High School Filmmaker Captures the Game and the Communities Behind It
A single camera started it all. What began as filming game highlights for a few friends quickly grew into a journey that took Vista Park resident Dylan Ryan from Washington sidelines to lacrosse fields around the world.
Dylan got started with filmmaking by creating game highlights of his friends playing lacrosse. Now, his passion for filming has expanded into international projects.
Dylan, a senior at Issaquah High School, has raised the bar for filming the sport of lacrosse. He began his filmmaking career by creating game highlights to help his friends get recruited for college.
After posting his work on Instagram, Dylan gained several hundred viewers. His skill quickly garnered the interest of many clubs, schools and athletes in the area, leading him to get hired by the Washington Lacrosse Organization (Walax). His content consists of energetic Instagram Reels with color-graded game highlights, helping individual athletes and entire programs get recognized.
Recently, Dylan joined the Mercer Island Lacrosse Club in supporting Lacrosse the Nations (LTN), a global nonprofit that strives to improve children’s health and education through the game. LTN opened the door for him to film in Columbia, marking his first international project.
While filming in Columbia, the children were drawn to Dylan and his camera.
While the kids were immersed in learning lacrosse from the players, Dylan said they were also drawn to his filming. He describes this as the “most touching moment” from his travels. The children were eager to hold the camera and have him capture photos and videos of them, he added.
“I had to constantly repeat ‘cuidadoso,’ which means careful in Spanish,” Dylan said. “Of course I was worried about handing over an expensive camera rig, but it was all worth it to see how happy these kids were.”
While Columbia was an exciting experience for Dylan, it also came with its own challenges. Instead of creating his usual short-form reels, he was tasked with producing a 23-minute video focused on LTN’s mission and Colombian culture—not just game highlights.
Each day involved four to five hours of shooting, and the final edit took about 50 hours to complete. Dylan said the process taught him much about filming, organization and workflow.
“All and all, it was the hardest project I worked on, but it’s definitely my favorite,” he reflected.
After gaining so much experience, Dylan is already thinking about the future. He plans to continue filming in college, and he is searching for schools with thriving sports programs and internship options that can help him grow even more.
Dylan leaves young creators with this guidance: “My best advice is to just pick up a camera and use it. Filming can really open up your opportunities to being creative.”
Through his filmmaking, Dylan demonstrates how a passion for creativity can expand into projects that help others and connect people around the world. To explore Dylan’s work, follow him on Instagram @dylr.films.
Tvisha Shah is a Magnolia Park resident and member of the Highlands Youth (HY) Advisory Board.
As published in the winter 2026 issue of Connections >>
