Meet Our Newest Intern Ryan!

Hello. My name is Ryan Carignan, and I am the Intern. I am a Nossi College of Art and Design student and about to complete my Bachelor of Graphic Arts in Photography. As part of my final semester, I am working with Reactor Media as an intern to learn how the commercial side of photography works

Like many photographers, I played with cameras as a child, sometimes producing something that resembled a composed photo with my ancient Kodak camera. But while I have always loved and been drawn to great images, I never pursued photography as I grew up and went to college (the first time). 

In the early 2000s, I bought the latest Sony Cybershot, which had about four megapixels. While it was convenient and led to me taking more photos, the quality of those early digital cameras was not the greatest. I enjoyed taking pictures, but I was just documenting my life. I never expanded my knowledge of photography. 

That is unfortunate because, during that time, I was an officer in the Air Force and flying as a Weapon Systems Officer in the B-1 bomber. If all of that sounds like gibberish to you, I understand. My most straightforward metaphor is that I was Goose from Top Gun, just in a larger aircraft with a different mission.

Being a combat aviator meant I was often in interesting places and situations. Between airshows and deployments, I could have taken some amazing photos when I wasn’t working. But that wasn’t where my head was, so I only have a few snapshots from one of the many Cybershots I owned over my career. Then the iPhone arrived, and soon, I always had a “camera” with me, resulting in many low-quality photos documenting my life and that of my friends. 

Only as I neared my retirement from the Air Force did I consider photography a possible side hustle, if not a career. I took a few online programs to learn the exposure triangle and composition basics. This opened my eyes to what I could do and led me to purchase my first “real” camera. Since my digital camera experience was exclusively Sony, I naturally looked for what they offered in the mirrorless camera world and purchased a Sony A7II and a Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens. For those paying attention, I have never owned an SLR or DSLR camera.

I used that single prime lens to train myself to move around to get the shots I wanted since I had no zoom capability. I figured that restricting myself to a fixed lens would teach me a lot until I had the need and the money to purchase more exotic lenses. Looking back, I think the strategy worked, and I still deeply love that Zeiss 55mm lens. 

After my twenty-year career in the Air Force, I worked for the Porsche Club of America (PCA) as the business manager for their Club Racing program. This experience was perfect for me because I am a car nut and was already a PCA member. Working with the racing program placed me where I wanted to be, at some of the greatest race tracks this country offers. The racing world felt familiar to me, like a family traveling circus, which I liked. 

My job with PCA included finding ways to promote our series. I wrote a few articles (I was a journalism major in college before joining the Air Force) and hired photographers to cover our more significant events. Working with those photographers lit the fuse that burns even hotter now, six years later. 

I followed our photographers at events and peppered them with questions about settings, gear, techniques, and anything else I could think of. I owe a lot to Victor Newman for showing me how he planned his coverage, the apps he referenced to see where the sun would be at different areas of the track throughout the day, and many other things I consider every time I cover a race today. 

The articles I wrote caught the attention of the editor of the club’s award-winning monthly magazine, which led to me writing (and now photographing) several feature articles in Porsche Panorama. I also write and shoot articles recapping significant races in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship series for PCA’s online news content. 

My time with PCA was temporary. I knew we would be moving from Maryland to Nashville when my wife retired from her twenty-year career in the Air Force (she was a pilot, so to use the metaphor again, she was Maverick, just prettier, with a better attitude and blond hair). I searched for schools with photography programs in Nashville to utilize my GI Bill and get serious training. 

It didn’t take long to find Nossi College of Art and Design. The photography degree looked perfect, as it introduced students to all genres of photography, from portraits and fashion to weddings. As someone only interested in shooting motorsports, one lesson I didn’t expect to learn was that I loved shooting commercial products and food. 

Something about the control and discipline required to produce outstanding commercial work appealed to my Type-A personality. Since I could see myself doing commercial work in addition to shooting motorsport events in the future, when the internship came up, I knew I wanted to see what real-world commercial and food photography looked like. 

This brings me to introduce myself as an intern for Reactor Media. I knew of Nick Bumgardner’s work because of the food photography class he taught at Nossi. Reactor Media was my first thought for an internship. Thankfully, Nick, Kris, and Tyler thought I looked and sounded like a decent human being, and my work at Nossi was acceptable, so they agreed to have me hang around for a few months. 

I am grateful for the opportunity and eager to learn and meet new and exciting people. And to anyone still reading this, thank you for spending some of your precious time learning about me. 

Check out Ryan’s website to see more of his work and writing! https://www.rkccreations.com