Ryan Daw@ryanjoelcreative

Growing up my grandfather taught photography at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario and had a photography studio in his home. I got my first 35mm camera at ta very young age and spent time hiking and shooting with my grandfather and in his dark room. In grade 9 I really started to take it a lot more serious and learning on a Pentax K1000. Later I purchased a 1959 Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super and a Praktica Super TL. After a couple years shooting on 35mm and winning some contests I decided to venture into 105mm medium format which was my grandfathers preferred format.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s I began to lose some of my interest in photography. It was a weird transition time as film became more and more rare and expensive to develop and digital suffered from high cost and lower quality images. Eventually I put my film cameras away shortly after college and stopped taking photos almost all together. It wasn’t until a few years later I purchased my first DSLR (Nikon D80) which I used for a few years. During that time something still felt off and photography still didn’t feel quite right.

In August 2015, I was away on a camping trip with some close friends (@mattzoeteman, @jonathanzoeteman) who are on the leadership team of a movement called Socality. That weekend I had my passion for photography re-awakened. I wasn’t fully satisfied with my Nikon system so I ventured out to find a system that not only felt right but produced the quality he was looking for and was fun at the same time. I found just that in the Fuji X system and purchased a Fuji X-T1 in October 2015. The Fuji system was the perfect fit and blew every expectation out of the water. Not only did the camera take outstanding photos but everything on the camera was where it should be, like the film days. After discovering the Fuji X-T1 I have never looked back.

I have been taking my photography really seriously again since August, 2015 and I spend every moment I can venturing into the rockies, traveling hundreds of KM’s in the middle of the night to capture a sunrise, hiking with friends and exploring everywhere and anywhere I can.

I currently call Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada home. I am a husband and father of three incredible children. I am a creative director, musician, AOV Academy Founding Member, ViewBug.com curator and currently a brand ambassador for UCO GEAR.

Photography is one of my lifes greatest passions.