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Articles by William Ryan
Can a Photograph Really Tell a Story?
(All images by the author) The best images should tell a story Read a few photography discussions or critiques and it's only a matter of time before you come across the above statement, or something like it. The idea (maybe?) is that the most accomplished photographs invoke a kind of narrative momentum, a sense of sequence and context, which transcends the limitations of the moment to paint a broader picture of the subject as part of a world in motion.
Does Your Photography Have a Style
Maybe you’ve wondered if your body of work possesses a definitive style, if certain aesthetic qualities connect your images, organizing them into a pattern or continuum? Across different photographs, do subtle signals identify you as the photographer? Does your work stand out? Is it striking?
Protest: A Battle of Symbols
My creative report from the immigration protests in Los Angeles Protester on the steps of City Hall. Image: Will Ryan If you can feel that staying human is worthwhile, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them. George Orwell, 1984 I go after work, largely on a whim. It is Friday, June 13th and while the energy of the first days of protest have faded, there is still an agitated, electric feel to the air. I find myself pulling out my camera as the bus passes City Hall.
Losing Connection to Photography (or Any Other Creative Act)
PHOTOGRAPHY Avoiding perfectionism and getting back to a process mindset Over the last few months, I’ve encountered several online accounts of photographers temporarily losing their sense of connection to the practice. Even as a relative newcomer I identify with these sentiments, which I suspect resonate beyond the realm of photography, affecting creatives of all kinds — anyone who makes the creative act an integral part of their daily routine.
Art is War
Member-only story CREATIVITY The struggle of the creative act William Ryan · Follow Published in The Interstitial · 9 min read · -- Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash Somewhere in the strange land of four a.m. I realized I had not looked at a clock for eight hours. Nor had I eaten, or even stood up from my desk. All night, I had been writing manically across various projects, jumping from one idea to the next like someone possessed.
The Magic of Darkroom Printing
Member-only story PHOTOGRAPHY The wondrous meeting of art and science William Ryan · Follow Published in Full Frame · 12 min read · -- Photo by Francisco Gonzalez on Unsplash A few weeks ago, and largely on a whim, I signed up for an introductory session at a local darkroom.
Defining Academic Quality
Higher education has seen so many challenges in the last several years. One that keeps me up at night is the question of the value of a degree or university in general. It pains me. We all put so much of our hearts and souls into what we do. Why is that value not seen? Can we more fully demonstrate that every student receives the fullness of what we intend during their learning journey? In other words, are we delivering academic quality?
A Multiverse of Moods
Member-only story MENTAL HEALTH Brief Thoughts on Living with a bipolar mind William Ryan · Follow Published in The Interstitial · 6 min read · -- Image by William Ryan It’s never easy, but some days it’s easier. Some days I feel backed by some benevolent, essentially “good” force of creative potential. I don’t struggle to get out of bed, don’t lie there with a heavy pit in stomach while my mind flips through a catalogue of unresolved cares and worries.
Oropharyngeal Cancer and the HPV Vaccine: Analysis of Social Media Content
Objective Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a well-documented cause of cervical, oropharyngeal, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and penile cancers, largely preventable with the HPV vaccine. We aim to characterize the most popular TikTok videos pertaining to HPV-associated cancers and vaccination with a focus on oropharyngeal cancer. Methods Observational study of public social media content.
Making Art in a Declining Empire
Well, it’s been an interesting start to 2025 — interesting in the way a trainwreck is, or the public implosion of an obnoxious celebrity. You don’t know whether to laugh, cry, weep or vomit. (Or all four at once). I’ll frame it with this: Walking home one night just a week into the New Year, I looked up to see the hills above my West Hollywood apartment engulfed in flames. The image was surreal, the colors both beautiful and terrible.
Equilibrium — A Poem With Visuals
Finding Equilibrium William Ryan · Follow Published in The Interstitial · 2 min read · -- Seabirds Don’t Believe — Image by William Ryan, captured digitally Equilibrium (For Heather) This morning she sees the seabirds bank and wheel away from Venice pier — coming at flat angles along the edge of the wind. Something given something gained. The sea shrugs burned surfers up and down on its shoulders saying: Take it, leave it, drown or don’t. It’s all the same to me.
How Photography Has Helped Me Overcome Clinical Depression
Another Case of Art Over Entropy William Ryan · Follow Published in Full Frame · 8 min read · -- Stranger glimpsed from abus window (Image by The Author) For close to two decades I existed in a profound state of physical and existential inertia. My mind had malfunctioned; its neurons weren’t firing properly and everything around me seemed motionless too, as if I’d been condemned to an unchanging purgatory for sins I was sure I had committed but did not remember or understand.
Olfactory combinatorial coding supports risk-reward decision making in C. elegans
Abstract Olfactory-driven behaviors are essential for animal survival, but mechanisms for decoding olfactory inputs remain poorly understood. We have used whole-network Ca++ imaging to study olfactory coding in Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that the odorant 1-octanol is encoded combinatorially in the periphery as both an attractant and a repellant.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Writer
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Writer I’ll start with a cliche: writing can be a lonely business. The vast majority of it unfolds alone in a quiet room; or, if in a public space, confined to the peculiar halls of individual consciousness. Wild, spectacular wonders may be raging in the artist’s mind, and yet to the average observer they remain placid, their expressions intent, but motionless, almost aloof.
Developing True Intelligence: Is This F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Greatest Insight?
In my younger and more vulnerable years, F. Scott Fitzgerald gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. He told me: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” (“The Crack Up,” 1936).
Your Creativity Doesn’t Give a Damn About Your Schedule or To-Do List
There Are Many Paths Towards A Shared Goal Throughout my creative life, I’ve learned one inalienable fact above all others: A muse is a fickle mistress and the creative ebb and flow that she bestows has exactly zero to do with any schedule or to-do list.
Author Recommendation: The Weird World of Anna Kavan
How does a surfing leopard sound? People mowing a field with their teeth? The entire city of London drowning in the protagonist’s blood? Sound good? Sound bad?
This is Depression: A Waiting Room You Can Never Leave
This is Depression: A Waiting Room You Can Never Leave Back then, I liked to sleep. Sleep was easy. Consciousness was the problem — too much thinking. It meant living with a ceaseless staccato patter of random thoughts and petty anxieties; thoughts that met and multiplied and wound like a trail of breadcrumbs into some outer darkness amongst the Eastern pines. With such constant mental motion, mere existence became a challenge. Brushing my teeth. Showering. Trying not to drink.
Stop Blaming the Algorithm for Your Bullshit Habits
Stop Blaming the Algorithm for Your Bullshit Habits If you pay any attention to meta discourse around the internet, you’ve probably heard one concept coming up again and again: THE ALGORITHM; the hidden order behind the metaphysic of the online world, a kind of god-like director of order, which organizes the content that constitutes popular cyberspace — the cyberspace most of us know, distinct from behind-the-scenes databases, security systems and tracts of coding. This, of course, is nonsense.
Inspiration and How to Get It
Inspiration and How to Get It Inspiration is an often talked-about phenomenon crucial to any exceptional creative enterprise. Beyond a basic dictionary definition, it can be difficult to elucidate and conceptualize, its objective qualities muddied by the experiences of divergent personalities in diverging fields-from science to business to the arts and beyond; not to mention the inherent complexities of individual temperament, inclination and personal taste.
I Felt Like I'd Been Possessed By a Demon
Sometimes, depression feels like form of demonic possession; sometimes it helps me to think of it this way. I'm not talking literally, of course. I'm not religious in the least. Nor to I believe in the literal existence of any divine moral order. Certainly not god. Certainly not the devil. Yet, I'm not a strict scientific materialist, either. There are times when I face something far beyond my understanding and find it useful to turn to myth and symbolism.
Lessons from the Psych Ward
How Embracing Dark Art Has Improved My Mental Health It was maybe my fifth or sixth time in the psych ward, and it was a weird one - one of the rare occasions in which I was genuinely happy to be there, desperate actually. For the first time in months, I felt safe. I usually despised the hospital. It was the last place in the universe I'd choose to go (as if I had any choice in the matter), a vacant nowhere-place floating aimlessly out of space and time.
The Width of a Circle
A poem with images Here are the disturbed, pacing in circles, making the same muttering journey day to day, chasing their tails around a single point as if one half is trying to catch the other and the other hardly cares. Every day I see them turn.
Six Paths to a Successful Creative Life
(I'm a writer and photographer, but tend to write about creativity in general, applicable to anyone who pursues creative endeavor. Find out more at www.wrydeology.com) I am by no means what society would consider a successful artist. My writing has been published, yes, but I have yet to reach a wide audience; nor do I make anywhere near a living from my creative work.
$EARNM IDO Coming Soon to Polkastarter đ¤đđ¤ł
We are excited to announce the upcoming $EARNM token IDO on Polkastarter. Dive into all the details on the EARNâM Project page on Polkastarter: https://polkastarter.com/projects/earnm Stay tuned because the IDO and Allowlist dates are coming your way very soon â donât blink. Keep those eyes glued to Twitter & Telegram! đ About EARNâM EARNâM leverages the groundbreaking achievements of Mode Mobile, its creator and launchpad, to establish a dynamic presence within the Web3 space.
Hello $EARNM 👀 | November Community Update
We are thrilled to unveil our November update, marking the transformation from EARNFT NETWORK to → EARNM Loyalty Ecosystem. This change signifies our expanded vision and renewed focus on an integrated web2 and web3 community. The update delves into the essence of our rebranding, the evolution of $EARNM Token, the introduction of EARNM Mystery Boxes, and the metamorphosis of our NFT collection. This update is packed with essential insights and exciting revelations.
Ecosystem, Governance, EARNFT dApp
We're thrilled to present our June update, packed with valuable insights into our ongoing backstage endeavors, the most recent news on the EARNFT dApp, and an in-depth exploration of our forthcoming Governance mechanisms. This update is brimming with vital information, so without further ado, let's dive right in! We're delighted to report that we've made significant strides in preparing for the EARNFT NETWORK launch, particularly in terms of its growth.
Green et al v. Wood et al
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Covid-19 Construction Law Update: Force Majeure And Related Issues
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com. Before COVID-19, force majeure provisions were often afterthoughts in construction contracts. However, COVID-19 has put these types of clauses in the forefront as the construction industry begins to feel the effects of the global pandemic. Force majeure clauses, whether in construction contracts or other types of contracts, are meant to address events that could not reasonably have been foreseen.
Coronavirus, conspiracy, and shoddy journalism
By William Ryan The Communist Party of China (CCP) is currently engaged in a disinformation campaign to portray the severity of the Coronavirus pandemic in Europe and America as the fault of Western governments. Through sheer ignorance, or simple lack of understanding, media organisations in the UK and abroad are inadvertently adding to the rhetoric.
Webinar " Fail Fast and Early
Ray Jimenez, Ph.D., spent 15 years with Coopers & Lybrand in the areas of management consulting and implementation of learning technology solutions. As a management consultant, Ray has worked with various experts from different domains and industries. Over the past few years Ray has been dedicated to the development and creation of https://www.situationexpert.com/.
Why is Smith still supporting Trump?
Now that the House has voted to impeach the president of the United States, why did Rep. Adrian Smith vote against the two resolutions to impeach Donald J. Trump? I am very disappointed he failed to stand up to Trump and vote to support me as a constituent in the 3rd Congressional District to defend the Constitution of the United States of America. When I was sworn into the U.S. Army, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the USA.
Hero Flight organizers made trip special
My son Steve and I had the privilege of being on Hall County’s 10th and last honor flight to Washington, D.C., this past week. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all the people and organizations who made this possible. Willie Skala took the initiative to explore the possibility for Hall County to start these flights.
Must Read Flash Fiction: Clean By John Stevens
John Stevens lives in the southeastern United States with his wife and daughter where he works for the U.S. Marshals Service. He has been published by Mystery Tribune, Out of the Gutter, Close To The Bone, and many others. His flash fiction piece “Clean” is the story of a man who tries to prove his brother innocent of murder, with the help of a desperate reporter. ***** Adriana drove Hank’s truck to Grove Bluffs Plantation and left her motorcycle at the strip club. Hank rode in the passenger seat.
One Sunrise Left: Dark Flash Fiction By Chris Milam
Stories by Chris Milam have appeared in Lost Balloon, Jellyfish Review, and elsewhere. He was nominated for Best Small Fictions 2018. He lives in Hamilton, Ohio. ***** Henry Elkins was the mayor of Casket City. He wasn’t elected to the position, he’s just really good at murder. A week ago, he was challenged by Shawn Moore, a lovely man who ate four families in two states before being apprehended at a KFC in Detroit.
Problem Boards or Board Problem?
Editors’ note: This article was first published in summer 2003 and is featured in NPQ’s special winter 2012 edition, “Emerging Forms of Nonprofit Governance.” The past twenty years have seen the steady growth of training programs, consulting practices, academic research, and guidebooks aimed at improving the performance of nonprofit boards. This development reflects both hopes and doubts about the nonprofit board.
Problem Boards or Board Problem? - Non Profit News For Nonprofit Organizations | Nonprofit Quarterly
Editors’ note: This article was first published in summer 2003 and is featured in NPQ’s special winter 2012 edition, “Emerging Forms of Nonprofit Governance.” The past twenty years have seen the steady growth of training programs, consulting practices, academic research, and guidebooks aimed at improving the performance of nonprofit boards. This development reflects both hopes and doubts about the nonprofit board.
Curation sounds like something companies do as they seek out new customers and feedback about their products or maybe paint drying. Content curation, on the other hand, is the process of reviewing content from various sources and formats and then synthesizing the key items into an organized theme providing meaning and context and then sharing with like minded community members. Sound strange?
Content Curation Is A Handy Assessment Tool
Guest Article Written By: William Ryan, Ph.D. Curation sounds like something companies do as they seek out new customers and feedback about their products or maybe paint drying. Content curation, on the other hand, is the process of reviewing content from various sources and formats and then synthesizing the key items into an organized theme providing meaning and context and then sharing with like minded community members. Sound strange?
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