Exploring Life & Business with Ryn Salter of Adventuryn Photography

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryn Salter

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Aside from short times away, I have always lived, worked, and gone to school in Orange County. It’s where I graduated from Troy High School, got my Anthropology BA from Cal State Fullerton, and, much later, my Photography AA and certificate from Fullerton College. And now, it’s where my photography business is based. A few years after receiving my Anthropology BA, I went to England for a year to earn an Ethnobotany MSc at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

In a way, these two passions are a dichotomy: photographs freeze a moment in time, preserving it for posterity, and plants, by their very nature, pun intended, are dynamic and changeable. They grow and change over time, and their properties sometimes change with them. When I can, I try to incorporate botanical elements into my photography as part of the set design, whether holding a symbolic meaning in the scene or just adding some color or texture, especially when photographing Goddess and fantasy portraits for clients.

I got into photography by looking at family photos. Everyone has a finite amount of time on this earth, and as a child, being able to see photographs of family members who had passed before I was born or when I was very young helped me to both process that loss and better remember the person. Especially with more modern photography, you can freeze a split-second when someone is mid-laugh or looking thoughtful, more accurately capturing aspects of their personality. This applies to animals as well, both companion and otherwise. I was going through old family photos a few months ago and found some shots people had made in the, I believe, 1920s of their cats. There’s something so special about finding these pictures a century later. Someone you never knew one hundred years ago thought a person or animal was special enough that they needed to be immortalized in film, especially at a time when photography was such an investment of both time and financial resources. The idea that I am helping others create family heirlooms so that their future generations can know what their great grandma looked like in her younger years or helping an elderly couple recreate their wedding photographs for their sixtieth anniversary is a big part of why I do what I do. That which is remembered lives on in the hearts and minds of those who remember.

I also do a lot of product and event photography for businesses and organizations, including Triumph Foundation, Tara’s Chance, and Pride at the Pier, and love to capture the energy of a place and the people in it, adding to the multifaceted story of the place and its people. I try to capture both candid and posed moments and provide promotional and documentary material for their use.

I owe a lot to the amazing instructors and staff of the Fullerton College photography department. The program coordinator, Melody LaMontia, built the program from the ground up and helped direct me in my technical and artistic endeavors from day one. She remains a highly respected advisor in my life and the lives of many others. It is through the strong technical and practical hands-on skills I learned in this program and the supportive, collaborative environment that I am able to do my job as a photographer.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have definitely been hurdles along the way. Between my own health issues, family health issues, and a lack of job prospects in my initial field, things have not been a smooth road.

I was sure I would have a profitable crafts business along with being an employed archaeologist soon after graduating with my BA and similarly when I got my MSc, as a lot of positions had required a Master’s degree. In that time and with the direction of the amazing instructors at the Fullerton College Photography Department, photography has gone from a decades-long hobby I was passionate about to something that was actually helping me support myself. All too often, feeling stressed and defeated sucks the joy and passion from someone’s creative pursuits and I was unfortunately there for a time.

Now, though, I am documenting the world through my lens, living a life with friends and loved ones, and using my love for crafting toys and other fun things to create and source props for photoshoots.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Adventuryn Photography?
Adventuryn Photography is known for strong, fun portraiture and concert photography. It’s important to capture both serious, and professional images, and shots that show the dynamic nature of the subject you are photographing, be they a single person, group, animal, or product. I love capturing images of people in their creative environments: home studios, classrooms, and the like. It adds another dimension to someone’s multifaceted identity to see them engaged in their element, lighting up with enthusiasm or sitting contemplatively.

I am also going to be doing more Goddess and fantasy shoots and love to design and use engaging sets for clients and models to interact with. I always make sure the people I am photographing feel safe and comfortable in the environment being created, regardless of identity and personal expression, so that we can collaborate on the best possible projects. I always want my photoshoots to be seen as and feel like a safe space where people can feel secure and be themselves. I am excited to see what comes next.

How do you think about luck?
I have had the good luck to know amazing people in the photography world and have been able to learn from and bounce ideas off of them. I have likewise been lucky to have lived a life surrounded by loved ones, both human and animal. In a way, even the bad luck I have encountered in my business has been more of an unfortunate teachable moment, emphasizing the need to backup files in multiple places when my main hard drive crashed and trying to always have a second camera available during important events, when mine began dying during a project. I have been overall rather lucky in how things have come together, though there is always room for improvement.

Pricing:

• Contact me for customized photo packages!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adventurynphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adventuryn_photography/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventuRyn_
• Other: https://linktr.ee/adventurynphotography

Image Credits
Ryn Salter, Adventuryn Photography