Chasing Light. Finding Perspective.
Landscape photography inspired by mountains, movement, and the quiet moments that shape how we see the world.
Attention is a slow art. The mountains have been teaching me how to practice it.
A student, a runner, and a photographer who keeps returning to the mountains to see clearly.
My name is Rylan Starnes. I study kinesiology at a university in Southern California and I live in Colorado when I am not in class. I run cross country and track, I hike as often as the schedule allows, and I make photographs of the places I move through.
Photography, at this point in my life, is where most of my attention gathers. It is the meeting point of everything else. The long runs at altitude, the coastal miles, the reading in theology and philosophy that sits open on my desk between drills and drafts. I photograph because it is the way I have learned to look longer at what is already in front of me.
Healthcare is where I am headed. Somewhere in the years ahead I hope to work as a physical therapist and rehabilitation scientist, helping people rebuild after injury and stay in motion for the rest of their lives. That direction is quiet in the background of every day. For now, this page is about the looking.
- Kinesiology Student
- Mountain Runner
- Landscape Photographer
- Hiker
- Seeker of Meaning
- Future Physical Therapist
Three collections. One way of seeing.
Landscape work from Colorado's high country and California's coast, gathered into three ongoing bodies of work.
Field Guide
Colorado High Country
9,000–14,000 FT- 0Photographs
- 0States Explored
- ∞Ongoing
Writing from the trail, the altitude, and the quiet after.
Short essays on photography, running in the mountains, and the parts of being outside that ask something of us.
Essay 01 · 2025
Patience and the Frame
Landscape photography is not the pursuit of a beautiful place. It is the practice of waiting until a place is willing to be seen.
Read essay
Essay 02 · 2025
Running, and the Clarity of a Long Trail
Something about the rhythm of running through mountains empties the mind of everything that was not essential to it in the first place.
Read essayEssay 03 · 2025
Stillness, and What It Asks of Us
The wilderness does not require us to be anything in particular. It only asks that we stop performing long enough to notice what is actually there.
Read essayFrames from the field.
A rolling reel of the work — click any frame to open it full-size.
Contact
Let's talk about light, work, or a place worth photographing.
Prints, commissions, editorial work, or just a note about a trail you love. Anything thoughtful is welcome.