Ryu was born in Hahoe Folk Village(UNESCO World Heritage site, Queen Elizabeth II's visit in 1999), Republic of Korea on 1943. He graduated from Seoul National University in 1966 and contributed to constructing the multipurpose dams in Korea as a design and construction supervisor. Ryu is a professional engineer civil engineering execution and was a former adjunct professor of Kyungpook National University. He is a self-taught artist focusing on landscapes, and started photographing in 1978 with his first camera, the Canon AE-1. Ryu earned his EFIAP/d1(Excellence FIAP Diamond 1) distinction from the International Federation of Photographic Art(FIAP), his Master (MPSA) distinction from the Photographic Society of America(PSA) and his GPU VIP 4 distinction from the Global Photographic Union(GPU). He received the Best Author in color free theme at "16e Salon International d'Art Photographique de Pessac 2018" in France, the Best Author at "52nd Howrah Color Salon 2020" in India, the Best Author at "4th International Exhibition of Photography Photo Perspective 2020" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Best Author at "11th MINIATURE 2022" in Slovenia, and the Best Author at "Light Line International Salon 2022 in India.