Meet Rylee Shae | Photographer & Creator of Rustic Outsiders

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rylee Shae and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rylee, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Taking risks is how you grow as a person and a photographer. You constantly have get out of your comfort zone. For example, I’ve always had issues with taking photos of other people. It’s always hard for me to find poses that make my clients feel comfortable as well as myself. Being able to force yourself out of your comfort zone, allows you to understand what your capable of.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One thing that tends to set me apart from other people is how I started my photography career. I got into photography when I was in high school. I transferred to a new school in the middle of my high school career in 2014. For the next two years that photography room became my life. I would spend a good portion of my lunches and my free time in there. In this class, I was able to learn how to take photos with the film camera, develop the film and also print my own photography through a projector. This gave me more of a appreciation for the art.

Film photography isn’t easy. If you mess up on one thing, you have to start all over. For example, when it comes to getting your film developed, you have to roll your film on roller. In high school my photography teacher had these two black boxes. The black box had a top where you were able to put stuff into it and only had two hand holes on each side of the box. You cannot see what you were doing. In a way you can had to act like you were blind you had to fill around the canister to make sure that the film was even with the roller. You had to be very careful that you did not get any light leaks from opening up the film to quickly. I remember that I would always have issues trying to get the film on the roller.

When it comes to overcoming challenges with the photography, it’s all about practice. I was able to use YouTube and TikTok to help me learn more about the art. One of the biggest influences on my photography would have to be Peter McKinnon. I strive to be as good of a photographer as he is one day. I have been able to learn more about photography through his videos and I would love to thank him one day. I’ve been doing photography for 10 years, and I still have so much more to learn.

One lesson that I have had to learn, is that not everyone is going to like my work. I have been criticized for how I edit, how I do my pricing and how I run my own business. As long as I am proud of my own work, that is all that matters.

One thing I want the world to know about me is that I love people. I love being able to capture the emotion every single moment when I am photographing. Being able to put a smile on someone’s face, makes my whole day.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh! I love this!
Day One: Rest day. I think This day should be a day your should relax. Have a lazy morning. I would consider Colorado to be a bipolar state with weather. You could get all four seasons in one day. But if the weather is nice, I would probably go and take them to Golden, where we would spend the day going tubing down the river. Golden has some very cute breweries all over the place, so we would be able to pick up the least one of them and explore.
Day Two: I love going up to red rocks so I would probably pick this day to wake up early and watch the sunrise at red rocks. You can see downtown Denver and people watch. For breakfast we would go to the little small town of Morrison to The Cow An Eatery. This place has a great selection of breakfast foods. After breakfast, we will probably go back to the house or wherever they’re staying to take a nap. After the nap, we would probably go to Lafayette to go to stem ciders. stem ciders is probably one of my favorite places ever. It has a beautiful view of the mountains and the drinks and the food are amazing.
Day Three: we will probably have another lazy morning. I always like to have a lazy morning and go get coffee from Dutch Bros. After we go get coffee, I think it would be fun to go up to Johnstown and go to Johnson’s corner to go get cinnamon rolls for brunch. The cinnamon rolls are the size of my head. This night I would probably give them the choice to pick a location to go get something to eat. Denver and Baum both have amazing locations all over the place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First, thank you so much for having me and second, I love this idea. It gives other people a way of sharing the love with others. One person I would love to shout out is Emily Elizabeth photography. She was my very first mentor when it comes to photography. She was able to show me the ropes on photographing my very first wedding. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be as comfortable with photographing large groups and taking charge in a stressful environment.

I also wanted to shout out my Adventure Club, Rustic Outsiders. I started rustic outsiders back in 2020 during pandemic. Four years later, we have been able to create a community of amazing artistic people. The two people that have been able to help me create this wonderful environment is Noah and Tasha. They saw the potential in the group and ran with it. I am so grateful to have these two wonderful human beings by my side to allow us to learn from one another.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryleeshaephotography?igsh=MThuNHY5d2RhbXAyOA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/BcoR9uViPcxi77QZ/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mtryleeshae?si=q5AtrWweXQFUZrUl

Other: Rustic Outsiders Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/6PcQcieXjmoSKERE/?mibextid=LQQJ4d