Meet Ryan Purcell of Oh Snap Kid

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Purcell.

Ryan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I want to say that I’ve always been attracted to photography, but I’m not sure that’s true. I’ve got tons of photos lying around from when I was a child that I have taken, but it wasn’t till 2007 that I learned a hobby could be a career.

A friend of mine, Crystal Lauderdale, approached me and asked if I would take pictures at a party she was putting together with a local DJ at the Drunken Unicorn. A nightlife photographer? No thanks, it’s not really my thing. Those guys aren’t even real photographers. I’m not entirely sure how she talked me into it, but I did end up giving it a try. It was probably the money. There wasn’t much of it, but who makes good money when trying to start a career in art. I quickly learned that nightlife photography was going to be one of the toughest types of photography to master. The dark rooms, the inconsistency in lighting, the fact that every moment something was going on that needed to be captured.

My first set of photos were awful. Part of it was not knowing how to light my subjects properly or knowing how to edit a photo to its fullest potential. On top of that, throw in the fact that it is incredibly awkward to go up to a random stranger and take their photo. Welcome to the beginning of my drinking career. I threw myself into it and learned what was needed pretty quickly. The DJ of this event, Le Castle Vania, was not only putting on this event I was hired for but also touring the country to playing his music. After a couple months of shooting in my new nightlife career, I was asked to come out to Los Angeles and shoot Le Castle Vania’s shows.

This bouncing back and forth across the country began to peak the interests of other local promoters in the Atlanta scene to have me come and document their events. I soon began to shoot multiple parties around the scene, including Sloppy Seconds, Decatur Social Club, Afterlife, and many other clubs across the Atlanta area. I was a nightlife photographer. I was shooting just about every night of the week to capture Atlanta’s nightlife culture in it’s rawest form. I say raw because it was every bit of that. Sure there were nightlife photographers out there, but they were shooting all the pretty portraits of all the beautiful people.

I wanted something different, I wanted each gallery to tell a story. I wanted an individual to see the night through my eyes. Galleries were flooded with rooms packed wall to wall with people sweating and dancing, artists performing to fans with relentless energy, people in the midst of doing bumps of cocaine on keys, making out with people that were not their significant other, and true freedom of expression. It’s as if the camera was never there, or if it was, it was there to draw out the primal carefree spirit of its subjects.

I have been documenting Atlanta for years, and those years have begun to carry their weight. The parties come and go. The crowds get younger as I get older. Sobriety becomes a friend you visit more often. And then, you realize, it’s been fun, but it’s time to pass the torch. I found a protege to begin this process. Fabian Fernandez would soon become the new Oh Snap Kid. Oh Snap Man just didn’t roll off the tongue as well. Fabian gave me a break and began to transition more gigs his way and let me think on what the future of OSK was going to be. The stories still needed to be told, but from a different perspective.

I had learned so much from nightlife photography and I figured that it could do the same for many others. I now keep an eye out for the talented socialites that also want to turn their hobby into a career. To learn first hand that it’s crazy, fun, exhausting, and rewarding. My next step was to challenge myself even further. By 2014 I was married, shooting more elite clients, launching my wedding photography business (Gemini and the Bear), and changing as a person. I had successfully been working for myself for 7 years and ready to take things to the next level.

2016 was around this time I met Grace Kelly while helping a friend build a music blog.

Grace was a business major that was going to help sculpt OSK into an actual company and eventually a collective of artists documenting Atlanta’s art scene. She has been at the helm of the growth of the brand for the past year with hopes that we can begin to expand. More venues, more photographers, and hopefully more cities. You can still find me out shooting festivals, touring with artists, and even subbing from time to time. Come say, “Hi!” It makes my life a lot easier.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh man, I feel like I covered a lot of that in my story. The learning process was tough in the beginning. Trying to juggle so many hats was a huge struggle. Entrepreneur, photographer, designer, marketing… the list goes on. I was a one-man show learning as I go.

There was a huge surge in “nightlife photographers” a couple years back that kind of hurt business. Everyone was working for free and just putting out speedy work. We deal with a lot of really great brands, promoters, and venues now that keep coming back to work with us.

I think the hardest part is finding someone that fits in with our brand. We definitely have our own look, style, and worth ethic. Finding someone that is efficient, charismatic, and talented is not so easy.

Please tell us about Oh Snap Kid.
We are a photography collective. We focus on music events, but have covered and shot it all. We do videography as well but are mostly known for our photography. We have a very high energy look about our photography that attracts a very specific clientele. Our subjects are less posed. We take a more documentary approach in our style of shooting.

When it was just myself, I had been nominated for Creative Loafing’s “Best Of” award and held the title for two years. That was a pretty cool moment for myself.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta always has something going on, especially during the summer. We have music, food festivals, bar crawls, private events, movie screenings, and so on and so on. The list just keeps going. I believe this city has more to document that there are people out there to cover it.

If you wanted to get into event photography, this would be a great city to do it. For the most part, artists are open to share their experience and not be overly competitive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ohsnapkid.com
• Phone: (678) 888-2109
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: ohsnapkid
• Facebook: facebook.com/ohsnapkid

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