Hi, my name is Ralph Ruggiero. I am a Southern California native and photographer. Born in Los Angeles and grew up in beautiful “Surf City USA”, Huntington Beach, CA.
Just prior to my attending Edison High School, I received my first 35mm SLR camera, a Minolta SRT 201 with a 50mm lens. Wow! What a rush!!! At Edison, I took a few photography classes and on weekends would tell Mom and Dad, “Hey, going to the beach to do my homework”. Now how could they deny me that?
After high school, in 1979, I enlisted in the Marines. Lucky for me I did my last 2 ½ years on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Talk about a photo paradise!
Shortly after my discharge in 1983, I was turned on to a photo studio that was looking for photographers. I met with Randy Herbon at his studio, Action Enterprises, in Huntington Beach, CA. Their main forte was photographing children's sporting events as contracted by their parents. We would shoot youth and high school football and baseball games in Orange County.
After a while I was able to afford a second camera body. I purchased a Minolta X-700 with motor drive and a couple different lenses.
After about a year, he started working with me in the studio working on individual and family portraits. Then took me on as an assistant in wedding photography.
Got into digital about 10 years ago and have been mostly doing travel and scenic photos for myself. Lately have taken a few different courses at Samy’s Camera Photo School to learn about other aspects of the digital media.