While PLAYBOY has been known over the years for creating iconic images of the world’s most beautiful women, very few know who was behind the camera creating them.
Photographer Josh Ryan was responsible for thousands of them in his role of PLAYBOY Senior Photographer from 2013 to 2016. Today, Ryan shoots for a variety of high profile brands, including Guess.
We caught up with him to look back at his experience, the photos he took, and what he learned.
Read More: Star PLAYBOY Photographer Reflects on a Remarkable Career
PLAYBOY: Tell us the story of how you started shooting with PLAYBOY.
Josh Ryan: Goes way back, beginning of my career. I got to LA around 2000. I wasn’t a photographer, I was actually managing gentleman’s clubs. And believe it or not, a club hired me from Northern California, [and] moved me to LA to run this club here. I was dating a model at the time and she’s like, you should take pictures of me for my website, just a little model website. And so I bought a camera and started experimenting because I was going to shoot with her, and I ended up teaching myself.
After about two years living in LA, I was like, I don’t want to do the work in these clubs anymore. I can’t stand it. I transitioned into being a photographer somehow, some way. I didn’t know anything, but I had a lot of drive and a good test subject. So one of [my girlfriend’s] friends hired me to shoot her and it just turns out her friend was dating a guy whose company was acquired by PLAYBOY. And she said, Hey my boyfriend works for PLAYBOY now, they’re looking for photographers. I’ll recommend you.
I don’t think I was that good. But I got a call and they flew me to Florida to test for the online division. This was 2006. And so that’s how I started with PLAYBOY. I went to the Chicago office and started shooting for them. And then PLAYBOY was sold, I believe around 2012. And then I went to work for a Canadian company to shoot Playboy Plus. Then, I got hired on by the magazine. I was Senior Photographer from 2013 to 2016. It was a 10 years of a long, long journey, different offices and a lot of adversity.
PLAYBOY: You must feel like you cut your teeth at PLAYBOY.
Josh Ryan: Yeah. I learned a lot along the way. A lot of faking it. But I worked really hard and I kept a pretty good reputation. We came in there with a fresh new perspective on things and I think we did a good job. We kept the integrity of the brand while adding some new style to PLAYBOY, like fun, exciting, fresh style, new types of models, more editorial and fashion models. My intention was always to be a bit different and more edgy and not follow the same sort of guidelines as the guys in the past did for many many years.
PLAYBOY: I’m curious about favorite shoots, and favorite memories that you have.
Josh Ryan: There are so many. I traveled the world for PLAYBOY. They used to send me around the country [going to] casting calls and it’d be like 500 girls showing up at a hotel somewhere in Texas or Florida or something like that. That was wild. There’s a lot of stories there: Moms, daughters, and grandmothers all showing up together. This was a different time, and I think PLAYBOY was more relevant to being a model. It was a big deal if you made it as a Playmate. So [for many] people this is their dream come true. It was fun. You’re literally changing their lives.
Other than that, I loved shooting for the magazine and all these covers for special editions, but the Centerfold shoots were my favorite. They were the best. I worked in the LA office for three years here and had a great team, had a great creative director, and an editor. We did some really good stuff and I loved being involved from conception. It was just very special and you felt special being there. It’s something I hold very dear to my heart and it was fun for many, many years.
PLAYBOY: Today you shoot for Guess. Tell us about that experience.
Josh Ryan: Guess was always the goal even back when I was with PLAYBOY. I aligned myself with Guess while at PLAYBOY, I think it was September 2014. I brought a guest model to PLAYBOY, presented this whole idea, and subsequently got her on the cover to get Paul [Marciano]’s attention. But I had met and was friendly with Paul, we knew of each other already. It created a segue for me to have an ongoing conversation with them and it took a year.
PLAYBOY: What are you learning today as a photographer?
Josh Ryan: It’s effortless today. I don’t feel like I need to prove anything to anybody anymore. Except myself. I’m much more relaxed and confident as a photographer. But I still love what I do just as much, maybe even more. I think the years of studying and experimenting and having all these really interesting different types of photography jobs has really trained me. I teach these workshops now and I tell people, I faked until I made it for so long that actually learned what I was doing.
PLAYBOY: Is there anything you haven’t done yet, perhaps a dream project?
Josh Ryan: I’m finishing my first book, I’ve got about three or four sheets left in it and hopefully [it will] be done by this time next year. It’s been going on for about two years and so I’m excited to get that done. That’s gonna be a big checkmark on the bucket list of things I’ve always wanted to do my entire life.
And then another big thing that I wanted to do was in-person workshops that are really amazing. I started doing that a few years ago and they’ve taken on a life of their own and they’ve become a huge part of my business and my work. I’m really enjoying them.