Article: History of the Ries Brothers ("Ries Tripods")

I researched the history of the Ries Company for the Ries Tripod folks whose factory is in Bremerton, WA ("near Tacoma"). I thought I was going to be writing about one man and a tripod. Two years of research led to an article about 5 brothers who moved from Akron to Hollywood along with the silent movie industry in about 1913. The article, which includes many photographs, has been published in the current New England Journal of Photographic History, ("The Ries Brothers and Their Place in Hollywood History").

All went into the film industry in one way or another. Park Ries became a staff photographer for Universal Studios at age 16. Paul, Park, and Ray opened a full service camera store in Hollywood in about 1925. Paul Ries along with his brother Park invented the Ries tripod. The eldest--Irving--went to Germany in 1915 to be embedded with the German Army as a newsreel cinematographer while the US was still neutral. His identity was stolen by a German spy who was caught and executed in the Tower of London still using Irving Ries's stolen identity. He was the only American Cinematographer awarded the Iron Cross by the German Army. And, perhaps the only American to receive that award in WW-I at all! :confused: (Since one of the brothers served in the US Army in WW-I, military service must have been an interesting topic at subsequent family gatherings!)

Irving filmed the first movie in which Laurel and Hardy appeared together ("Lucky Dog" which can be seen on youtube.com.) Ray Ries provided special effects for two 1939 blockbuster movies: The "Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind'. The brothers had a number of "firsts" in the film industry. Irving was head of the special effects department at MGM. In about 1956, Irving was nominated for an Academy Award for the special effects in "Forbidden Planet". He also provided the special effects for "Singin' in the Rain", "The Barclays of Broadway", and many other blockbuster films. Between them, Ray and Irving filmed over 1,000 movies. Several of their movies have been deemed significant and are currently being restored.

These are just a few of the highlights from an amazing story. For anyone who has or is considering getting a Ries tripod--or who is simply interested in photographic history, the article ("The Ries Brothers and Their Place in Hollywood History") in the current (2015) New England Journal of Photographic History should provide a good read. A pdf of the article can be purchased at an attractive price.

The owners of Ries Development ("Ries Tripods"), Spencer and Debby Hughes were as amazed as I was at the story that was uncovered.

The article can be ordered here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/708540

Thanks for the plug, Bob. It is a great article.

Frank was the youngest of the 5 brothers and didn't quite enjoy full status as a brother. For instance, the address at 1154 N. Western Avenue was the store that 3 of the brothers built and opened in 1925. The 3 brothers were partners, Frank was an...."employee". I couldn't find that the others threw him out for using their building for his filming, but it wasn't long before he opened his own "portrait studio".

More current history on the Ries Tripod

In the mid 1970s, when I was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, I wanted to use some of the money to buy a Ries Tripod. But where to get one? After considerable research (in the days before the Internet, research was very time consuming), I finally located Larry O'Brien ( or O'Brian) who I was told was the sole distributor for Ries Tripods. O' Brian told me that he had sold everything--all tripods and parts to Milton and Mark Moore, who had a bicycle business (assembling bicycles as I recall) in Costa Mesa, California. On one of my photographing trips I met them and bought a tripod for my 8x10 and larger cameras, extension legs, and a short tripod. MIiton and Mark did no advertising whatsoever and they told me they sold no more than a couple of tripods a year.

A few years later I received a call from someone working with Keith Soderstrom asking me if I thought it worthwhile for Keith to buy the existing inventory and the rights to make Ries Tripods. Over the years I had kept in touch with Milton and Mark and probably the only other sales they made during those years were to those I had recommended getting a Ries Tripod. So Milton and Mark gave Keith's representative the only reference they had to vouch for the tripods--me. Mainly, Keith wanted to know if there was a market for Ries Tripods. I told his representative that I thought that if they were properly promoted there would be. Keith bought the rights. He properly promoted the tripods and today many photographers use them. So I feel that the continuation of the manufacture of Ries Tripods is to some degree due to my efforts. If I had given a negative response to Keith's representative, that probably would have been the end of Ries Tripods.

Debby Hughes bought the right to make Ries Tripods from Keith and she is doing a great job. The Ries tripod, when properly used is a wonderful piece of equipment.

More on the Ries Tripod and how to use it--from an article I wrote quite some time ago:

I bought my first Ries Tripod in 1977 with money from a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. I had seen a photograph of Edward Weston using one and I suspected it was probably the best. My suspicions were not wrong. It was one of the best equipment purchases I have ever made.

Here are a few things I discovered along the way about using the Ries Tripod. The Ries is a hardwood tripod. It never jams when used in sandy locations—sand dunes or beaches—as do metal tripods when sand gets on the legs and keeps the sections from easily sliding. It is never uncomfortable to handle in either hot or cold weather.

The extendable legs can be used with rubber tips or with the spikes at the other end. When using the tripod outdoors always use the spikes—no exceptions—even on concrete surfaces. They will not slip. And the spikes insure that there will be no vibration. After making thousands of large-format negatives, I have never had the tripod vibrate once. Indoors, I use the rubber tips. If you are doing mostly indoor photographing such as still lifes, another tripod, a Majestic for instance, might be preferable. In the landscape, however, there is no other tripod that begins to compare with a Ries.

If you are reading this, I am sure that you already know to have the “front leg” facing the subject or scene you are photographing. This is so you can stand between the two back legs and are therefore less likely to kick the tripod. When setting up a Ries tripod, always, without exception, extend the front leg about two inches longer than the back legs. With metal and carbon fiber tripods it is usually necessary to have all of the legs extended the same distance, but never with the Ries. This is because, when setting up the Ries with a camera on it, one can easily balance it on that front leg and then pivot around that point. Also, when collapsing the camera and tripod, one grabs the back two legs and balances the camera and tripod on that front pivot point. With the back legs shorter than the front leg, while maneuvering they never touch the ground and get hung up on rocks or plants or other uneven terrain. You then collapse the back legs together (the camera is still on the tripod), push them forward toward the front leg (all is now standing on that one pivot point), bend your knees, and the tripod and camera will incline gently onto your shoulder. Just lean into it and straighten up to walk. The tripod and camera, as heavy as it might be (and my Deardorff 12x20 with the 8x20 back weights 35 pounds without a lens) never has to be lifted. No extra strength is needed to set everything onto your shoulder to walk to the next spot. The dark cloth remains attached to the camera as well so that I can bunch it onto my shoulder as I am doing this so that it becomes a convenient pad for bearing the weight of the camera and tripod.

I had never realized setting up a tripod was anything that needed explaining, but when the photographer Paula Chamlee and I first got married we were photographing at Canyon de Chelly and I saw Paula working at the very edge of an 800-foot cliff. She was struggling a bit with setting up and taking down her 8x10 camera and this was her first experience with a Ries tripod. I was afraid she would fall off, so I felt compelled to say something. After I explained about the front leg extending longer and its pivoting advantage she has never again struggled with setting up or carrying the camera and tripod. To this day she carries her 8x10 camera as easily (almost) as if it were a 35mm camera.

The other important tip about using the Ries is this: never (except when working indoors on a smooth surface) lock the legs. Never. When I used the Ries for the first time I dutifully locked the legs. I needed to level the horizon and could not do so. I became so frustrated that I was ready to throw the tripod in the swamp where I had set up. And then I unlocked the legs. Voila! To level the tripod all one has to do is gently move one of the back legs toward or away from you. It takes less than a second to do this. Now, this was with the older Ries tripod head, one without the side tilt. Paula and I have the tripod heads with the side tilt, but prefer not to use them. With a relatively heavy camera (an 8x10 or larger), when loosening that side tilt lever you have to carefully hold the camera so that it doesn’t suddenly flop all the way over. It is so much easier to just nudge one of the back legs. And we both do this quickly without coming out from under the dark cloth—it takes only one hand and a nudge with the knee to quickly get the angle one wants.

The versatility of the Ries tripod is unmatched. The unlocked legs operate like a hip joint and rotate in many directions, not just the two directions of in and out. Therefore, you can align the camera to virtually any difficult position or angle. If there is, say, a cliff alongside of you, you can easily extend one leg almost horizontally to secure into the tiniest crack in the cliff. When you are on uneven terrain, each leg of the Ries can be a different angle, yet the head remains perfectly level for stability and aligned viewing. The legs never need to be locked unless you are working indoors on smooth flooring.

For maximum versatility, and if your budget can afford it, I recommend getting a set of extension legs and a “short” tripod. Extension legs allow you to elevate the tripod quite high (you will need a ladder to be able to see the ground glass) and it also allows something else: Once I was photographing looking down a stream and the back legs were balanced on rocks, but there was nowhere to put the front leg, as there was a steep drop-off into a pool of water. On the other side of the pool, however, were more rocks. I connected all three sets of extension legs and attached this assemblage to the front leg. It extended about twelve feet, long enough to get over the pool of water. Without the extension legs, I could not have set up the tripod for this particular situation.

Another example: I was photographing in a city and wanted to photograph from a bridge. There was a shoulder on the road with a concrete barrier at the edge, but if I set up the tripod as I normally did I would have been dangerously close to the traffic behind me. So I set up my “short” tripod and put the extension legs on the back legs and set the short front leg almost upright on top of the concrete barrier of the shoulder. The back legs then were much closer to the barrier and I could stand on the shoulder without worrying about being in the traffic lane.

My opinion is that the Ries is such a great tripod in the landscape when used with a large-format camera that anyone who uses a different one is making life much more difficult for themselves, and not having the ease and fun that should accompany their work experience.

See the video that accompanies this writing. It demonstrates the things mentioned here as well as showing a few other tips. (Alas, the video has still not been made . . .one of these days.)