August 4, 2016

Meet Sherman Oaks Fashion photogapher : Ryan O’Connor

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan O’Connor .

Ryan , please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started as model in NYC when I was 17. I got to work with some best photographers in the city maybe even the world. When I was about 25 I stopped modeling and became an agent / booker at few boutique agencies in the city. My job at that time was working on the women’s development boards. Witch basically means taking a young girl from somewhere in the world, Who knows nothing about the modeling industry and transforming her into a model. Most of the time the girls would come in with out any pictures, or if they had pictures they would generally be taking by mom and weren’t exactly
suitable to send to high-fashion clients. So it was my job to get these girls in front of as many Fashion photographers as I could. Generally
this is done by sending digitals of the girls to the photographers, in the hopes that they could get test work to build their portfolio. So in order to get
the attention of the photographers at this time. I would shoot the digitals in a very eye catching way. This would help get the attention of the
photographers. One day the director of one of the agencies I was working at , came to me and said why don’t you start testing some of the girls your self. So I did and thus started my photographer career.

Has it been a smooth road?
Fashion photography is a tough business, generally it’s low to no pay in order to build your book to the point where you’re getting editorials/clients that actually pay for your work.

What role has luck had in your life and career?
I feel like life has a lot of twists and turns and can take you different directions in a moments notice. It’s how you deal with change that matters most, your abilty to bounce back when life throws you a curve ball truly define’s you as a person. My life has had a lot of luck, but I have had to push hard to get where I am today.

Do you feel like there are certain traits that increase the likelihood of success?
I truly try to help people in life and be as good of a person as I can. Sometimes it’s the little things that go a long way.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I’m originally from NY and moved to LA a few years ago. The biggest change for me was all the driving you have to do in LA. The traffic can be really annoying at times and it can take a long time to go a short distance. The best thing about Living LA is the amount of space you get out here. NYC is big city in a small amount of space, so it can get quite congested and feel really claustrophobic at times.

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