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Ryan Aw

@ryanaw.photos
4.8K followers 843 following 2.1K posts

Environmentalist, Adventurer, Cat parent, Outdoor Photographer 🔗 www.ryanaw.photos/links Conservation Through Composition

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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 24/09/2026
Masherbrum - 7821m/25,659ft Since 1856, only 4 expeditions of 15 climbers have summited. Its last ascent was over 40 yrs ago As we hiked to K2 basecamp, we saw countless seracs and avalanches collapse #pakistan #photography #landscape #nature #mountains #karakoram #hiking
A black and white photograph of Masherbrum
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 24/09/2026
Oh I bet!!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 23/09/2026
Haha I know The Hu!! They’re really awesome I love their music. I’ve not been able to catch them live though, that’s so cool!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 22/09/2026
Sometimes, I do stuff other than run to remote corners of Earth! What a treat to get to see Gorillaz for a third time #musicfestival #shakyknees2026 #gorillaz #festival
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 17/09/2026
Luckily it wasn’t too bad for me! Just very heavy breathing and a slight headache. It was bad enough for some others that they were unable to cross the pass and had to turn back!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 15/09/2026
Haha I barely made it myself! It was a tough trip 😅 It was really spectacular. Nothing quite like it!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 13/09/2026
Ahh thank you so much! It was an amazing trip!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 13/09/2026
At this time of year. And every other time as well 🤣 Just a poorly worded caption.
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 11/09/2026
I spent the summer hiking over 200km across Northern Pakistan for the sole purpose of photographing one mountain - K2 I made a video of the whole thing and it’s live on YouTube rn!!! It would make my year if you went and watched it 🫶 #pakistan #travel #photography #k2 youtu.be/4r9sq6l-Fcs
youtu.be
Chasing Giants in Pakistan | K2 Base Camp + Gondogoro La Trek
YouTube video by Ryan
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 11/09/2026
You ever seen 3+ glaciers in one image? You have now!! Left: Vigne glacier Middle: Baltoro glacier Right: Godwin-Austen glacier Oh yea, that’s K2 and Broad Peak over there on the right (two of the tallest mountains on Earth) #pakistan #concordia #photography #glacier #karakoram #mountains
An aerial panorama from Concordia - the confluence of three glaciers in the Karakoram
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 10/09/2026
New video out this Friday!! I convinced my friend Evan to join me on a 30 day expedition where we climbed, hiked, and drove over 2500km across Pakistan in search of the tallest mountains on Earth #pakistan #k2 #mountaineering #travel #photography #karakoram youtube.com/@ryanaw.photos
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 03/09/2026
Thank you!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 01/09/2026
Ahh thank you so much Nicole! Really appreciate it 🙌
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 01/09/2026
Oooh that’s really smart! I’ve seen a friend use one that attached to the hot shoe haha
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 30/08/2026
What’s your most unexpectedly useful photography tool? For me it’s a video game controller I’ve got it set up so I can rate and tag images in PhotoMechanic at light speed while being lazy on the couch 🤣 #photography #cat #steam #valve
A photo of my cat posing with the Steam Controller
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 29/08/2026
Crazy to think that over 1000 people have watched a video of me rambling while filming cats in Mongolia! Thanks for watching, and if you haven’t, you should! youtu.be/m5qyjzixE0k #youtube #mongolia #pallascat #snowleopard #photography #wildlifephotography
A screenshot of my YouTube analytics page showing a milestone one of my videos just hit - crossing 1k views
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 29/08/2026
They definitely don’t make taking action easy! And that’s a fair point haha.
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 29/08/2026
Thank you for the kind words Ali! It was such a wild time!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 28/08/2026
It’s a shame! I’ve tried petitioning my city to use light pollution friendly lights and we’ve had some success in the local area. More work to do though!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 28/08/2026
That’s stunning!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 28/08/2026
I spent my summer driving 2,000km into the Central Karakoram and trekking over 200km to look at a mountain and take two photographs. I’d really appreciate it if you read my latest newsletter update! (Also pls subscribe 🤣) rawtalk.ryanaw.photos/p/in-search-... #pakistan #photography #travel
rawtalk.ryanaw.photos
In Search of Giants
Chasing heights at the top of the world
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 26/08/2026
Ouch! I feel that pain. On the rare days I am home, the city lights of Atlanta drown out everything in the night sky 😅
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 24/08/2026
Thanks Ken! We were very lucky with several cloud free days/nights
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 24/08/2026
Thank you so much!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 23/08/2026
Chogori // K2 // The Savage Mountain 8611m / 28,251m At this time of the year, the North Star lines up near-perfectly with the tip of Earth’s 2nd tallest mountain With the altitude and remoteness, this was one of the darkest skies I’ve ever experienced #pakistan #astro #photography #k2 #mountain
A star trail composite image of the Earth rotating through the universe, aligned almost perfectly with the tip of K2, the second tallest mountain on Earth
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 22/08/2026
Other notable mountains in the image, as well as the glaciers and my draft for this image
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 22/08/2026
Just 14 mountains on Earth rest above #8,000m, and 4 of them are in this image #Concordia, at the confluence of 3 glaciers, is the “city centre” for many notable peaks in the #Karakoram - #K2, #Broad Peak, #Gasherbrum I & II being the more notable ones Possibly my craziest work to date
A panorama of the Milky Way, arcing from K2 to Mitre Peak in the Karakoram. Three glaciers and four 8,000m peaks can be seen from this single image.
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 21/08/2026
It was such an unbelievable moment!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 20/08/2026
Thank you so much! It was a fun image to make
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 20/08/2026
It’s a crazy thing to see the mountains half my climbing gear was named after Left to right -Trango II (6237m)  -Trango Tower (6239m)  -Great Trango Tower (6286m)  -Trango Pulpit (6050m)  -Trango Castle (5753m) #trango #trangotowers #climbing #photography #pakistan #karakoram #trekking #travel
A black and white photo of the infamous Trango Towers complex in the Karakoram mountain range, Pakistan

From left to right:

-Trango II (6237m/20,462ft) 
-Trango Tower/Nameless Tower (6239m/20,469ft) 
-Great Trango Tower (6286m/20,623ft) 
-Trango Pulpit (6050m/19,849ft) 
-Trango Castle (5753m/18,874ft) 
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 16/08/2026
Nice!! We stayed at the summit for quite long as we were taking photos haha
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 15/08/2026
Pakistan is a lot of things, and undeniably beautiful is one of them #pakistan #photography #cherryblossom #sakura #mountains #landscapephotography #nature
A photo of a mountain in Pakistan with cherry blossom flowers still in bloom in the foreground
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 15/08/2026
4:30am, 5600m Top of the Gondogoro La pass. Face to face with four of the tallest mountains on Earth. Directly in front, K2. On the far right of the image, Broad Peak. Further right off screen, G1 and G2 One of the toughest, sketchiest, & most exciting trips of my life #pakistan #k2 #photography
A photo of me standing atop the Gondogoro La pass at about 5600m / 18,300ft. Directly in front is K2, or Chogori, 2nd tallest mountain in the world and notoriously the most difficult to climb. To the right of the image is Broad Peak, another 8000m tall mountain. This image was captured about 10 days before the recent avalanche that killed 10 climbers including Nims, a well known mountaineer
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 11/08/2026
In less than 24hrs, our resident star & satellite will look like this Having to settle for cloudy skies, thunderstorms, and the wrong continent this year, but good luck and clear skies to everyone chasing totality! Image is mine from 2024 #eclipse #totality #astrophotography
A photograph of the 2024 solar eclipse featuring the sun’s prominences and corona
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 09/08/2026
Finally editing images from the trek and found one of us resting below Broad Peak basecamp while on the Godwin-Austen #glacier, otw to K2 basecamp On the right, #BroadPeak (8051m) The middle, Chogori/ #k2 (8611m) The left, Pastore Peak (6142m) About 2 weeks before the recent Broad Peak #avalanche
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 30/07/2026
Haha the Baltoro is a very rocky glacier so it’s actually got plenty of grip, especially in the summer! This section of it definitely didn’t require any crampons or ropes - it honestly would have made it more dangerous to traverse 😅
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 30/07/2026
Things you get used to pretty quickly after spending a month living on one of Asia’s largest glaciers: jumping over crevasses #mountaineering #trekking #pakistan #baltoro #glacier #crevasses
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 29/07/2026
It's way overdue, but my latest newsletter about my #spring trip to #Japan is finally live! It's my first since moving away from #Substack, which I abandoned due to moral conflicts I'd really appreciate it if you checked out the new publication! (Which I think is much nicer than Substack anyways)
rawtalk.ryanaw.photos
Trip Log: Japan | RAWTalk Ryan Aw - Environmentalist, Adventurer, Photographer
Chasing Spring in Japan - RAWTalk is a newsletter run by Ryan Aw, Atlanta-based outdoor photographer with a passion for the environment and conservation. For more of his work, visit his website at www...
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 29/07/2026
I have officially become the cool uncle, also the worst nightmare of all the parents in my family as I inspire their kids to do insane stuff like meet strangers off the internet to go climb mountains in a foreign country 🤣 #travel #photography #family
A screenshot of a conversation between a relative and me. It reads “[name] wants to know where you are. She said she wants to be like you when she grows up lol. I’ve been showing her your pictures”
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 28/07/2026
Definitely one of the sketchier roads I’ve been on! Several times I poked my head out the window to see that the tyre was literally inches away from the edge of the “road” hahaha
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 28/07/2026
If my roadtrip doesn’t come in the form of a 70 year old Land Cruiser and certain death with one wrong turn of a wheel, I don’t want it 🤣 #pakistan #karakoram #offroading #roadtrip
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 27/07/2026
It was definitely a very special moment. And we definitely needed the rest day!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 27/07/2026
My #K2 #trek experience was full of insanity, but a favourite moment was our rest day where we all sat outside enjoying the weather, reading our various books in front of 6000m+ monsters Books read: 3 Body Problem The Dark Forest Death’s End Neuromancer Project Hail Mary Currently: Annihilation
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 27/07/2026
It’s incredible the connections you can make from it!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 23/07/2026
They said to never meet strangers on the internet, but when Evan said he likes to get high…I found a few solutions at 5600m/18372ft 5th trip so far with people I’ve interacted with only online, and I’m so grateful for the incredible company each time Who/where next??? #pakistan #k2 #mountains
A photo of me and my friend Evan atop the Gondogoro La pass at 5625m. A photo of me and my buddy Evan at K2 basecamp
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 23/07/2026
One of the best campsites I’ve had for sure!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 21/07/2026
Sleeping on Asia’s second largest glacier in front of the world’s second tallest mountain. Not a bad campsite! #pakistan #k2 #camping
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 21/07/2026
Thank you! Sky did all the hard work!
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 06/07/2026
Our pilot was definitely making some very sharp turns I never knew a commercial liner could make to avoid those mountains on the descent🤣 The Altai range over Mongolia is stunning, no slouch either! We climbed a few of those earlier in Jan haha
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Ryan Aw @ryanaw.photos · 06/07/2026
Jaw was definitely firmly on the floor for the entire flight hahaha Still haven’t done that Mont Blanc flight yet, bet it’s epic too!
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