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NYC’s latest photographer du jour? None other than a 15-year-old kid named Ryan Parrilla.
His gallery of choice? Millennial-friendly Instagram, of course!
Ever since joining the social media site one year ago, Parrilla — who posts as @novess — has built up a loyal following for his urban landscapes and haunting portraits, amassing nearly 40,000 followers.
Not bad for a boy who still has an 11:30 p.m. curfew.
“I’m very surprised,” Parrilla says of his success. “You have no idea. It’s amazing.”
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Parrilla, who lives on the Upper East Side with his mother, a part-time makeup artist, and father, the super of the family’s building, picked up his first camera at 7 years old.
Only recently, though, has the rising sophomore at Vanguard High School realized he could turn his hobby into a career.
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“My ultimate goal is just to be a successful photographer,” says Parrilla, who sells his $60 prints at novessphoto.com, and is clearly savvy about where social media fame can take a young’un.
“I’d like to work with Nike and Canon,” he says, adding, “It’d be cool if Canon could send me cameras and I could test them out and I could give them feedback and whatnot.”
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Right now, Parrilla shoots with a Canon 6D with a Canon 24mm II lens, and edits his pics with Adobe Lightroom.
The majority of his images are NYC-centric.
“It’s where I’m from. I love the city. It’s the combination of all the different people, the arts, culture…,” he explains.
While Parrilla is a Manhattan boy at heart, he says he would love to photograph Japan, Canada or Argentina.
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But first, he needs parental approval before getting on a plane.
“In the past, I’ve proven that I’m responsible and getting more responsible very day,” he says.
“They trust me, but they definitely don’t like me out too late.”