This story by Nicole Plett was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on December 16, 1998. All rights reserved.
Photography and rock and roll have been a great marriage for me," says Joe Ryan, whose show "The Music Never Stopped," concert images of the Grateful Dead and their final years with Jerry Garcia, opens at the Starbucks Coffee on Nassau Street this Wednesday, December 16. Ryan, who is 28 and single, rocketed right from the associate's program at Mercer County College, to the life of a professional photographer specializing in rock concerts.
The career path began in 1991 when Ryan, a West-Windsor high graduate, began following the Dead tours. The following year he took up photography as his major at Mercer County College.
"During the summer of 1993 I met with the Dead publicist, Dennis McNally, to request a photo pass for a Giants Stadium show, not thinking I'd be taken seriously," says Ryan. "Two weeks later he called me with the good news that the pass was set aside. Suddenly, from there, my career as a photographer took off."
With his pass, Ryan had direct access to the stage to intimately photograph the band in concert. And within months he was being published regularly by Unbroken Chain magazine with three cover photographs. Next he submitted his work to Grateful Dead Merchandising, and by 1996 his photographs of Bob Weir were featured in the group's official calendar. His best shots show the musicians utterly and completely engaged in their music.
Ryan gives a lot of credit to MCCC photography instructor Louis Draper, with whom he studied for three years, for his success. "Lou Draper pushed me, he inspired me," says Ryan. "He really made me go for the gold." After a brief stint photographing for Lockheed-Martin, Ryan is now a professional freelancer, earning part of his income with a regular weekend spot at the Englishtown flea market. At Starbucks, he'll sell his prints for $55 to $85.
Through his work with the Dead, Ryan was able to branch out to cover other bands -- all personal favorites -- including the Allman Brothers, James Taylor, Blues Traveler, and Debbie Harry. And since the demise of the Dead, he has switched his primary focus to guitarist Bob Weir and his band Ratdog and the group's Further Festivals. Slender and bearded, with sandy-colored hair, Ryan looks agile enough to unobtrusively work the concert stage.
Looking over Ryan's prints, we ask how he successfully captures the drama of the moment? "Timing is everything," he explains. "You have to know the music. You just have to be one with the music. You have to be there."
-- Nicole Plett