by Yvette Depaepe
Published the 3rd of May 2021

 
Ryan Dyar  is a great artist painting sceneries with his camera.  He describes himself  as 'pointing cameras on stuff' ;-)  Ryan has a charming personality, he is honest, humble and full of healthy humour.  I really enjoyed every single word in this interview and hope the same for all of you.

Big thanks for sharing all this with us, Ryan !

'Fortress of Erosion'

Dear Ryan, please tell us about yourself, your hobbies and other jobs.
I’m a chubby man child living in Seattle who points a camera at stuff. By some stroke of luck, I’ve been able to call photography my full time job for almost a decade now. Since photography takes up most of my life, I don’t have too many hobbies I guess. I like to play video games (like I said, I’m basically a 37 year old child) and I love to cook. I guess cooking and learning to be better in the kitchen is my biggest hobby these days.

How has your history and life experiences affected your photography?
Which are your most important experiences that has influenced your art?
I got into photography many, many years ago after getting clean from opiate addiction. It was a real weird time in my life when I had removed myself from all of my friends that I had at the time, was trying to figure out what life would look like without using drugs, and filling this new void I had with something positive. I had been gifted a camera and decided to just travel alone a lot. It was a very therapeutic thing to be alone in nature and taking little snapshots for memories. Then I got bit by the photography bug and here I am now doing it for a living. It honestly feels very weird to look back on it. Those early days of just travelling alone, finding myself again, and starting to learn a little about this new hobby I had was truly life changing… even though I know that probably sounds pretty lame.

'A Portrait of a Mountain'

'Like Daggers'

What first attracted you to photography?
I had always been interested in landscapes and oil painting. At a young age I tried to paint landscape scenes. It turned out you have to be pretty talented to do that, so I gave up after about a week… as kids do. But for me, a camera is a much easier way to create the landscape scenes I wanted to paint. I’ve always said that if I had any talent with a paintbrush I would probably toss my camera out of the window.

'A Chill in the Air'

Describe your overall photographic vision.
I like to create the big landscapes scenics that I fell in love with as a kid while looking at the work of Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, etc. A lot of those painters of the Hudson River School and the whole Luminism movement made a big impact on me. The way they handled light and atmosphere is something I take a lot of inspiration from and try to mimic in my dumb little photos.

'Sunstorm'

Why are you so drawn by landscape photography?
Like I said, I’m not necessarily drawn to photography in itself. I’m more drawn to creating landscape scenes. I just happen to only be able to do that with a camera. Funny enough, I actually took a photography class in high school and absolutely hated it. I thought photography was pretty lame. I skipped class several days per week and only passed the class because I cheated on my final. I’m still great friends with two guys from that class 20 years ago. They never stop reminding me of how ironic it is that I’m now a photographer.

What is more important to you, the mood,/story behind your images or the technical perfection?
I’m definitely more mood oriented. If a photo I make isn’t technically perfect, I don’t mind at all. As long as it sparks something in me that I resonate with. Unfortunately this only happens in 1 out of every 5000 photos I take.

'Polterzeitgeist'

What generally is your relationship to your subject matter beyond being an observer?
Do you prepare carefully the locations where you are intending to photograph?
I generally hope to portray a scene through my own interpretation. I try not to do too much planning when arriving at a location to photograph so that I can just interpret it myself with very little preconceived notion of what I want to make. My favourite images I make are the ones that are truly unique and not influenced by a photo I had previously seen from a location.

'Disintegration'

'What Lies Ahead'

What gear do you use (camera, lenses, bag)?
I’ve yet to jump to the mirror-less dark-side. I’m using a Nikon D850, and a range of glass from 14-300mm. I’m also very pleased to be working with a new camera bag company called NearZero who aim to create the lightest camera bags on the market that can be fully customized to your own aesthetic. I also love to shoot with a drone, but I try not to be an annoying jerk about it.

What software do you use to process your images?
Because I’m getting old and stuck in my ways, I’m one of the few folks who still do not use Lightroom. I organize my images in Adobe Bridge, do all my RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw, and spend several hours fine tuning and dodging and burning in Photoshop. Post processing for me is 50% of the enjoyment I get with photography. Again, because I’m useless with a paintbrush, I use Photoshop to essentially create painting-esque adjustments to my images.

Shameless self promotion here, my apologies, but I also teach all of the techniques I have developed over the years on my site www.ryandyar.com

'Making Haste'

Can you tell us something more about your work flow?
I spend a ridiculous amount of time dodging and burning my photos. We’re talking hours of dodging and burning in some cases. I do a lot of it through highly targeted luminosity selections with varying brush colours to enhance directional light and shadows. Light and atmosphere are the two key things I pay attention to both in the field and in post.

'Green Screen'

What is your most important advice to a beginner in landscape photography and how do you get started?
I always say to start looking for inspiration wherever you can. Paintings, photographs, different types of light, etc. These are all important in figuring out what type of work you want to create. I look at it like creating a Frankenstein monster. Take little bits of inspiration from various places and piece them all together to create your own thing. 

Who are your favourite photographers and more importantly, how has your appreciation of their work affected how you approach your own photography?
I honestly don’t look at a lot of photography these days. Considering all of my friends are photographers, my wife is a photographer, and I do photography for a living, if I spent my free time looking at photography I would start to lose my mind. But I do love the work of people like Enrico Fossati (fox79) some truly beautiful work and handles atmosphere better than almost anyone else. He has definitely been an influence on me the past few years.

Are there any specific directions that you would like to take your photography in the future or any specific goals that you wish to achieve?
I hope to just keep learning and getting better. Art, of any medium, is not something you ever reach the pinnacle of. There is always something new to learn, boundaries to push, and news ways of thinking. I hope to keep climbing this never ending mountain and creating more mediocre photos and awesome memories along the way.

'Emyreal Surge'

Describe your favourite photograph taken by you and why it is special to you? 

'Into The Valley'

It’s this photo I made in 2008 while sitting alone in a small creek in the Rocky Mountains. Wild Mountain Goats kept walking past behind me, the smell of fresh rain filled the air, and I watched the light change over the course of an hour. It was a truly special moment that I look back fondly on. I was still fairly new to photography and was very excited by all of it. When I made this photo it was the first time I was able to say to myself “Yes! This is the type of stuff I want to make!” It might not be my best photo I guess, but the memories I made while creating it make this one pretty special to me. It really got me obsessed with photography when I made it.

Is there anything else you wish to add and what do you think about 1X as a home base for your work?
1X is one of the few places left that really takes photography seriously and doesn’t make it all about the instant gratification of likes. There’s no bot followers or spam comments, just like minded folks who love shooting. It’s nice safe-space for us to share our work.

Lastly, thanks for letting me spew my nonsense in this interview. I’m definitely not worthy, but I appreciate you taking the interest in whatever dumb things I had to say.

You can see more of my mediocre images at www.ryandyar.com

'Winter Portrait'

'Watercolour'

'Dark Was the Day'