When photographer and adventurer Ryan Pyle was a teenager, he thought only of becoming a professional basketball player, never imagining the dynamic career of international travel that he has today. “If you take away one thing tonight, it is this,” he told Middlesex students on October 28. “You can do something if you don’t become an NBA basketball player.” Mr. Pyle addressed the School on October 28 thanks to the efforts of Trustee Chivas Lam, whose son Clarence ’10 was on hand to introduce the guest speaker.
Born and raised in Toronto, Mr. Pyle played basketball competitively throughout college, but he had to find a new identity and direction on graduating from the University of Toronto. “Because my life had always been about basketball,” he said, “I forgot to figure out what I really wanted.” In a bold move, he headed to China “to move somewhere completely different.”
Initially an outsider, Mr. Pyle learned that he loved the country, as well as traveling, exploring, and taking pictures. Basing himself in China, he became a photographer whose work appeared in prominent publications like The New York Times, Fortune, and Der Spiegel. Whether capturing migrant workers or millionaires, festivals or natural disasters, he enjoyed “a new life” as a visual storyteller.
But the global financial crisis of 2008 – often epitomized by the collapse of Lehman Brothers – signaled the end of this livelihood, as print publishers struggled to remain in business. It was “another transforming moment” for Mr. Pyle, who reflected, “I’m a storyteller. I’m going to tell bigger, broader stories through television and documentary films.”
Combining his passions for travel, exploration, and photography, he has since produced two series: “Tough Rides” on the Travel Channel and “Extreme Treks” on the Discovery Channel. Describing in detail his most recent expedition – an arduous but amazing motorcycle journey throughout Brazil – he advised, “If you put yourself out in the world, you get to meet brilliant people who you didn’t know existed.”
In retrospect, Mr. Pyle doubts that he would have been able to persuade his younger self to pursue this career rather than basketball. Now in his third “reincarnation,” as he called it, he encourages having a positive outlook when change is required in life. “Don’t fear it,” he asserted. “There are great opportunities at each turn.”