Working with these talented people is always the highlight of my year! Thanks again (from left to right, top to bottom) Severine, Peter-Paul, Gayani, Stuart, Sigrid, Ed, Christian, Ray, Sofie, Marie, James, Saurav, Martin, Svenja, Dipa, Sarah, Ivan, Julie, Lorna, Thomas, Manansi, Jules, and Stephanie!

That's right, a few HUNDRED portraits! I've been trying to prepare my trigger finger for a few days now. Getting it ready for few thousand clicks. Á bientôt!

Here is a fun project I completed recently for Timeline Theatre Company's 2011/2012 Season brochure. I've been creating photography for Timeline's season brochures for a few years now. This year was a bit different compared to previous shoots.
Timeline Theatre "presents stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues." Therefore, I wanted the process of creating the images to be just as important as the final images. No gimmicks or Photoshop trickery needed. When we had our initial meeting to go through the four plays and talk about concepts, I approached Timeline with a completely different idea. I wanted to create EVERYTHING out of cut paper - no actors, no real environments, no scheduling the team to meet in four various locations around Chicago. Just me, a million x-acto blades and stacks and stacks of paper.


Here are the final shots as well as a quick three-minute video of the process. Be sure to check out Timeline Theatre Company for compelling plays inspired by our history.

Yep, I've officially flown over 100,000 miles this year for "work". I skipped out of the hot & humid Chicago summer for brisk & breezy Australian winter. In addition, I get to work with a kick ass crew, catch up with some old friends and tour around Sydney for a couple weeks. Next up: Los Angeles and Paris! Life. Is. Great!

Greetings from Prague! Immediately after landing back in Chicago from India, Brian and I hopped over the pond to Praha. Our main objective is to explore and soak in the world of performance design and space at the Prague Quadrennial. One of Brian's award-winning shows, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was selected among a handful of other designs to represent the Unites States in this elaborate festival. Our other objectives include guzzling prodigious amounts of Czech beer, devouring hearty dumplings & meat, battle hoards of tourists and explore fantastic architecture that this city has to offer. Here are a handful of snaps from our first weekend here. I'm definitely looking forward to another week being a tourist and can't wait to discover more of this beautiful city.

The view from our rooftop at the hotel.

Street scene on Újezd

A detail of a door near the Prague Castle

Sunset on Légil bridge

Sunset on Légil bridge

Detail of Piss by David Cerny

Brian checking out the view inside of Brownnoser by David Cerny

Here's just a quick illustration of what May through August is going to be like for me. If you ever need travel advice . . . just give me a ring! Adios, au revoir, namaste, sbohem, ta ta, catch ya later, अलविदा, goodbye!

I'm headed off to Hyderabad this afternoon to join up with the rest of the crew for this week's gig. Last time I was in India, I woke up just before the sun and headed out to document Mumbai waking up. This morning, I did the same thing in Delhi. I hopped in a cab from the hotel and headed out to Chandni Chowk in the old city. It is such a different experience when you see a city begin it's day - without the hussle and bussle of a packed street full of horns honking, traffic jams and people everywhere. Here are some snapshots of my morning. Namaste.

My first day back in India was greeted with the usual rush of buses, auto-rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, cars and honking. Lots of honking. The weather is hot and muggy, the food is fantastic (as usual) and I can't wait to go explore some more (right after I gulp down some more water and cool off in the hotel lobby).
I wish we could buy an auto-rickshaw and transport it to Chicago! I can just imagine Brian and I heading off to the movies, or grabbing dinner across town. Awesomesauce!

Headed off to India for the second time in a year. I'm still so curious about this country and can't wait to land! I'm spending a few days in New Delhi in the north and then headed down to Hyderabad for another gig with an amazing crew of people from all over the world! The next full chapter of my evolving career is in full swing! Stay tuned for some pics and updates from this amazing country.

Brian and I just landed from an amazing week in Mexico filled with family, friends and a new set of friends and family! Funny how that works when two people get married!
My brother Kevin and his beautiful new wife, Tanya, were married in quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen (next to our wedding in Kaua'i in 2009). The wedding took place at the same spot Kevin proposed to Tanya a couple years ago. It was a private lush pocket of beach in between Todos Santos and Pescadero on the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Playa Las Palmas is a perfect setting complete with a handful of beautiful horses, and, of course lush palm trees leading to the beach. Here are a few snapshots that I did for the new couple (since I was the honorary photographer for the week!). With the exception of the last pic of Brian and I hammin' it up for the camera.
I'm gearing up for another gig in another warm climate on another continent for a couple weeks - whew - my airline miles are sure piling up this year so far! Have a great week and we'll catch ya on the other side of the world!

So, The Rapture (AKA Judgement Day) is upon us and we decided to celebrate with another update to the website! As you're running out of the house to stock up on pantry staples, helmets and bugs spray, you'll have a chance to check out the site on your phone! The lovely and talented Deb at dstripe.com hooked up our clean and simple Flash-based website to a clean and simple mobile site for all you smartphone users out there! Take some time to check out the site on your iPad while you're at it too (she did some custom coding for that as well).
I've also got some career-evolving work going on over here and you'll be seeing some new and interesting things popping up on the site in the next couple months. Stay tuned for the next chapter for Ryan Robinson Studio. It'll sure knock your socks off (or, at least encourage you to do some more doodling).
Speaking of Judgement Day, have a listen to one of my favorite bands, The Rapture.

I've recently collaborated with the lovely and talented gal, Nikki, over at Caliente Creative for a new campaign for a Chicago school in need. Nikki and I (along with Greentarget, DLA Piper, Accenture, McDonalds, and Karyn’s Restaurants) are participating in this program unofficially coined "Campaign for Crane". "Campaign for Crane" is a fundraising program designed to improve both the aesthetics and infrastructure of the Richard T. Crane school. In addition, this campaign will help develop and maintain outside mentoring and tutoring programs which are vital to the development of Crane's students.
Nikki contacted me to create the photography for the "Campaign for Crane" brochure. This brochure will be handed out to potential corporate and individual donors for the school's first fundraiser on May 16th. We spent the day photographing various students and mentors around the hallways and classrooms of the school.
Click here to learn more about Richard T. Crane High School.

Some of you may (or may not) know that I live a double life. Say what? Most of my passion belongs to being a photographer. The other part of my passion involves being a graphic recorder. I have never fully announced to anyone that I have two roles as an artist. However, it gives me the most fantastic pleasure to fill you all in on my little secret.

The wonderful folks at ImageThink in NYC along with the world famous advertising agency, Ogilvy and myself are teaming up to facilitate this year's SXSW Interactive festival in Austin. I'm STOKED to be working with my my great friends at ImageThink; Heather, Nora and Andrew as well as play an integral role in an amazing event.

SXSW® Interactive features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders, the incredible new SXSW Trade Show and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas the international community has to offer.

To give some insight, I created this short stop motion video describing myself in a way that best illustrates what my super secret double life as a graphic recorder means. I am part of an amazing network of other Graphic Recorders around the world who continue to inspire, impress and motivate me as a visual person. Stay tuned for more updates once we land in Austin for a whirlwind of awesomeness!

Ryan Robinson Studio from Ryan Robinson Studio on Vimeo.

Just for fun. A brief bio about me.

This is going to be a thorough post about a shoot we did recently with Campbell-Ewald. I want to talk through the whole creative and tactical process of this cover shoot for USPS Delver Magazine.
The initial call from the art director was for an inside spread. It was going to be a HUGE shoot with 8 models, 9 different sets and a fantastic concept. While brainstorming on ways to create the images, I came up with a version of the concept to tie all the images together in a slightly different way than the original. Since the magazine had a very tight turnaround time, and I was on assignment in Minneapolis, we decided to turn down the initial shoot. (gasp!) HOWEVER, soon after discussing the fact that we would not have time to execute the original concept, I got a call from the art director. He mentioned my revised concept to his creative director. Turns out, they loved my new idea so much, the original cover was modified to fit my idea! BANG! Got a cover shoot! Since it was only one shot, we were able to produce it with short notice. Here are the steps to which we conceived, executed and delivered the final cover image...

I began by spending the day at the Field Museum of Natural History here in Chicago. (and was able to shoot some personal work for myself here, here, here, here and here)

This is my original sketch for the creatives to review. I always prefer to get sketches from clients instead of stock photo comps. Therefore, I thought I would practice what I preach.


Here are the notes from the creatives after talking through the details of "who" we are portraying in the concept. Talent, props, paint colors, wardrobe, layout, etc.

Here are the draft versions from my set builder. It was exciting to see the concept coming to life, even though it was still in its infancy stage as rough rendering.



Here is the style board with some of the elements that my stylist Sage was getting together as well as the final talent from the casting.

I purchased a stock photo to be printed as the background image for our display case.

And here is the final hero image. You can see the whole image on the front and back cover (TOTALLY WORTH THE READ) here. A BIG thank you goes out to the crew: Sage Reed (stylist), Morgan Blaul (hair & makeup), Crosstown Scenic (set build), Winston (the dog), Ed, Lettie, Jarell and Maia (talent from Stewart and Planet Earth Agency) and my assistant Mark D.

Also, during the shoot, the creative director was able to load up the Capture Pilot app. This app allowed him to sit back with an iPad and review a constant stream of images flow onto his screen through the studio's wireless network! It's CRAZY COOL technology available if you're using Capture One Pro 6 during tethered shooting.