USA Today

Meg Ryan, the actress and intrepid photographer, who has been shooting her family and friends for years, just had her very first photo essay published in the April issue of Glamour magazine. And now she’s ready to tackle bigger ideas. “I’m going to take pictures of paparazzi taking pictures of me,” Ryan said. “Then you’ll get pictures of these guys in their shorts standing behind a column. It would be hilarious.” For now, Ryan focused on snapping women whom she considers her heroes because, as she told Glamour, they are “of service to their generation”: Queen Noor of Jordan, former Texas governor Ann Richards, CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour and human rights activist Ngawang Sangdrol. “It was my first assignment, and what was outrageous about the experience was that people were actually cooperating with me,” said Ryan, wearing a “year-old” Prada dress at a recent party feting her debut as a magazine writer and photographer. “Normally, my pictures are of people who don’t want their pictures taken.”

Like her 12-year-old son, Jack Henry, for example?

“Yeah!” Ryan said. “Or like people on the street. I usually get no cooperation.” Her initial list of heroic ladies was long and included Jane Fonda and Eunice Shriver before it was whittled down to be more manageable. The magazine editors, “thank God, were editing for me. The list of amazing women went on and on and on.” Ryan’s favourite shot is of Queen Noor standing on a San Francisco street. “I’m really proud of that,” she said. “We started out in a hotel room. It was a last-minute thought to take her outside. I love that picture so much because the girl can’t help it. She’s so regal.”