I’m a little late posting about this award. I could tell you it’s because I’m a very humble person, but mostly it’s because I’m very busy (new kid, work, etc, etc.) and updating social media sites seems to take up too much time as it is.

Anyway, it’s an honor to have work included in the 2012 Photo District News Photo Annual, which is arguably one of the most important contests in professional photography. As with my inclusion last year, my work for higher education clients has been honored. And it’s with the same design firm as last year: Generation! Big ups to Jennifer Galvin and Shauna Cagan for their help and support with the marketing assignment at Bates College.

I’m going to try and make it to the party in NYC tomorrow evening. If you’re reading this and heading up, please let me know. I won’t buy you a drink (they’re free), but I’ll be willing to stand in line for 2 hours in order to get you one. (Chris Buck, I’m talking to you and only you.)

Check out some of my other education work here. And here are the other winning images:

Oh, did I mention that I couldn’t photograph anyone’s face because the Amish don’t allow their visage to be portrayed in photographs. Oooof.

Thanks to fine assistantmanship by Tye Worthington, who drove the car nice and straight while I was hanging out of the passenger window.

I’ll be honest and admit that I was a little disappointed my images weren’t selected for the opener, but they still got good play. And I’m glad to see fellow local Philly photographer and friend Trevor Dixon was in on the show. (I’m guessing he didn’t have a swollen knee after his shoot, though.) Those Amish sure can run fast.

Clips and more outtakes below:

Just as Philadelphia was the birthplace of Democracy, now it’s the original birthplace of my Polling Place Project, which I’m now expanding into other parts of the United States.

As I wrote on this blog earlier this month, I recently traveled to Chicago in order to expand my polling project to other cities and places around the country. I just got the film back from the trip and I’m pretty excited to show a preliminary edit from the shoot.

I drove more then 200 miles in less then days, scouting and photographing some of the most interesting polling location in the City of Chicago. The locals were very friendly and the polling locations proved as interesting as I could’ve hoped.

I’ve created a new website for the project at http://www.philadelphiapollingproject.com and hope that you’ll stay tuned for future installments of the project as I expand it across the country.

Just a quick note to announce my acceptance into the FoundFolios “Featured” photographer web sourcebook. My portfolio address is http://www.foundfolios.com/Ryan-Donnell. Go ahead and bookmark it. I dare you.

The site has a lot of great resources for art buyers, photo editors and art directors, including the FoundFlow blog. If you’re a buyer of art (or just a photo geek) check it out. There’s a lot of great imagery (including illustration) to peruse.

I’ll be traveling to Chicago to continue my Polling Place Project. I’ll be scouting on Monday, so if any art buyers or photo editors in the Chicago area would like to meet up, let me know.

Here a few other images from the magazine and some outtakes. Now go mangia!

At the end of last year I got an assignment from Zoey Sless-Kitain to photograph a few team members from the Work to Ride polo team at their home stables in Fairmount Park in West Philadelphia. These guys recently beat some Ivy League teams, such as Harvard, and won the last year’s 42d annual USPA National Interscholastic Championship. The first time an all black team won the tournament. They were great subjects and I wish them the best in all their future endeavors. And I can’t wait to go back to the stables to shoot some other portraits…maybe Halloween themed images, what with all those spider webs.

If you’d like to read the article, here’s a link. And some images and outtakes from the shoot below.

My assistant Dave and I just dropped my latest mailer into the USPS’s hands. The 17 x 22 inch poster, printed on newsprint, features some of the beefcakes that I photographed for Philadelphia Magazine back in 2010. The images ran in the 2011 Best of the Shore issue in a photo essay about New Jersey Shore lifeguards. And, hey, who doesn’t mind looking at 22-inches of ab-tastic men and imagining you were on the beach.

Credit where credit is due: printing on newsprint was really Dave’s idea. Awhile back, Dave was telling me about experimenting with sending different media through his inkjet, including newsprint, and I immediately thought it would be the perfect timeless medium for the timeless image of a shore lifeguard. Nevermind that sending it through the inkjet might ruin my $1200 printer. Sometimes you just have to say “Fuck it.”

Because each of these is a hand fed print, we only sent out about 50 posters. If you’d like to see a copy, feel free to touch base and we’ll try to get you a copy and maybe put you on the list for next time.

Walking the labyrinthine back hallways in order to scout was a way cool endeavor in of itself. We even stumbled into the room where they preserve specimens (see right). They had monkeys in jars! We saw books dating back to the 1500s and stuffed Andean condors that are the size of a man. BTW, stuffed animals that have been sitting around since the 1800s have a pretty…interesting, yes, interesting smell.

Anyway, the scientists and curators couldn’t have been cooler. I recommend you read the article  because it really is a fascinating place filled with fascinating people.  Below, you’ll find some more images of the printed magazine and some of my favorite outtakes.

Thanks again for the great assignment, Tim!

Last November my assistant John and I traveled to Boston to photograph Whoopie Pies, oh, and a couple people, for Money Magazine. Julie and Alan run Chococoa Baking and specialize in some great little pies. (I was always under the impression that these things were endemic to Lancaster County, Pa., but I’ve since learned they’re also claimed by Mainers.)

Thanks to Julie & Alan for being patient and accommodating subjects and to the rest of the team: John, Lynne Avallone on make-up/hair and Callista Wilson on wardrobe. And, as always, Shayla Hunter for all the support back at the Money Mag home office.

Check out a few other outtakes below: