2024 Oak Hills High School Graduate, Rylee Dissinger is entering into her freshman year of college at Ohio University. Starting her photography journey at the beginning of her junior year, she has quickly climbed the ranks to be well known in the community. As of now, she’s currently one of two photographers for OU’s D1 hockey team. She also does side jobs for other sports, brides, and high schoolers.
Dissinger explains, “Currently, I’m the head photographer for the D1 hockey team.” She says that this is a huge honor to her considering OU doesn’t enlist freshmen to be photographers. Dissinger didn’t hesitate to accept the offer that was being presented to her and decided to join with only one other upperclassman as her partner. This is a dream come true for her considering that she loves to photograph “sports. Specifically football, but I love to photograph any of them.” Being hired like this is an extreme accomplishment in the photography field but, Dissinger has more to show. “I was able to intern with NKU,” she goes on to explain that she’s been a semi-finalist in a photo competition, and honorable mention in scholastic, and has had the privilege of having a piece of her work hung up in the US Capital.
When Dissinger first started her photography career, she describes her work as “awful. It was so bad. I would point, shoot, and just yolo it.” She describes that she was nowhere near good starting out. It took dedication and constant practice to get to the level she’s at today. However, she stays humble with her journey by saying, “I’m still learning to this day. I think I just started getting good around February of last year.” Going back in time to when she first started, Dissinger was looking for a different hobby to replace basketball with. Turning away from the sport, Dissinger took a chance on photography. Ever since then, she has never looked back.
An important aspect of Dissinger’s life that is the main drive towards photography is her anxiety. “It’s the worst thing ever. People who don’t have severe anxiety just don’t understand.” She goes on to explain that she’s felt judged in the past for shutting down in public because of panic attacks. She’s lost multiple friendships, sports, and life experiences because of her anxiety. Dissinger says that her “photography is an outlet for my anxiety.” The feelings and emotions anxiety causes her get released through her creativity and freedom as a photographer. Her anxiety has slowly but surely gotten better going into college. Dissinger even expresses that she “love[s] it! It’s amazing and the nature surrounding the place makes you feel like you’re not even in Ohio.”
Dissinger’s biggest advice for those struggling with anxiety is to “find a good support group. You cannot go through it alone,” she continues by saying, “If I didn’t reach out and get the people I have today, I probably wouldn’t be here.” Dissinger emphasizes that her family is so supportive and there for her every step of the way. Chase Dissinger, Rylee’s younger brother, describes Rylee as a hard worker. “She works hard for everything. She wants to do so much and does anything she can to earn extra money.” He goes on to say that she has inspired him to work hard in school and follow in her footsteps academic wise. Dissinger also has advice for aspiring photographers and encourages them to “photograph everything. Bring a camera with you all the time and just take pictures.” She also hopes for anyone to reach out to her for questions or help on their photography journey.
