’s go one with my experience shall we?

Back in 2015, I went to a concert here in my town and thanks to my buddy, a popular band from way back came to perform. The opening act was The Successful Failures and that was my first time seeing them. I was in the audience doing my usual thing, taking pictures. I wasn’t paid to be there, actually I paid for my tickets. But I asked if it was ok to take pictures and he said sure. I had my Canon Mark 5D III, the 16-35mm f2.8 L lens, and the 70-200mm f2.8 L non-IS lens. I’m working the room, doing my best to not be in the way of people enjoying the show. And we’re all having a great time, enjoying the hit songs we all love.

After the show, my husband and I meet the performers, the lead singer is a friend of my friend, and he introduces me. We get our photos taken, hands shaken, it was a great night. Before they went onstage, I met the previous band this way too, exchanged information.

Later on, I post the images from that night to this blog, watermarked them as you see here. Shared the post to social media and of course to my friend. The lead singer of The Successful Failures reached out via email and told me how he and his band members loved the images that I had posted. He wanted to know if they could use some of the images on their website and social media and how much it would cost. And touched upon the photo project for their new album.

I got back to him because at the time, I wasn’t sure how to price this sort of request. But I could see the value in what they do and they knew the value of what I do, there was going to be an awesome photoshoot coming up, I love their music, and most importantly, they asked for my permission. So I came up with a web sized per image price and we agreed upon it, had them sign a contract and that was it.

I follow the bands that I photograph on FB, Instagram and on Twitter. That’s when I noticed that that well known band had screenshot my images right off my blog and was using them on their FB, Twitter and Instagram with a link to their merchandise section to sell stuff like shirts and cds. That’s called using my work illegally for advertising. So at first I was pissed, but I played it cool because this is a friend of my friend. So I private messaged the band with this and I’m so happy that I had the insight to make screen copies.

If you can’t read it here’s what it says:

“Hey there! While I’m flattered that you like my images, I’m not cool with the screenshots and on my blog it does state that all images are copyright Deirdre Ryan Photography. Please do not copy in any way, this includes screenshots, thank you. I wanted to be nice, be cool. I’ll let it slide this one time, but please tag me and please change all posts to include Photo by Deirdre Ryan www.deirdreryanphotography.com thanks. This includes Instagram 🙂 My FB Page is http://www.facebook.com/deirdreryanphoto I’m re-branding myself again as a commercial and editorial photographer, so this would greatly help me and as a friend of Randy’s 🙂 Oh I forgot, if you could tag my IG with my IF @deirdreryanphoto Thanks again! Have a super awesome day!”

Looking back now I realize what I dork I sounded like LOL! I wasn’t asking for money or being a jerk. I just wanted photo credit. And as you can see, it was seen.

I waited a while and nothing….crickets…so I added my photo credit in the comments. Then, and I wish I took screenshots of those, they deleted my credits! And I saw that some fans had shared my image.

I tried again and they blocked me! WTH? So I hopped on IG and not only did they block me, they cropped out my watermark and slapped some crappy IG filters on some of them. The reason I knew this was because I had another IG account that they didn’t know about(ha!). I had added my credits in the comments there and at the time you couldn’t delete them, but I was blocked from their Twitter too! So I had my friends monitor their account for me. I think that they asked them in the credits who took the photos, etc. and they got blocked and deleted too, I can’t remember right now.

Here is what the originals looked like on my blog posting:

(If you notice, the copyright symbol isn’t on them, at the time, I didn’t think I needed it. But now I have them on now, but I wanted to show you what they looked like for reference.)

So I first I got a hold of my friend that I network with, she is a copyright lawyer. In fact we’re still in touch. She suggested that I email the band first, so I found their manager’s email. Btw, they have a different manager now.

Dear _______,

My name is Deirdre Ryan, I’m a professional photographer in New Jersey, (USA).

I’ve spoken with an attorney with whom I’m in the process of retaining. Before I go ahead and do so, I want to give you an opportunity to take down all of my images.

Please call back as soon as possible _________.

Take down you images from where?

_____,

These are images I shot of ________ that I posted on my website’s blog(Recent Work). These images are on their Instagram and Facebook accounts and they were Tweeted. Two were posted last week, and four this week.

So let me get this straight..

You went down, and shot the band… The band posted low rez pictures that you posted online of THEM live… and you have a problem with this… and now have the nerve to threaten us with lawyers?? am I getting this right?

Based on the tone of his last email, I called my lawyer up and I said, you deal with this. I could tell right away that this guy was hostile and would not offer a dime. I put her on a retainer and then the nightmare began. But I was really thankful that I had her. She then asked me to draw up an estimate of what this would cost them, so I did.

Their manager was rude, mean and over the phone with my lawyer, it was F this and F that, he clearly had a problem. He didn’t see the issue with what I had with my work being stolen to be used on their social media outlets and with a link to sell merchandise. I wasn’t asking for anything other than taking them down. I tried to be nice, asking for photo credit, then emailing with a polite and direct message.

Instead he was an asshole. Never asked for permission, deleted my photo credits, ignored my messages, and

it took about 3 months for them to take my images down.

In the end, I’m “banned” from their future shows(no big deal to me), and you know what he told my lawyer? This is “rich”….he was just trying to help a young photographer out.

Really.

If you wanted to help a “young” photographer out, you would’ve done what I asked for in the first place.

Next time someone steals my work like this again, they are going to pay me. I went through this ordeal because I didn’t want them to think that they could push anyone around, ESPECIALLY women. I didn’t this for myself, but for other creatives out there. They had stolen from the Getty’s site too so it’s only going to be a matter of time before they will end up shelling out thousands of dollars.

An Intimate Evening With Local Band The Successful Failures-NJ Music Photographer

May 19, 2017/0 Comments/in Concerts, Music Photography /by Deirdre Ryan

The Successful Failures are lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Mick Chorba, Rob Martin on drums, lead guitarist Pete Smith and Ron Bechamps on bass. They’re a local Indie-Rock, Americana singer-songwriter, rock-n-roll band based in Chesterfield, NJ with quite a large following. We met about a year or so ago when they opened for Men Without Hats. I was a guest in the audience taking photos of the bands and they liked the photos that I took of them.

Since then, we’ve been in touch, then we came together this past January and I photographed them for their upcoming new album. I’m not going to share those images yet until the artwork is finalized. However I’m very excited, because not only are they an incredible band, they are super nice. We have the same interests, and sense of humor. I love seeing these guys live and wish that I can do so more often.

They played at Randy’s Man Cave recently amongst musical greats encased forever both in vinyl and CD. With this as their background, the audience was a mixture of fans, family and friends, I have to say that this was one of the best live performances I have ever seen. And not because they played some songs of my favorite band, The Beatles, either 😉

I love musicians, and to photograph them live, is a rush, because deep down inside I think part of me wants to be onstage too.

UPDATE:

Below is the video from that night featuring my photos, and yes, I do get credit on YouTube 🙂 Thanks guys, it looks great!

Pete just wails on his guitar, I love watching him perform!

Here’s Mike Devito, of the School of Rock All Star Band. He’s going to be touring with The School Of Rock All Star Band at Lollapalooza this summer. Mike came up and did an original jam with a birthday related improvisational. It was pretty awesome!

I like to call this image, “Changing of the Guards”.

As Ron was playing it looked like he was also “browsing” the records to see what he wanted to buy later LOL

They ended the evening with their version of John Denver’s Country Road, and invited everyone to sing along as loud as they could. And yes…I did just that because I love that song.

Below are videos from Commish TV, I highly recommend that you subscribe to their channel. You can see me sitting on the floor taking pictures and sitting on the chair to the left, my foot “tapping” to the beat. I do my very best not to get in the way of other people who are there to enjoy performances. There was another video crew there, and the space was small. However everyone was very nice and seemed to understand our purpose.

I’d like thank The Successful Failures and Randy for allowing me to be there as always. The band has a YouTube Channel and are on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. You can purchase their albums on iTunes and Amazon. Like I mentioned earlier, they are going to release a new album soon, so subscribe to their newsletter on their website and follow them on social media.

And, be sure to follow me here on my blog, subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Instagram and Facebook. If you’re a record label, band promoter, musician or in a band looking for a photographer, contact me.

Hey everyone, I need to put this on my blog posts. I’ve been burned horribly, but understand it’s a legal thing I have to do to protect myself. Thanks for your support, here it is: All photographs appearing on this site are the property of Deirdre Ryan Photography. They are protected by U.S. Copyright Laws, and are not to be downloaded or reproduced in any way without the written permission of Deirdre Ryan Photography. Copyright ©2017 Deirdre Ryan All Rights Reserved.

Local DJ to Mtv to Author, Matt Pinfield Visits The ManCave- NJ Music and Events Photography

March 15, 2017/0 Comments/in event photography, Music Photography, Photojournalism /by Deirdre Ryan

If you grew up in parts of north Jersey and listened to the radio during the 80’s there was a very good chance that you’ve heard of Matt Pinfield, who was at the WRSU FM 106.3 at Rutgers. If you watched Mtv, you probably heard of Matt Pinfield who hosted “MTV’s 120 Minutes. Within a year, he hosted a variety of MTV shows including “MattRock,” “Pinfield Suite,” “Pinfield Presents,” “Rocks Off,” Say What?, MTV Live, and over 100 MTV specials.”(quoted from Wikipedia)

But while he was a DJ at WRSU he found out about the famous club in Trenton called City Gardens. And it was there that he met Randy Now and Jon Stewart. Since then, he and Randy have been friends. Matt has now been in San Francisco for the morning show KFROG, and a nightly show called Two Hours with Matt Pinfield and recently wrote a book called All These Things That I’ve Done: My Insane, Improbable Rock Life. He’s been touring around the country promoting his book and came back to NJ and made a stop at Randy’s ManCave for a Meet and Greet, and to sign copies of his books.

That’s Randy in the middle.

Photos of myself with my husband and Matt by: Jen Suwak http://www.roamingdingoproductions.com We got him to crack up and double over with laughter 🙂

A lot of fans came out to see him, the line was out the door, friends from his old neighborhood in NJ were there, co-workers from WRSU, and an “old” flame. He took extra time to speak to each and every one that was there. It didn’t matter the time frame. Everyone was special, he was kind, generous funny and truly loved being there.

I wished that I could’ve stayed longer to chat with everyone, but our daughter had a birthday party to get to.

Thank you Matt! It was an honor to meet you, thank you for writing the book, and signing it for us!

Tango Dreaming at Princeton University-NJ Music Photographer

February 23, 2017/2 Comments/in Branding Photography, Headshots, Music Photography, personal branding photography, Portraits /by Deirdre Ryan

I had the opportunity to photograph my friend Wendy Zoffer and Federico Puebla before they performed at one of the Princeton University Eating Clubs. The day before I get a phone call from Wendy. Someone was supposed to take their pictures but wasn’t able to make it. So I said sure, I had an opening and would be happy to. This person was also supposed to record them on video as well. So I did that too, but I had to use my cell phone, only because I’m not a video person. Cell phone is the best that I know. If you want really great video and editing, you hire someone like my husband. I tried to make it interesting, and not just stand in one spot.

Songs they performed: “La cumparsita”, “Palomita Blanca” and “Nocturna”

As you can see, Wendy is an amazing flutist, and Federico is an amazing pianist! Truly it was a real treat for me as I used to play classical piano, and I love to sing and dance. I highly recommend Tango Dream, to contact them for events and private parties, please go to the website Princeton Music Connection or call 609-936-9811.

My Personal Favorite Images of 2016

January 5, 2017/6 Comments/in Business Portraits, Editorial, event photography, Music Photography, personal, Photojournalism, Portraits, Volunteering /by Deirdre Ryan

As we begin 2017, I want to acknowledge all of my clients who helped make 2016 a success. First, thank you for your business and for the opportunity to help in creating and presenting your business brand. Here’s to your continued success. For my future clients I look forward to working with you and doing the same.

Happy 2017!

These are in no particular order, just my favorites from 2016.

This was for a husband and wife team, they needed images for their website and branding for their new business. One is a personal trainer and the other is a therapist and life coach. Working with them beforehand, they knew what they wanted, and it ended up being an amazing environmental photoshoot!

Christine who is a sleep consultant, photographed in her home office and in her yard. In her home office, her true personality shone with her witty sense of humor. Click here to see the full session.

My dear friend, Roseanne, let me photograph her one day, trying out some new techniques that I wanted to try. They show off the two sides of her, both are strong women, but in different ways.

A real estate salesman needed his headshot like “yesterday”. This is his second career after many years doing something else. I didn’t have time to get set up in my studio, so I did this in my living room/foyer. He loved it, and so did I, it shows his true awesome personality.

Our daughter ran her first 5K with Girls on the Run(GOTR), when she was in the 4th grade. They work with the girls each week to empower, embrace, and create a positive place for the girls to achieve something that they may have never done before. Here you see my husband spraying her hair purple, and then later they had facial paint and accessories to have fun with before the race. She finished, even beat her practice run time, we were so proud of her!

My friend Dr. Sarah Meanor is a Chiropractor and hired me to photographer her and the office for her website. I love this image as she is working on a patient’s back and shoulders.

The day before the 2016 Presidential Election, I was fortunate to drive down to Philadelphia, PA with some friends to see and hear President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Madame Secretary Hillary Clinton speak in front of Independance Hall with roughly over 30K people. We couldn’t get very close, but I did capture this image of a child singing how we were all going to Hell as sinners, etc., with an extreme “Christian” group. You see plain clothed PPD officers guarding them. I can only assume the man with her is her father. And I say it like that because as a liberal Catholic, I don’t believe God would like this at all.

We spent a week in Ocean City, NJ over the summer, got horrible news about a dear friend passing unexpectedly the day we were traveling down. The next day we had a wonderful photoshoot with my friend. The image above is this young lady’s first time ever flying a kite.

Every morning in Ocean City, NJ I woke up early, got my coffee at OC Coffee Roasters on the boardwalk and read my book on the beach. This one morning, the sun and the clouds made it look “almost” like the afternoon golden hour sunset.

The above image was for at first a dating profile, but then became a lovely collaboration for yoga and a gorgeous glam shot outside!

Another collaboration for marketing and branding. I love this because she is sitting in a bronze statue on Princeton University campus, the colours, her expression, she is such a free spirit! Click here to see the full session.

We went canoeing on the Delaware River and Crosswicks Creek with our daughter’s 2nd grade teacher. I love how the light hits them both, so peaceful as we were rowing back.

I shot these headshots during a workshop and I just love how they turned out. All natural lighting, indoors, and working with these gentleman turned into great images, and I can work anywhere.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie came to my hometown and did his town hall meeting. He was there to discuss his Fairness Formula to NJEA teachers, staff, residents of Bordentown, and those from other towns. I love this because it shows how he sometimes talks to people, there was another person who asked hard questions that he didn’t seem to like either. But when he talks, he asks for no interruptions.

The day after the Presidential Election, I was really feeling down and depressed. I’m still not okay, but that day I went for a walk shot some images…. The woman just happened to be jogging right past me and I found it perfect. Reminding me that we need to move, and make a difference in our own ways to get things done.
I was bored one day, and needed to get out of the house. I did a model call on Facebook, and my clients gave me a call to photograph their new puppy. I had done their portraits before with all three of their Great Danes when they had their oldest, but unfortunately he passed away. They knew that his day was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier…I used two kinds of lighting with each image. The first, I adore the look George was giving his owner in the golden sunset light. In the second, I used 2 lights and in post I Photoshopped the leash out of the image, it gives him a regal look.

My dear friend Randy brought one of the Ghostbuster’s ECTO – 1 that was used in the new movie that came out over the summer.
I love the look of the these headshots that I did in the park for my fellow networking business colleagues. They are bright, pleasing and make my clients look amazing. Click here to see the full post!
Our daughter is a Junior Girl Scout and every year, she and many other troops as well as Boy Scouts from all over, come together to place flags on the graves of veterans at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, NJ. The image below is with my father, her grandfather, a Ret. Lt. Col. Army.

My clients, NJPAC, invited me to photograph their Martin Luther King event. I had been there before for their Kwanzaa event, and each time I’m there, I have such a good time! The energy of the choir director for the children’s choir is amazing.Randy Now brings a lot of great acts and musicians to our area. This was the Killer Triple Bill Concert at the Performing Arts Center in Bordentown, NJ. Here you see The Doughboys, Jet Weston and His Atomic Ranch Hands and The Sharkskins. I get my rock photo influences from the 60’s and 70’s and I like to work this into my work.

These in yellow I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph these beautiful women in pin up genre, it was full of playing dress up with the clothes, makeup and hair. This was in a local store in my town and I hope to do this again as it was a lot of fun and the women all enjoyed themselves.

We went to Asbury Park, NJ with friends and I was able to get this shot of our daughter <3 She is my world!

Ask anyone who knows me, I love cars! And lucky for me, we have an annual car show right here in Bordentown, NJ and I get to volunteer for it!

This is my dear and one of my best friends, Lisa. We have known each other since HS, she was a Freshman, I was a Sophomore and now lives in Austin, TX. She was in town for barely 2 days, but made time to see friends. We took a few moments for a fun shoot, this was right before a bikini body competition, and I had to spray her with a lot of bug spray LOL!

The Bordentown Board Of Education asked me to photograph their Annual St. Patrick’s 5K Run. I love this because it shows my friend helping his daughter with her shoelaces right before the race is about to begin.

I was invited to photograph the NAWBO-NYC Chapter’s 3 Hour Boot-Camp-Full Morning To Grow Your Business at the Microsoft Building in NYC and they had a fabulous guest speaker, Stephanie Breedlove. She had just sold her company care.com and hearing her speak as a woman entrepenuer was inspiring.

This last image was for my first clients of last year, Pinot’s Palette of Princeton. They had their Grand Opening, and I was invited to photograph the event.

Cowboy Trails, Hard Rocking Sounds to Surfing the Fender Strat

August 29, 2016/0 Comments/in Concerts, Music Photography /by Deirdre Ryan

This was a Killer Triple Bill Concert at the Performing Arts Center in Bordentown, NJ hosted by Randy Now on August 13th, 2016. Originally this was supposed to be an HUGE outdoor event in Bordentown Township as a fundraiser. I don’t know what happened but suddenly it had to be indoors and with less than 5 days notice.

For everyone reading, I want you all to know something: Randy puts his heart and soul into everything he does, especially these concerts and events that he does. He loves music, pop culture, and everything that comes along with it. Because of Randy, my daughter and her friends are able to see live bands perform, some of them she loved already like Peter Tork of the The Monkees and expanding her horizons of punk and rock bands.

Bringing famous talent like Peter Tork, Robyn Hitchcock, Men Without Hats, Marshal Crenshaw, he also had a special SOLD OUT dinner and a concert with Iain Matthews with James Fogarty, The Toasters, and more. I mean Randy has a book that has him all over the inside of it titled: No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes: An Oral History of the Legendary City Gardens, and a movie about him and City Gardens Riot on the Dance Floor: The story of Randy Now and City Gardens Buy the book and dvd at his shop. His place in our town is awesome, and he is a wealth of trivia and stories.

Like I said, I have no idea what happened with the fundraiser or why this concert was suddenly changed, but Randy is a dear friend, and I love the guy a lot and many do as well.

So do this favor for me: patronize his shop, go to his events and concerts, spread the word about all that he is doing. Spread the love and kindness, because he deserves this and so much more. He loves what he does and that to me just awesome <3 -Thanks everyone!

Jet Weston and His Atomic Ranch Hands played songs of cowboy days by the fire as well as Johnny Cash and the blues from the 1930’s. The Doughboys are an incredible NJ rock and roll band that just kills it every time with their amazing drum and guitar solos, vocals, and now they have a new album coming up. The Sharkskins are a surf rock band that came out strong with Dick Dale’s 1962 Misirlou, complete with trumpet. I was super amped that they played Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps 😀

Then Jet asked if there were any women who could sing to come up on stage. My friends pointed to me, I asked what key, and so I went on the stage and this did happen. I sang back up to Don’t Let Go. My husband grabbed my Canon Mark 5D III with the 70-200mm 2.8L lens and took these next few photos.

I screwed up a couple of times, but it was a lot of fun, I do sing in my church choir in the Alto section. I was hoping that someone had video of this.

Video by Kris Lewis

Then came The Doughboys!

Just Like A Yoyo, only better.

Then the main act->>>>>>>The Sharkskins! These guys came blasting out with Dick Dale’s “Misirlou”.

Check out this video of the their final performance that my friend Stephanie shot while I was on the floor in front of the stage photographing the band. BTW she’s a fabulous artist!

The Sharkskins at Open Arts PAC, Bordentown, NJ #thesharkskins #surf #surfrock #60s #livemusic #openartsstage #surf #rock #openartspac #fez #suits #sharp #finale
A video posted by Stephanie Neuhaus (@steffapeppa) on Aug 14, 2016 at 1:05pm PDT

I go to these concerts to have fun and photograph them for my own enjoyment. It’s something I love to do, it’s right in my area, and I was able to bring my daughter and her friends to this show. My husband and other friends were there that night too. Yes, I would love the opportunity to photograph band and musicians for big magazines and record labels. If that opportunity comes my way, that would be awesome. Thank you to everyone that night for be great! I can’t wait to see you perform again!

Take a look at their websites and purchase their albums, thanks!

Also a HUGE thank you to Randy Now and everyone who came that night! Come to Bordentown and stop by Randy’s shop and say hello, get some LPs, cds or other great stuff!

All images are Copyright Deirdre Ryan Photography. They are protected by U.S. Copyright Laws, and are not to be downloaded or reproduced in any way without the written permission of Deirdre Ryan Photography.

Good Times for The Monkee’s LP Debut

August 19, 2016/0 Comments/in Editorial, Music Photography, Photojournalism /by Deirdre Ryan

The Monkee’s album, Good Times, was made available on vinyl LP last week and Randy Now’s Man Cave in Bordentown, NJ had them in limited supply. Thankfully, we were able to get a copy before he was sold out. Our daughter loves The Monkees(thanks to her mom and dad) and really wanted to get this on vinyl. Like good parents, we’ve taught her how to use a record player and tape deck. With the LP she got a mini poster, a sticker, and a coloring book!
Here is what the tracks are with the songwriters and singers listed(thanks to Wikipedia):

1.”Good Times”
Harry Nilsson
Micky Dolenz with Harry Nilsson
2:46
2.”You Bring the Summer”
Andy Partridge
Micky Dolenz
3:00
3.”She Makes Me Laugh”
Rivers Cuomo
Micky Dolenz
3:00
4.”Our Own World”
Adam Schlesinger
Micky Dolenz
2:45
5.”Gotta Give It Time”
Jeff Barry/Joey Levine
Micky Dolenz
2:17
6.”Me & Magdalena”
Ben Gibbard
Michael Nesmith with Micky Dolenz
3:33
7.”Whatever’s Right”
Tommy Boyce/Bobby Hart
Micky Dolenz
2:00
8.”Love to Love”
Neil Diamond
Davy Jones
2:29
9.”Little Girl”
Peter Tork
Peter Tork
2:42
10.”Birth of an Accidental Hipster”
Noel Gallagher/Paul Weller
Michael Nesmith with Micky Dolenz
3:31
11.”Wasn’t Born to Follow”
Gerry Goffin, Carole King
Peter Tork
2:53
12. “I Know What I Know”
Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
3:30
13.”I Was There (And I’m Told I Had a Good Time)”
Micky Dolenz/Adam Schlesinger
Micky Dolenz
2:15
Yes, that is Davey Jones on the album, it was originally recorded in 1967.
Once again from Wikipedia:
“The title track was written by Harry Nilsson and a surviving demo from the late 1960s was used incorporating Nilsson’s vocals posthumously in a “duet” with Micky Dolenz. Davy Jones performs the Neil Diamond-penned track “Love to Love” which was recorded in 1967 for the Monkees’ third album in a Don Kirshner-supervised session while the group was trying to gain musical independence from Kirshner. Once he was removed, the song was discarded in favor of recording an album of songs both sung and played by the group. The resultant album was Headquarters. For its inclusion on Good Times!, Dolenz and Tork contributed new backing vocals.”

I can only imagine what it must have been like hearing that track in the studio with Davey not being there….

It’s a very good album and one that I encourage you to listen and purchase on LP or cd or download off of iTunes.

Here’s a cellphone photo of our daughter holding up her loot, The Monkee’s LP, Good Times, a coloring book, poster and a sticker. The rest I used my Canon Mark 5D III and Canon 24-70 f2.8mm L lens and some I used the Canon 600-RXT flash.

Randy was playing The Monkees tv show, so after I go our daughter the LP with the extra goodies that it came with, I took some photos. There was a photographer from The Burlington County Times, we chatted a bit. He took a photo of us in some way, but since I’m not a subscriber to that paper, I can’t see the article. I’ll go to the library and check it out there.

Some fans wearing their Monkees t-shirts to make their purchases and check out what else Randy had in the shop.

Update:

I use Twitter and when I posted and tagged Mickey Dolenz, he not only Liked this post, but retweeted it to his over 29K followers! How super awesome is that? I’m still grinning from ear to ear 😀 Thank you again!!!

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All images are Copyright Deirdre Ryan Photography. They are protected by U.S. Copyright Laws, and are not to be downloaded or reproduced in any way without the written permission of Deirdre Ryan Photography.

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