Immersing, Listening, and Really Good Vibes: Ryan Salm’s Philosophy on Adventure Photography

By Hannah Truby 

There’s no handbook for becoming an adventure photographer–but if there were, a dual education in communications and geography paired with a childhood full of travel might make a pretty solid outline–and it did for Lake Tahoe native Ryan Salm. Salm’s foundation, paired with an adventurous spirit and a knack for outdoor pursuits, paved the way for a truly epic career.

Now an adventure photographer and filmmaker, the Mountain Gazette contributor has built his career around cultural storytelling, with his projects taking him to some of the most remote corners of the globe.

Capturing rare cultural events and traditions from around the world has become a cornerstone of Salm’s work. By immersing himself in native communities, he provides intimate explorations of lesser-known—and often disappearing—cultural events, such as the Tschäggättä carnival in the Swiss Alps (featured in “Of Monsters and Men,” Salm’s story for Mountain Gazette 202).

“With everything in the world changing so fast it’s truly a gift to immerse myself in relics from the past,” he says. “There is nothing that brings me more joy than being lost in cultural experiences.”

Many of Salm’s projects blend these themes with the thrill of action sports. He spoke with me about his recent trip to Albania, where he paddleboarded down the Vjosa, known to be the last wild river in all of Europe.

Continue reading for Ryan Salm’s Q&A, in which he discusses his first career trip to the Golden Eagle Hunting Festival in Mongolia, how he balances storytelling with listening, and his “good vibes” philosophy.

Hannah: What has your journey been like and what from your education in geography and communications shaped your transition to photography and storytelling?

Ryan: Having traveled a bit with my family when I was younger, I became infatuated with foreign places—both within and outside the country. Learning about them in university opened my eyes to all the different places that exist around the world. I started to wonder what was in all these far-off places. I'm really interested in old cultural events that take place, and if there's an opportunity to mix that with sports, I like that as well. The thing I love about geography is once you learn about one place and then the place next to it, you start to see the similarities between the borders and how people are in different countries. I began to see it more like a puzzle piece.

What was your first job? How did it set you up for your career?

My first legit photography job was at a newspaper in Truckee, California—the Sierra Sun. I worked there when it was still kind of like a proper newspaper. That was my first time in a newsroom, with stories constantly being thrown at me—just sending me out all the time, like “check this out, check that out.” I also had to create my own stories. The more I could come up with, the more interesting it was, but also the more content the newspaper would get. It got me thinking, and it opened me up. I would travel to places, come back, and do slide presentations. I love doing slideshows, love storytelling.

 

 

Photos courtesy of ryansalmphotography.com

Over time, that mindset took me to foreign locations, where I started looking for stories instead of just traveling. After living in Tahoe for a while, I tried to bring in a sport as a mode of travel—whether it be a paddleboard, skis, or a bike—and find a cultural event or a big thing to go to. I started doing a lot of that in the early 2000s, and it became evident that people were really interested in hearing and learning about it.

What’s a trip you’ll never forget?

One of the earliest trips I did that really impacted me was when two buddies and I flew into Beijing, took a train to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, and then hitchhiked, rode horses, and hiked until we reached the Golden Eagle Hunting Festival in the Altai Mountains. And it was just like this really ridiculously epic journey. The end goal was to get to this festival and see these golden eagles. Just the whole journey pieced together... we’d buy local clothes and immerse ourselves in the culture. The stories from the trip were ridiculous and it was just fully, fully epic.

Photos courtesy of ryansalmphotography.com

What’s your process? How do you find these stories? 

Now, I tend to base more of my trips on pitches. I’ll scour around, study, and come up with a kind of hit list of places I want to go. Then, if something interesting comes up in one of those spots, I try to pitch it and find some unusual angle. I do a lot of stories with unique perspectives.

There’s so many stories worth covering, I’d imagine it’d be really hard to pick. I know you tend to favor those about traditions, or cultural events. Are there other things you look for when deciding on a story or topic?

That’s ultimately what I wish I could do all the time. In the beginning, that’s pretty much how I approached things—just going wherever the inspiration took me. But now, it’s getting harder to find places to publish these pieces, so you often have to cater them to a specific client. It changes things a bit, shifting from that initial awe-inspired journey to something that still holds that wonder, but is defined by a certain story angle.

 

Photo courtesy of ryansalmphotography.com

I get the feeling you’re the kind of the guy that prefers less research when prepping for a trip, so as to really get a feel for the place once you’re there–is that right? 

I do, I tend to like seeing how things unfold. It’s not always the best plan of attack, but that’s how I prefer to do things. I enjoy the feeling of wonder, and for me, if everything is planned out—knowing where I’ll stay each night and exactly what I’ll do—it doesn’t really open doors in the same way.

Your story for Mountain Gazette 202 touches on how some of Lötschental locals are wary of photographers like yourself trying to exoticize them. How do you balance your roles of adventurer, photographer, and cultural observer–especially in places where you’re an outsider?

It's true. You go to these places, and you're going to impact them in some way, and that's obviously not the goal. As you can tell from that story, I did everything I could to not reveal too much about the place. My goal in storytelling isn’t necessarily to provide details. If you come to one of my slideshows, that's different because you're there to learn. But if I'm putting a piece in a magazine, it’s not to create a top-ten tick list or anything like that.

Similarly, your journey through the Tschäggättä carnival emphasizes the importance of respectful curiosity, what does that look like to you? How do you build trust with people from other cultures?

My goal—and it's always been this way, and I do this in life—is to go to these places with a completely open mind, good intentions, and really good vibes. It often opens up and presents itself to you. There are times when that doesn’t work. I've got a handful of really difficult stories of times when it hasn't and I’ve left a place with my tail between my legs. When I go somewhere I don’t speak the language, that’s where my communication majors come in handy, because you’re trying to communicate through nonverbal cues. 

That’s my main philosophy in everything I do: to put out an inviting energy, which hopefully, in turn, helps them invite me in.

What are you currently working on? Looking forward, are there new places or projects that excite you, or specific stories you’re eager to capture?

I just finished a trip with three friends. We took inflatable paddle boards down the Vjosa River in Albania. It starts in Greece, so we paddled from the mountains there, crossed the Albanian border, and continued to the Ionian Sea. The Vjosa is currently known as the last wild river in Europe. It’s not dammed, and after a major environmental campaign, activists successfully fought off about thirty proposed dam projects. Patagonia was a big part of the original campaign, along with several organizations and NGOs, grassroots kayakers, and supporters like Leonardo DiCaprio.

The trip was pretty challenging. There was a lot of politics involved, a real yin and yang dynamic, just like with any of these expeditions. I was speaking recently with Rock Rosman, a Slovenian kayaker, and through that conversation, I realized something important: with these environmental projects, you need to keep fighting because new politicians come into power, or new projects emerge. So, while a lot of work has already been done to protect this river, our journey down it helps raise fresh awareness—kind of like passing the torch to more people.

Has there been a trip or project that shifted your perspective on cross-cultural journalism? What was the takeaway?

I traveled to Ethiopia in 2010 for a couple of months. And I left there feeling like I was the problem in the world. I wondered, what am I doing here? Am I doing this for me? Is anything I’m doing going to have a positive impact, or am I just fueling a fire? So it doesn’t always work out the way you hope.

I think the most important part is that we can all think we’re acting with good intentions, but it’s crucial to check ourselves and make sure. After that trip, I went through a huge shift. It took me a while to go back out and do this kind of work again. I started to use my head more—not going purely on passion, but also asking myself, why am I doing this? Is this a good choice? If I’m going to write a story, do I need to tell everyone the exact name of the town or city, or can I just write something compelling enough that people will want to do their own research?

All photos courtesy of www.ryansalmphotography.com