Pete Ryan
Profile
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Local Vancouver Island resident and accredited photographer with the National Geographic Society, Pete Ryan is a creative and ideas person, innovative and passionate about collaborating with a team to cultivate goals and see projects through to success. Serious, organized and detail oriented, he is also a researcher and problem solver with a great sense of energy, optimism, fun and humour. He strives to engage, learn, teach, inspire and make every day a good day for himself and for those around him.
Educational Background
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Bachelor of Arts, McGill University 1987 Accreditation
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Photographer, National Geographic Society 2007- Fellow, The Explorers Club (NYC) 2015-
Work Experience - Motion-Picture and Television Industry (1988-) _______________________________________________________
Past Film & Video Alaskan Moose (2009) National Geographic
(Video) - B-camera Operator, Location Scout.
Ongoing, Various Nat Geo (2007-) National Geographic
(Video) - B-roll, Stills Photographer, Location Scout.
The Viola Macmillan Story (1995) Canwest
(Documentary) - Stills Photographer.
Love and Hate (1989) CBC
(Movie) - Stills Photographer.
Magical Musical Days (1987) Telefilm Canada
(Documentary) - Stills Photographer.
Past Television
The Fifth Estate (1993) CBC
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 1 episode). Helicia Glucksman, unit publicist.
YTV Canada (1991-1993)
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer, Various Shows. Ruth Dyer, unit publicist.
CBC Arts, Music & Science
The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (1992-1997)
(Broadcast TV) - Stills Photographer (1 episode per year). Helicia Glucksman, unit publicist.
Adrienne Clarkson Presents (1990-1997)
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (8 episodes). Helicia Glucksman, unit publicist.
The Genie Awards (1990)
(Broadcast TV) - Stills Photographer E.N.G. (1990)
Alliance
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 2 episodes). Anna Maria Monticelli, unit publicist.
T and T (1990) Nelvana
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 1 episode). Karen Pidgurski, unit publicist.
Street Legal (1989-1990) CBC
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 13 episodes). Jan Oddie, Tamara MacKeigan, unit publicists.
Degrassi Junior High (1989) CBC
(TV Series) Stills Photographer (uncredited, 1 episode). Jan Oddie, unit publicist.
The Campbells (1989) CTV
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 2 episodes). Shelley Sunohara, unit publicist.
CTV National News (1988)
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 1 episode). Shelley Sunohara, unit publicist.
The National (1988) CBC
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 1 episode). Wendy Forbes, unit publicist.
Night Heat (1988) CTV
(TV Series) - Stills Photographer (uncredited, 1 episode). Bill Vigars, unit publicist.
The Ken Rockburn Show (1988) CBC
(Pilot) - Stills Photographer.
Corporate and Editorial - Work Experience
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Freelance photographer (1987-)
Providing photographic services to a wide variety of clients, corporate and editorial. Notably National Geographic Society, National Geographic Partners, TIME Magazine, Getty Images, World Wildlife Fund, Canadian Tourism Commission, Government of Canada, CBC, CTV, and the International Olympic Committee as IOC photographer.
Geostock Corporation (1992-2007)
Founder and President. Based in Ottawa, Geostock focused on the development of innovative creative content to federal government agencies as well as blue chip brands such as Corel, Microsoft, and Getty Images - at a time when digital media assets were fast-evolving from scratch. A one-stop shop of execution of deliverables with respect to all aspects of sales, event planning and management of project activities. Managed staff 3-15 people, subject to project size.
Geostock HD Enterprises Inc (2007-2015)
Founder and President. Corporate continuance in British Columbia. Day to day operations included the managing and manufacture of creative content, together with project budgets in collaboration with several tourism organizations including the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Tourism Council of Bhutan, Go Hawaii (HVCB) and Nunavut Tourism to name a few. Working with client management teams, project goals were to identify, develop, photograph and create brand awareness content for each tourism board’s media libraries. As part of the in-house tourism branding process, additional photographic content was developed for National Geographic to further position brand reputation. Managed staff and outside contractors. Sold the company in 2015.
National Geographic Society (2007-present)
Contributing Photographer, National Geographic Image Collection.
British Columbia Explorations Résumé - National Geographic Society _______________________________________________________
2007 (May) - To chronicle disappearing ways of life in the British Columbia backcountry.
Starting in Kamloops, the project spanned the Okanagan, the Kootenays to the northern wilderness of the Chilcotin. Specific attention was given to known lost and forgotten places, of authentic ghost town architecture. Resulting images and storytelling accounts archived with both Canadian Geographic and the National Geographic Society.
2008 (Apr) - Haisla exploration, Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. An anthropological perspective: to provide a fundamental knowledge of Haisla First Nations people, cultures, and issues in British Columbia. In search for and of findings of ancient artifacts of the Haisla First Nation, escorted by then Chief of Haisla Nation. Travel by boat the length of the rarely-seen Gardner Canal in the Kitlope. Documentation of Haisla artifacts included pictographs, 19th century totem and mortuary poles, burial grounds, and other scared sites representing mythic beings and ceremonial life. Images and sharing of information archived with National Geographic.
2011 (Aug) - Avocational. To search for and photograph known elder grizzly bears in the northern British Columbia wilderness i.e. Mitchell River and Cariboo River. Escorted by professional wilderness bear guide. Beneficiary of images: Regional British Columbia wildlife preserve, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association, and National Geographic.
2012 (Jun) - Extension of 2011 August project. This time, grizzly bear mating season at close range, Great Bear Rainforest. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2015 (Jun) - Exploration of ‘lost places’ of primitive First Nations villages located along the northern coastlines off Vancouver Island. Primarily Kwakwaka'wakw origin. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2015 (Oct) - Exploration of the Skeena River. First Nations, Gold Rush era history, and abandoned canneries. Porcher Island, Port Essington, Osland, Haysport and 43 other locations visited. Beneficiary: University of Northern British Columbia and National Geographic.
Other Explorations Résumé
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1999 (Jul) - To explore and document ancient Norse ruins and abandoned whaling stations along Greenland’s western coastline. During the assignment, it was learned that circa 1000 AD Norse explorers encountered natives in Labrador who may have been ancestors of the later Beothuk or Dorset inhabitants. Subsequent travel to Shuldham Island (NL) Nulliak Island, and northern Newfoundland where photographs were taken of findings - of ritual activity of gouge marks, semi-subterranean rectangular houses, burial grounds, chert arrowheads and other artifacts.
Beneficiary: Government of Denmark and National Geographic.
1999 (Sep) - To document McCarthy and the Kennicott Copper Mine (SE Alaska) and of its historical mining significance leading up to World War II. Images archived in the National Geographic Image Collection.
2000 (Jul) - Avocational travel to Lancaster Sound (NU) in the Northwest Passage. In search of ancient Thule ruins scattered across northern Somerset Island. Assignment timed to coincide with the annual beluga whale migration at Cunningham Inlet. Images and video footage archived with National Geographic.
2000 (Oct) - Exploration of remains of abandoned World War II POW camps scattered across northern Ontario, east of Thunder Bay.
2001 (Aug) - Extensive travel to several key abandoned outports in Newfoundland and Labrador, most where no roads exist. Photographs archived with National Geographic. Subsequent advisor to Adventure Canada (ship-travel company) of such locations to visit as well as providing technical lectures aboard their ships in 2001 and 2006.
2002 (Feb) - Research and subsequent exploration of some of Britain’s subterranean defence, factory and storage sites from World War II. Also documented were the remains of abandoned airfields in central England. Private collection.
2002 (Sep) - Circumnavigation of Newfoundland and Labrador by boat to further document ghost outports not accessible by road. Images archived with National Geographic.
2003 (Aug) - Seaplane journey from Nain (NL) to the northernmost tip of Labrador. Two photographers. To document everything we came into contact with - from animals to abandoned Moravian missions. Highlight of expedition was the dramatic landscape of the Torngat Mountains. Trip cut short due to bad weather and unrelated recent plane crashes in the area.
Instead, visited abandoned fishing stations off the coast of southern Labrador that were affected by the cod moratorium of 1992. Namely, Cape St. Charles, Indian Harbour, Carrol’s Cove, and the Camp Islands. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2004-2006 - “Vanishing Ireland.” A three year project. A unique collection of portrait interviews examining the dying ways and traditions of Irish life. From coalminers to saddlers, farmers to fishermen, along with horse dealers, publicans, housemaids and artists - the photographs provided an invaluable chronicle that connects twenty-first century Ireland to a rapidly disappearing world. In 2005, the project extended to showcase direct lineage of great musicians from Ireland (e.g. Matt Molloy, The Chieftains, Christy Moore) to Newfoundland and Labrador (e.g. Ron Hynes). Private collection with images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2007 (Sep) - A photographic tribute to Saskatchewan’s fading, forlorn, and forgotten places. A highlight was the discovery of the actual cave hideout where Butch Cassidy stored his stolen horses. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2009 (Sep) - Travel to Tibet to showcase its far-flung monasteries, some ruined. Privileged access. Travel timed one month prior to the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2009 (Oct) - To search for and document specific Cold War-era military plane crash sites along Newfoundland and Labrador coastlines. Images: National Geographic Image Collection.
2010 (Jul) - To document specific monastic ruins along the Aegean coast in southern Turkey,
where only accessible by boat. A highlight was Gemiler Island. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2012 (Sep) - Research and subsequent photography of derelict, one-room 19th and 20th century schoolhouses across North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2013 (May) - Extension of 2012 assignment, this time to document specific abandoned ‘Wild West’ mining towns in remote areas of Montana and Idaho.
2015 (Jun) - Research and photography documentation of the abandoned Ukrainian farming towns scattered across the Canadian prairies. Special consideration given to the architecture of onion-dome church ruins in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Most places no longer on maps, some reclaimed by the forest. Images and storytelling accounts archived with National Geographic.
2017 (Feb) - Carney Town: The Last Sideshow. A fascination of sideshow freaks and circus performers. A tie-in with book project with John Mellencamp.
2019 (Sep) - Sunken Cities of Ireland (in development).
Published Features
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National Geographic
2007 NG Traveler “Ghost Towns of Colorado”
2009 NG News “Making Music Boosts Brain’s Language Skills”
2010 NG Book Division “Tales of the Weird”
2010 NG Magazine “Visions of Earth—Beauty, Majesty, Wonder”
2010 NG News “Amsterdam’s Lean, Green Shipping Container Homes”
2011 NG Book Division “Life in Color”
2011 NG News “Death Valley’s Sailing Stones”
2011 NG Book Division “Complete Photography”
2012 NG Book Division "Visions of Earth."
2013 NG News “Trees Call For Help”
2013 NG Traveler “Bhutan: Travel 365”
2014 NG News “New Findings in Ubehebe Volcano in Death Valley”
2015 NG Book Division “An Uncommon History of Common Things Vol 2”
2015 NG Traveler “Time Travelling In Bhutan: The Road to Ogyen Choling”
2016 NG Book Division “Nat Geo Guide to National Parks Canada”
2017 NG Book Division “Spectacle”
2019 NG Book “The American Civil War”
World Wildlife Fund
2016 “Bhutan: The Most Important Conservation Story You’ve Never Heard”
Time Magazine
2012 Feature for “Earth Day 2012”
2015 Feature “Faith in Religious Institutions at New Low”
Samples of Work
Instagram: @peteryanphoto
Getty Images: Search phrase “Pete Ryan”
National Geographic: www.natgeoimagecollection. com __
Pete Ryan Victoria, BC
Cell: 250-507-1000
Email: geographica@icloud.com
