June
15, 2014
Looking
back at the way I became interested in photography has
made me realize how lucky I have been to have had two father's who
were influential in my upbringing. At age ten, I received my first
point and shoot film camera in 1960 from my father, Dave Ryan.
I
took some pictures with it while visiting Rome, Italy for a 6 month
stay with my step-father, JohnHuggler, a composer and jazz musician, who had received his first of two Guggenheim Grants. The
next camera was another point and shoot until I graduated in
1968 from Lexington High School in Lexington, Massachusetts.
My
father, Dave, was the first to recognize the value of photography,
having taken darkroom instruction from the prominent photo-journalist
of that time, W. Eugene
Smith in
New York City.
After
my father, Dave, moved to Japan, he sent me my first good 35 mm camera, the
Asahi Pentax. It didn't have a light meter, so I purchased one and
started on my journey by
learning the basics of setting f. stops and shutter speed according
to the light meter's recommendations. From
those beginnings, I had the Asahi
Pentax, Chinon, a Canon A-1 and then the Nikon 8008s film
camera and a Bronica GS-1 medium format. In 2006, I got my
first digital camera and after having two other digital cameras, I traded John's old Nikon camera system for a Nikon D300.
My
father, John, became interested in photography, as well. He had the
opportunity to meet Ansel Adams during one of our summer vacations
driving through California. My mother, Mardean and my father, John,
were both very supportive of me pursuing photography and had given me several of Ansel Adam's photography books.
When
I moved to Lake Havasu City, Arizona in 1977, I became more involved
with photography by contributing to the local newspaper, being
published in local magazine
publications and taking a photography darkroom class at
the community college. The
class led to a job at the local newspaper.
In
1997, I moved to Mesa, Arizona where I have become very active with
photography Meetup groups. I am out as often as possible taking
pictures of the subjects that interest me most. I enjoy many
subjects such as landscapes, desert flora, birds, abstracts in nature
and abstracts in architecture. Please visit my website to see the
variety of images that are for sale. The links are www.tam-ryan.artistwebsites.com and www.tamryan.com.
This
is a Father's Day tribute to both of my father's (and my mother, of
course) who have been
very influential in helping me develop my interest in photography.
It has been the passion of my life to learn more about photography and to pursue the next image
that inspires me.
