My Alma Mater: Cameraman
Grammy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Ryan Suffern started his career documenting real life as a Daily Illini photographer. (Image courtesy of Ryan Suffern)
Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Bartlett, I had absolutely no ties to the film industry, and yet, for more than 20 years, I’ve made a living as a documentary filmmaker—working alongside some of the biggest names in the entertainment world, including Steven Spielberg, and telling true, larger-than-life stories that I feel privileged to tell on music, film, politics, war, sports and more.
But I don’t know if my filmmaking career would have happened at all if not for my time working at The Daily Illini.
It all began at the start of my sophomore year at Illinois, during the fall of 1996. On a whim, I swung by the old DI offices at First and Green—a building I always thought looked like a plastic spaceship. I was there to inquire about a job, writing for the entertainment section— reviewing new albums, movies, etc. Unfortunately, that department wasn’t hiring, but the photo department was, and I was offered a job on the spot, despite having never taken a photograph that wasn’t on a point-and-push camera.
Immediately, I was given a crash course in all things photography. I learned how to use a camera with interchangeable lenses, and how to roll and develop film. But there were definitely growing pains: I’ll never forget one of the first times I went out to take photos for the paper, and the absolute horror I felt when I discovered that there were no images on the developed negatives! From that day forward, I’ve always been grateful when any imagery, no matter the quality, appears on the film after its chemical bath.
In just three months, I went from being a complete novice to running the department as the new photo editor, overseeing a staff of photographers and participating in editorial board meetings.
My favorite thing about working at the DI was the incredible access the “power of the press” afforded our student newspaper, and I became obsessed with testing the boundaries of where we could get press credentials. Whether that was photographing the Rolling Stones kicking off their new tour at Soldier Field, finding myself on the floor of the United Center snapping pics of Michael Jordan at the pinnacle of the Bulls’ dynasty or spending a day embedded in the White House press pool during President Clinton’s visit to campus, somehow, I was there, camera in hand, covering these unbelievable events and so many more.
My DI experience not only helped me log my “10,000 hours” as a photographer, but also taught me how to manage a staff and collaborate with others. Without knowing it back then, I was training in how to tell real-life stories through a visual medium, and I was being emboldened to take big swings along the way—and I haven’t stopped swinging since.
Ryan Suffern’s films include the Grammy-winning Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story. He got his start in the movie business working as Steven Spielberg’s assistant, before founding the documentary division of The Kennedy/Marshall Company and documenting the production of four Spielberg films.
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