By Jennifer Jimenez, Independent Newsmedia

Ryan C. McGinley began dabbling with various types of photography after graduating from Penn State with a degree in film and television and then joined the military as a mass communications specialist.

In 2008 he moved to Surprise and it was then he realized all the landscape opportunities that were just beyond his lens.

Mr. McGinley says National Geographic is the epitome of landscape and nature photography and on March 29, he too joined the ranks of photographers talented enough to make it on nationalgeographic.com. He was featured as Your Shot Photo of the Day for National Geographic. The photo was taken in the Bisti-De-Na-Zin Wilderness near Farmington, N.M.

He went to the Superstition Mountains first and then started going to other places like the Grand Canyon as his passion grew.

“I went to Page to photograph Lake Powell and Horseshoe Bend, but I quickly realized it was not feasible to go to all these places and stay in a hotel, so I started camping,” Mr. McGinley said.

Camping led to going to places even further into the wilderness and then his passion for backpacking began. Recently he traveled to Reflection Canyon on the border of Arizona and Utah.

“I went 50 miles down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and then it took a 20 mile hike round trip backpacking to get there,” Mr. McGinley said. “That was the most remote I have ever been and it has taken me a long time to make it out there. I always knew I wanted to go, but I knew I had to be well prepared and an experienced backpacker before I did.”

There was no trail to follow or water to drink the way. Picture Mr. McGinley carrying eight liters of water and sleeping in the remote desert.

He didn’t do this trip solo — too big of a safety hazard.

Even the shorter trips here in Arizona take a great deal of planning. He sets GPS routes and knows exactly where he is going before he begins his trek to each particular destination.

“A year and a half ago I went to New Zealand and spent nine days camping and traveling around and I’ve also been to Iceland,” Mr. McGinley said. “But next on my list is Alaska and I hope to get there within the next couple of years.”

Mr. McGinley said he is driven to continue shooting by simply wanting to explore places many people don’t get the opportunity to see and then bring back a picture in time. He wants people to enjoy the pictures for themselves. Whether it’s the beauty or the photo reminds them of something or just bringing them the place they would never get to be themselves.

Mr. McGinley has the right gear to produce images the way he wants them to look, but it takes the eye, lighting, composition and emotion to capture it all.

Mr. McGinley is long way from done. There are still a lot of places he’d like to shoot. For now, a white board lies in his house with a list of destinations he hopes to someday get the pleasure of capturing.

“I try to get an emotional picture that allows the viewer to connect to it,” he said.