Ryan Reynolds: Profile of a Practitioner

 Ryan Reynolds: Profile of a Practitioner

Ryan Reynolds is a 19 year old Sophomore majoring in Environmental Science at the University of Portland (UP). Reynolds started photography as a hobby initially, though his dedication and love for the craft later granted him various shots at continuing his practice as a paid job. He now works at The Beacon, the school newspaper, as a news photographer, and for the UP Athletics department doing live, during-the-game photography and platform updates. He also does freelance work on various occasions.

“Photography is my way of capturing the moments I’m lucky enough to experience in real life, especially when I’m out in nature… it gives me a feeling of gratitude to be able to see what I get to and also show others my work, and I think they enjoy it as well,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds began photography as a child, and as he grew, so did his skill and equipment. “I got into photography because my grandparents are both professional photographers, and so they gave me a little point and shoot, tiny little camera for Christmas years and years ago,” said Reynolds. “It's just kind of grown as a passion and a hobby over the years.”

Though he was born in Utah, Reynolds moved from country to country growing up, which only expanded his appreciation for the multiple, unique ways nature beautifully presents itself. He was always interested in the outdoors, and would often enjoy seeing different animals and bugs and trying to keep weird pets from the wilderness. It was only natural that his two passions would later coincide, as his biggest photography inspiration is nature.

“My favorite thing to photograph has to be the night sky, The stars, the Milky Way, especially. Most people probably don't know what this is, but there's a kind of niche area of photography called light painting,” said Reynolds. “It's basically long exposure photography, and when you leave the shutter open, it tracks the light moving, so you can literally paint with light. It’s spectacular.”

But it isn’t cheap. Like many other photographers, Reynolds dishes a lot of money on the right equipment for the job. “The most annoying thing about photography is how expensive it is. The gear is crazy expensive. I've had a couple lenses break. I dropped my camera in the ocean, a small, tiny little wave knocked my tripod over, so having to replace that is just expensive in general and not ideal for a college student,” said Reynolds. 

But to Reynolds, being a college aged photographer is a great benefit. Instead of his young age hindering his opportunities to monetize his work, it has enhanced them through UP’s need to fill student talent based jobs.

“I work for the beacon doing photography and a little videography, and I also have a job with Athletics, so that's all live coverage of the games. I usually show up an hour early, take some photos of the warm-ups, and then while I'm there I take a break from shooting and then edit and send off the photos and then I'll repeat,” said Reynolds. “And then I do some freelance work. Like, I did Pilots Give as freelance for the school. But I can say the majority of my work is through UP, and if I wasn't on campus, I wouldn't have access to the on-campus jobs that I have.”

Nevertheless, Reynolds hopes that these jobs are just the beginning of his photography career. He hopes that in the future he can expand off campus and begin more freelance work for local news coverage or media pages. “I just really enjoy showing people things they haven’t seen before, and to do that as a profession would be a dream. One day maybe, but making money at the school while doing something I love is enough for now, and it seems that others enjoy my work here too, so we’ll see what the future holds,” said Reynolds. 

Reynolds has a variety of portfolios available online, but the majority of his work can be found on his instagram @theryan_reynolds.