Seattle Photographer David Ryder

My first memorable experience with photography was on the Rhine River during a family trip to Europe when I was about nine. My mom let me have an hour or two with her point and shoot camera and I burned through the film, taking what must have been 100 crappy pictures of castles. Our family still jokes about this story, which should have tipped us off as to what I would be doing 17 years later - but hopefully now with uncrappy pictures.

Photography kind of went on the back burner for a long time until I got to high school and took a black and white darkroom class with the amazing Mrs. Mac. Using my dad’s old Canon A-1 tank of a camera and mostly a 50mm lens, I explored our town and made way too many photos of my family and our pets. Upon high school graduation, my mom declined my requests for a gift of an authentic Nolan Ryan jersey and instead told me I would be happier with the Canon Rebel 2000 film camera she was giving me. Unconvinced, I accepted the gift and didn’t put it to much use until my first solo trip overseas, to London and Prague, during my freshman year at the University of Washington. Wandering around foreign cities and taking pictures was exhilarating. I was hooked.

When I got home I (barely) convinced the school paper’s photo editor to hire me as a photographer. He happened to be an older member of my fraternity and if he weren’t, I’m not sure if I would have got the job. I slowly learned, snatching every assignment that I possibly could from the rest of our staff of about seven. During these years, I would continue to travel extensively, eventually completing four study abroad programs and numerous other short trips. I eventually became the photo editor of the school paper and graduated with a degree in the comparative history of ideas. For two years, I shot as a freelancer, wandered the U.S. during a four-month road trip and rented an apartment in Buenos Aires, among other adventures.

I later found myself in Park City, Utah, working for The Park Record and living and breathing community newspaper photojournalism. I developed my video and audio production skills as well, and in 2009 decided to return home to Seattle to enroll once again in the University of Washington, this time for a master’s degree in cultural studies. I am studying issues of ethics in photojournalism and critical race theory. I now work as a freelance visual journalist and part time as a multimedia tutor for students on campus. I plan to always continue traveling, but with Seattle as my permanent home. My work will continue to be about social justice and human rights, as these are my passions outside of visual journalism.

A bit more about me: I was selected for the 21st Eddie Adams Workshop and twice completed the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. My work has been recognized by the College Photographer of the Year competition, the Utah Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association.