2025 · ICELAND
Chasing the lights
Went for the aurora, mostly found fog, glacier water, and the best coffee of the year.
Personal site
Hello.
I'm Rupon — this is where I keep the parts of life worth writing down: the work, the wandering, the music, and everything in between.
Life
The unofficial version.
"Most of what I've learned came from being slightly lost somewhere new."
I grew up believing that the interesting part of any story is the detour — the wrong turn that becomes the whole point of the trip. That's more or less how I've tried to live since: curious first, plans second.
Outside of work I'm usually somewhere near water, several chapters into a book I'm reading out of order, or trying to convince someone that the early flight is always worth it.
This site is a running note to self — part journal, part portfolio, part excuse to finally organize the photos. It'll keep changing as I do.
Work
What I've been building.
A short version of the working life — roles, and the things I actually cared about in each of them.
2023 — Present
Product Lead, Placeholder Co.
Owning the roadmap for a small team shipping things people actually use — more editing than deciding, most days.
2020 — 2023
Founder, Placeholder Studio
Started something from nothing with two friends. Learned more about people than about product.
2017 — 2020
Engineer, Placeholder Inc.
Cut my teeth on systems nobody wanted to touch, and got weirdly attached to the unglamorous ones.
Photography
A handful of places that stuck.
Frames waiting for photographs — swap in the real thing whenever you're ready.
Bagan
Santorini
Iceland
Bali
Marrakech
Fuji
New York
Patagonia
Travels
Where the year went.
A running log, roughly in order, kept more for me than for anyone reading it.
2024 · SANTORINI
Every roof a postcard
The blue and white gets in your head; ruined every other sunset since.
2023 · MARRAKECH
Getting lost on purpose
No map survives the medina for long, and that turned out to be the whole appeal.
2022 · BALI
Slower mornings
Learned to want less out of a day. Still working on keeping that habit at home.
2021 · PATAGONIA
Wind that means it
Four days of hiking, one good photo, and a new baseline for what "far" means.
Music
On rotation.
Five tracks I've put out as RuAl — hit play on whichever catches your eye.