New photographer starts at Havre Daily

A week after he graduated from college, Ryan Welch arrived in from Havre from Springfield, Missouri, to begin work as a photographer with the Havre Daily News.

Welch, 23, graduated from Missouri State University in December with a Bachelor of Science in journalism and minor in political science.

Welch was a photographer and later photo editor for The Standard, Missouri State's campus newspaper. He also worked in the university's photo department and had an internship at KSMU, Springfield's local National Public Radio affiliate, where his duties included taking photos for the station's website.

Havre's remote location and small population definitely represents a change coming from Springfield, a large city, Welch said.

"It's a little more relaxed, slower-paced, coming from Springfield, which is like 150,000 people," he said. "That is definitetly nice."

Havre Daily News Managing Editor Tim Leeds said the newspaper is looking forward to publishing Welch's work.

"We are excited to let him use his skills to share photos of local people and events with our readers," Leeds said. "He also has some ideas on how we can do a bit more with social media, and I am interested in working on his suggestions."

Welch said that, during his journey, he was surprised by the open prairies and mountainous landscapes.

"It was just vast," he said.

"You are coming over a hill and then all of a sudden there is just mountains on one side ... and then the other side is just complete rolling hills with no trees."

Welch said he was drawn to photography during his senior year of high school while on a trip in Moab, Utah, with his father, an amateur photographer.

One night, while on the trip, his father took a picture of the landscape and the night sky. The image with the starlit sky and rocky landscape, Welch said, was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"And I said, 'I want to do that,'" he said.

Welch said, he took up photography as a hobby, and photojournalism wasn't his first career choice.

He said biology was his first major, something he was drawn to by his inquisitive nature.

He later switched his major back and forth between biology and political science and then anthropology.

Welch said he finally decided on photojournalism because it allows him to get to know people and satisfy his sense of curiosity.

"It's not a science, but you can pretty much do whatever you want with it," he said.