My husband, Ryan, is always finding new hobbies and has discovered his love for photography and videography over the past few years. It all started when we got a GoPro in order to document our honeymoon. His passion for photography and videography grew from there. He made several short videos about our honeymoon and enjoyed editing the videos on the GoPro Studio software as well as other free editing software. While researching wedding photographers, I found it common that people started getting into photography after hiring a professional photographer for their wedding. I would have never thought that would happen to my husband, but I’m sure glad it did.

When we got our wedding video back from our photo/video company, we were somewhat unhappy with how the video turned out. The footage was pretty good, but the music and audio were off. I wanted the video to end with our names and the text fading out. We watched the whole video only to discover with horror, that they put the wrong name for my husband! Instead of April + Ryan, it said April + Brian. We were pretty upset. Our videographer fixed it, but we still wanted to tweak the video. Since we had all the raw footage, my husband decided to see what he could do. He added more music and fixed the audio as well as our names at the end. He also did a few other wedding videos for our friends, even though he was also in both those weddings. Those were shot on GoPros and cell phones, but they really did turn out nice considering the equipment. He loved the editing process as much as shooting the videos.

Since Ryan loved making videos, I thought my husband would enjoy photography as well. I was thinking about that one day and remembered that my dad had some old film cameras in a cabinet in our house. So, I looked through the drawers and found an old Nikon FM camera from the 1970s. My husband got really excited and wanted to try it out. He bought film, and started taking pictures. Soon, he acquired his dad’s film 1980s era Minolta and my late grandfather’s 1950s Rolleiflex. He had a few photo jobs from our friends and I was his model most of the time. His pictures became better and better as time went on. He began following popular photographers online such as Jared Polin and reading books such as Understanding Exposure. He frequented camera shops in Atlanta for developing negatives and camera advice. He started getting paying gigs and saved up money for a DSLR.

Flash forward to today, and Ryan has a budding business, a professional looking website and a growing client base. He has shot a wedding ceremony, engagement photos, maternity photos, head shots, portraits, family photos, and more. He is mainly an outdoor, natural light photographer. In addition to photography, Ryan is trying to break out into videography. He has done a martial arts promotional video and shot a short film that he wrote, directed, produced, starred in and edited. He was also hired to do his first wedding video this fall.  Although he is very passionate about it, photography and videography are just his side job. My husband works full-time in prosthetics, making artificial arms and legs. He views his small business as a hobby that people pay him for.

I like to take part in my husband’s business by helping him out on jobs as his photography assistant. I try to go to every photo job with my husband. At first, I would mainly carry extra cameras and equipment, hold the clients’ belongings, and help clients fix their hair or jewelry. Now that Ryan uses a flash in most photo shoots, I also carry the flash and umbrella on a light stand or monopod. I like to give my husband and the client ideas for certain shots and give my input on a shot whenever they need it. I really enjoy helping my husband in his photo/video business, and I view each session as something fun we can do together. I also help pick out the best images to give to the clients and have referred several of my friends and co-workers to my husband’s business. It’s been a great journey so far for both my husband and I, and I’m excited to see what the future may bring.

I spoke with Ryan about his photography and videography business, and here’s what he had to say:

April: What is your favorite type of photography?
Ryan: I tend to like to do events and portraits. I like a mix of candid and posed photos.

A: You have had experience with using both film and digital formats. Which medium do you prefer to shoot? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?
R: I like both. I prefer digital most of the time because I know if I got the shot or not.  With film, you could have the best photo but the subject blinked and you don’t know until the next week. I do like the slower pace of film and the challenge it creates.

A: What do you hope to see happen for your business in the future?
R: I would like to be doing one to two photo/video sessions a month. I have no plans of photography/videography being a full-time gig, so one to two a month keeps my skills up while not being so busy that I get burned out.

The pictures on this blog post were all taken by my talented husband. Want to see more of his work or possibly hire him for your next photo session or event? Check out his website at www.RyanBaslerPhotography.com.