We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rhyan Turnbow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rhyan, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
For my whole life, as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for documenting & creating. Specifically with a camera. I used to steal my parents phones to record & direct silly movies, make music videos with my Polly pockets, and photography every single ordinary thing around the house with my moms cherry red point and shoot camera. One year early in my high school days, my mom surprised me with the nicest camera I have ever laid eyes on. It was a very basic Nikon dslr, but man was I smitten! I’ve never had anything like this! I was over the moon, and then I realized how many buttons.. and modes.. and setting there were on this camera. What did they all mean? How was I supposed to learn all this? By reading the entire manual? (Which I ending up doing btw). Learning how to be a great photographer really starts with learning to be a master with your tools. Aka, your camera, flash, etc. not to mention the most daunting of all (in my opinion and experience) the editing software. Looking back, I definitely learned the longer way. I read the manual as mentioned before, I googled and googled every possible thing I could, watched countless YouTube videos, purchased camera setting “cheat sheets” because I had no idea what ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and things like white balance were. Key and point is that I did this all on my own. Trial and error after trial and error. Did it work? Yes! Absolutely! Could it have been more efficient? Uh, heck yes! Looking back, I’m grateful for my experience but I see ways that I would improve upon it. Knowing what I know now, I would say finding a mentor that can coach & teach you is the stepping stone that I hoped, skipped and jumped over. I’m naturally pretty introverted and like figuring things out on my own- but in this case, I could not recommend having someone to walk along side you enough! There is nothing better than a having a community for support! Whether that is a mentor like I mentioned before, or a friend that is just starting out like you. There’s something incredibly special about finding that connection. So first, find someone to take along with you! It’ll make it much easier to learn and way more enjoyable!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve always been drawn to creating images and videos through digital formats. From my youngest years, I would be seen running around my childhood home with any phone or camera I could get my hands on (much to my parents dismay when they couldn’t find their devices.. oops). I was absolutely obsessed with documenting and being able to relive those images and videos over and over again. I was hooked. Fast forward to high school, I was gifted my first DSLR camera for Christmas. From then on, I began taking it with me on all family outings. From dirt biking trips up mountain trails, to boating on local lakes, even on snowmobiling trips in the freezing weather. I began documenting my families life while simultaneously anchoring my love for the art of photography. I knew that these photos were not worth any “material” value, so I started thinking of ways I could use this skill to provide income for myself. That’s when I got into couples photography, which segued into families, which lead me to weddings. It’s quite crazy the snowball effect it all took on, but man am I grateful! I’ve now been a full-time wedding & couple photographer since 2020 who specializes in documentary work and 35mm film as of 2022! If I could show my high school self the work & projects I’ve been able create & work on, I know she would be proud. I’ve traveled to capture elopements high in the Washington mountains, documented intimate ceremonies on desolate volcanoes, and most recently worked on many gorgeous weddings in the heart of Texas. What an absolute dream! I have recently relocated to Utah and am so looking forward to how my work will transform here! I would say my work is heavily influenced by finding small, genuine details and making those the centerpieces of my galleries. I would describe my work as warm, romantic, and authentic, with a focus on capturing genuine connection and emotion. I use earthy tones and soft light to create a dreamy, nostalgic atmosphere, while prioritizing a storytelling approach to bring out the unique personalities and relationships of my clients. I really aim to create a timeless & authentic memory that you’ll want to look back on again and again for years to come. My love for photography is something I’ll undoubtedly carry with my for the rest of my life, whatever capacity that may look like.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Like I’ve mentioned before, I started my business in 2020. But what I didn’t mention is that I was going to school for my bachelors degree full-time as well. During this time, I was swamped with schoolwork, photo shoots, a new puppy, and an unexpected health issue. I don’t share this very often because I don’t want pity or anything of the sort. I also know people who have had it much worse. Nevertheless, at the end of 2021 I went in for an MRI of my brain from some headaches I was having. It turned out I had a pituitary tumor that had hemorrhaged multiple times. We needed to have it removed. I fought with the idea of dropping out of school, rescheduling my clients and giving my puppy back. It all felt like too much. But somehow (looking back I’m actually astonished haha) I stayed in school, I kept all my scheduled shoots, and our puppy is now our little furry bff. A huge part of me being able to do this was because my unfailing community. My husband, mom, friends, neighbors, my professors and many more to name. How grateful I am that I had not only the support from angels on earth, but also those in heaven. You ARE capable of hard things, and things WILL get better. We need obstacles in life to learn and grow, and how grateful I am for that experience. I now have a 1 year old baby girl and am learning to navigate my business with being a mom, which is a pretty wild ride to say the least! However, that past experience has taught me that no matter the circumstance, it is absolutely possible to be successful!
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
If I could go back, I would definitely change the way I learned how to edit in Lightroom. There are SO so many settings and tools you can use in that platform that it is overwhelming for a novice. It took me wayyy longer than I care to admit to find my editing style. So if I could recommend one resource that I wish I had earlier, that would be purchasing Lightroom presets from a photographer I admired. Once I did that, my editing was able to start to flow. It gave me a confidence that I previously lacked when editing. I was able to start creating cohesive, consistent images. Now, I have progressed to creating my own presets- which is something I never would’ve thought I would be able to do! Purchasing another creator’s presets not only helps your editing immediately, but it helps you to recognize how all of the different settings affect your photos. So when you go to create your own presets, you have an idea of what you are wanting the images to look like and how you can create that effect in Lightroom! It’s such a good way to hit the ground running in Lightroom!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rhyantphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhyan.t.photo?igsh=ejF6Ym41ODUwaTF2
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bo89N9QCs/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/45hgsdeuw
Image Credits
Rhyan Turnbow