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A tornado hit Hampton, VA on the evening of June 1st. Since it was so close to home, I headed up on Saturday morning to survey the damage and take some photos. We ended up responding for a few days, helping homeowners cover roofs and clean up debris. I snapped these the first morning--crews had just started cleaning up vegetation in the street. Big, beautiful trees had been uprooted. Luckily I only spotted a few homes that been split in two by giant trees.


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As we headed back to Livermore, CA after a day of shooting in Stockton we ran across a problem. A fire had crossed the interstate. On the positive side, while sitting in traffic, I shot some cool pictures of wind turbines at sunset.


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A long-form features shoot found me in San Francisco and its outlying suburbs. These are a few photos I snapped of a mom/daughter duo we interviewed in their garden. They even gave us peaches from their peach tree, and they were delicious.


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Business cards just came in the mail. So exciting that I thought I'd share these photos. Just pretend to be enthusiastic... By the way, I've been advertising around. A three hour engagement photo shoot, 40 final images, 10 of those professionally touched up by yours truly, all for $100. That's a STEAL, based on the quality of equipment I use, but alas I need contacts and a good base portfolio. Contact me if you're interested!


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I've added a few of my favorite stories to my Vimeo channel. I shot and edited most of them. Some videos are breaking news, others are more Dateline'ish feature stories. I'll be sure to add a few of them to the video section on this website soon. In the meantime, you can find the videos by clicking on the Vimeo image below!


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The whole site got revamped. In the old days I used to register and host my website through a third party company.  Well, I like the layout and feel of a blog revamped as a freelance website much better. So I did it. Explore the site, look at some of the videos, and let me know what you think. And don't forget to follow me on Twitter! RJ


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Hi! Welcome to my website, Ryan Johnson Films. I'm a freelance media producer, blogger, social media consultant, and remote news photographer working out of Virginia Beach, VA. I work full time shooting breaking news all around the world, but I also do freelance work on the side. See the "About" page to get a better idea of what I can do. My goal is to not only be creative, but creative in a unique way. I call it dynamic creativity. You can see it in my writing, consulting, and media production. I interact with a whole host of creative people who do everything from chase storms to produce music...


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It started with skipping dinner. I was in a hotel in San Diego, a big Hilton just off of San Diego Bay. I had skipped dinner after a long day of shooting news stories for CBN. And instead of grabbing dinner out--I stayed in. This turned out to be an error. At around 9:30 my stomach told me otherwise. Thus began a spark that would end with meeting the clown lady...


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Thursday afternoon Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, stormed into the Soldier Readiness Center, two handguns drawn, and started firing at whoever he could find. Some argue he had targets, others argue it was random. Although the details are still murky, it is clear that Hasan did something unthinkable, irrational, and arguably unforgivable. Some soldiers have called it the ultimate betrayal. Major Hasan turned on his own soldiers, those he had dedicated his life to protect. Webster defines aftermath as "the consequences of an event." By this definition the aftermath has yet to be determined--it...


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