sick sick sick and tired.

Sorry this has been a slow week over in blog-land. I actually have been sick all week. It's been pretty terrible. It seems my tonsillitis has not left the building, and has stuck its ugly head back into my life. It's been about 7 months since I've been sick with strep or tonsillitis, I'm hoping this bout was just a fluke. I decided against anti-biotics because i took them so much last year. Today is the first day I'm back in action. However, it did mean that I had to cancel my trip to Detroit this weekend, as I'm supposed to be there right now. I miss Nate, James, Nick and Dusty a ton. James is one attractive young man, that's for sure. I love this photo of him.



Patrick is in town, and I haven't seen him in forever. Well, that a lie, I saw him about a month or so ago when I drove him to the airport. Other than that though, our interactions have been solely inter-land based. Now that I'm better I plan on making some time for him. He makes me laugh. He doesn't have this long hair anymore though, which makes me a little sad. I loved that hair... his elf hair.

Other than that life is pretty nice. I have a bunch of shoots next week, including a chef, a fashion story and some other surprises. So it should be an entertaining week. I'm also doing go-sees tomorrow, which I haven't done in a few months. Keeping myself busy because the winter can sometimes depress me. I'm excited for Halloween, my favorite holiday. However, I have no plans at the moment, because I didn't plan on being here. I'll figure something out... I think I'm going to be a zombie, because zombie movies are my favorite thing ever. Like ever. I'm actually watching Dawn of the Dead right now, the remake.

TELEVISION OF COURSE!

A lot went on this week, and since I haven't been feeling well, I wasn't really able to watch as much as I wanted to. I did love love love that Little Jackie was on 90210. I was a big fan of Imani Coppola and am glad to see her doing well in her new duo. She is an incredible singer, and has personality to the max.

Grey's Anatomy Tonight was pretty incredible just because I loved they addressed animal rights issues. It's rare that a good point is made on television shows about animal rights, so it was nice to see a change of pace. Also, the episode was damn good. I love all the romances going on.

thanks for everything.

It's almost Halloween! So excited. By far my favorite holiday of the year. Obviously. So in celebration, I'll try and post as many spooky portraits as possible. Or at least a little bit more mysterious. I miss that Nate Moore. Im going to Detroit this weekend just for a slight little getaway. Want to see my boys.



I had two shoots this weekend, one for a new client that I'm very excited to start working for. I can't say what it was, but you will know soon enough. Thus today, I was slightly out of it, and took a little breather. I actually spent the majority of the day looking at photographs online and playing Fallout 3. Fallout 3 is the best new video game, like ever. I'm totally immersed and I know I'm going to lose a lot of sleep over it. I was supposed to go to the MOMA for Bruce LaBruce's screening and the after party that OUT was throwing, but I got really ill this afternoon. My damn throat is acting up again. Guess it's that time of year already.


TELEVISION TIME
HEROES I love an episode that features Kristin Bell. I really love her character on the show, makes me miss Veronica Mars. The show is kind of convoluted lately though, but it's still keeping me intrigued. It's just like LOST, it pisses me off but I still watch it every week.

Gossip Girl Everything I hate about New York was featured on this episode. Including nightlife photographers with half naked girls. Love that Ed Westwick though. He is looking damn good this season. So good, that I decided to make him the opener of my website. Which by the way, everyone has been really great about, so thanks for all the compliments.

NEW WEBSITE!!!!!!!

FINALLY! Ryan Pfluger Photography has gotten a much needed facelift. Please check it out and let me know what you think. There is a lot of new work up there, some of which has been posted on this blog, but it's nice to see it in my portfolio finally.

RYAN PFLUGER PHOTOGRAPHY!!!!!

take a little time today.

No pictures today, just something that has been on my mind the last few days. It's not often that I get all queer and activist, but October/November is an important month for anyone of the queer community. October 12th was the 10 year anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death. Because of his death, real attention was paid to hate crimes on a national and international level. On election day, Proposition 8 will be voted on in California. Presidential candidates who both still get choked up when discussing gay marriage. While the community has made its strides, it seems we have not come very far in the last ten years. There is still so much hate and close-minded behavior, that it's easy to get disenchanted with the world. I love telling a story and being sarcastic, and usually don't like getting preachy with my ideals. However, today I'm just really feeling it. I guess just take a moment to think about everything and take a break from your busy life. See if there is anything you can do to make a difference. That's all I got right now.

rad person of the day!

I've been a big fan of Robert Rainey's work for quite some time. I really love photographers who investigate the role of photography as a medium, especially within portraiture. Anyway, take some time to look at his site. He has some really interesting projects he's done.

ROBERT RAINEY'S WORK!

son to father - yes that's a lindsay lohan reference.

I'm having a really funny week/day. Like my life is moving by really really fast, yet I'm going absolutely nowhere. My dad is sleeping on my couch downstairs and flies out to Arizona tomorrow. It's finally hit me that I'm going to miss him terribly. We've become very close the last few years, and he is the only family I have left in the relative vicinity to myself that I really talk to. Distance is a difficult thing for me.



I've been looking at all these photographs of Mike and I can't believe I took them two years ago. Having this new computer has really forced me to look at all my work on my hard-drives and finally go through it all. I loved hanging out with him. I remember that this day we ate more pizza than we should have and stayed up all night. I haven't seen him since then, and that makes me kind of sad. I haven't seen most of the people I've photographed since our sessions. I wish it wasn't the case.

p.s. I totally loved Katie Holmes on Eli Stone. I have never been a super big fan of hers. However, she was absolutely adorable and looked really really good. I'm hoping that she comes back and it wasn't just a one time guest spot. Seems all the kids from the Creek are trying to make their comeback. All the more power to them, as I fully support it. Michelle Williams has been the only one to have a real career since then, and that's because she is a force to be reckoned with. Truly an incredible actress.

p.p.s. Grey's Anatomy made me cry yet again this week. I have to be on my period or something.

size of your life.

All left hands and accidents
The size of your life
I didn't see you coming out
The corner of my eye
I've been around before
But this time I don't
Know what's in store
Let off the gas let the whole day pass
The back of your hand
The stereo hums cuz it's up too loud
Ran through the night
I've been around before
But this time I don't
Know what's in store
Baby I don't know what's in store
I've been around before
But this time I don't
Know what's in store ...

yeah, i still love the promise ring, and I'm totally alright with that. They are really good fall/winter music.

crack the shutters.

I've been listening to Deerhoof a whole lot lately. Their music makes me really happy. I had the best time when they were hanging out in my studio last year. Alfie and I painted that backdrop the night before, and it was still really wet during the shoot. I got nervous that Satomi Matsuzaki would get paint in her hair or something and I'd be totally embarrassed. Greg was definitely the most lively of the bunch, and I just scanned a bunch of photographs of him the other day, above being one of them. In most of them he is laughing or pretending to yell at me.



This is Alana Celii and Grant Willing who are young curators and photographers. It's so refreshing to see really headstrong artists who know what they want to do and how they want to do it. I'm really into photographing couples lately...I like the three-way action. Just in photography though, not in the sexual sense. I have about ten more people to photograph for the show of this work, although I'll probably continue doing it over the next year or so. I'd really like to eventually make this into a monograph, as I think it's very relevant to contemporary photographers.

I actually didn't watch any television tonight....surprise surprise right? Too much work, and I really couldn't deal with the distraction. I did however stop by my good friend Joshua's birthday celebration in the neighborhood. Other than that, I was feeling kind of blah today. As I previously stated, I am completely unprepared for this weather. I had to pull out scarves and sweaters and drop it all off to the cleaners today.

p.s. I love the new Bloc Party... there I said it.

promise to be kind.

Cold days, earlier sunsets. It's definitely fall, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. At least attire wise. I never have been one that wore appropriate clothing for cold weather. I always just wear like 2 sweaters and a hoodie and hope for the best. I haven't owned a winter jacket in the last 3 years. I think this might be the year that all changes.... cause I can't handle the cold very well anymore. It makes my bones hurt and my nose drip too much. I do love the brisk air though, makes me feel alive.



I miss Mike... I haven't seen him in awhile. Since I shot stuff for HEEB last month. He is really good company. I still can't believe I took these photographs of him a year ago... I have no understanding of time anymore. I know I write about that a lot, but it's so true. I feel like months go by without me and every few months I need to stand back and re-evaluate everything. I had a really nice day today. I did a lot of errands, met with Jakob who is doing my website... very excited for the new launch. After that got a drink with the one and only Stephen Schuster, my best-est Heather Kelly and my friend Joe from undergrad. It was really nice. Afterwards some vegan pizza entered my stomach and I wish I got more. These late hours just make me want to eat and eat.


I have a few shoots at the end of the week which should be good and keep me occupied other than that, life is same old same old. My father leaves me once and for all on Friday. I don't think I'll make sense of it all until after he is gone, but I do know I'm going to miss him a ton. I love being able to see him every week...it gives me a sense of security. Which is so nice since it used to be a sense of anxiety when I was around him as a child.

Television Time
Heroes I can't make sense of how I feel about this season. I like that they are pulling out all the stops and including more of the powers this season without it being over the top and cheesy. However, the amount of characters still really annoys me. There seems to be a constant flow of death followed by arrival of new characters. Tonight's especially. I hate feeling like I have to work to keep up with a television show.

My Own Worst Enemy Two Christian Slater's for the price of one, sounds like a bargain to me. Well, I guess Christian really needed to work it to get his career back on track. I always kind of liked him though. Anyway, I love that Alfre Woodard is on the show, with a cane nonetheless. She has always put a smile on my face, even when she plays small parts. Especially when she got sucked up into the sky by aliens in The Forgotten. One of Julianne Moore's worst decisions by the way. I'll probably watch this show because of Alfre though, and I'm ok with that.

p.s. Things have been kind of quiet in blog-land lately. I know there are so many blogs and all that jazz, but if there is anything you'd all like me to write about or stop writing about let me know. I'm always up for suggestions.

new ryan pfluger.

Hey all just a quick little note. This is a preview of what the new ryanpfluger.com will look like. It is launching this weekend. Hope you like this preview! The new design is slick and allows for better presentation of each individual image, and each image is also larger now.

rad person of the day!

This is a two part rad person of the day. Celebrating not only the photographer, but a website he co-curates. I photographed Grant Willing today, for Edited. While running the website FJORD with Alana Celii, he is also an incredible photographer. I actually love his black and white work more than anything, but this image is really great so I wanted to showcase it. Take a chance to look at his website, as well as the FJORD site which has some really great photographers showcased on it.

GRANT WILLING PHOTOGRAPHS

FJORD SITE

found in freezer?

Let me first start off by saying, I'm watching the news as I'm writing this, and on the ticker it said "100 year old woman's body found in freezer". Seriously, what is wrong with people. I just don't get it. I remember a week ago I was watching Animal Cops and there was a man who had 100 dead cats in a freezer. Anyway, it was a total fall day today...beautiful. It kind of felt like the day I had with James in Detroit where we had some photograph fun. Really incredible light.



Today I had lunch with Leonor Mamanna, which was absolutely wonderful. She is the Associate Photo Editor at Men's Vogue. We have met many times when she worked at the Times, but this was our first one on one interaction. Total sweetheart. I could have lunch with her every week. We talked about photography, television, magazines and boyfriends. It was a nice way to spend my afternoon. Speaking of photo editors, seems like my project has really picked up the pace. Above is Jennifer Pastore from Teen Vogue. We listened to Belle and Sebastian, talked about Araki and swapped lots of stories. More photographs of her to come.

I'm exhausted - which means bedtime for me.

let it take you.

A real post, finally! I apologize for my lack of verbal skills the last few days. I've felt slightly overwhelmed, and underwhelmed at the same time. Is that even possible? Regardless, I'm present and my mind is going a mile a minute. I miss my boys in Detroit...there was a weight lifted off my shoulders when I was there. It wasn't only because I was away from New York and all the stresses of life that come along with it. I felt more creative than I have in a long time. I can't really put my finger on exactly what it was, but it was really nice.



I started going to the gym again. I swallowed my pride and realized even though I'm skinny, It's also nice to be healthy at the same time. While Trina gives me a run for my money on walks and what not, it's not nearly the amount of exercise I should be getting. So I'm back on the saddle, or weight bench rather. I think my main excuse for not going has been my own insecurity of being around men and women who are much more fit than I am. Everyone has to start somewhere though...so I'm starting over and reliving my years of doing track and playing tennis everyday. Ryan Pfluger will become an athlete yet again, or at least be able to go for a nice jog without getting winded.



So I have talked about Jo-ey a lot on this blog. He is not only one of my editors, but he is a good friend. I enjoy his company and like to find any excuse to go visit him at the office of OUT. Well I finally had the pleasure of photographing him right before I left for Detroit. He is extremely photogenic, and was a really wonderful model for me. His photographs are slightly different than some of the other editors, solely because I have the closest relationship with him. I love the sensuality in this piece and I think this is my minimalism at it's best.

Television Time - Grey's Anatomy - I have to say I'm really enjoying this season. Last season was good, but didn't really do anything for me. I remember when I got the first season on dvd and I would cry during every episode. I was living with Kyle and Heather at this time, and they would make fun of me every time I put it on. Then I made them watch it and they did the same thing. Anyway, this season has been pretty emotional, and well done. So kudos to the writers for being back on the ball.

Pushing Daisies UM, thank god Kristin Chenoweth is out of the damn convent. I was so not into it and would cringe every time they would cut to that part of the story. However, if she broke out into Sound of Music songs I would totally have loved that. I just want her to sing all the time, because she is amazing. Anyway, Lee Pace is outstanding as always.... I wish he was in more movies, because he is such an incredible actor.

say it isn't so.

I'm a proud owner of a macbook pro. I'm not used to having a laptop but I'm enjoying it for sure. Other than that, I'm feeling kind of ill at the moment, so I'm going to leave for the moment. I had a long day shooting and traveling so I'm kind of pooped. I also have two very exciting new clients that I'll be working for next week, and after the issues come out I can talk about it. However I wanted to treat you with the above photograph that I really love before I go to bed.

p.s. I love that I can see Marley Shelton every week on television now. I'm not sure how I feel about the show, Eleventh Hour. However, I really love her as well as Rufus Sewell (he was amazing in the film Downloading Nancy, that I saw at Sundance last year and am still waiting for it to come to theaters). However, the show seems a little stale for me despite two incredible actors.

live your life.

Today was a relatively productive day. I spent the morning with my dad, where he brought me all of my belongings from childhood that were still in the house. My living room is now engulfed in boxes of memorabilia and Ghostbusters action figures. He also brought Trina back to me, as he was watching her while I was gone in Detroit. I missed her so much, and was so glad to have her running around my studio again. She is the best pup ever.



I also updated my website slightly today with some new portraits that I haven't posted on the blog. The above of Bruce Labruce that was also printed in OUT is on there now as well. The website re-vamp is underway and should hopefully have some incarnation relatively soon. But take a look if you want to see some new stuff in the Portraits section.

MY WEBSITE

p.s. I also saw Quarantine with Heather today. Although I really wanted to see it just because I love any kind of horror/thriller, I had no real expectations of the movie. DAMN, was it good. Jennifer Carpenter is amazing, and I've loved her ever since White Chicks. Anyway, go see it if you enjoy a well-made American thriller, which is rare. The cast is kind of ridiculous as most of them are well known television actors.

it's the pitts.

This weekend was incredibly enjoyable and incredibly busy. It was the good kind of busy though. I spent all day Saturday shooting. Above is the incomparable George Pitts. He is an extraordinary man, and if you don't know about him, you should look him up immediately. He is the chair of photography at Parsons, and former photo director of LIFE and VIBE. It was a real pleasure to photograph him for Edited. The project is taking on a lot of life with each new individual I add to the pool of portraits. I can't wait for its completion. I also photographed Jennifer Pastore, who is the photography director at Teen Vogue. I will talk about her and show a portrait or two later on in the week.

I spent the majority of today in the studio scanning, and I felt extremely productive. It was nice to just zone out and concentrate on my work. I ran into Liz Deschenes actually as I walked in. She is a professor in the graduate department at SVA and was actually on my panel for my thesis presentation. She told me I should call the body of work about my dad, beige. I don't know if I ever fully wrapped my head around that. She is also an incredible woman. It's nice to constantly feel inspired and to feel privileged to know and interact with the people I have as well as get insight on how they feel about my work.



I miss those Detroit boys already. They keep me smiling and I like when people can do that. Sometimes I find it difficult to smile...and that never used to be a problem for me. I know that because of my past I have put up a lot of walls and have difficulty letting people in. Not sure if that will ever change. Yet things like seeing my dog happy running around can make me light up in a heartbeat. So is life.

p.s. If you haven't heard it, you should buy the new Rachael Yamagata record. It's incredible, and she really is proving herself to be one of the best contemporary singer/songwriters.

p.p.s. I've had so much television to catch up on, that I'm still behind. I've decided to wait until Monday and just start fresh and not backtrack, because honestly who wants to read about things that happened a week ago. I know I don't.

p.p.p.s. I saw Blindness on Friday finally. I know the movies has gotten really mixed reviews, but I thought it was outstanding. I was a big fan of the Constant Gardener, and this movie is just as good in my opinion. Having read the Jose Saramango book back in 2001 during my first year of college, it was nice to jolt my memory with this visual carnation of it. Julian Moore can be hit or miss sometimes with her choice of roles, but she is always an incredible actress. The whole cast was actually really well matched. Go see it and make your own decision but don't pass it up AND please please please, go read the book. It's a true testament as to how the world would react in a scenario like the one presented.

rad person of the day!

So this wonderful lady had an opening tonight, and you should all know about her work. She was one of my favorite people during grad school to share a dept. with. I can say enough good things about her. Anyway, her show is at Danziger Projects and is open till November 11th. Please go see it!

Also this is her site.

ALEJANDRA LAVIADA PHOTOGRAPHS

a lack of words.

I'm having trouble writing things since I got back. I'm kind of over-whelmed with catching up with life at the moment. After this weekend I'll be back to my normal rambling self, promise. I had a meeting with Esquire today that went swimmingly. The photo editor there, Michael Norseng is totally rad. He will be posing for Edited as well, and I'm glad to have him signed on. Other than that, my day was spent doing errands. My film from Detroit came out great and I'll be scanning it at some point this weekend. I also stopped by the OUT office to see Jo-ey because I like any excuse to go hang out with him for a little bit. He's really quite wonderful. Well the fact that it's 6 am is probably a sign I should get to bed, as my plan was to wake up at 8. That's all for now.

back in my homeland.

I love Nathan from the Gossip. I found this on my hard-drive and couldn't help but smile a little. It's weird that shoot was three years ago. My first real editorial shoot. I had the worst worst experience flying today... My flight was delayed 4 hours, then cancelled and re-booked two hours later, and I didn't get home until 8 o'clock, when I should have been here at 12:30. All of that for a flight that lasted a hour and a half. Luckily I got 200$ to go towards my next flight, so a positive came out of a negative. It's funny how sneaky airlines are. They were only giving vouchers to people who asked for them. Otherwise, they just rebooked your flight and that's all you got. Anyway, I'm super glad to be home... Have two meetings tomorrow, and I need to get to bed, but wanted to let you all know I'm home and ready to show some new work from my trip and all this week.

Till then, enjoy your thursday morning!

suck it delta.

Yet another flight of mine has been delayed.... seems to be a recurring theme. Oh well....it's only a few hour delay. At least I have this awesome picture of me from yesterday that my friend James took. Can't complain about that now, can i? I look like I should be out of some really awesome 80's movie like the Monster Squad.

a-track halloween attack.

Hey all. So this will probably be my last post in Detroit! I'm leaving Wednesday morning to go back to the good ol'e BK. I'm excited to get back to my Trina, as I'm sure she misses licking my face every morning. So my friend Mike Garten became the photo editor over at HEEB magazine, and I did some quick portraits for him for the HEEB 100. Anyway, above is A-TRAK. I photographed him in my studio about a month or so ago. Cool kid and even cooler shades. Check out the full HEEB 100 here for all those important jews you should know about.

HEEB 100!!!!!!



So as I said, I'm all about the spooky portraits for October, and all weekend and today has consisted of that. Saturday we went to the cider-mill, which had hay rides and pumpkin patches. My favorite. Nate got his face painted all zombie like and I did some portraits of him in the apple orchard. So keep an eye out next week for them. James and I went driving around, halloween mask in hand, and photographed for about a half hour this evening. The light was amazing, as beginning and end of days are my favorite times to shoot.

So besides all that, my last days here have been great. Went to the casino last night, where I lost a grand total of 12$ playing 2 cent slots. Nate and Nick won about 30$ between the two of them. I kind of forgot how complicated slot machines got, and it took about a half hour just to figure out how to gamble. I love seeing large couples with cigs hanging out of their mouths and a drink in one hand at the slot machines though. It's priceless. I wish you could take pictures in casinos. I'd be having a field day.

p.s. Look out, because this weekend I will have a huge television update for everything I've missed over the past week. It will be intense, but anyone that loves TV as much as I do will appreciate it.

rad person of the day.

In celebration of spooky October, I figured I'd post about the photographer of one of my favorite images relating to halloween. If you are familiar with Tiny Vices or PowerHouse books, you have probably seen Peter Sutherland's work. Anyway, this photograph is amazing and Peter's work as a whole is quite awesome. So check him out.

PETER SUTHERLAND PHOTOGRAPHS!!!

the brothers moore

The Brothers Moore. Today was the first day I got to hang out with Nick (Nate's Brother) all day. He is a total biker dreamboat, especially with that mustache of his. I took tons of film of him, since it got over-nighted to me this morning. We went to hills, abandoned warehouses and secret trails. This trip is really making me enjoy my digital camera more than I ever have, solely because I have the instant documentation of just casual hanging out, and the photographs still look pretty rad.



In one of the buildings we went in, there was all of this graffiti that was either of band names or song lyrics. I found it pretty amusing that there was a tag of Pretty Girls Make Graves. I used to be so into that band my first year of college. Now, not so much. Time changes things all the time I guess. I found this photo of James from his go-see scanned on my hard-drive. Never had worked on it, so figured what better time than tonight.



Nate took this great polaroid of me doing my thing. It's crazy how long my hair has gotten, and as much as I want to cut it, I'm going to continue letting it be awkward so it can grow out longer. Also looking at this makes me realize how much I want to get a 4X5 camera and start shooting on that again. I do such straight portraiture, it only makes sense. I'm just so not into carrying that kind of camera around along with my lights and stuff. Maybe, who knows.

I got a bunch of jobs lined up for when I get back so that's good I guess. At least I know I won't have to worry about busting my balls to get things together as soon as I get back. I also have a bunch of exciting meetings when I get back too, which is exciting. Other than that, I'm enjoying the relaxation still and pretending I'm on vacation somewhere tropical instead of the current 40 degree weather that I'm having here.

real spooky.

Today was my second full day in Detroit. Real cold. Definitely not prepared with the clothing that I brought with me. Oh well. Nate and I spent the majority of this morning taking spooky portraits. Basically, since I'm obsessed with Halloween and monsters, I decided all my portraits here would be with monster masks. Detroit is a real gloomy place so I think it works with the ambiance.



There was this completely run-down warehouse building we went to that totally gave me the creeps. There were huge holes on every floor, and I pretty much thought I was going to fall down every one. It was a total good time though, and look forward to all the spooky portraits I'll have when I get back home and start working again.



p.s. I love love love love love love this photograph of Brian. He was such an awesome subject. I most definitely am going to shoot him again when I have a free moment. Maybe even with a spooky mask on.

p.p.s. The story on Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist that I did for OUT is up online for those of you who didn't get the magazine. The link is HERE!!!!!

two years ago....

I took these two years ago. Back in my blogging days for Nerve.com and I'd have people come into my studio every week. It's amazing what you discover when you got some idle time and an old hard-drive with you on vacation. It's funny, I never really thought I'd do anything with this studio stuff, as it was more just fun photographs for myself. However, about 14 of my studio images are going to be in a book coming out this december about influential fashion photographers. Not that I consider myself influential, but it's nice that other people do.

The woman at CVS did not want to sell my cigarettes earlier today, as she didn't think my ID was real. I guess it's kind of a compliment that people still think I look young even though I turn 25 next month. 25. I think I'm going to have to pick up the pace if I keep aging so fast. Hey! Time! Will you slow down a little? Thanks.

p.s. I've been working on my friend James' computer since I got to Detroit. I got real excited because he had my favorite Silver Mt. Zion song (This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Bird's Fallen). I used to listen to that song non-stop when I was in college, it would make me cry a lot, but for some reason it really inspired me. So if you have never heard it before, you should get it and have a listen.