Hello there! my name is REEKO (aka Ryan), and I am the resident photographer and videographer here at UltiamtePhotoCompany/UPC
I started photography in 2022 after I was gifted some film and a camera from a friend who want me to try shooting on film. I had always thought that film was something that old people used and in the days of the digital camera with the new advances in technology.
Once I got my hands on the camera and began shooting I was interested. I found the idea of only having a limited number of shots and needing to think about what to take photos of. I mostly did landscape, so that meant that I would need to be careful and compose like I'm doing surgery.
I picked up a basic Canon and began to post my work to Instagram. I didn't expect to gain that many followers, because the photos I were posting were just part of the practicing process. Although since I didn't have many followers, it didnt matter if I posted the worst photos of all time. I was developing that skill over and over.
In early to min 2024 I went to a car meet hosted by @shazamshots at The Shish Grill in San Ramon. I had always found cars fascinating, and after seeing the rise of car photography on Instagram I figured that car photography would be a good way to get my work out there.
I posted the photos from that meet, and it was received pretty well. I figured that I should probably make my posts consistent in terms of format and continue the car photography. In late 2024 I switched to car photography full time. I did not do landscape from that point on. On occasion I did, but I never posted those photos.
In November of 2024 I bought myself a Mamiya RB67, a 120 film format camera from 1970. From that point on, I went to even more meets and even more shows. I contacted people I knew to try and set up a shoot with them. I wanted to get myself out there more, and wanted to do it quickly.
In 2025, I had the best year of my photography, getting my first paid job with a Nissan R35 GTR T-spec edition. I expanded greatly on my skills once again and began to buy more and more cameras.
I have now done over 30+ shoots across 6 different formats of recordable media, and have been expanding my pallet ever since.