So who am I? 

My name is Ryan, I was born in Auckland and now live in Rotorua with my wife, Julia, and our 3 awesome children, Kaio (9 years), Luca (3 years) and Nina (1 year). 

Julia and I have now been married for 12 years and travelled the world together, we have lived in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane/Gold Coast, Sao Paulo - Brazil and Florianopolis - Brazil before returning to New Zealand and settling in Rotoura. 

The "me" in "media"

I have always been drawn to the media industry, both behind the camera as well as in-front of the camera but it wasn't until we lived in Brazil that I took the plunge into doing it for a living. 

At first it was an intimidating and everyday I had to overcome my own confidence issues until other professional photographers who had been in the industry much longer than I started asking me for advice! From that point on things became different and I have never looked back - well except to tell my story! 

I also provide workshops for other professional photographers that include things like using flash and alternative lighting, post processing and marketing. 

How did I get started in weddings you ask? 

It was about 6 years ago now when I decided to move from architectual and corporate work and took my first private "engagement party", I had an idea of what to expect as I had already been shooting events for some time but this was different, it was personal and special in that sense. 

I spent longer than normal preparing for the night, it was a special event, but when I arrived it was clearly not what I had expected, there was an alter... and a wedding cake! I spoke to the guy who hired me, he said they decided to cancel the engagement party and to get married instead. I had never shot a wedding before, I felt well out of my depth, I told the guy I had never shot a wedding before and I wasn't prepared to shoot a wedding, he apologised and asked me to stay so I did. 

After that first wedding I was recommended and guests of the wedding hired me, from that point on it became my main focus.