In 1983, Dryden left the Union-Tribune and moved to Los Angeles to work as a staff photographer for The Los Angeles Times, then one of the leading daily newspapers in the United States. After three years with the Times, he went to Mexico City for the Times in August 1986 to take photographs accompanying a story about ongoing relief efforts for the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. Following that assignment, he returned to Los Angeles and by year-end resigned his staff position in order to relocate to Mexico City.