Thanks for taking time to learn about me and my work. In the context of this website, I’m a documentary photographer and ethnographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I taught myself photography while conducting research on coral reef fisheries in Sri Lanka in 2018. My photographic work is diverse in theme and subject, shifting focus with each project I undertake.

I’ve used my camera for professional work with The Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe, The Santa Fe New Mexican, editorial work with Cochiti artist Virgil Ortiz, various commercial projects, and the occasional wedding and personal portrait session (by request only). My work has been featured in multiple periodicals and exhibited in galleries, and my first solo exhibition, Bryce Risley: Focusing Beyond Balloons, is now on exhibit at The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum.

Much of my photography features the locations where I’ve undertaken research or places I’ve called home. Growing up in the cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque, I attribute much of my success as an artist to being New Mexican. My time in New Mexico has influenced the way I engage with people and place. My work is inspired and informed by tradition, industry, institutions, and relationships between individuals, families, communities, and their environments.

Never idle, I spend my time engaging with peers in the marine science community and developing projects and collaborations with artists and community members at home and away. I’m a published researcher and journalist, a lecturer on topics pertaining to fisheries, coral reefs, and photography.

Ambitious in my research and travels, I seek out cultural components in different settings which are both subtle and overt in my work. More than just landscape and lifestyle photography, my photographs are composed with the candor and humanity of my subjects. Behind each image are elements of vulnerability and culture, community, nature, passion, and fleeting serendipity.

My most recent project is focused on the Albuquerque hot air ballooning community. To learn more about this nationally recognized work, visit the blog and projects section of this site.

As I grow as a creative, I grow as an individual. As I grow as an individual, I grow as a creative.

I humbly thank you for your support and interest in my work.