Do you build custom websites or use templates?

I build custom-coded sites — React and Supabase — that you own outright, not a template you rent on someone else’s platform. When a project genuinely fits Webflow, I’ll build it there and tell you why. Either way, the code and the content are yours to keep.

What does working with one creative director get me instead of an agency?

One set of eyes from the first call to the final file. No account managers, no hand-offs, no telephone game between a strategist, a designer, and a developer who never actually meet. You talk to the person doing the work — 35 years of it.

Do you work with clients outside Kansas City?

Kansas City is home, and most of the photography is local. But the web, brand, and print work travels — I take remote engagements across the country. The camera needs me in the room; the code doesn’t.

What is a Return to Classic portrait?

A one-of-a-kind portrait made on Hasselblad CCD or Leica Monochrom — classic craft and a film-like rendering no AI image can fake. The everyday headshot is the front door; the classic portrait is the one people remember. Made, not generated.

What do your services cost?

Photography is published with real ranges: individual headshots $350–$500, on-site corporate headshots $200–$350 per person, half-day event coverage $1,500–$2,500, full-day $3,000–$5,000. Websites, brand systems, and print are scoped per project — tell me what you’re building and I’ll give you a straight number.

How fast is turnaround?

Event galleries arrive the same week, with next-day highlight selects on request. Web and design timelines depend on scope, but you’ll have a clear schedule before we start — and I finish what I start.

What kind of work isn’t a fit?

I’m selective by design. I don’t shoot weddings or sports, and I’m not the right call for the cheapest, fastest, template-driven job. If you want work that’s right the first time and stands for something specific, that’s the work I do.

So What's Your Story? — Ridpath Creative Journal

I was out for my daily walk this morning when I noticed something that completely stopped me in my tracks. Let me make sure you understand, today is May 10. The heart of spring in Kansas City. What I saw was a Christmas snowman decoration prominently displayed in the front yard of a home in my neighborhood.

Not only was it displayed proudly but also energized with an extension cord. This wrong-time-of-year snowman was twinkling with a serious purpose. This decoration wasn’t waiting on the curb for pickup by weekly sanitation workers. This snowman was there for a reason. This vision of mixed-up-seasons made me stop and wonder, what’s the story here.

When we are talking about marketing and communicating to customers/clients, it’s that customer/client attention that we are ultimately seeking. We’re looking for ways to get people to stop in their tracks and ask what is the story here.

So now that we have their attention and someone stops and asks, “what’s the story,” the story we tell is about your services or items you want to sell. Attention is so fleeting that it’s critical that we use it to have an impact. Do you have your story ready?

Originally published May 10, 2017. Part of the Ridpath Creative journal — notes on craft, typography, and the work.

So What’s Your Story?

What’s Your Story? And Why It Matters.

The Art of Stealing — and How It Benefits My Clients

Read something here that lands?