Monday, October 12, 2009

pow-WOW


pow-WOW, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
I passed out one of my Moo.com cards last week with this photo on it and realized that it wasn't yet on my blog so I decided to add it. This was taken in the spring of 2008 at the 34th annual De-Un-Da-Ga PowWow held at Custaloga Town.


By the way, I highly recommend getting yourself some Moo.com cards...they're great for self promotion of photography/artwork. The local artists and photographers I've been sharing mine with have really been digging them.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Follow Instructions


Follow Instructions, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
Sometimes people have difficulty following instructions....

Marine Character


Marine Character, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
While shooting the Oil 150 parade in Titusville several weeks ago, I saw this guy watching and thought the vest he was wearing gave him a lot of character.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Let's be Civil about this....


More Period Clothing, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
Also at the Drake Extravaganza was a Civil War encampment.- 150th P.V.I. out of Meadville.

Spot On!


Let Your Light Shine Down, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
David and I have worked together on quite a few jobs in the area. Thursday was another one of those times for the Nitro Show at Drake Well Park. Here Dave is up on the scaffolding, preparing to use his years of experience as Barrow Civic Theater technical director to run a spotlight for the Nitro Show.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions


nitro, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
The way this photo turned out, wasn't what I was going for...we'll call it an 'accident' even though many photographers won't admit those happen from time to time. However, straight out of the camera with no photoshopping or even color correction, it was interesting enough to post here. This was the end of the Nitro show at "Drake Extravaganza Day" at Drake Well Park during the Oil 150 celebration.

Don't forget that cool guys don't look at explosions...

Period Clothing


period clothing, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
During the "Drake Day Extravaganza" there were quite a few people dressed in period clothing...I thought the festival's organizers did a good job of pulling this together. This little girl was playing on the ropes of a manual well drilling rig at the park.

Just beat it


Just beat it, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
Thursday the 27th was the 150th anniversary of the first successful commercial oil well, here in Titusville, PA. If you are from the area then you are probably sick of hearing about this. If you’re not from here, then you might have no idea what I’m talking about…So if that’s the case I suggest going on over to the Oil150 website and checking it out. I was involved with the lighting/sound production for the Nitro show at Drake Well Park, but during the day I had some downtime so I went around shooting photos.

I had no idea that Venango County has a blacksmith association, and that they had a shop/display here at the park. Back in 1859, being a blacksmith was probably one of the most bad-ass jobs you could have… second only to the guy who gets to torpedo oil wells with nitroglycerin. I’m sure blacksmith conversational exchanges often went like this:

“What do you do for a living?”

“Well I take this red hot piece of metal here and hammer it between two other pieces of metal to make something bad-ass, like a knife or sword!”

I digress…anyhow, blacksmithing is demonstrated on a regular basis at Drake Well Park, and there is even work available for purchase, so I suggest you head on over and check it out.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Farmall 1456


Farmall 1456, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

I haven't posted in a while...so here's another random photo from the Clarion County Fair a couple weeks ago.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Artcar


Artcar, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
This is the Arts Oil City "Artcar" that was entered in the 2009 Oil Heritage Festival parade. If you're not hip to what Joann Wheeler and Arts Oil City are doing you better get on over to the transit building and check it out.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Andrea Rose Day"


"Andrea Rose Day", originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
This is Andrea Rose from Natrona Heights. Normally she's employed in her career as a nurse, however during the summer, Andrea and her husband travel running carnival games. This week she works the birthday game booth at the Clarion County Fair in New Bethlehem, PA. I bet if Andrea Rose were to Google herself today, she might wonder if she has her own holiday since today her photo also appears on the front page of The Derrick. I was standing nearby when Jerry had Andrea pose for the photo that's currently on The Derrick's website. Normally I try to avoid 'copying' someone's shot, but while Jerry was taking down her information for the cutline, she struck this pose that I felt needed to be captured in my own version of the photo.

"Some Pig"


Some Pig, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

Some pig...or just somebody's future breakfast? I spent part of the day at the Clarion County Fair with my friend and fellow photographer Jerry Sowden, who was on assignment for The Derrick. Normally I would follow someone's name with a link to their personal website but despite Jerry's copious amounts of talent as a photographer and an enormous portfolio of outstanding work; he doesn't have a web presence yet...so maybe this additional 'nudge' will get him there :-)

Oil Heritage Festival Fireworks


OHF Fireworks 1, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.
I spent a lot of time down at Oil Heritage Festival this past week/weekend. If you're not a "local" and not familiar with the event, you can read about it on the Venango Area Chamber's website. Sunday night was the close of the festival and I was downtown for the fireworks to shoot a few photos. The fireworks in this photo are actually amateur and not the official ones set off by Cartwright Fireworks. (more photos to come later)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Chalk it up


Chalk it up, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

Today was the 2009 Oil Heritage Festival parade in my hometown...so I went down to shoot a couple photos for the blog. This year for the first time artists were allowed to do chalk drawings on the bridge during the parade, so I snapped a few quick shots of the art before they opened the bridge back up to traffic.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Clean and Bright


Clean and Bright, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

My paddle's clean and bright,
Flashing with silver.
Follow the wild goose flight,
Dip, dip and swing.

Dip, dip and swing it back,
Flashing with silver.
Follow the wild goose flight,
Dip, dip and swing.

"The Paddle Song" - traditional round

Reservoir Sunset


reservoir sunset, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

I went camping back in may up in the Allegheny National Forrest. This is the sun setting as viewed from the beach by our campsite. I'm still getting the hang of this HDR imaging thing :-)

Monday, July 6, 2009

I'll call him fred....


I'll call him fred...., originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

....because I don't know what kind of critter this really is :-) I found him in the swimming pool a couple weeks ago when I was cleaning it. He looked like he wanted to pose for a photoshoot so, here's Fred's internet debut!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

TwoThousandNate


twothousandnate, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

Here's another photo from the archives - Nate getting ready to rock out on the banjo at the Oil Region Indie Music Festival 2008. If you ask him though, he'd probably never admit to "rocking out." :-) For more on Oil Region Indie music check out their myspace page.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Totally Stacked


Totally Stacked, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

I ended up going to the Pittsburgh Zoo yesterday with a couple friends. While we were down there we stopped by the waterfront for dinner...which is where this photo came from. The waterfront area was once a steel mill, but today these smokestacks are all that remain.

Latonia


Latonia, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

The Latonia theater in Oil City, PA on a cool spring night.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

"Field of Dreams"


Field of Dreams, originally uploaded by Ryan Wenner.

Well here it is: the inaugural post on photoblog.ryanwenner.com! I've been doing photography since I got my first camera when I was in kindergarten. Now some 22 years later this passion has manifested itself in the form of a photoblog.

I plan on starting out with a few Ryan Wenner "classic" photos. I took this photo in 2005 in Seneca at one of my parents' neighbor's fields. Since then It's won awards in a few local photography contests....although I've had several different versions of it with varying amounts of photoshop generated 'haze' around the flowers.