Notes From the Home Office
News from Philadelphia editorial, advertising, and corporate photographer Ryan Donnell

Be forewarned that I might get a little sappy here. I’ve been known to do so.
The March issue of Philadelphia Magazine marks the end of a small epoch for me. Since November of 2005, I’ve been given the honor of making the opening photograph of the calendar section in Philadelphia Magazine. I haven’t made every [...]

I had a quick editorial shoot for MSNBC.com the other week with Laurie Besden, a lawyer and recovering drug addict who begin using prescription drugs to pass the bar exam. The habit eventually took over her life and she was arrested on multiple occasions and lost her license. She has since quit the habit and [...]

Just received a couple of clips of published images, which I made last year in NYC. They were shot for Yoga Journal’s department sections in the Feb. issue. It was a fun assignment, if challenging.
It went down like this: Yoga Journal asked me to shoot 3 separate assignments in one day because all the subjects [...]

Last December, I got to spend about a week shadowing two talented young musicians for a story by John Marchese in the Feb. 2010 issue of Philadelphia Magazine. Becky Anderson and Ben Beilman were gracious enough to let me tag along during long rehearsals and performances. Keep an eye out for these two. Amazing.
Big props [...]

I got a great chance last month to document a couple days in the life of U.S. Representative Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) for the latest issue of Philadelphia Magazine. You can read Jason Fagone’s piece here.
Sestak, as you might be aware, is running against Arlen Specter (who recently switched parties) in the upcoming Democratic primary. I’ve [...]

Just wanted to post a link to another recent cover I photographed. This time for a client in Abu Dhabi, “M” Magazine, which is the Saturday magazine for The National newspaper. Big ups to my friend Kerri Abrams for helping me secure the gig.
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I’ve been neglectful of my blog recently, but for good reason: I’ve been busy. My wife and I bought our first house & despite the terrible economic climate, I’ve been incredibly lucky to be very busy over the past 2 months. (Thank you everyone who had a part in that fact.)
This run of good fortune [...]

I finally got my hands on a copy of the April issue of Architectural Record magazine. They gave nice play to a portrait that I made of a group of students at the Charter High School for Architecture and Design (CHAD) here in Philadelphia. I got to sit in a few classes at this great [...]

Funny thing this month: I have two clips, from two separate magazines, that are so similar in theme and use of design. Both designers selected tight headshots of the subjects from my shoots and then also used food in the opposing title page design. The use of color in both is great also. I think [...]

I got my first clip of 2009 the other day. It was an assignment that was a little out of my normal M.O.: Make a portrait of a house. The story was a memoir-style piece about growing up in a section of Philadelphia called The Northeast.
I had a great time using a new piece of [...]