We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rylan Wright . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rylan below.

Hi Rylan , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

For the most part, I’m a self taught photographer! I taught myself how to use my first camera in 2015 which was a little Canon Rebel T5, so luckily it was fairly easy to use. Back then, I wasn’t doing photography professionally so to me, it didn’t matter if I knew all the settings. By the time I started pursuing professional photography, I upgraded my camera to a Canon 5D Mark IV without really knowing much about it. I just told myself I would figure it out and it would be easy. Boy was I wrong. For the first few months of using that camera, I did multiple shoots with my settings in Automatic… (Photographers please feel free to laugh at me for that one). I obviously noticed that it was getting really hard to work with lighting and I came home one day complaining about how my pictures look like crap and I didn’t know why! My boyfriend looked at me and goes “Well why aren’t you shooting in Manual?” I had no clue what he was talking about. Luckily, he had a background in photography before I did and he showed me what all I could do with my camera and the settings if I shot in Manual. My mind was BLOWN. I started watching videos of other photographers shooting in Manual and what settings they used for different lighting. It took a bit for me to get the hang of it, but once I did, it was a complete game changer and I will never look back. Once I felt like I was ready, I upgraded my camera again to the Canon R6 Mark IV and I’ve been rockin with it ever since. Somewhere along the way I taught myself how to edit my pictures in the Adobe Softwares, such as Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. This definitely took some trial and error, and still does to this day but that’s okay with me. When it came to doing my first photoshoot in a studio, I had ZERO clue what I was doing. I literally threw myself into it and learned how to use the strobe lights, the trigger and what settings to put my camera in right before the shoot. Thank you to the kind employees of Cam Kirk Studios for helping me with that one. After my first studio shoot, I fell in love with it and wanted to do more. So, I memorized how to adjust the settings on the lights and how to connect the trigger and that was that for the next few months. When it came to using multiple/different lights, and learning how to create certain lighting effects in the studio, I give credit to other photographers around Atlanta who I shadowed or went to workshops with. A huge thank you to Bobby Fowler, Jared Houske, and Al Hays, who are all incredibly talented photographers. Teaching myself how to be a photographer has been filled a lot of trial and error around the board and throwing myself into situations where I’m forced to learn, but I wouldn’t change a thing!

Knowing what I know now, I probably would have taken photography more seriously at a younger age or even taken classes in college to help speed up the process.

The skills that I think are most essential are:

1. People skills. It’s important to me that I’m communicating well and connecting with my clients during shoots so that they feel comfortable and confident when working with me! It makes it all the more fun

2. Creativity and artistic vision. For me, photography has been such a great creative outlet. I love trying new concepts, trying different editing styles and being able to form my ideas into a picture. It’s a blessing to even be able go do that

3. Technical knowledge. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that it is SO important to know how to correctly use the equipment you’re working with. It’ll also just make your life so much easier lol

There’s a couple of obstacles that stood in the way of learning more but the main one is myself. There were times when I thought I could teach myself certain things, then would get annoyed for not understanding it and I would quit. There were times where I got a bad case of imposter syndrome and I thought my photos were terrible. There were times when I didn’t know where to go to learn how to do certain things so I settled for what I already knew. But it feels good knowing that I was able to overcome those. I’m not afraid to ask for help, I’ve gained so much confidence in my work and I try my best not to settle and instead, be eager to consistently learn new things.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For those of you who don’t know me, hi, I’m Rylan Wright and I am an Atlanta based photographer! I’m originally from Texas and I moved to Atlanta in 2023. Before moving here, I was a graduation photographer at the University of Alabama. Now, for the most part, I work with models helping them build their portfolios with creative portraits, fashion photography, editorial photography, branding, lifestyle photography and more. I also offer couple, engagement, wedding and family photos. If you can’t tell, I really just love to do it all and I would say that this might be what sets me apart from other photographers. Something that I’m super proud of myself for is going out of my comfort zone to turn my hobby into a business! It’s honestly something I never saw coming. And while my photography business is still small, it just makes me happy to see that my hard work is paying off as time goes by. One thing about me, is I’m huge people person! I love meeting new people and connecting with people, especially when it comes to creating art together! So, if you’re ever looking for a photographer in the area, don’t hesitate to reach out because I’d be more than happy to work with you. <3

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the hardest things I had to while building this business was move to this city (Atlanta) where I knew absolutely no one, and I had a client base of a whopping zero. But from the moment I got here, God truly blessed me with opportunities to help my career grow. I have met some of the most amazing people, especially within the creative community who have connected with me, taught me, and overall just inspired me in my career and I’m truly better because of it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding thing is getting good feedback after a shoot. Not only about the pictures but how the client’s experience was with me personally. I’ve been told that I make my clients feel comfortable and confident during our shoots and that really does mean the world to me. I always want my clients to feel good about themselves after shooting with me. They deserve to be shown how beautiful they are!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rylanwrightphotography.mypixieset.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rylanwrightphotography/

Image Credits
All shot by me