About Ryan Pfleiderer

Click on photo for larger image.

"Layers," by Palo Alto High School junior Ryan Pfleiderer, would almost be more accurately labeled as conceptual art. It was born of an English class assignment Pfleiderer decided to get creative with.

The photo contains components of shots taken in three separate local cities: Palo Alto, Redwood City and Menlo Park.

"Basically I spent four weeks going to different cities in the general area and shooting their downtown areas," Pfleiderer said.

He later assembled combinations of the picture to produce "one city scene." His parents encouraged him to enter the result along with another photo for the Weekly contest.

Pfleiderer's interest in photography extends beyond English projects. He first started out by taking an introductory photography course as a freshman at Paly.

"It kind of came pretty easy to me. It was something that I really got into," Pfleiderer said. "I was working in the darkroom, and I really enjoyed doing that."

He continued to pursue the hobby, and last summer spent six weeks studying black and white photography at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.

Most recently, Pfleiderer has been doing much of the sports photography for Paly's student newspaper. He is also one of the publication's editors-in-chief.

"I think I've done all the sports photos for the last five editions," he said.

He has always been a fan of Sports Illustrated magazine, which has fueled his interest in the sports niche.

"But I'm not looking at a career in photography at all," Pfleiderer adds. "I'm more interested in journalism and politics."

That doesn't stop him seeing photography as one of his main hobbies. Every few weeks he dedicates a block of time to work on his own photos.

"Basically everywhere I go I take my camera to make sure I'm shooting something," Pfleiderer said.

--Thea Lamkin-Carughi