We first talk about the obvious: Berlin, our beautiful capital and home of PICKMOTION. His impressions and why the city surprises him so much. “It's really cool here. Completely different to what I imagined - I didn't expect it to be so modern. There is a lot of modern architecture, but I was expecting older buildings. Before I came, I saw a lot of pictures of different German cities and they all looked rather old and somehow dark, or at least with dark architecture. That's what I expected here, but it's not like that. Everything is very colorful!”
Ryan works full-time at a school in Rome. Nevertheless, he finds time every other day to just walk around the city, enjoy the atmosphere and take photos. Strolling carefree through the streets - that's what he does in every city he visits. Street art, doors, architecture, cars, cafes - these are the recurring motifs of his feed @neevenr . But above all, he likes architecture. "I don't know what it is exactly, but I love architecture. Sometimes I wish I had studied architecture. Architecture and photography." His favorite architect was Zaha Hadid. He admires her kinetic-modern approach and how she was able to weave it into the old, historic Italian style.
He also recently started doing street photography. "I've only just started because I've almost been a little scared to photograph people. I feel like photographing people on the street is scary because you never know how they're going to react. I try to photograph them in motion so often they don't even notice I'm taking a photo." One of these images was even purchased by vsco for one of their newer pre-sets. "I was really happy about that. This is the only app I use for posting to Instagram. So much easier and faster than Lightroom. And it keeps everything consistent."
His two great passions - photography and travel - certainly seem to be linked. In fact, a trip abroad was the starting point for him to get into photography. "I started a men's clothing magazine with a few friends. My first big thing for this magazine was to go on a press trip to the Dominican Republic. I was supposed to take photos - and I didn't even have a camera! So... I bought one and took photos the whole trip. It was the best (free) trip of my life!" While it was mainly fashion photography back then, it is now undoubtedly travel photography that inspires him so much. "I just want to travel everywhere, see everything and photograph everything," he says. His favorite photo is also one he took on a trip to Lake Braies last autumn.
Getting into photography also changed the way he travels today. "Before I started taking photos, I would never just walk around. I would just go straight to where I wanted to go. But now I'm happy to take a detour. Just like today - I knew where I wanted to go, but I didn't take the direct route to get there. As soon as you find new ways, you see things you would never have seen otherwise. Taking the subway or bus is the easy way, but you miss so much - without even realizing what you're missing."
Since moving to Europe, he has already seen quite a bit of our small continent. Sometimes, he says, it's hard to decide whether to travel to more countries or explore Italy first. However, one of his projects, @doorsofitaly , is a good reason for him to see even more of his current adopted home. "My goal is to create a coffee table book of doors of Italy, so I'm trying to see the different parts of Italy. I'm close to having seen almost all of the regions of Italy, and I think I need to have been to all of them at least once for me to call it a collection of Italian doors. I have so many pictures of Rome, Florence and Milan, but I want to depict the whole country. I want to do the country justice. That's why I keep traveling."
When he's not busy travelling or working, he likes to sit in cafes and people watch. Ryan is a huge coffee lover. Whether it's espresso, with milk or black, there is no coffee he wouldn't try and that he doesn't love. So we were hardly surprised when we heard about another goal of his. "I think one goal in my life is to have a cafe. To own it and to be able to design it to my own taste. I would keep it completely black and white. Very modern. I don't know where the idea came from, but I immediately started sketching ideas and concepts. I think it would look really cool."
Browsing through his feed, it is noticeable that he sometimes looks almost monochromatic - with a changing color palette as he travels to a new place. "It's strange, I feel like Rome has its own color palette. If you go to Florence you immediately see completely different colors. Each city has its own. Rome is characterized by orange and reddish tones, Florence is very yellow. I don't know why, but I look at all the architecture and see these colors. It's really fascinating. His favorite city in Italy is Milan. We ask him what color characterizes it. "Gray. Milan is a modern city with modern architecture." The one place he goes back to every time he visits? Bar Luce, designed by cult director Wes Anderson.
Ryan grew up in Boston and studied International Business and Marketing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since August 2017 he has lived in Rome, the city of gods, history and architectural beauty. Will he ever return to the States? Maybe one day. But why should he stress about the future? "I'm spontaneous and can't plan long-term. I do a lot of things last minute, but usually everything works out the way I imagine."
Some of his favorite Instagrammers are @salvalopez (“lots of amazing architecture”), @brahmino (“such good photography”) and @tedgushue with all his great travel and car shots. Ryan also likes the account @type7 “Everything I love in one feed: architecture, Porsches, and cool art installations.”
His advice for other photographers? “I hate to say it, but stay off the beaten track, stay away from the touristy places and just explore everything yourself. That's how you find the really unique things.”
