Friends of neighbors of murdered Ty Wimberly gather in a vigil to celebrate what would have been his 22nd birthday outside of Scoobies Gentleman’s club in Allentown. Those gathered lit candles in his memory and signed a petition to have the club shut down. (Ryan Hulvat)

They are shooting the “elders” of the southside. Each time I hand them the camera I see them looking at light in a completely new way. They don’t feel constrained to light in the traditional Rembrandt lighting that I’m teaching them. They start with completely crazy conceptions from a professional perspective. But with some tweaking, they are making the most stunning portraits.

One student said, I just want the main light, high hitting the back of the subjects head, and leaving the face in shadow. I was doubtful, but we started with exactly what the student said. The subject was a latin woman with incredible skin. She looked like an Incan woman. Looking at the first shot, we added a small amount of fill with a white card. The next shot left me breathless. It looked like Edward Cutris’s portraits of Indians.

I can’t wait to see these shots hanging as large prints. I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of their excitement and freedom to experiment.

What would be inspiring as a Nikon Spokesman would be a hero. Someone cool, who has integrated photography into his entire life. A photographer’s photographer. Someone who is not just covering news or shooting pretty images for clients but rather is also taking visual documents of their family home and friends that are treasured.

My name is Ryan Hulvat and I am the real deal. I have been taking photos since a child. I built my own darkroom in the basement with treasures I found at a garage sale. My parents begged me to come out of the darkroom in high school when it got late. I brought my camera everywhere. It has been an extension of my eyes and hands for years.

I think I should be the next spokesman for Nikon. A great photographer who is living photography. I am someone who eats, sleeps and breathes photography. Someone who takes that camera home and shoots pictures that everyone shoots family and friends. Someone who shares that passion with students from 3 year olds, college students and adults hoping to grow as artists.

Dawn looks on with "approval" at my new D800.

A camera is the tool with which I observe the world. I’ve had the same tool for 4 years. The D300. I’ve worn out both the mirror box and the shutter. It’s kept up and other than those two weeks in the shop has never really let me down. I think the shutter count resets with the mirror box replacement, but the shutter count is recording 139,000 right now. So most likely it’s more.

With a new studio on the way and a camera that has taken more pictures than should ever been asked of it I’ve decided that it was time to go full frame. I needed a new camera. And that camera just arrived today. It’s the Nikon D800. When I arrived at Dan’s Camera City to pick up my new camera I was smiling like a kid in a candy store. I’m very happy.

This not is not a test shot, it’s just one of the first photos that I’ve taken with my new camera. It’s ISO 3200 in some very tricky light. I don’t consider it a portfolio piece, but rather just a celebration of something very special. I hope to carry this awesome tool to studio shoots, weddings, food shoots, video shoots and trips to the park with the kids.

This blessing was made possible with some faith of family. This blessing will carry me into one of the busiest months I’ve had in a long time. Look for more posts to come. I wish I had more time, but I wanted to enjoy the camera for a bit. And share the excitement with my friends.

OK, so I got your attention. What I’m really talking about here is old, classic glass. LENSES. Good glass is good glass. I have some great lenses in my collection. I have also had some great glass in my collection. Over the years bodies have changed. Heck, in digital it seems that we are trading those beauties away every 2 to 3 years. That is to be expected, megapixels increase along with cameras ability to shoot in lower light. I have always told my students to invest in good glass, that it lasts a lifetime. Bodies, I’ve gone through so many… D1x, D100, E300, E400, D200, PEN, D300, YIKES!

One example of a lens that I’ve held on to is my classic 80-200 2.8 Nikon zoom. It’s been with me for 15-ish years, older that my oldest child. It’s been replaced by a 70-200 that focuses faster, is slightly sharper, and now had Vibration Reduction. I would love one of those, but don’t have the need to shell out the $2,400 bucks for one. Some would suggest that you sell the old, and invest in the new. DON’T.

Case in point. I used to have a 28-70 2.8 Nikon Lens. As cropped frame sensors came along, and I purchased a 17-55mm 2.8 lens and a 12-24 mm lens, I really didn’t see the sense in carrying around this big overlap in my lens arsenal. But soon I’ll be upgrading my D300 to the newer D800. The newer D800 is full frame, and the 17-55 mm will not work.

As I was thinking about this I pulled some archive stock that I had shot in 2004. It’s a shot of chili peppers on Tim Stark’s farm near Kutztown. Awesome shot. As I looked at the shot I was in love all over again reprocessing it with the newer version of PhotoShop. While it was taken on an older D1x camera, 6 megapixel, it was absolutely beautiful. The Bokeh (Japanese word for quality of background softness) was perfect.

I had sold that lens to a friend and now am looking on ebay for another.

There are others, the 20mm 2.8 and especially the 14mm aspherical. I miss you old friends, hopefully our paths will cross again.

Just like friendship, make sure you maintain it with the occasional pampering. I take my classics to Terry at Cardinal Camera in Quakertown for the occasional rebuilds. He replaces screws, lubricates and replaces rubbers that fall off. (fill in dirty jokes here) So long as you don’t scratch the glass regular maintenance will makes these lenses last forever. Last time I had him rebuild my 80-200 I thought he had replaced my lens with a new one. It focused faster, and was perfect.

Carrot from last years garden.

Change, Grow Adapt (or get out)

Life is constant change, from vibrating strings to an ever expanding universe. If I stand still then I will do worse than go nowhere, I will be eaten alive.

Prepare- Think- Train- and be one step ahead. I will be better than good. I am getting focused on what I do well. I take amazing pictures and am an inspiring teacher.

Big changes are coming to Ryan Hulvat, photographer. Stay tuned, it’s going to be an exciting ride.

Here is my 14 year old looking like she is ready for college.

True talent comes through PASSION. If you want to be good at what you do, you have to love it with all your heart. For me that is photography.

I have my camera with me every moment of the day. My wife says that my finger is hitting the shutter release reflexively like a dog running and howling in his sleep.

As you deeply feel the medium you will begin to see in it. I used to see the world in black and white when I shot lots of black and white. Now it’s more of seeing the final product. I see the fishing print as the light falls through my kitchen window. This is called pre-visualization. And this pre-visualization makes you less distracted about the technical aspects of photography when you are engaged in the medium and more prepared to see in the moment.

This is the beginning of the photographic life.

Walters Art Center

What you put out in the world will come back to you.

The idea of Karma is that if you do good things, good things will happen to you. Do evil and you better watch out. This is not just a theory for the spiritual, but also applies to marketing, dating, and job hunting.

Let me explain, and this being a blog focused on photography I’m going to put it in those terms. When I was in marketing class, many years ago, we studied direct marketing. I worked on what the ratio would be if I sent out 100 postcards, 1,000 postcards or 10,000 postcards. We could count on something like a 1% response rate from this type of mailing. So having a small mailing list at the time, I would send out 500 post cards and expect 7.5 people just give me a call. But in photography if they are $5,000 clients, then that is good news.

Same kind of thing with phone calls. I would call potential leads and hope to make an appointment to show my work. This ratio was better, maybe 10%.

It never worked. Well, it never worked like the books said. Karma took over.

When I was planning on a new marketing campaign I would produce new work. I generated excitement in the possibilities. I thought about shooting, I made some cool photos and had a general aura of positive energy. Things happened.

I would send out postcards and not get a single response. But strangely, I would get a referral, or hear back from someone not on my mailing list. Karma.

For me the new year has gotten off to a slow start. I was discouraged and feeling that I should start filling out applications for dishwashing or something. But negative energy supports negative energy. Nothing good happens from that.

So I went back to Karmic Marketing.

Last week I was determined to get the ball rolling. I made appointments, called some old clients and tried to be positive. I got an appointment in Baltimore with someone I had shot for years. We had lost contact when I was teaching. He is at a new magazine. When I want down it was great to catch up. We spoke of possibilities and story ideas. But as it turns out, his company is involved in a lawsuit, and has a staff photographer.

After driving 150 miles one way to buy a client with no job prospects lunch and no good leads I decide to make the most of the day. I turned my camera onto the black and white setting and went onto the streets of the Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore and took photos. My wife and I went to the Walters Art Center. We had a great time.

While the client did not pan out, my phone was ringing off the hook all day. Clients called and booked me for a whole week of shooting. Even my wife got an offer for part time work if she wanted it. My daughter too.

How did that all happen? Karma. Don’t give up. You have to send out as much positive energy as you can. And it won’t come back as you expected. I thought marketing was like bouncing a ball. Send it out with enough force and it comes back to you.

What you need to do is make good photos. Send them out humbly, and help others when you can. Good things will happen to you, just not how you expected.