Name: Ryan Loewy
Gender: Male
Age: 23
URL: http://www.ryanloewy.tumblr.com
Name: Ryan Loewy
Gender: Male
Location: Manhattan, NY
Flickr (optional): http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanloewy
other websites (optional): http://www.ryanloewy.carbonmade.com
Favourite type of photography: Portraiture
Influences: Melissa Butler, Josh Earley, Chris Buck, Dan Winters, Jeff Wall, Ryan Pfluger, Philip Lorca-Dicorcia, Gregory Crewdson, Harry Callahan, Irving Penn, among others.
Other Hobbies: Rollerblading, traveling, vinyl collecting, billiards, and spending time with my dachshund stinky peppers.
Camera: Digital: Nikon D300 or Canon 5D Mk II (depending on the situation) Film: Mamiya RZ67
Favourite lens: Anything prime or fixed aperture really. I really like the Mamiya 110mm f/2.8, and when it comes to digital, Canon’s 50mm and 85mm f/1.2’s are quite phenomenal.
How you got started in photography: It actually was somewhat of an accident. I originally wanted to get into fashion design and had applied to RISD but got rejected. So I took up shop at a local school in my hometown and decided to take up photography since I just purchased a DSLR to photograph the clothing I made. I didn’t really make much of the work I did for the first few years, and then my first relationship ended with my girlfriend at the time, I decided to take it more seriously. Over the course of that year, things transpired, I eventually realized where I was wasn’t a prime place to be, and transferred to a school in the city, where my work really started to blossom and develop into something tangible.
Is photography a hobby or a career? Without a doubt a career. I enjoy what I do, which is great, so making a career out of it seems to be the right choice. I mean, making it a career is quite difficult and I don’t think people realize how hard that actually is, but I am up to the challenge. It’s funny because, really what it comes down to, as I’m sure many people are aware, is that it isn’t so much the work you produce as it is the people that you know, so networking right now and meeting the right people is very crucial.
Favourite/best photograph you’ve taken: That’s a toughy, considering I’ve made most of my best work over the past year. I guess my favorite would be the self portrait in the bathroom from last year. I was going through a rough time and I was able to communicate that through the images I was making, and this one image seemed to resonate that sentiment the most out of the whole series. From that point, I started looking at images in a different manner, I wanted to create more than just a pretty or cool photograph, I wanted something that was personal as well as intriguing, and well, that was the start of it I believe.
How you’d like to improve your photography: I think I’ve gotten to the point where I know what I want to make and am able to put ideas that I have into an actual physical form. I’ve surrounded myself with some pretty awesome people who are able to critique my work and keep my head in the right place, so I am really grateful for that, to be able to have that direction and guidance. I think one thing I need to do is definitely get my eyes checked, since my eye sight isn’t the greatest and there will be times where the stuff I shoot will be a hair out of focus, and it’ll drive me crazy, so it’s something I need to address.
What photography means to you: I see photography as a tool, really. It is a means in which I can communicate and interact with other individuals as well as learn about them, which is why I chose to do portraiture. Photography can be fun, no doubt, but is very therapeutic and often will give me a rush while shooting, something I don’t really feel with anything else that I do, and well, that feeling is just the greatest.
