Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan McMains.

Hi Dylan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up, my step-mother always took photos of us at family gatherings/outings and I never quite understood why. It never felt like a fulfilling or important thing to do, it always felt like a chore. But, for some reason, on a family trip to Florida in 2014 I got this idea to try it for myself – to take photos of anything and everything for the sake of preserving memories. This proved to be a much more enjoyable endeavor than I originally thought it would be – I loved looking for fascinating sights and patterns and my friends on social media really seemed to love it as well. When I got back home to New Mexico, I kept it up and continued looking for things in nature that stood out to me.

I never could quite get into portraits or anything involving people – my brain just didn’t enjoy the unstructured aspect of it. Instead, nature (both micro and macro) is what I heavily gravitated toward. I loved that I didn’t have any control over the situation/scene – the sky, clouds, weather, and light were all going to do what they were going to whether or not I was there. I love getting to work with what is already there and not being able to impose myself upon it, I am always at the mercy of nature.

This fascination continued through high school and into my college years. Through my high school graduation, I never considered photography anything more than a hobby, but when I got into college and began evaluating what exactly makes my soul feel full, photography kept popping up. During those two years, that passion for creating and sharing continued to grow until it became larger and stronger than my passion for my major at the time. I made the decision to leave college after my fourth semester and give much more of my energy to photography and truly building something out of it.

This all really took hold in the second half of 2019, just before the world went into lockdown. I began connecting with other photographers/creatives in Albuquerque and started going out to shoot much more often. Through them, I noticed the amount of learning I was doing rose drastically and the quality of my work was going up with it – it was then that I realized just how important community really is. Then, the events of 2020 hit and in the midst of global chaos and confusion, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to really go for what my soul was craving. Many of us either worked from home already or were furloughed during the pandemic and had ample time on our hands, so almost nightly we were going out somewhere in ABQ to take photos – it was amazing. We also took roadtrips all around the four corners and I got to see some of the most beautiful places the U.S. has to offer.

I spent the whole year listening to my gut and going where the wind took me essentially, and in December of 2020 my gut told me it was time for a change and time to experience something different than New Mexico. I made the decision to move to Seattle, Washington and officially landed up north in January of 2021. This experience brought about so many incredible memories, but also challenges. During my first year there, I worked as a brand representative for Sony (specifically in digital imaging) but, similarly to what happened in my last year in college, my soul began pulling me in another direction. I was craving really going for photography full time as a career and I really didn’t see any other option, so I pulled the trigger.

Now unfortunately, this isn’t one of those stories where someone takes a leap of faith and finds resounding success and everything ends up working out due to their hard work and perseverance. It sucked, it was really hard. I didn’t find success, at least not the success I’d fantasized about. But that’s not to say I didn’t do things I really loved. I became the head of media for two different soccer clubs in southern Seattle, I photographed my best friend’s wedding, took a month-long road-trip to some of the most beautiful places in the American southwest, and got to lead my first in person workshop at Mount Rainier National Park. There were absolutely some shining moments during that time, but I ultimately realized that that much autonomy just doesn’t work for me. It’s similar to why I haven’t ever really enjoyed taking portraits, there’s just too much for me to consider and decide upon, I prefer to have some preexisting structure.

This fact, coupled with the cost of living in a big city like that and the fact that all of my family lived back in and around New Mexico, led to me making the decision to move back home and reassess some things about myself. I came back to Albuquerque in late 2022, and I honestly expected the return to simplicity to be beneficial to my creative motivation – but it strangely had the opposite effect. Ever since moving back, I have touched my camera less and less frequently. The amount of time between shoots has grown and the number of photos I have felt motivated to share on social media has dwindled. Up until very recently, this greatly concerned me – it felt as though I lost a big part of myself and I couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to do it like I used to. I tried so hard to reignite that flame, trying to start various side businesses or get back into social media, and it all just felt so inauthentic. Like I said earlier, community is everything. I realized that so much of my motivation came from the people I was sharing those experiences with and the people I then got to share my work with on social media. Over time, I had lost both of those things which made it so much harder to want to do it. But more prominently was the feeling of disappointment I’d developed in myself. I’d left school, moved across the country, quit my job, all in pursuit of this wonderful fantasy and came up short. I have always set very high expectations on myself and when I don’t achieve what I set my mind to, it has hard for me to want to continue said thing.

But, recently this has all changed for me. In talking to some folks that know the trials and tribulations I’ve gone through, I have realized that I don’t need to have all of these expectations on myself. Just because I have a skill in photography doesn’t mean I absolutely have to make a lifelong career out of it. It can just be a hobby, it can be something I enjoy when I want to enjoy it. I mean, that’s how it all started isn’t it? For the first 4-5 years, I never tried to take it seriously and I enjoyed every minute of it. Realizing all of this has felt so freeing and this is where my mind currently sits. I absolutely love to create. I love immortalizing moments, capturing memories for me to look back on, and showing off the insane beauty of the natural world. I want to remove the pressure I put on myself and enjoy this art for what it is and not expect something from it that isn’t there.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.McMainsMedia.com

Image Credits
Dylan McMains / McMains Media