It is pretty common for the photographer’s to get tirelessly hung up on a search for the perfect photo.
Ryan Cooper is about as guilty of this is as any other as he often is striving to capture that, ever fleeting, idea in his head that will lead to a perfect image. It’s the holy grail that he will forever chase but never realistically find, the carrot at the end of the infinite stick, the passion that drives his work.
Cooper is a beauty and fashion photographer from the chilly west of Canada who currently calls Vancouver “home.” Ryan’s greatest passion is chasing a sense of character within his shots. He longs to create images that capture an essence of personality that go beyond typical expectations. It is up to you to decide if he has succeeded, or not.
Cooper first began shooting landscapes before ever considering portrait photography due to a tremendous passion for nature and photography seemed to fit into that mould quite nicely. Cooper, however, quickly became frustrated with landscapes inability to respond to instructions (Mother nature has a nasty habit of doing whatever she wants) so began exploring other forms of photography which ended up triggering an avalanche towards shooting portraiture that quickly dominate his life.
Expanding on his first career as a graphic designer, Cooper has been able to leverage his deep experience using Photoshop to craft a style that fulfills his desire to create images that have an epic sense to them which Cooper achieves by using compositing to add a surreal touch to each of his photos.
Cooper has always struggled with repetition and the mundane. It has become one of his greatest challenges to overcome. He simply doesn’t want to recreate similar photos repeatedly, rather, he always wants to experiment with a new creative direction or new concept. This particular urge has proven to be somewhat of a double-edged sword. An ever changing work identity certainly can make the sale of photography much harder as clients generally prefer to see consistency but it has also allowed Cooper to broaden his experience and hone his craft in ways that would have proved near impossible had he created a single style and doggedly adhered to it.
As his career progressed Cooper discovered that he also loves helping new photographers find a foothold in their work and has repeatedly doubled down on creating educational content to empower new photographers to chase their dreams. Cooper initially began as a writer for Phlearn and then moved on to Fstoppers where he is now a senior writer. Moving forward Cooper would love to expand his teaching into the real world by offering a greater number of live courses, keep an eye on his website and social media to stay up to date on what he is up to. [Official Website]
