Ripley was drawn into capturing the world around him from as long ago as he can remember. At around the age of eleven this led to his discovery of photography, which grew year by year to become an obsession, an all consuming passion and life-long career.
His parents, an actress and a musician, were passionate about animals and were involved with keeping large cats as part of a Europe wide conservation programme. This gave Ripley no shortage of striking subjects on which to practice his new found love of photography. Although beautiful to photograph, these were dangerous wild animals and this experience gave him a unique understanding and insight into the psychology of animal behaviour and how to perceive how an animal is feeling or reacting to its environment. As a teenager, Ripley had his picture of a Caracal Lynx exhibited at Hamilton's Gallery in Mayfair, London.
At this time Ripley also started photographing music artists, which found him ten years later circling the globe providing imagery for record labels and major international publications. During this period he also started to develop his retouching techniques alongside his photography in order to realise a complete integrity and cohesiveness within the images he was creating.
Musicians gave way to photographing conceptual fashion imagery with the use of CGI, high profile sports advertising campaigns, a solo exhibition in London featuring his large-scale portraits of Formula One drivers and worldwide advertising campaigns for various large corporations.
Hungry to expand his knowledge of all facets of photography and driven by his desire to understand and master all the technical and post-production challenges that each different genre demands, Ripley started working for various high-end automotive clients and is now internationally recognised in this commercial field for his stylised automotive work.
In the photographic community Ripley was asked by renowned camera manufacturer Hasselblad to provide imagery for the global launch of their flagship model the 200MS (other contributors to the campaign included The Tate Modern) He was also invited to be a judge for their International Masters Awards and his imagery has been used extensively to market their high-end photographic equipment and product launches throughout 2012-2015. A selection of Ripley's work was presented in the Hasselblad publication “Victor : Photography Book One” - twelve photographers worldwide were selected for this first edition.
In 2012 Ripley decided to go back to his roots and rediscover his love of animal photography, to create more personal work and to do something with which he was truly captivated. What started out as almost a fanciful idea, through chance meetings and new friendships with people who understood what he was striving to achieve, Ripley started the journey, discovering a whole new world - the world of thoroughbred race horses.
In 2014 Ripley completed a course of 42 lectures at The National Stud in Newmarket, England, and gained considerable knowledge not only about the anatomy of the thoroughbred, but also in all aspects ranging from the lifecycle, breeding, stud management, to the welfare of the racehorse - in order to know his subject matter in as much detail as possible.
As an outsider, but with a true understanding and empathy when working with animals and subsequently horses, Ripley has a unique viewpoint and vision which may have only been possible at this point in his life. He is now able to bring all the techniques and experience he has acquired through the years working in other genres to the world of equine portraiture.
