Latest / The Nerdy Photographer Podcast / 152 - Reps, Sets, and Shutter Clicks: Building Photography Skills Like an Athlete

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152 - Reps, Sets, and Shutter Clicks: Building Photography Skills Like an Athlete · The Nerdy Photographer Podcast

0:05
Casey Fatchett: Okay, let's go through it again.
0:11
I know, but this is how you get better at it. Oh, hello there.
0:15
Welcome to the nerdy photographer podcast. I'm your
0:18
host. Casey Fatchett, if this is your 100th time listening to the
0:21
show. Please collect your prize on the way out. If you've never
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where you can find our most popular episodes as good places
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to start from, depending on how far back you want to go into the
0:48
archives, you know it's up to you. In addition to providing
0:51
entertaining and informative photography related info, I also
0:52
go on adventures with the crew of the starship Fibonacci. Right
0:52
now, I'm helping a local security team run some drills.
0:54
We're working on reassembling the safety matrix in the event
0:57
of a major failure. We've done this a dozen times already? Yes,
1:01
well, practice will make you better at it. Speaking of
1:04
practice making you better, in this episode of the podcast, I
1:07
talk with street photographer Ryan fair, who brought his
1:10
sports background to how he approaches improving as a
1:13
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3:40
hello and welcome to the nerdy photographer podcast. I'm your
3:50
host. Oh shit. Before I get into that, how do i pronounce your
3:54
last name?
3:55
Ryan Faer: Fair just like fair ball,
3:56
Casey Fatchett: okay, yes, yeah, just the someone who's had their
4:00
last name just destroyed numerous times. Just want to
4:05
make sure that I'm pronouncing it correctly.
4:07
Ryan Faer: Yeah. Appreciate that. Thank you.
4:10
Casey Fatchett: Hello and welcome to the nerdy
4:13
photographer podcast. I'm your host, Casey Fatchett, and I'm
4:16
here today with photographer Ryan fair. Ryan, welcome to the
4:19
show.
4:20
Ryan Faer: Hey, Casey, thanks so much for having me. Super
4:24
excited to sit down chat with you today.
4:25
Casey Fatchett: Excited to have you on and before we get
4:26
started, we're gonna roll the dice breaker. It's a seven it.
4:32
If you could be friends with any fictional character? Who would
4:36
it be?
4:38
Ryan Faer: Oh, man, that's good friends. So this, this is
4:43
immediately what comes to mind. So I don't know if this is what
4:45
you what you were thinking, but I just finished watching
4:48
severance the second season last
4:50
Casey Fatchett: night. Spoil anything for me,
4:54
Ryan Faer: I won't, but the concept of having an innie and
4:56
an outie is wild to me, so I'd love to talk to. My any and get
5:01
to know them if I was to have one,
5:04
Casey Fatchett: I was, since we're recording this, Val Kilmer
5:07
has just passed away. I was rewatched real genius yesterday.
5:14
And I would say Chris Knight is definitely somebody I would like
5:17
to be friends with, because that he has a moral compass. He's
5:22
extremely intelligent, but also like, knows I don't have like,
5:25
this is the kind of person you want any cares about his
5:27
friends. So I was like that. I think that would be my answer
5:31
right now, as for the moment, Ryan, for those of us who are
5:36
for our listeners who are unaware of your photography
5:39
journey and also your background. Could you give a
5:44
little bit of background on how you got into photography?
5:47
Ryan Faer: Yeah, for sure. So my photography background is much
5:51
shorter than probably the rest of my career, so I'll just start
5:54
with what I do by trade every single day. But I'll be brief
5:58
because I know that's not what folks are here for. So I'm a
6:00
sports scientist for the Cleveland guardians Baseball
6:02
Organization. I've worked for Cleveland for the last eight
6:07
years now, going on season nine. My background is actually in
6:09
strength and conditioning, so working with athletes in the
6:12
weight room, and I've basically been in professional baseball
6:14
for probably the last 11 or no shoot 12 or 13 years, and been
6:18
coaching for about 15 so I transitioned to sports science a
6:21
few years ago, and essentially my day to day revolves around
6:21
being in the weight room, still, just like when I was a strength
6:26
coach. But if anyone's ever seen Moneyball, there's all that
6:29
data, right? So we as sports scientists handle a lot of that
6:33
kind of data, but on the physical side, so from training,
6:36
sleep, nutrition, hydration, so spend a lot of time doing that
6:40
you know, throughout the day, and that that takes up the bulk
6:42
of of my time, and so photographically, though, is
6:47
about getting close to two years ago I picked up a camera,
6:51
essentially for the first time. I dabbled, if you can call it
6:54
that, in it probably 11 or 12 years ago now, when I first got
7:00
into professional baseball. My like, work had taken up so much
7:04
of my life, I was just looking for an outlet away from the
7:06
field. So I tried a couple of things. Like, I bought an Xbox,
7:09
and then I never played it. I bought a PlayStation, and then I
7:12
never played it. Then I bought a camera. I bought a cannon. Can't
7:15
tell you what it was. It wasn't a very expensive camera, but it
7:18
was a digital cannon. And thought, Okay, I'm going to do
7:21
photography that's that feels more productive than video
7:24
games. I'm a very high strung person when it comes to just
7:27
like always need to be doing something that's challenging. So
7:30
it felt like fit for me. But I was so early in my career, I was
7:33
probably 22 years old, that the camera basically just sat there
7:37
in the box, more or less. I took it out a little bit, but I
7:40
always felt like if I wasn't studying for my actual craft in
7:43
my profession, that I was doing something wrong. So I rarely
7:46
touched it, and I ended up selling it just like the
7:48
PlayStation and the Xbox. So you go forward about, you know,
7:51
1012, years, about two years ago, I I saw a camera and at the
7:56
time, didn't know what it was, but one of our players who was
7:59
here for spring training in Arizona, where I'm based, had
8:02
left his car in our, you know, at our complex when he went off
8:06
to play for his minor league team in the Ohio area, and there
8:09
was a camera sitting on the dashboard. And it gets really
8:11
hot here in Phoenix, so is the middle of the summer, and every
8:16
day I would park next to this player's car, and I would just
8:17
see this camera baking on the dashboard. And I just remember
8:20
thinking, what a shame, like, I wish I could use that camera,
8:23
you know? And so I, I went on offer up, or Facebook
8:27
marketplace, and got a Fujifilm XT 30 mark two. And that's,
8:32
that's where it started. And so two years later, it's, it's a
8:35
really big part of my life and balancing, because I spend so
8:39
much time entrenched in my actual profession that, you
8:43
know, it's really nice to have an outlet away from that which
8:46
is, which is me being able to pick up the camera, walk the
8:48
streets and invest in a creative endeavor.
8:52
Casey Fatchett: Out of curiosity. Are you using cameras
8:56
in the like the in sports science? Are you like, that's
9:00
the immediately thought of, as you were talking about it, like,
9:04
Are you breaking down motion, range of motion, like, various,
9:10
whatever activities you're having players do, and then
9:16
recording that and and breaking that down using, you know, using
9:21
a camera of some kind,
9:22
Ryan Faer: yeah, yeah. That's actually a really awesome
9:24
question that we do. It's not so if, when you work in
9:28
professional baseball, specifically, what you'll notice
9:31
is because, even though they're billion dollar organizations,
9:35
there still is a finite amount of money. So each team can't
9:37
really invest in every single type of technology or aspect to
9:42
spend their time focusing on. So some teams do biomechanics
9:45
really well. Some capture workload really well. Others use
9:49
force plates really well. So we use, you know, we use cameras,
9:54
but never giving it the type of thought that, like you and I
9:57
would be thinking about cameras, and actually, recently, we were.
9:59
Using iPhone cameras to record things, and this my little bit
10:04
of knowledge about cameras more than my peers, because they just
10:07
don't do photography, helped a little bit, because we were
10:09
talking about the difference in in focal lengths with I like an
10:13
iPhone 13 versus an iPhone 16. And like, hey, if we're doing a
10:16
two camera setup, we need to make sure we actually do our
10:19
best to match the focal the focal length, so it doesn't come
10:22
up as often and as deep as we would. You know, I would love to
10:25
talk about cameras at work, but it actually
10:28
Casey Fatchett: something that comes into play. Yeah, I was
10:33
just thinking about, like, Oh, you have to kind of if you're,
10:34
especially if you're breaking down, like, things in like,
10:34
super slow motion, knowing how much light you need is
10:34
completely different than if you're just, like, taking a
10:39
snapshot. Like, that's something that you know, the most people
10:45
wouldn't consider. So that brings me to another question,
10:49
though, as you were picking up the camera again, first of all,
10:56
I would have like gotten in touch with that player and been
10:59
like, Hey, your camera's sitting on the dash of your car. Do you
11:04
want us to do anything about it? Can I have it? Are there any
11:11
parallels between the way that you approach training athletes
11:14
and how you approach developing your skills as a photographer?
11:19
Ryan Faer: Yeah, definitely, I would say, like, my career has
11:22
had the biggest influence on how I approach my photography. So
11:26
when I try not to get super long winded, but when I first started
11:29
coaching, I was 18, so I wanted to play professional baseball,
11:33
and when I got to the end of my high school days, I just knew
11:35
that wasn't there for me. So at that point, I didn't even want
11:42
to play college baseball, because it wasn't going to be at
11:43
a very high level. I said, Okay, I'm done here, but I'm going to
11:43
move into coaching now, and even though I need to go to school
11:45
for this, I'm going to volunteer as a coach at my local high
11:47
school, try to get internships at colleges all throughout my
11:51
undergrad, and I'm going to essentially Fake it until I make
11:54
it, but build all this experience while I'm going to
11:57
school to officially become a strength coach and eventually a
12:00
sports scientist. And with that, as you going now, I had to like
12:06
photography, you know, I picked up a camera, and I'm a very
12:09
ambitious person. I set very high goals for myself, because
12:12
that's just what keeps me motivated. And just like, you
12:16
know, 18 year old me, wanted to be where I'm at now, and
12:19
actually, you know, further along, but I'll keep working at
12:22
it. You know, 31 year old me, who picked up the camera a few
12:25
years ago, had has very lofty ambitions and still, still does.
12:30
So for me, a lot of it was taking the same approach I took
12:33
as an 18 to 22 year old and early in my career, where I
12:37
said, Okay, I'm not where I want to be now, but I'm going to work
12:40
every single day to get there. And it may not be perfect, like
12:43
I may not have access to the things that I want to have,
12:45
like, for example, because of my career, I can't go out on the
12:48
street and shoot every day. I'm lucky if I get one to two hours
12:51
a week to shoot, especially because I have a dog, and I'm a
12:54
single dog dad. So it's like work 50, 6070, hours a week,
12:58
take care of the dog and then sneak out if I can for a little
13:01
bit of extra time for me. But it goes to what kinds of things can
13:06
I be doing in all the other time where I'm not shooting but I
13:09
have some free time to get better at this. And so back in
13:12
the day, you know, 10 years ago, I'd be reading journal articles
13:15
or textbooks, or I would be on social media, networking with
13:19
other strength coaches, just to try to make connections. I take
13:23
the similar approach to photography. So I study
13:26
photographs and photographers, and I do it in a very like,
13:31
probably, like some would think of like an obsessive way, in the
13:34
sense of, like, I'm very organized. I Open a photo book,
13:37
and I go through each and every photo in that photo book, and I
13:40
take notes on each photo, so it might take me two months to go
13:43
through like, for example, I'm getting close to done with Gary
13:46
winogrands color, and it's taken me a couple months, but I look
13:50
through four or five photographs, mostly every day,
13:53
really early in the morning. Because what else would I be
13:55
doing during this time? Maybe sleeping. But I choose to do
13:58
this and I look at this. Is why I love photography too, is it's
14:01
not just about taking the photograph. At least for me,
14:04
every night I'm editing a couple photos and I'm getting them
14:07
ready to share on social media. So it's for that purpose, but
14:10
it's also just reps of looking at my photographs, curating my
14:13
photographs, to post, editing them. So I take that approach,
14:18
and that way I feel like I'm getting reps every single day,
14:21
just like again, back in the day where I was a volunteer coach,
14:24
not officially a coach, but I was getting the reps
14:25
Casey Fatchett: I just I like as a former athlete, this is a just
14:30
it, and the scientist, the scientific background, the this,
14:38
this, listening to You describe it that way is really
14:42
interesting for me. Like almost the sitting down and analyzing
14:47
photos. This is something I tell people whenever they're like,
14:50
Oh, how do I learn? Like, well, there's there are books out
14:54
there, there are things that in and one of the things you also
14:59
mentioned. That was in another recent interview that I did, was
15:03
the approach of, like, he said, like I was starting out
15:05
volunteering as a coach, and like, I just did an interview
15:08
where we were talking about someone who's just, like, I'm
15:10
going to be an assistant. I'm going to be somebody's
15:12
assistant. I'm going to, I'm going to absorb as much as I
15:16
can. I'm going to, I'm going to get paid to do the thing and
15:20
also learn the thing. Like I am learning all of this stuff just
15:25
from watching other people reading books, the breakdown of
15:30
going through a photo book and like, breaking down, like the
15:34
photos, something that I used to do all the time, because I would
15:40
sit there, like, now, I think I feel like I now, the more that I
15:44
understand light. Yeah, I've been doing this for 20 something
15:49
years, and, you know, we're looking at it like I have a
15:53
better understanding now where I don't feel like I have to, like,
15:56
really, like, write it down. But I like looking at stuff and
15:59
going, like, okay, I get this and, like, I understand what's
16:04
going on. So I feel like all those reps before doing that,
16:08
and like, really doing a breakdown of an image, if
16:11
somebody asked me to, yeah, I could, like, look at that and
16:14
go, like, oh, well, this is where the key light is, and this
16:16
is where, like, whatever, like, this is a very soft light, or,
16:19
like, the harsh light, or whatever the case may be, but
16:24
like being able to analyze it that way, how much that improves
16:29
your understanding of what you're going to do when you
16:31
decide to go out and make your own photos. And it's something
16:36
that, I think, that, again, a popular topic on this show. I
16:41
don't know if it's because of me or because a lot of people who
16:45
ask for like, they want the recipe. They just want settings.
16:50
They want, like, camera settings, and they think that
16:52
that's what's going to get them to what they want to do, but
16:56
they don't understand that the situation surrounding the photo
17:01
that they are trying to make can be so many different things to
17:05
understand. It's like, I mean, this is something that I guess
17:08
would also translate to sports, and that, you know, you have to
17:13
be you can't take the same approach to hitting the
17:16
curveball that you take to hitting a fastball. It's just a
17:20
different situation, and you have to be able to be able to
17:27
read the situation. There's a reason. People say it's throwing
17:28
you a curveball, but it's you have to understand how to adapt
17:29
to different situations.
17:32
Ryan Faer: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I mean to that latter point.
17:36
So when I first started with the camera, right? And I went
17:39
through like most probably do, like I went through camera after
17:42
camera trying to find what clicked. And so at one point I
17:46
had, I had the XT 30 mark two, and then I had the XT five, and
17:50
I wanted the best version, basically, of that camera. But
17:51
then I wanted something portable, so I got the RICO gr
17:51
three. And then I wanted the best of both worlds, so I got
17:57
the x1 106 and now I have a, like, a cute two monochrome and
18:01
other than maybe getting like an M eventually, or having like an
18:04
older M to try to learn that I'm really content with the tool I
18:09
have now and have no desire to change, but digressing into
18:13
gear, what I wanted it for so long was to have something I
18:16
could take with me everywhere. And so I just wanted these
18:19
photographic reps. And that was I needed that to learn how to
18:23
operate the camera. Like, like you mentioned, work with light,
18:26
knowing what times a day are really good for photos, which
18:28
are not good if you're gonna be out there in harsh light. Like,
18:31
how can I make that work for me? So I needed that, but now I'm at
18:35
a place where I don't want to bring the camera out for art
18:40
purposes, unless I'm intentionally making art. So,
18:43
like, the camera doesn't go with me everywhere. It only goes if I
18:46
think I'm going to be able to get downtown that day to take
18:48
photos. You know, I document stuff around my house. I love
18:50
taking photos, but, you know, it's more just like of my dog
18:53
and things like that in my family. So for me to get these
18:57
reps, I have to be I feel like understanding how other
19:02
photographers are doing it, especially ones that I really
19:05
look up to, and I make no you know, bones about it, like Phil
19:09
Penman is a huge influence on my work, and is what really brought
19:13
me into street photography, because I was his fine art.
19:16
Street photography just resonated with me. There's this
19:19
clash of one. I love black and white, but there's this clash
19:23
of, like surreal and like hyper realism. There's this clash of
19:27
abstract, but also he can drop in a beautiful street portrait.
19:30
It's everything that I would want to aspire to, and the
19:33
things he's accomplished in his career photographically, are
19:35
incredible. So that's the type of art that I want to produce.
19:40
So I spent a lot of time studying his work, and I
19:42
actually his his first photo book street I have being
19:46
delivered a day or two from now. I've already gone through New
19:48
York Street diaries, but you'll probably see a lot of that
19:51
influence in my work. But what I've also found is I'm not
19:54
trying to emulate one specific person, and especially like
19:57
Phil, like so much of. What makes his photos incredible from
20:02
New York specifically are the elements that he goes out and
20:04
shoots in. Yeah, I mean, the snow and the rain, and his
20:07
ability to do that's incredible. And we just we don't get that in
20:10
Phoenix. And even if we did, I don't know if I could capture it
20:10
the way he does, but we don't get that so different things in
20:15
his work and and apply it. But then I look at Alan schauer's
20:20
work, who black and white fine art, but also very abstract. And
20:24
I've had a little bit of influence from that. And then I
20:26
would say, like one that's really resonated with me as
20:30
nothing like them is Mary Ellen Mark, but just her really raw,
20:35
you know, portraiture work, and how not everything's always
20:39
perfect, but it captures what's actually happening the moment.
20:42
So I could go down this rabbit hole of all these different
20:44
artists, but the idea is just sitting down and being able to
20:47
look at the work and find a way to get a rep from that, so that
20:51
when I go out into the street, I can hopefully use the
20:54
surroundings that are different and apply some of their their
20:58
approach that from how I see it,
20:59
Casey Fatchett: I think you take from any artist to you find
21:04
influences you who's working, like flavors, your particular
21:10
thing. I've had the pleasure of having Phil on the show. I don't
21:14
know if you've listened to the episode, but he like one of the
21:16
things he talks about, again, feels like into your need to
21:21
document. And, you know, like, write down the reps. Is his
21:24
tracking of light and, and, you know, writing down locations.
21:29
And, like, keeping a journal of, you know, hey, this time of year
21:34
the light is good here, in this spot, so that's when I'm going
21:37
to go back there and those sorts of things. And, you know, he's
21:40
like, field journaling is something that, I think that
21:45
there's a lot of people who don't realize it, like, how do
21:48
you consistently get these? Well, it's like, he said, the
21:51
elements, oh, it's a rainy, foggy day. He knows he's gonna
21:56
have, like, steam pipes on X, Y, Z streets. So he's gonna, that's
22:03
where he's gonna spend his time. And so like knowing those things
22:06
beforehand, like going out and taking the time to research
22:10
that, and not just, I'm gonna walk around and I'm hopefully
22:13
gonna find something. One thing I will say in our conversation
22:18
here is that, for me, something that has has helped is just my
22:26
some thoughts for you, because I know you're saying, if it's the
22:30
really trying to carve out the time to take photos, something
22:35
that I bring it up a lot again, is Taking pictures while I'm out
22:39
with my dog, because I'm a dog dad as well. And it's like, I
22:44
spend a lot of time taking the dog for walks, or going hiking
22:48
with my dog, and taking photos while I'm out there. Gives me a
22:53
much more like, it's even if I'm only taking a couple of shots
22:57
while I'm on a hike, and we might be out there for, you
23:01
know, an hour, an hour and a half, or however long, and that
23:08
sort of regularly, knowing I'm going to be I'm going to take my
23:12
camera, I'm going to have that with me. I'm not, I'm only
23:16
taking one lens with me. I'm not giving myself a lot of you know,
23:21
options, but knowing that I have those opportunities during the
23:26
week regularly where I don't have to fight with anything
23:30
else, but I could if I see something, I can take that that
23:37
image. I can capture that image, because I did, bring my camera
23:41
with me. So that's something to think about. I understand you,
23:47
what you're the process you're setting up for yourself.
23:50
Ryan Faer: Well, I think that's I think that's great advice, and
23:52
ironically, I used to do that a lot. Again, it's just like
23:55
taking my camera everywhere with me. And then when I first
23:58
started in street, especially, I've spent quite a bit of time
24:02
back home, where my family's from in Florida, where I'll go
24:04
home in the off season for two months and live with mom and dad
24:07
for a little bit. Because how long can we get to do, you know?
24:10
Will I get to do that with my life? You know? So I'll drive
24:13
across the country with a dog from Phoenix to Florida, and
24:15
I'll spend time with their with them, and they have some smaller
24:18
downtowns around with them. So I'll take the dog and I'll have
24:21
the camera. And early on, it was more of a crutch to like, well,
24:23
people look at the dog and then I take their picture. But then
24:26
it became like, like you're saying, like getting the reps.
24:29
And I do think additionally, like, I like my approach of
24:34
being more fine art, but I also feel like, one day I want to be
24:39
able to take meaningful photos. Not to say that fine art photos
24:44
aren't but something that's either culturally meaningful or,
24:49
you know, just has something a little bit deeper, some emotion
24:51
to it. And what I found is people who are out there
24:55
documenting versus creating art like that seems to come out more
24:59
to me. So my dog, I love, I love the hell out of my dog. She just
25:04
had surgery the other day, and it was really scary, because I
25:06
didn't expect her, at this age, to have a cancerous mask. She's
25:10
not even three, but everything looks like it's going to be just
25:13
fine, but it just reaffirms like taking the camera with me when
25:17
I'm with her, or around the house when I'm with her, and not
25:19
striving to get things perfect. So I have this beautiful,
25:22
artistic photo, but getting an emotional photo in my style
25:26
still of her and the things around us in our lives to
25:29
document that I think is something that I do want to
25:32
really push for. Because I do. I look at some of these. You know,
25:36
I may never be a full time photographer, because I love my
25:39
career. I don't, I don't want to give it up, but the thought of
25:42
doing commissioned or project work across the country or
25:45
overseas, where you're actually going to a community and there's
25:48
a reason behind it, and there you're getting something
25:50
meaningful, like, culturally relevant, like, that's super
25:55
that's super enticing to me, something I would love to be
25:57
able to do one day. But in the meantime, it's how do I create,
26:01
create my work, but also, like you're saying, work on getting
26:03
those reps elsewise.
26:05
Casey Fatchett: Yeah, and it's something that I don't know I
26:09
did. Maybe it's me personally. I'm not trying to say that
26:12
anybody else, anyone listening, or that you have to do this. I
26:16
find that having the camera with me in knowing that I'm going to
26:22
this is something that's helped me avoid burnout, in a way, and
26:27
to and maybe this was being a professional photographer and
26:31
doing it, you know, as a job that that knowing that a I will
26:37
have the opportunity to Create something. Should I feel, I
26:41
don't feel forced to do it. But should something arise? Because
26:45
there were times when I would be out hiking with my dog, and the
26:50
light just like, there's suddenly, it's like, it's kind
26:53
of foggy, and there's this beautiful sunrise coming through
26:58
the trees, and it's, you know, there's this magical, you know,
27:02
forest moment or whatever, and I'm like, Man, I really wish I
27:05
had my camera on me right now. And it's the that I don't feel
27:12
bad if I don't get a shot when I come back, but I feel good that
27:17
you and I don't even if I get a shot, that I'm like, it's not
27:21
the best, but it's knowing that if I the opportunity presents
27:25
itself in those times that I can get the photo.
27:31
Ryan Faer: Yeah, no, and I that's, I think, such a great
27:33
and healthy approach too. I didn't mention this earlier, but
27:36
one of the big things that's resonated with me, I think, why
27:39
photography stuck is my hobby outside of work was essentially
27:42
work. So I would I would mountain bike, trail run and
27:46
lift weights, and that's all I did, sometimes a couple times a
27:49
day. And I'd collect my own data, and I build dashboards off
27:52
of it. And the limiting factor for me was essentially burnout,
27:57
one for like from two directions, one like this outlet
28:00
for me that was supposed to be my outlet away from work, this,
28:03
this thing that was helping me through all the things in life
28:07
was me physically beating myself up, you know, on a bike or
28:10
lifting and you know, that takes its toll over a couple decades
28:14
and two there was a ceiling to it where I was never this
28:17
investment. Was I was never going to be a professional
28:19
athlete, like genetically and just where I'm where I'm at in
28:22
my life, like those days are done. So picking up a camera one
28:28
again. There's what you're talking about. There's you can
28:31
decide whether or not to capture a photo if you bring your your
28:34
photo or your camera with you everywhere you go. But also for
28:37
me, if I don't, if I'm exhausted at the end of a long work week
28:40
and I don't feel like driving 30 minutes into down into downtown
28:43
Phoenix, I can still be a photographer by sitting on my
28:46
couch and looking at a photo book, editing photos, organizing
28:50
my photos, we started a podcast. So like, being able to do those
28:54
things makes me feel like I'm still a photographer where, like
28:57
the day I didn't go out on a mountain bike, I questioned my
28:59
identity of Am I still a mountain biker? So this is, this
29:03
has been so relieving in that sense as well, you know?
29:05
Casey Fatchett: Well, it just like, lifts the weight off your
29:08
shoulders. And I think that even for professional photographers,
29:11
it's something that we deal with, you know, just the Okay,
29:17
well now I got to get paid, and I got to do like, there's,
29:20
there's a there's a times when I don't want to bring my camera
29:24
with me, because I'm like, this makes it work. This just makes
29:28
like, it becomes a work thing. And where people will say, like,
29:33
Hey, can you bring your camera to the party? And I'm like, No,
29:37
and just don't feel like it, because I want to be there and I
29:41
want to be part of that moment, but I understand what you're
29:45
saying is it's the can. I'm going to find the ways in which
29:50
I can experience this thing that I have a passion for, even if I
29:56
can't do the thing that everybody else may. Associate
30:01
with this activity,
30:04
Ryan Faer: yeah, and my whole, my whole life, if you could sum
30:07
it up in a few sentences, is like trying to balance out this,
30:10
like, overachiever type mindset of just trying to conquer
30:13
everything I touch, and investing probably way much too
30:16
much time into it and trying to prove something to myself,
30:19
balancing that with, like, having a life, being less high
30:24
strung, enjoying myself, enjoying my life. So again,
30:28
picking up the camera, at least for now a couple years in, has
30:30
been such a weight off my shoulders, because I finally,
30:35
I'm finally past that point, or like I told you earlier my
30:37
career, I bought a camera, and like I was every time I touched
30:39
it, I felt guilty because I wasn't doing something for work.
30:42
I'm finally at a place where I'm like, I'm really comfortable
30:44
with, like, whatever hours I put in at work or at home for work,
30:48
I'm gonna do the best damn job I possibly can. And then when I
30:52
push that aside and I pick up the camera, I'm doing that for
30:55
me, and I still take that mentality, like I'm going to do
30:57
the best job I possibly can, but at the same time, it's, it's
31:00
separate from work. So now it's, I can start to have balance. And
31:03
it's taken me so long just to even get to this point. So it's
31:06
been, it's been very liberating,
31:07
Casey Fatchett: yeah, and it's, I can identify with that as
31:13
being a photographer professionally. Again, it said
31:17
the he used to feel like, if I didn't, if I didn't take my
31:23
camera with me, I was somehow like not being a photographer,
31:27
and like friends who were hobbyists or whatever, not
31:31
understand, you know, just the emotional and mental baggage
31:38
that Sometimes comes with it, and having to rediscover the
31:42
reasons you get into it like you're saying, this is a
31:45
passion, and much like sports and science, that you something
31:51
you're very passionate about, and then sometimes You do too
31:57
much, you overwhelm yourself. And finding those ways to take
32:05
take the foot off the gas, because I think that that the
32:10
one of the the better mental, mental health lessons I've
32:15
learned is you can't give 100% all the time. Your body just
32:19
can't do it. Your mind can't do it. 100% is maximum capacity,
32:23
and it's we like to do. You need to give 110% like that. It's a
32:28
cliche or whatever, but like to understand that you can't do
32:32
that constantly. Otherwise you break down. You have and I've
32:41
certainly dealt with, like, the mental health repercussions of
32:44
that. You have been open about dealing with anxiety,
32:51
depression, in what way has, like, getting into photography
32:56
helped you deal with with those aspects of your life,
33:01
Ryan Faer: yeah, big piece of stuff that we've we've already
33:03
touched on just being able to have an outlet or something with
33:07
that isn't, you know, that doesn't have to do with my
33:10
career, because there's also, there's been years like I've had
33:12
a I've had a nice progression through my career, but there's
33:14
been times where I've had some walls where things didn't feel
33:17
like they were going my way. So to be able to separate my
33:20
identity, from being a sports scientist, from working
33:23
professional baseball, all those things has has balanced me, has
33:28
helped me fill up my cup when sometimes it didn't feel like I
33:31
could fill it from work alone. So that's a big piece of it.
33:35
Also just having a creative outlet. I've never had anything
33:39
like this before. I can't sing, I can't draw, the all the stuff,
33:43
you know, I've, you know, I like to write, but I have a hard time
33:47
starting. So the camera being able to pick something up and
33:51
capture a moment, not create something, has unlocked this
33:55
creative world to me that I didn't really know existed, and
33:59
how much it would, it would help me. So a lot of how I approach a
34:05
photo, edit a photo, post a set I'm trying. I think it was John
34:11
sarkovsky talked to he wrote a little piece with some
34:15
photographs that went in the in the Museum of Modern Art, where
34:20
he talks about like a window versus a sorry, a window versus
34:24
a mirror being the camera in the photograph. Are you seeing the
34:27
world? Are you showing the world? Are you seeing yourself
34:30
in the photograph? And for me, a lot of it, a big piece of it is,
34:34
I'm showing folks the world as I see it. And so it's an outlet
34:38
for me in that regard, as opposed to, like writing or
34:41
doing something else to try to handle the the the mental health
34:46
side of my life and depression, anxiety, I'm in the best place
34:48
I've ever been in my life, even without the camera, because I've
34:51
taken the steps over the last 10 plus years to get to where I am
34:55
now, you know, with my mental health, but the camera. Was just
35:00
additive. It's supported that and helped sustain the progress
35:04
I've made.
35:04
Casey Fatchett: Do you think that, okay, this is something
35:08
that I've noticed in myself. And do you think that the issues
35:14
that you deal with, I mean, I've noticed that my anxiety, both I
35:21
have both anxiety and depression have influenced things that I
35:26
choose to photograph like they even though it's like you're
35:30
saying, Is it a mirror window? Are you? Is the window colored
35:37
by your own experience? That's that's something that I've
35:41
noticed. There are times when it's been both like, not any
35:46
particular image, but there have been times where it's a
35:48
reflection of me in in that photo. But then there are other
35:52
times, how I see the world, how I'm showing the world. It's not
35:57
necessarily a reflection, but it is colored. It is a filter on
36:01
the image of like my cynicism or my tiredness or my like, how I
36:08
struggle to deal with a particular issue, is shaping
36:16
that image, not necessarily like looking back at myself,
36:23
Ryan Faer: yeah, 100% I think how I feel and my lived
36:28
experiences are definitely creating a filter for how I'm
36:33
portraying the world, if that makes sense. So I love black and
36:38
white. I would say that, and I if you look at my images,
36:42
they're super contrasty. So I don't like a flat image. I like
36:46
lots of deep blacks. I've gotten away from going super bright
36:50
whites. I've tried to lean more into grays, but there are times
36:54
where I push the whites as well. And in my mind, that's you have
36:59
this contrast of good and bad, love and loneliness, all the
37:03
these things that my life not to get super deep here in
37:08
existential but I've had so much good in my life, so much great.
37:11
I have a career that I've built that basically what I envisioned
37:15
for myself. I have a great family that has supported me.
37:19
I've never wanted for much I'm very privileged and lucky at the
37:23
same time. I've still dealt with these things that I feel like
37:27
they were for a lot of times, out of my control. You know,
37:29
I've, I've dealt with depression and waking up feeling empty and
37:34
can't explain why. You know, I've, I've had some very hard
37:38
time coping, and have gone to some poor coping strategies. I
37:42
felt trapped by my career and all the good that's around me.
37:45
So I feel like I have a really strong contrast in my life, and
37:49
I think I paint that out onto the images that I take in the
37:52
world that I see. And so with that, like my ethos is to go out
37:57
and try to capture life at the intersection of beauty and
37:59
struggle. Because I do feel like all the struggle I've gone
38:02
through has helped me get to where I am, because I don't know
38:06
that I would have pushed myself in my career as hard as I did,
38:09
or push myself in photography right now, if there wasn't
38:12
something I was trying to prove to myself, I feel like the
38:15
depression has fueled me. It's I've tried to overcome
38:18
something, and it's been a chip on my shoulder, and I've used
38:22
these avenues, whether it be work or fitness or the camera
38:26
now, as as a way to try to not prove something to others, but
38:29
prove worth and value to myself. And I found I've come to peace
38:34
with who I am as a person, and that is what has really helped
38:37
me stop. I stopped chasing happiness and just looked for
38:40
peace, but I'm still trying to prove something. I'm still
38:43
trying to live a life that is meaningful and can leave
38:45
something behind. But I take so much of the both the good and
38:49
the bad that I've had in my life, and have tried to put that
38:52
into the images, or the sets that I put together with with
38:56
the camera so high contrast. And I've done, like, last year, did
39:02
a photo walk in Scottsdale with some friends. And if you know,
39:05
the Phoenix area, like scottsdale's got a lot of money,
39:08
and things are pretty clean, and it's just very, like sterile,
39:13
and it's beautiful, but that wasn't my style of photography,
39:17
my you know, and I spent two months in Florida, and I this
39:20
past offseason, and I it was rural, and, you know, it had a
39:25
little bit more character, but I find that I what really
39:28
resonates with me is walking the streets of a downtown where you
39:32
see people going out having a good time. You see business
39:35
folks in great attire, but then you look down the alley and you
39:37
see grit and grime, and you see some people on the streets that
39:41
have really fallen on hard times, and it's not to exploit
39:43
them, but to capture life how it actually is out on the street,
39:47
and maybe make something meaningful from that.
39:50
Casey Fatchett: I totally get that. I think that one of the
39:51
things that, and I've had a lot of discussions about this from a
39:56
mental health perspective, is how photography can. Bring us to
40:01
the present moment and understanding like what's going
40:06
on in life, and being able to turn off the voices in your head
40:11
that might try to trick you into thinking that something else is
40:17
happening and like you will whereas we're our own worst
40:22
critics, or whatever the case may be, like being able to look
40:27
through the viewfinder and hone in on the moment that you're in
40:35
and accept that and that you can't change it and you know,
40:40
but like you said, documenting what's happening as life as it
40:46
really is is, I think that that moment in your head when you can
40:56
accept Life as it really is, and not how you sort of, like, get
41:04
it if you get into your head too much. This is something that
41:07
I've dealt with, is an anxiety and depression. The person who
41:13
deals with that that there are so many times where I've, like,
41:19
made up a scenario and instead of just, let's look at what's
41:25
really actually here. And that can happen with subjects, that
41:29
can happen with like, whatever you're photographing, and being
41:32
open to the real world and documenting it is super
41:38
important. I have a question, though, like, do you find
41:43
there's any sort of like that friction is not, maybe not the
41:50
word. But do you find that your the sense of calm that you get
41:56
from photography ever butts up against your sort of scientific
42:01
background, like the way approach to things, to bettering
42:06
yourself as a photographer.
42:09
Ryan Faer: Well, I think one thing that I there's like a
42:12
thread between the two that helps ease that friction is the
42:18
fact that, like so sports science is very science based,
42:21
but there's the cliche, there's the art and there's the science.
42:24
Like, it feels like most of the time, like, it's probably like
42:27
60 to 70% is the art, and a lot of the art is your interactions
42:31
with people. So it's like social dynamics, and our our job,
42:35
ultimately, as practitioners in that space, is to influence
42:38
behavior, and it's hard to do that with just numbers or with
42:42
just science. You have to be able to connect with people, and
42:46
it's also a big reason why most of us get into it. I want to
42:49
speak for everybody, but a lot of us. It's about the people
42:52
around us. So I do everything because I love the heck out of
42:54
our athletes, especially the longer that I've been here and
42:57
watching guys literally grow up from 17 year olds to almost 30
43:01
year olds and to reach their dreams. And also for our staff,
43:04
I love going to work with our staff every day. So what I found
43:07
in photography is that I try to like I don't I'm not. I will
43:12
shoot off the hips sometimes, but I let people see the camera,
43:15
and they can make a decision on whether they want to engage,
43:18
walk around, give me a look. And then I have to then use social
43:22
engineering to figure out, do I still want to take the shot? Do
43:24
I risk it here? Do I talk to them? Is this a good moment for
43:27
a street portrait? That's something the last six to eight
43:29
months, I've really been working on a street portraiture so being
43:32
able to just connect with people, and then also, like
43:35
fellowship with fellow photographers, which can be
43:38
challenging for me, because I have a problem of comparing
43:40
myself to other people, and so surrounding myself with other
43:43
photographers, social media, stuff like that, can be
43:46
challenging, but finding value in like, I used to just want to
43:49
go out and take photos on the street with headphones in and
43:52
just be by myself. And now most days, not only do I never use
43:56
headphones like I just want to be in the moment with people on
43:59
the street and but I'm also inviting other folks to come out
44:03
with me, or trying to catch other people while I'm out. So
44:07
there are definitely times where, like, the two things are
44:09
very conflicting, especially at the try to the capacity that I'm
44:14
trying to do them both. At I'm trying to do both things at a
44:17
very high level. But if I keep the common thread of, like, just
44:20
keeping the humanity in it and the enjoyment in it and
44:23
fellowship with others, it eases that for sure.
44:28
Casey Fatchett: Yeah, I think that having a community of like
44:34
minded folks in photography or whatever the case may be, can
44:40
really help you not feel alone. I mean, that's for lack of a
44:46
better word. It's like having that there like is not you're
44:49
not you're not left to your own devices so much. And you can
44:57
understand that a everybody goes through. Of different
45:01
challenges, and that can help you feel like, okay, you know, I
45:07
handle this in my way. I approach it in my way. There's
45:11
nothing. Nobody's way of approaching is like, inherently
45:16
better than another. But having those people that you can fall
45:21
back on and and have a discussion with or just talk
45:25
about your work, or talk about like, whatever is going on makes
45:30
all of the smooths over that friction that you might feel in
45:34
whatever area of your you know, pursuit of your craft, whatever
45:40
it is. It helps you, helps it lubricates at all, like, makes
45:44
it all run a little bit smoother. I think,
45:47
Ryan Faer: yeah, I couldn't, couldn't agree more. And that's
45:50
when there's times where I focused way too much on my
45:52
progression in my career, where I think I should be. That's when
45:58
I've been my my least happy, because most the time we're not
46:01
all advancing at the speed that we want to advance, but when
46:04
I've, like right now, where I'm very much entrenched in just
46:07
doing my job really, really well and enjoying my time with the
46:10
people around me and and like learning as I'm going is when
46:15
I'm the most content, at peace. And I feel like, thankfully,
46:17
most days with photography, that's also where I'm at, which
46:20
is like, I know I have a long way to get to where I want to
46:23
go. Thankfully, with photography, there's no
46:25
timeline. If I get there in 40 years, that's a okay with me.
46:29
But I focus on enjoying my time. I focus on learning and just
46:33
doing the best job that I possibly can. And that takes so
46:36
much of the pressure off, and if anything, with the photography,
46:39
because there's no timeline, there's even less pressure than
46:42
than at work. So it's, it's, that's how I found, if I can
46:47
lean into that side of it, I'm a way more I'm a way happier
46:50
person.
46:51
Casey Fatchett: That's good. That's, I mean, is a great place
46:54
to be. So to anybody else who is looking to get started in
47:03
photography as sort of a, I mean, therapeutic, for lack of a
47:08
better word. What advice do you have for them?
47:13
Ryan Faer: Yeah, I would. I mean, first of all, just start.
47:16
You know, get, get the camera, get any camera, and go out and
47:21
shoot, learn about your camera, document things around you. I
47:27
wouldn't for me like, just like when I started, like, I I want I
47:31
saw. This isn't why I picked up the camera, but very quickly
47:34
after picking up the camera, somehow YouTube led me to street
47:36
photography, and my immediate thought is, I want to do that,
47:41
but I could never do that for a lot of reasons. And it I just
47:47
kept taking photos, and I took it, the camera more places with
47:50
me, and then I pointed out at a person for the first time, like
47:53
and then it just evolved. But the whole way, I was focused on
47:57
enjoying the time, and that is how it latched on as a
48:02
therapeutic aid for me and as an outlet for me, as opposed to,
48:06
oh, I really want to do this thing and I'm going to do
48:08
everything I can to do this thing, and then be once I hit,
48:10
get deterred for the first time, I remember when I started
48:13
lifting weights and like, wanted to be a strength coach when I
48:16
was 18 years old, I stopped going to an LA Fitness that I
48:19
was going to because I just compared myself to other people,
48:23
and it really put me in a bad spot. And so I started working
48:27
out at the high school that I was coaching at, and it all
48:30
ended up okay, but I should have had the mindset, I think, at the
48:33
time of like, who cares what they're doing? I'm doing this
48:35
for me, lifting weights makes me feel better when I leave today,
48:39
I'm going to be in a better place. So forget what they're
48:41
doing. That's the approach I think I took with the camera
48:44
this go around, was I'm doing this for me, and then even, even
48:47
the last piece of it is like, I'm sure people at my work
48:49
thought it was really strange that all sudden, I was posting
48:52
photos because I had a pretty good following for coaching and
48:54
sports science. And I just said, I don't care. I'm not posting it
48:57
to get a following. I'm posting it because I just want to share
48:59
my work. I don't have anywhere to print. Well, I didn't have
49:02
anywhere to print all those things. So again, it was just
49:05
throw the expectations away. It's probably the best way to
49:07
say that everything I just said, very long winded, throw the
49:09
expectations away and just shoot with your camera and then find
49:12
what you really enjoy and dive into that part of it.
49:15
Casey Fatchett: Well, I think that's it's actually that's
49:16
really great advice, because I think that, again, this is it?
49:21
I've gone through that comparison thing so many times
49:25
in my career over the years where, like, I find it creeping
49:28
back in, and it has become easier and easier to sort of
49:32
push it aside, because I'll find myself thinking like, oh, man,
49:37
there's a difference between thinking that you that I am
49:45
somehow failing, or I am somehow behind someone else when I see
49:51
their work and the like, Ah, man, I wish I had done that
49:55
shoot like, it's like that, or I like, I gotta go. There. I gotta
49:59
go. I. I want to go there and, like, put my stamp on a photo,
50:04
like, in a similar location, or whatever, and that sort of
50:08
thing, that instead of going I'm jealous of that person, or I am
50:13
not living up to what that person has done, or whatever.
50:15
Those sorts of comparisons, the understanding that you are your
50:19
own person and artist and creative personality that you
50:27
you, you go on your own journey and and everybody else goes on
50:33
theirs, and that you can be happy for someone else that they
50:39
were able to get that shot and also go, hey, you know what? I
50:44
think I can take the pretty good picture like that. I'm going to
50:46
find some way to do it with what I do, and use it to inspire
50:53
yourself in a way without comparing yourself to or feeling
50:58
that you failed somehow. Like there would be times when I was
51:01
there, like I've been doing this for five years, I've been doing
51:03
this for 10 years. I've been doing this for 20 years. Why
51:06
have I not done that yet? And sort of like judging myself
51:10
according to other people's accomplishments is that's not we
51:14
have to worry about myself.
51:16
Ryan Faer: Yeah, and oh my goodness, take it from somebody
51:19
or not you. But for those listening, take it from somebody
51:21
that works in sport and has watched athletes and has wanted
51:24
to be a professional athlete. Like, I've another part of
51:27
photography that I've loved is just art in general, that it was
51:30
missing in my life is there is no right or wrong when you work
51:33
in sports science. There's there's literally science to
51:36
follow, and there's data to support things, and there's also
51:39
because it is a little bit of a corporate world, like there's a
51:42
right way to say things, there's a right process, there's a
51:44
protocol, there's all the in it. If you're an athlete, you have
51:48
to be good enough, or eventually you will not be doing this still
51:52
photography for as an amateur, as a hobbyist. There, in my
51:57
opinion, there is no right or wrong. It's how you want to do
51:59
it. Sure, people might critique your photos and say, Hey, like,
52:02
I wouldn't have done this. You don't have to care what they
52:05
say, or you can listen and take it in. That's that's up to you.
52:07
That's your prerogative, but there's no right or wrong. It's
52:10
all about what you want to do. And I've also come to some
52:15
people who like, like, maybe you do want to be a professional
52:18
photographer one day. But I think what's really awesome
52:20
about photography, and for me, is like, I love my day job. I
52:23
love my career. I don't intend to give it up. I don't want to
52:27
be a professional photographer, but I want to shoot photographs
52:30
like a professional photographer. But so for those
52:32
that aren't doing it professionally, I would also
52:34
say, like, take more pressure off yourself. If it's not there
52:37
to pay your bills, then you really don't have to do it a
52:40
certain way. Nobody has to like it.
52:42
Casey Fatchett: Yeah, there's no like, if you and I've told
52:45
people on many occasions, you don't have to turn this into a
52:50
job. It's, it's a like, photography is also one of my
52:55
hobbies. One of them is like, you know, like, I sometimes go
53:00
out and it has nothing to do with work, has nothing to do
53:03
with selling the photo, but it's just like, this is something I'm
53:05
doing that's completely separate from my work. And sort of like,
53:09
shutting all that stuff off, and you don't have, you don't have
53:15
to. I think there's a lot of pressure on people like, Oh, I
53:17
got to monetize my hobby because I'm spending time on it, and I
53:21
need to make money at it, and it's, it kind of ruins the point
53:26
of being a hobby for some people, and some people would
53:29
feel called to this as a passion, and you want to be, you
53:32
know, a professional photographer, I will do my
53:35
absolute best to help you in that regard as well. But you
53:41
don't, don't necessarily need to feel the pressure immediately
53:43
picking up the camera to be like, this is going to be my
53:46
career. Enjoy it like you said. Enjoy it like find the things
53:52
that bring you joy about this so that you can that is what even
53:58
as a professional, if you do decide at some point to become
54:01
professional, the things that are going to separate you from
54:05
other photographers, as you know, even in your profession,
54:09
where people are going to hire you, is your take on things like
54:13
how you see the world, and you really have to enjoy your your
54:18
vision of Things, otherwise you just become a copy of everyone
54:22
else.
54:23
Ryan Faer: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I would say, like, like, I,
54:28
you know my social media now, my personal Instagram account is
54:31
solely for photography. I don't use I've met a point in my
54:34
career, thankfully, professionally, where I don't
54:36
feel the pressure to go out and use it to leverage networking
54:39
for work. And I just love being with the Guardian, so I'm not
54:42
actively trying to market myself, so I use it for
54:45
photography, and I have my website and started a podcast
54:48
with some friends, and I print my photos and sell them online,
54:51
and have sold all of like three but the point is, it's not to
54:57
it's a means to an end for me, in the sense of I. I want to,
55:00
slowly, just have this tide that lifts my work and gets it out
55:04
into the world. So I have multiple ways of doing that, but
55:06
I'm definitely not going to judge myself as a photographer
55:10
by how many prints I sell this year. I'm not going to let
55:13
social media followers and likes define me. Now, I do understand
55:16
that. Like, if you want your work out there, you got to game
55:19
the algorithm. So like, I'm trying a little with reels and
55:21
doing the things. But ultimately, all those pieces
55:25
aren't to judge myself and my work. They are just means to get
55:29
my work out into the world and to help me get exposure. And
55:32
again, no timeline with as a hobbyist photographer, I don't
55:35
have to worry about man, if this reel doesn't reach 1000 people,
55:39
I may not get business. So again, if you're somebody who's
55:41
just picking up the camera that wants to use it as an outlet and
55:44
wants it to be a hobby and grow that way, it's such a relieving
55:48
feeling when you are not judging yourself by the external things,
55:52
but you're just judging it by how much you feel like you're
55:55
growing as you're doing it, both like technically With your
55:58
skills, but also your enjoyment of it.
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58:26
Hey, now for my favorite part of the show, what's that? Say?
58:32
Useless information. This is always death.
58:37
Ryan, true or false, one of the greatest pitchers in Major
58:41
League history used to run off the field during the game to
58:44
chase fire trucks.
58:48
Ryan Faer: Oh my gosh, I've never heard that before. I gotta
58:51
say false.
58:52
Casey Fatchett: It's true. The rube, the Rube, rube Waddell had
58:58
was fascinated by fire trucks and firefighters. And if there
59:01
was a fire truck that went by during a game, he would run off
59:04
the field and chase the fire truck and go and help put out
59:10
the fire. He was just like in this guy has a very colorful
59:16
history. He was also like one of the greatest strikeout pitchers
59:22
ever. I highly recommend there's a podcast called The dollop.
59:27
They have an amazing episode on the Rube. It's where, actually,
59:31
where the term being a Rube comes from. Because he was just
59:35
a country guy who came into town and he would just like he very
59:42
simple, like pleasures, and that was one of them. He would like,
59:47
the fact that he just like would stop playing and run after a
59:50
fire truck.
59:52
Ryan Faer: That's fascinating. I'll have to off. To give that
59:54
useless piece of information, as you called it, to my dad, as
59:57
well as a firefighter for 30 years. I'm sure he'd love to
59:59
hear. That one read and listen more.
1:00:03
Casey Fatchett: He's fascinating. He's a fascinating
1:00:05
character from history, Ryan, thank you so much for being on
1:00:08
where can people find you? You mentioned your podcast as well.
1:00:11
Like, let everybody know, give them the info.
1:00:15
Ryan Faer: Yep, so on Instagram and threads on at Ryan, R, Y, a,
1:00:20
n, underscore, fair, F, A, E, R, I'm most active on both of
1:00:25
those, and try to be a little more engaging on threads,
1:00:29
because a good place for dialog, also on blue sky. Have a
1:00:33
website, Ryan fair photo.com but anywhere you search my name,
1:00:36
you'll you'll probably find me. Just started a podcast with some
1:00:39
other Phoenix street photographers out here in the
1:00:42
area. We have about four or five episodes already. It's called
1:00:45
zoned focused podcast. So myself, Matthew Stella and Ryan
1:00:50
curry, get on there. It's more just like us hanging out talking
1:00:53
about photography and street photography. There's, there's a
1:00:58
range here, like, like, Matt's highly seasoned. I'm only a year
1:01:01
or two in Ryan's. The other Ryan's a year or two, and so
1:01:04
it's a lot of fun. Just check it out. But, but, of course, I'm
1:01:07
really appreciative for being able to come on on your podcast
1:01:10
today. Casey, this is really awesome.
1:01:11
Casey Fatchett: Enjoyed having you on, and you're welcome back
1:01:13
anytime. Thanks so much. You Ryan, welcome back. I want to
1:01:25
thank Ryan fair for talking with me. You can find links to Ryan's
1:01:29
work, his socials and his podcast in the Episode Notes.
1:01:32
While you're clicking on links, be sure to subscribe to this
1:01:35
show. Leave us a review, because they are the most impactful way
1:01:39
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1:01:41
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1:01:47
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1:01:52
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1:01:59
place between the Episode. You're gonna have some major
1:02:01
FOMO, because who doesn't need some fun these days? And the 12
1:02:08
of you working together still haven't beat my solo reassembly
1:02:11
time. So let's do it again till next time. Everybody keep
1:02:18
practicing. Stay safe and stay nerdy, beating
1:02:31
Unknown: about you better. Get better. Get better. Get better.
1:02:37
Listen. You