Adam Ryan Morris Photo Blog

Published: Conrad Plymouth, the band

July 6, 2010 in published, recent shoots | No comments

Had a blast shooting Milwaukee band Conrad Plymouth recently for the Bay View Compass. These four guys were a riot. We started inside the Palomino bar, a spot I’d wanted to shoot at for at least a year. (Big thanks to the manager, Tim, for being so accommodating!) Then we cruised down to the Port of Milwaukee for some impromptu rambling around — probably my favorite way to shoot. It lets personality to shine through, which doesn’t always happen under the glare of strobes, and it leaves more room for the unexpected.

Published: Milwaukee’s Lindbergh Park

June 28, 2010 in published, recent shoots | No comments

I photographed the downtrodden Lindbergh Park on the north side for Milwaukee Magazine last month. The kiddie pool was locked up and empty except for a puddle of mucky water and a dolphin statue (perhaps once a fountain?), making for a pretty dead-on illustration of the story.

Personal: Andy Barr

June 21, 2010 in personal, recent shoots | 1 comment

Here’s one frame from a shoot with a local model named Andy Barr. We cruised around the western part of downtown Milwaukee and a little in the Third Ward around sunset a few weeks ago to make some contrasty portraits. This shot, and definitely a few others from the session, are intended for some marketing materials I have in the works.

Published: Heather Aldrich, nonprofit marketing firm’s director

June 17, 2010 in published, recent shoots | No comments

Heather Aldrich has a mighty cool job. She’s executive director of Serve Marketing, a nonprofit agency that’s known for its provocative work on subjects like teen pregnancy, domestic violence and shaken baby syndrome. Basically, professionals donate their time and talent to work for charities and on social issues. The agency calls Milwaukee home and does plenty of projects here, but it also works with national clients. I photographed Heather for Milwaukee Magazine’s current issue.

See some of Serve’s catchy video work here…

“Son Caught in the Act”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EKXBuClORA

Serve’s YouTube page
http://www.youtube.com/user/servemarketing

Published: Milwaukee Magazine’s top salons

June 15, 2010 in published, recent shoots | No comments

Carter Prinsen, owner of Carter’s Salon in Grafton.

I helped illustrate Milwaukee Magazine’s top-salons story, with photos of four area salons. I was tasked with creating portraits and capturing action at four salons. Inside this post: A few more of my favorite shots…

Read the rest of this entry »

On vision: “Be true to yourself”

June 9, 2010 in philosophy, quotes | No comments

“It’s good for me to remember to be true to yourself and really find something that resonates with what you feel as a photographer — and not what you think someone else wants to see, not some typical shot — and go with that.”
–John Keatley, photographer

Published: The Lilies

June 7, 2010 in published, recent shoots | No comments

Had a fun shoot with a local band called The Lilies a few weeks back for the Bay View Compass. The photo above ran with the article (here), and below are a couple of others. What had been a blue-sky-and-sunny day turned overcast right before the shoot, so I happily left my strobes in the car — that nice, diffused light of cloudy skies can be a treat. We wrapped up after about 20 minutes… and I didn’t even have to change lenses. (I walked around with my favorite combo: Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm lens.)

On success: “Everything is you”

May 25, 2010 in influences, philosophy, recent shoots | No comments

I recently photographed one of my favorite hip-hop artists, Brother Ali, for ONE magazine during his tour stop in Milwaukee. As a throwback to my newspaper reporter days I also interviewed him for the mag. We spoke about music, the strength of Minneapolis’ creative scenes, and following your creative dreams. Some advice that I think can be applied to any creative pursuit:

“Everything is you. So the way that you paint or draw or snowboard or … it all has to be who you are. And then how far you end up going is 100 percent you. It’s all your work and your talent. It’s a mixture of your work and your gifts. Nobody else can do it for you and nobody else can keep you from it when it’s yours to have. I see so many people say, ‘I’m trying to make it,’ but they’re still in the emulating phase, you know? … You have to, first, before you can ever expect anybody to pay you any attention, you have to figure out the way you do it and work on perfecting the way you do things. And then don’t expect anybody to ever give you anything.”

Outtake: Rapper Toki Wright

May 21, 2010 in recent shoots | No comments

A Minneapolis rapper/civic activist named Toki Wright was the main act at Mad Planet the night I shot for Milwaukee Magazine’s city guide (see previous post). I’m familiar with a lot of what his record label, Rhymesayers Entertainment, puts out, but I wasn’t with him. He’s definitely worth a more in-depth listen.