While I’d like to say I’ve been taking pictures since I was 2 years old, it just isn’t the truth.  I spent most of my time growing up playing with Legos and getting picked last for kickball.  Although I’ve long been intrigued by photography, I spent much of my life thinking I’d go into television or video production.

It wasn’t until I finished college, expensive diploma in hand, that the magic of freezing time grabbed me and refused to let go.

There are so many stories to tell, and I want to tell them.

The next five years were an intense self-taught crash course.  I read a lot of books, learned from a lot of mentors, and even more from mistakes.  As time went on, I realized that while I loved nature photography, shooting people is what really ignites me.  This image (taken years ago, those feet belong to my wife Kelly, on an old street in Istanbul) helped me start to realize this.  I love the tone, the grain of the film, and I love what it doesn’t say: “Who? Where? Why?”  It has hung in our house since then, and reminds me why I do what I do.

Shooting portraits allows me to capture and create on a daily basis.  The wondrous beginning of a baby’s life, the innocence of childhood, the beauty of family… this is rich ground for art, a perfect place to invest in people, stop time, and create.  There are so many stories to tell, and I want to tell them.

Ryan Estes is a member of the Professional Photographers of America.  His work has appeared in numerous publications, and he has the cutest daughters in the world.  Seriously.