About Mr. Wayrynen

Troy is best know for his award-winning community photojournalism beginning in 1987. During that time Troy has covered and documented stories connected to the community he has served ranging from the personal triumph of a breast cancer survivor, relief efforts of a local carpenter working in Albania for refugees of the Kosovo War, to women of Peru who are being empowered and taught by a local business owner how to go about owning their own farms and produce organic coffee to help other women around the world. Troy is also known for his passion for sports photography, which has led to coverage of national sports events, such as the Rose Bowl, NFC National Championships games and coverage of six Olympic games.
His curiosity for photography began at an early age when he taught himself how to develop Tri-X film, much to the chagrin of his mother, in the bathroom of his childhood home. His interest for photography as a career continued to grow and he decided to continue his photography education after being accepted into the photography program at Spokane Falls Community College, one of the leading photography and arts programs in the State of Washington. His photographic education and experiences included working with large format cameras and the use of classic lighting techniques. After his studies he returned home and began working as a photographer’s assistant for some of the leading commercial and advertising photographers in Portland, Oregon. A chance meeting with a newspaper photographer on the sidelines of a football game changed Troy’s direction from commercial photography to editorial and newspaper work. In 1987, after working on various projects, Troy started his newspaper career as a staff photographer in Lake Oswego, Oregon. After building a strong editorial portfolio Troy accepted a position as a bureau photographer for The Oregonian. His editorial career took off and blossomed. He accepted a full-time staff position for his hometown newspaper, The Columbian, in 1994. From that moment Troy’s camera continued to opened doors to literally thousands of people and their personal stories. Wanting to expand his photographic experiences at The Columbian Troy accepted a position as photography editor in 2006 where he helped provide leadership to many award winning stories. Recently, Troy won a first place in the Sports Feature category in the prestigious 2015 National Press Photographer Association’s Pictures of the Year contest.
Troy is currently a freelance photographer living in Vancouver, Washington helping his wife of 26 years raise two beautiful children.