Chef-turned-photographer finds clearer picture of mental health
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Ryan Allen lives in the moment these days.
“Elizabeth Street, kind of my favorite street in the city,” he says, strolling in Charlotte with camera in hand. “I kind of fell into street photography, because it’s a way that gets me out of my apartment.”
In recent years, the former chef-turned-photographer says he stopped wondering what’s around the corner. In the process, he faced his struggles with mental health head-on.
“We often think we should be somewhere else, versus where we’re at,” Allen told Queen City News, taking random photographs as he often does.
“You don’t see someone carrying a mannequin head every day. Well, I guess you do here,” he said, with his head on a swivel in search of photo opportunities.
“CBD joints! Looks like somebody had a good time,” Allen exclaimed, clicking along the way. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.”
When Covid forced restaurants to shut down in 2020, Ryan went from chef to shutterbug. The emotional release that comes with pointing and clicking helped Ryan reflect. He was in a stressful career, and his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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Ryan tells us he was NOT the picture of mental health.
“I was like, ‘The pandemic has been hard on me, laying people off has been hard on me.’ And in my mind, I was going in and out of suicidal tendencies,” he revealed. “I think a lot of people have those thoughts, some days you just feel like it could be easier not to keep going.”
Learning to play with his depth of field eventually led to deeper thoughts about his view of life.
“If you’re not present, if you’re thinking about a good situation or a bad situation, you’ll miss the situation that’s right in front of you,” says Allen.
He still works in the food industry, but lately, his focus has been on photography. Allen’s portfolio includes a series called “American Gastronomy,” which shines a light on the cultural impact of food; his way of merging two passions.
“I can take my time and show why the industry I love is so important,” he said.
Meanwhile, street photography helps him connect with the community. Sometimes, he’s reminded of his life before the lens.
Allen still wants a place in the culinary world. His dream is to build a creative marketplace that includes his two loves—food and photography.
In Elizabeth, he bumped into the Schoolmeesters, who fondly remember him as a chef.
“You look great! You look a lot less stressed!” Holly Schoolmeester told Allen.
“Yeah, a lot has shifted,” he replied.
“So it’s good to see him now calm and happy and secure in his own skin,” says Schoolmeester. “I’m not surprised to see him as a photographer because I feel like he was always so creative and that’s why we liked him as a chef.”
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“In the moment! Like, I’ve been talking all day about the flow of life,” Allen stressed to the couple.
Once he went with the flow, he unlocked a conversation that once made him uncomfortable.
“Mental health should be everyday health, you know. It shouldn’t be a thing that we’re afraid of,” Allen said.
With a camera in his hands, he believes he’s right where he needs to be.
“We’re really good at looking at everything we’re not doing in life. And we’re not good at stopping and zooming in on what we’ve achieved,” he says.
“[The camera is] like the viewfinder is a teleporter for you to smile. Like happiness comes right through it!” said Allen.
That’s part of the reason why street photography is such a passion.
“Every day’s a leg day when you’re a photographer,” he says.
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