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Today I'm joined by Pascal, founder of Pascal's Printing in Los Angeles, a photographer, printer, snowboarder, and one of the people helping keep photographic culture alive in a very real and tangible way.
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We live in a time when millions of images are made every day, but most of them never leave our phones, hard drives, or social media field.
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They exist as digital files, viewed for a moment and then forgotten.
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Pascal has built his career around the idea that photographs deserve more than that.
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He believes images live in a physical world, that they should be printed, held in your hands, hung on walls, shared with others, and experienced as objects that carry meaning and presence.
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But what makes Pascal's contribution to photography so special goes beyond the prints themselves.
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Over the years, he's created a space where photographers and creatives can come together to share their work, exhibit their images, exchange ideas, and inspire one another.
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Whether you're just beginning your photographic journey or you've been making pictures for decades, Pascal has cultivated a community where artists can connect through a shared love of media.
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In this conversation, we talk about why printing still matters.
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What is lost when photographs exist only as pixels on a screen?
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The importance of creating physical spaces for artists to gather, and how community can play an essential role in helping photographers grow and find their voice.
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Please enjoy my conversation with Pascal.
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Pascal.
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Hi.
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Hi, how's it going, man?
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Okay.
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Thank you for your time.
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I really appreciate it.
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Thanks for having me, man.
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Yeah.
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So we are here in your print shop, and I wanted to start with I heard a story, it may or may not be true, but you are an avid snowboarder, and you had a sprinter van that you sold in order to buy your first printer.
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Not a sprinter van.
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Those are very expensive.
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Um I had a 16-foot trailer.
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Oh, okay.
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So yeah, I was pulling it behind my Tacoma.
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And um yeah, I did that because I was going to Mammoth all the time.
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And um, you know, I grew up mostly in Colorado.
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I was born in Texas, lived there until I was about 13, and then parents divorced, and then I went off to Colorado, ended up, and then my mom came out, ended up living with my mom, and um just fell in love with snowboarding in the 90s, man.
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So that's all we wanted to do in high school was go snowboarding, and I took some photos of snowboarding, kind of probably early photos with snowboarding stuff.
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And um, yeah, and then you know, I just kept snowboarding for a while, and then uh yeah, but back to the trailer, yeah.
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So I got a trailer um because mammoth is very expensive, the lodging, and uh, and I have a dog.
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So it was made perfect sense to be able to just pick that thing up in Bishop, pull it into uh Mammoth, the RV lot there at the bottom of the town, and uh just post up for a storm, and it was like I think it was 45 bucks a night.
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So I could literally just tap in the electricity, have my heat, um, no water, right?
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There's no running water, so you bring all your water.
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Um and yeah, my dog and I could just live our own lives there in a little little lot and then go uh hit the storms.
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I was always chasing the powder.
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I'm a powder chaser.
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How long how long did you have the trailer for?
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Uh I only had it, it wasn't that long.
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I would say I got it in maybe it was 2016 or 2017.
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Um yeah, and then I sold it yeah, right before I opened this to help pay for this massive printer right here.
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And it was just time to let it go, man.
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It was it was, you know, I spent a lot of time in Mammoth.
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I love it up there.
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Yeah.
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I didn't buy the pass last season, so I took a it was my first time not buying a pass.
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So I took a season off.
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I got one day of snowboarding in at June Mountain.
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It's probably the least amount of snowboarding I've ever done in my life because that's an outlet for me.
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It's an active outlet, you know.
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Uh I'm not really a surfer.
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I grew up mostly in the mountains, so I tried to get into surfing, but uh Venice, I don't know, just didn't happen.
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Um so yeah, snowboarding's always been my active outlet.
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And uh I bought the icon pass for this winter, so I hope to get back and do more.
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Hope to get back to Japan again.
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Been going to Japan about uh probably 13 or 14 years, at least once a year, but I missed the last season.
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And um that's the Powder Kingdom, Japan, and best culture, best people, best food.
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I mean, it's that's snow surfing over there.
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Yeah, Japan is the best.
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I I don't know anything about the mountains or anything like that, but I've spent some time in Japan and I'm definitely falling in love with it.
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There's a reason everyone goes.
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It's and they love photography.
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Yeah.
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You know, just it's insane.
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Japanese have a lot of respect for the arts, that's for sure.
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Well, I mean, they m they also make all the machines in here.
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Oh.
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All my Epsons are Japanese, my monitor is Japanese.
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Pretty much everything I use in my life is Japanese.
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You know, I never made the correlation that Epson was a Japanese company.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And so is the uh Canon 2.
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Okay.
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So yeah, I mean, they're all the technologies coming out of Japan, the inkjet technology, and um and I mean the cameras.
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I mean, look, the camera you're using, yeah, my Fuji camera, yeah, my Tacoma, right, my glasses, my snowboard, yeah.
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Everything I use in my life is Japanese.
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Yeah, my indestructible third gen foreign exhausting.
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They're on the forefront of technology.
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What's crazy is how small that country is.
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Yeah, I I need to explore more of it.
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I'm gonna go explore uh more of Hanchu this winter instead of going back to Hokkaido.
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I'm gonna check out Uzawa.
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What's that?
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That's all up north?
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Uh still no, it's uh I'd say it's west of Tokyo.
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A few hours.
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Okay.
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Two, three hours.
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There's a whole zone of mountains I've never been to because I just kept going back to Hokkaido.
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I ended up in Yamanashi one night.
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Yamanashi.
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I met a bunch of guys there, and we were pretty close to Mount Fuji.
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So that was a pretty epic night.
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So I know you do some landscaping, but I also know you do some amazing um portraits.
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When when did you start shooting?
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How did photography become a part of your life?
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Um, yeah, photography.
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I'd say, you know, my dad was he collected photos a little bit when I was younger, and I'd see him buy some big photographs and put them up on the wall, and I think that's when I really got inspired.
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Um did he shoot?
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He never really shot.
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He might have taken a couple, you know, just point and you know, he wasn't an avid shooter, probably just some point and shoot cameras, but but I remember seeing some of his early photographs that he collected and just being around photography as a young kid.
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I remember seeing some of those first big prints that were like big prints.
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I was like, wow.
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These are I just kind of really fell into them and just love seeing a massive photograph printed on paper.
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Um because back in the day, yeah, there was there was no digital.
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So, but then I think I really got more into it.
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It was kind of in high school.
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Yeah, I started taking in high school in Colorado in the 90s, mid-90s.
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So um had some darkroom classes and and um yeah, I just started documenting my friends in high school, I guess.
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Those are some of my earliest photos are my friends just in snowboarding, so a couple snowboarding shots.
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Yeah.
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And uh then that led to uh me.
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Well then I went to college and and then I you know I kept taking a I was always I would have a photo class here and there, and then I just kept I kept being drawn back to it.
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So I did a lot of dark room printing.
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Um and then I that was in Oregon.
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I went to school in Oregon for a year in Portland in '99.
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So I did some uh still some early photographs then and then um what do you think drew you to photography?
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What drew me to photography?
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Um I think I moved around a lot when I was younger, you know.
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Uh whether it was the parents getting divorced, moving to Texas, Colorado, and then and then Colorado to Oregon, Oregon, I went to Arizona, Arizona, did a stint in New York for a year, all in my early 20s, and um lived in Wyoming for a bit, worked at Jackson Hole Ski Resort for a little bit.
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Just kind of I was all over, and I think just realizing how um just quickly how we move around and meet new people and how we leave those people and passage of like time just continually moving, and if we don't document it, it's like we can't reflect on it, we can't you know see.
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I've always been like a I was a collector of like baseball cards when I was a kid, right?
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So I collected cards, I collected basketball cards, I collected a lot of cards, anything visual, I was collecting.
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I even collected stamps, I think.
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So I was always a collector, and I like collecting images, and I think that's what traces back to is collecting photographs, is being able to collect photographs of people or places and moments in time and being able to look back on them and just have a whole, you know, it's just a whole library of images of your life.
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It's it's it's always fascinating me, man.
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Yeah.
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I had a similar experience with um albums.
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Like my dad had a bunch of albums, and I would just stare at those big albums, you know, all the different pictures and the pictures in the back.
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They were so the four photography was so important.
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Yeah.
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For those, yeah, the vinyl.
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Yeah.
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And uh yeah, holding tangible, you're holding tangible photos.
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Yeah.
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So we're sitting in your print shop, and the one thing that I love about you and this space that we're in is that you've created a space for photographers.
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You've made a community here where people come and have a place to print their work, they have a place to show their work, and they have somebody to sit with that knows what they're doing and will take the time to help them make the most out of their print.
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And I'm seeing that um in the story that you just told me, how that kind of comes full circle.
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How did this print shop come about?
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Uh yeah, the print shop.
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So let's say, I well I got my first inkjet printer probably in 2002.
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So what is that almost 24 years ago?
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It was like an Epson 2200, I forget the exact name, a 13 by 19 inch printer.
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So, and that was I think early 2000s is when inkjet printing really got good.
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In the 90s it wasn't there.
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So that's why I was strictly in the darkroom mostly.
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And um, and that printer just I mean, to be able to print your photos in your bedroom or in your home, take a photo, print it out, and just see it come out of the machine and see that image revealed just blew my mind.
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And so um I've had inkjet printers since then.
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So 2002, had that one for a bit, and then um the big one, the first big one I got was over there, the P8000.
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So I got that in 2016 when I was living in Venice.
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And did you get that with personal for personal use, or did you get that with the idea of the?
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I got it just for personal use.
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Yeah, I was um yeah, I had a a breakup, went through a breakup of that time, and I just it was kind of impulse purchase.
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Um I'd always had the small printers, but I'm like, okay, now I just you know, I think it was like I had it, I was super into art photography, and then I got kind of moved into the, you know, I was assisting photographers.
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I came here from the Bay Area, I started assisting celebrity lifestyle, fashion, food photographers in my late 20s, into my early 30s, and I just got so involved and into that, assisting and lighting and helping other people produce the work.
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I think I'd I'd I I'd still be taking my own photos, but I had lost track, I think, of printing my own work for a good chunk of time between my late 20s and I'd say, you know, 34, 35.
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And so it hit me kind of mid 30s.
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I was like, wow, I need to get back to printing my photos.
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And I think people were starting to want more prints.
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I mean, people were reaching out for prints.
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And so yeah, I got the 44-inch printer around then 10, 11 years ago, and then I was able to sell my own prints to people, and because I had requests, and and then be able to put my images large on my walls again, which is very important for people to do, photographers to do.
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You gotta be looking at your prints in your in your own home, in my opinion.
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Makes you a better photographer, yeah.
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Yeah.
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So yeah, the 44-inch, and then yeah, I just started.
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I think after that, um some people started hitting me up for some prints because yeah, these machines are difficult to manage and they're heavy and they're take a lot of room.
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Yeah, not everyone has the big ones, a lot of photographers have the small ones, right?
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But the big ones are it's a whole nother beast.
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Um and so yeah, I just started printing for some friends, a few photographers, and then um, yeah, that and then this space really came together.
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So, you know, post-pandemic, my photo shoots, my commercial shoots started slowing down.
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I just saw kind of like my income going down.
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I was like, but people were hitting me up to print more, and I just kind of saw that going up, and then my shoots going down.
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So I just stayed up late a few nights thinking about it, and it's like, you know, I was doing it out of my garage here in West Adams, and I was like, I think I need to pivot more into printing and just helping more people get their images on the paper.
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Yeah.
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And um, and then yeah, this I opened this place a year and a half ago.
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It's not even been that long, man.
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A year and a half, probably done 10 or 11 exhibitions here of other people's work, group shows, which I love to do, and um got this 64-inch machine and and started learning.
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I mean, I knew about papers, but I didn't know I wasn't utilizing a lot of different papers because I had a tiny garage.
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I couldn't store all these papers, and so I was really only using a couple papers.
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And so I'd say in the last few years, man, I've actually I've learned a lot just about printing images on different kinds of papers and what you know what that does and how the images look and which images belong on certain kinds of papers, you know.
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Yeah, whether it's a matte paper, a soft gloss paper, you know, a satin paper, different kinds of matte papers, textured papers, um, less texture, warmer papers, whiter papers, you know.
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Yeah.
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Um and um yeah, it led to this, man.
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And I'm sh you know, it's it's scary to uh open a business by yourself.
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Yeah.
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You know, especially on a main street when you know it's it's yeah, I stayed up late a few nights thinking about it.
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But you gotta I'm so glad I did it, man.
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You gotta step into the deep end and just step off the cliff and you know, pivot sometimes in life.
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And I can't believe if I didn't do it, where I'd be, you know, what I'd be doing.
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I've I mean I was on the borderline of changing careers, man.
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I was like, I was reaching out to my buddy about selling doors and window frames.
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Right.
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Because I wasn't, you know, my yeah, my income had gone down.
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So I was like, but I just love photography so much, and this print shop has helped keep me in it and killed it's reignited the passion I have for photography and and you know, yeah, printing my own work and just um really helping other people, you know.
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Um and um what about the the community that you've built here?
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Community in West Adams or the shop?
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Yeah, just the shop in general.
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Like I've uh every time I come here, I always meet some photographer that you're printing with, and I'm able to conversate with them and to be able to see their work, and you're constantly having shows here.
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So um what what has that done for you building a community of photographers and creators?
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Yeah, I mean it's very important, man.
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Um uh obviously community is important, but yeah, the photography community, we don't have a lot of spaces in LA um to come and you know, chit-chat about photos and you know, look at images and you know, there used to be the Annaberg space for photos.
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I think they sh they shut down a while ago.
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That was a cool space.
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Um but photography is always kind of hasn't had a lot of spaces for people to come today together community-wise.
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Um and so yeah, offering this space.
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I mean, I have random people walk in here and just, you know, they're just I can see the fire.
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Like they want to get their images on paper and they want to learn and they wanna, you know, they think about, oh, I can sell my photos, I can have an exhibition, you know.
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I've done exhibitions for people here who have never printed their work before.
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Yeah.
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It's like yeah, I can do this and making it accessible, you know.
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I'm not, you know, high these high-end galleries, you can't just go and bring your work in and you know, I'm not I'm not showing everyone's work here, but if I see there's it's quality imagery, then yeah, you know, you print with me, I'll give you a show, you know.
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I'll like this group exhibition right here is up for you know five weeks.
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Some of these ladies have never printed their photos before, um, never sold their photos before.
00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.000
And the last opening, just to see the the joy, how much joy that brought everyone, the passion, the the love of the community.
00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:36.160
Brought, I mean, I think over maybe 300 people came to this exhibition.
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.960
Um, Black Girl Shoe 2, um, that my friend Kai started.
00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:55.519
And uh yeah, I mean, I think the exhibitions and having a space to showcase your work, and I think people uh they desire it, they need it, it's healthy.
00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:00.640
They you know, it's yeah, it's I see and a lot of the youth, I see it.
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.680
I mean, I'm gonna have another show July 11th, all Latino photographers here.
00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:04.960
I think it should be a big one as well.
00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:06.799
Yeah, that's the next big one.
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.640
Um we did it last summer.
00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.960
Um, my friend Oscar curated it.
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.119
So we're gonna put that on, and yeah, art is the driver, man.
00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:24.160
Photo's the driver, people are passionate about it, and you know, it's better than going to some club late night, and you know, it's like I see the sh the art shift happening.
00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.240
People don't want to go to the clubs in Hollywood anymore.
00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:27.039
They used to.
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:33.200
People need art, they want art, they want to exhibit come together more daytime style, you know.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:37.039
But yeah, I think uh community, back to community.
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.279
People need spaces that come together.
00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:41.119
I mean, it's LA too, right?
00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.960
It's this is a visual city.
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:43.680
Yeah.
00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:47.279
I mean, we just it every I mean so many creatives here too.
00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.319
I mean, this is besides New York, this is an epicenter.
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:55.839
I mean, you know, Los Angeles gives it a get gets such a bad rap, and I might have something to do with that as well.
00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:04.480
But I feel like, you know, per capita, there are so many artists here, and there's so much talent in Los Angeles.
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:30.640
Um but um you know, I was gonna say in this digital world that we live in, and you know, people showcasing, you know, most people showcase their art on Instagram, and most people are looking at these really small pictures that are like, yeah, you know, I was I was going through a bunch of bunch of old um photographs from my family the other day, and I came across all these um like wallet-sized pictures.
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:39.119
And I've I remember like, oh, we used to have like a mini Instagram in our wallet of carrying around pictures, carrying around pictures of special people.
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:46.799
But I feel like now people are realizing that you know that is not the best way to show your work.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:56.559
So can you talk about the importance of just being able to print your work and to see your work large?
00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.759
Yeah, get it off the internet and online.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:00.240
Yeah.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.960
Instagram, I I'm an avid user of Instagram.
00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:04.880
I signed on pretty early on.
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.680
My photographer friend that I was working for, this guy Craig Olson.
00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.279
He's like, You gotta get on this platform.
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.480
He said it was started by photographers for photographers.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:13.920
Just showcase your work.
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:22.079
I mean I never really loved Facebook, you know, it was not my thing, but Instagram was made for photographers.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.519
So I think it makes sense to use it, and that's really the only thing I use.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:27.039
People try to get me to use TikTok.
00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:27.839
I I can't do it.
00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:28.640
Yeah, me not.
00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:33.440
Um it's just a way to categorize your work, make a library of it.
00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:34.400
You can look back.
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.279
It's I think it's very important, and most photographers should be doing it.
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.440
I understand some that don't want to do it, it's all good.
00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:48.319
But yeah, to get your images off Instagram, off the internet, and put it on paper, obviously this is very important, that's why I started this space.
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:55.680
Um because the internet, yeah, it devalues a lot of things, right?
00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:12.079
Like uh even movies, uh books, um, photographs, yeah, because everything's free and everything's fast and everything's, you know, we don't spend much time, you know, really holding it and and putting images onto paper, it just it creates value.
00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:16.799
It creates value and it you know, it makes you stare at it.
00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.160
It's it's it's a statement.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:27.119
It's you know, it makes you really I mean to even just print want to print your images, you know, it's it's it's uh it's a you know, it's kind of a bold thing.
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:27.359
Yeah.
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:29.599
Like I'm gonna make a permanent object.
00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:36.000
Yeah that, you know, these images that if you're using these nice papers, these museum quality papers, will last two to four hundred years, if not longer.
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:37.759
You keep them out of the sun, right?
00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:52.640
So you're making something that's gonna last long after you're gone for you know the grandkids or the family to see in a moment in time that you thought was important and precious and that you put it on paper for a reason.
00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.920
And the internet, yeah, I mean, images.
00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:09.680
I mean, I had a guy recently wanted to print an image and And it was on a CD not even that long ago, maybe it was 10 or 11 years ago, got put on a CD back when we used CDEs to instead of hard drives.
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:24.319
And he had trouble getting it off the CD recently, you know, and that got me thinking, I'm like, you know, having your image on paper is just it's you know, it's kind of future-proofing.
00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:24.960
That's what it is.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:34.160
Future proofing your image, I mean, the only way it can disappear is if it burns up in a fire, which is, you know, those are usually the first things you're grabbing when you're leaving the home are your photographs.
00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.720
The most important thing that just shows you how powerful they are.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:37.200
Yeah.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.240
Um so yeah, I mean, we don't know how long hard drives are gonna last.
00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.079
We don't know how long the cloud storage.
00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.279
Things are always changing.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.400
You know, I have old hard drives.
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:51.119
I I I I can't even figure out the right plugs to plug them in anymore to access my images.
00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:51.440
Yeah.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.680
And eventually that's all gonna keep changing and changing and changing, and things will fail.
00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:02.559
So in the end, if you don't get your images on paper, you're uh it's it's it could be bad.
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.200
Yeah.
00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:03.759
Yeah.
00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:14.799
My brother was a photographer who passed away, and my mother and father also passed away, and and I always say the most valuable thing I have is the hard copy photos.
00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:24.880
Like I have a lot of the negatives too, but like all the photos that my father took of his family, and then I found all these pictures of of f images he got from his family.
00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:35.920
So like I have this whole catal, like I just have like boxes of all all this film, and it's it's so valuable to me because if I lose them or if something happens to them, that it's just gone.
00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.279
It's just completely gone.
00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.440
And yeah, it's the only thing that my daughter has.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:50.960
And you know, when I do show them to her, it's a completely different experience when she's holding an image in her hand as opposed to me flipping a phone or a can or on a computer.
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.240
It doesn't hit her the same.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:53.039
She doesn't retain it.
00:23:53.680 --> 00:24:08.480
But when she holds the image, she you know, she remembers what's in the background, she like the color and she's really inspecting it and she's probably holding it for I think I saw most people go to museums and look at art pieces for 15 to 30 seconds.
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.039
Right.
00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:18.480
You know, so you're actually really looking into the image in every corner and looking around and you know, being like, how does this piece of the image, you know, correlate with this?
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.400
And what's the what does that mean?
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.160
And you know, with the internet and Instagram, we're scrolling.
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:24.559
Yeah.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:27.359
It's boom, you see the image maybe what, a second or two.
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:27.599
Yeah.
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:29.119
It ain't 15, 30 seconds.
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:30.960
I mean, as you really dive into it.
00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:35.359
But yeah, most people are just, it's yeah, it's really um.
00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:44.400
Yeah, it's good for I think that's why the younger generation is really wanting to print more of their photos and they're shooting film, right?
00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:45.519
They want that tangible.
00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.400
They want to be able to hold things, they want to be able to look at it longer.
00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:54.960
They want to, it's it's a counter attack against the digital and the AI and everything that's happening right now.
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:55.359
Yeah.
00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:56.799
Film is booming.
00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:00.319
I think I think the print business is only gonna go up and up and up.
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:05.200
Um, so yeah, it's uh in a world of speed.
00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.559
Everything's so everything is just flying by these days.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:09.200
And disposing.
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:12.960
And we're digesting images like more than you know, we drink water.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:13.359
Yeah.
00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:14.720
We digest them every day.
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:16.079
I mean, we all do it, I do it.
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.920
We're digesting so many, and what do we really retain of those images, you know?
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:31.599
So to put an image on a piece of paper and put it up in your house or put it in a show, and it's stagnant and it's there to be looked at over and over and over and over for years and years and years, that's a powerful statement, man.
00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.200
It's a powerful thing to do.
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.839
And um, it makes you a better photographer, it's made me a better photographer.
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:42.000
And um, yeah, it's very important.
00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:42.960
Very important.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:56.559
Well, let me talk about this community here, because uh I kind of stumbled across this this area, and but instantly it just reminded me of like certain areas of Brooklyn before they really got popular.
00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:58.799
How how long have you been in this area?
00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:02.720
Yeah, you know, it's uh I came over here, what was it?
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:08.160
Uh I was in Venice for 10 years, and I moved over here in 2016.
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:12.960
I'd been coming over here because uh my friends had a warehouse down the street on Jefferson.
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:18.240
Some of my friends from Jelena, they had like a late night, a breakman brewery, it was called.
00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:22.000
So they did music shows and kind of a speakeasy bar.
00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:26.480
It was like a it was a social underground, speakeasy gathering spot.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.799
And yeah, it was just right down the street here.
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:35.440
So I was coming over, I was, I don't know, 20, 2010, 2011, 2012, I think that's when they were doing it.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.480
And uh I just I was like, you know what?
00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:41.279
It was not that it was easy to get to here.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:59.839
Wasn't it's right in the middle of LA, it was like I like the location, it was you know, it was mostly Latino uh community around here, which I love, and uh the sense of community is very strong, and um and you know it's obviously a ch the neighborhood's changing, right?
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:02.000
You know, this was a laundromat before.
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:02.799
Right.
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:07.759
Um and uh you know, all these buildings, it's a lot of new things coming up.
00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:10.319
As you know, most neighborhoods they change over time, they do.
00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:17.440
And uh I think that's reminds me of of Brooklyn when like I was always moving to places that I could afford.
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:27.759
Yeah, I mean they weren't the best places ever, yeah, but they had like these big beautiful buildings, and then somebody opens up a cafe and somebody opens up a restaurant, and then all of a sudden more people start moving here and yeah.
00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.240
I mean, when I was living in Venice in 2006, seven, it was totally different.
00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:52.799
I mean um yeah, I mean neighborhoods change, but I don't think this one, this one, the culture is staying strong in this neighborhood, I believe, just because uh I mean there's so many cultures right here in Mid City and West Adams and Crenshaw, and um we're also not by the ocean, so that's you know not drawn super heavy tourists.
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.200
Um a lot of artists are moving here, yes.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:56.960
Um it's more affordable.
00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:59.759
I mean, that like you said, you you know, that's it just happens.
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:01.839
People move to more affordable neighborhoods.
00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:05.839
Um but you gotta move in here and you know give back to the community.
00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:07.839
Yeah, can't just move here and take, you know.
00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:10.240
Yeah, you can't just move here because it's cheaper, you know.
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:10.799
Right.
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:13.440
And um you gotta give back.
00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.440
And and hopefully that's what I'm trying to do, get back to the community.
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.480
I'll do, you know, I do memorial photos for the neighbors for free, you know.
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:24.559
I'll you know, I'll I you know, give lots of free prints away to the neighbors.
00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:26.640
I take pictures for the neighbors, you know, all the time.
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:35.519
They ask me to do a quinceanera photo or family photos, or you know, um so yeah, giving back to the community of West Adams, very important.
00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.799
So um what else were you asking?
00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:40.319
No, that was pretty much it.
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:42.480
And uh, you know, you talking about giving prints away.
00:28:42.559 --> 00:29:04.079
I mean, I don't don't not I don't want everybody to expect this, but I I appreciate how um committed you are to the craft and how you're willing to take chances for other photographers, and I could speak on that because when I was doing my show Canyon Peacocks, I had an idea what I wanted to do, and you were like, wow, this would look really good on metallic.
00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:06.960
And the minute you said metallic, I was like, ugh.
00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:10.559
Like, I'm not putting my prints on metallic paper, that just sounds horrible.
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:17.519
And you saw the look on my face, and you were like, Alright, let me just do it, and if you don't, like I'll I'll just do it for free.
00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.960
I just want you to see what it looks like.
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:19.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:22.000
And I couldn't that then my whole show was metallic.
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.400
Like I couldn't believe how amazing the cars looked on metallic.
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:25.599
Made sense for the cars.
00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:33.839
But it just goes, it speaks to the fact that you you care about the craft because you could have easily just said, like, alright, dude, like if that's what you want, let's do it.
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.160
You know, I got other things to do.
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:37.359
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:39.680
No, dude, I'm you know, uh yeah.
00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:45.200
Every person that comes in here, I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna look at the images, I'm gonna suggest papers, I'm gonna show you papers.
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:47.279
Um, yeah, I'm a one-man show, you know.
00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:58.720
I want I want everyone that leaves here to be happy and feel like they've learned something and that they're growing as a photographer and artist, not just like a, you know, I'm not just you know, I'm just yeah, I'm not just trying to get your money, you know.
00:29:58.960 --> 00:29:59.680
I do it for the love.
00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:00.960
I'm a photographer.
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:05.759
So, you know, I you know, I'm not I'm not even a businessman, you know.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:08.160
I'm learning the business side right now as we speak.
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.079
Um and how's that going?
00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:12.160
Uh yeah, I'm I'm learning every day, man.
00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:13.279
Yeah.
00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:13.680
Yeah.
00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:15.119
I got to be more to you, right?
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:15.599
You don't have to do it.
00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:16.400
It's just me, man.
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:17.200
It's just me, yeah.
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:20.720
So that's why, you know, you know, I have right now I have clamp lights for my walls.
00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:23.200
I don't, you know, I don't, you know, I don't have track lighting.
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:25.200
Maybe the next space, I'll get some track lighting.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.640
I want to keep the next space, because I have to move out of here eventually.
00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.599
Who knows when, but yeah, next space.
00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:35.440
Hopefully I want to get some walls and keep doing the exhibitions because I don't want to just be a print lab.
00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:48.240
I want to I want to showcase people's work, give the opportunity for people to showcase yeah, group exhibitions, solo exhibitions, and um yeah, I want to keep that going because I mean that's that's what it's all about, you know.
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:49.680
I just don't want to be a print factory.
00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.559
Yeah, I never want to be a big warehouse print factory.
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:53.680
That's not what I'm trying to do here.
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:54.079
Right.
00:30:54.319 --> 00:31:00.079
That being said, what what do you think one mistake that you see a lot of photographers make when they come here and want to print something?
00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:00.960
Resolution.
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:14.720
A lot of people don't understand resolution and how big they can print their files without them being super pixelated or you know how how you shot your what camera you shot your file on and how that correlates with how big you can print it.
00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:23.839
Um yeah, so I'll I'll make you know I'm not gonna print a massive print for someone if I don't think it's gonna look good.
00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:24.880
You know?
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:25.359
Yeah.
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:26.640
I wouldn't do that.
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:43.039
So I you know, I look at the file resolution, the size, and I always suggest, oh, you can go this big with this file, you know, unless you can find the raw file and reprocess it, or you know, there's you could use AI, but I know a lot of people are against it to enlarge, but I don't recommend it.
00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:44.000
But yeah.
00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:46.400
Yeah.
00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:52.720
But um, but speaking about that, do you um has AI changed anything?
00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:57.519
Your approach or in your style of work or anything for you?
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:12.160
Um I I literally I only use it for a few people that they only have like kilobyte size files, or not even the megabytes, and they really want something printed a little bigger.
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:16.000
I'm like, well, if you can't find the original, this is all you got.
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:23.359
I think AI can just it just smooths it out so you can print it a little bigger and it doesn't look pixelated.
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:28.240
But how is that different from just going into Photoshop and enlarging the size of the image?
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:34.559
Well, if you just enlarge in Photoshop, yeah, it would be really pixel, it wouldn't, it wouldn't, yeah, it wouldn't come out looking.
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:43.920
So AI is able to go in and kind of interpolate and somehow smooth out those pixels and just make it so it prints smoother, I would say.
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:51.519
I just like, yeah, I mean it's I've I've used it a few times for people, and you know, some people are fine with it, you know, and some people don't want to even want to touch it.
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:52.480
I get it.
00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:59.680
Um I don't want to use it on my own work, I don't think I've ever used it for my own work, but I think a guy, yeah, from Baldwin Hills came down.
00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:06.000
He had an image from Rio de Janeiro of like and it's super tiny, and he really wanted to enlarge it for his house just a little bigger.
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:10.240
So I was like, well, we could use this Topaz Gigapixel AI.
00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:12.960
That's basically there's a bunch of softwares, but that's one of them.
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:14.480
He was happy with it, man.
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.680
So if you're happy with it, then it's just another tool.
00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:18.640
That's how I look at it.
00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:22.000
But I'm not trying to use AI at all, really.
00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:28.480
What technically about an image takes it from a good print to an amazing print?
00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:30.240
A good print to an amazing print.
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:33.680
Oh, well, that goes back to the paper.
00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:38.640
Um yeah, I mean, it depends.
00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:41.440
This is a metallic paper, the one that you printed your works on.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:44.000
I mean, it really depends on paper choice, right?
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:47.759
You know, here's a uh Japanese paper with decled edges.
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:49.200
Softer effect.
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:56.480
Um yeah, the paper choice is very important, and I've you know I've learned a lot through my friend Eric over at Freestyle about paper.
00:33:56.799 --> 00:34:07.920
And um, yeah, paper choice is well, first I gotta see the image, and then you know, I'll suggest a paper, and then I'll suggest a couple papers, and then I let people kind of choose the paper they gravitate towards.
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.480
You know, and yeah, paper choice is very important.
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:11.920
People don't realize it is.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:20.320
People, you know, they're used to printing their photos at, you know, whatever CVS or getting just super glossy photos, and they just don't even think about the paper, you know.
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:24.239
And like these are a lot of the papers I've here are 100% cotton papers, right?
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:28.239
So they'll they're this that's why they're super archival the last hundreds of years.
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:34.000
There's um and a lot of these papers I carry on for a reason is they don't have any optical brighteners.
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:39.199
So they won't um fade or yellow as quickly, and the longevity will be there.
00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:41.199
And um what is an optical brightener?
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:46.639
Optical brighteners is basically chemicals they put in paper to make it brighter white.
00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:51.360
Um, you know, so most papers we see have optical brighteners in them.
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:54.880
Um and those break down over time and deteriorate.
00:34:55.039 --> 00:35:00.480
That's why you look at old family photos, they're starting to they become really yellow or they start to disintegrate.
00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:10.639
And um yeah, optical brighteners, they're you know, they're in a lot of fine art papers, but I'm trying to carry a lot of papers here that don't have them.
00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:13.599
I'd say 90% of the papers I have here don't have them.
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:19.039
Some people say they're okay, some people there's kind of a whole conversation about that.
00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:24.800
We could go on for a while about it, but yeah, I mean I'm trying to carry mostly um no OBA papers here.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:33.920
Um because I think again, back to the longevity, I want your images to last for hundreds of years and look how they did when we printed them.
00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:38.400
You know, if you keep them out of sun and maybe if you frame them, you know, it's better.
00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:42.320
Um yeah, paper choice is important.
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:44.960
Um, you know, the printers, the printers are so good now.
00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:51.360
So I mean, as long as you're using Canon or Epson, I mean, those are the the best, you know, you gotta use pigment inks, right?
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:53.440
Dye-based ink doesn't last.
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:56.239
So pigment inks that is very important.
00:35:56.320 --> 00:36:03.519
So if you want longevity and to be truly called an archival print, you gotta be using uh pigment inks.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.360
Um this printer I think has like is it 12 colors?
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:14.159
Um and nozzles, it has like 9,600 nozzles laying down ink.
00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:16.159
I mean, it's it's a magic thing, these printers.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:16.559
Yeah.
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:21.840
What do you think the biggest misconception or of the biggest misunderstanding when people come here to print?
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:23.199
Um resolution.
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:24.719
I think I touched on that earlier.
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.360
Resolution, how big I can print my photos.
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:34.559
Um, you know, people want to print their iPhone photos massive, and I'm like, well, you know, those iPhone billboards are completely they're a lie, right?
00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:37.840
And they're just those are massive pixels on the billboard you can't really see, you know.
00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:43.440
They're and then there's hundreds of people working on those images, probably using AI to enlarge them, who knows?
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:50.400
So yeah, people think, yeah, big misconception is people think they can print their images massive and they'll look incredible.
00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:50.800
Right.
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:57.840
You know, but that it, you know, then it comes back to the yeah, uh technology of cameras, like how many megapixels is your camera, right?
00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:58.079
Yeah.
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:04.239
Reason I shoot a medium format Fuji GFX is because it's a hundred megapixels, it's meant for printing.
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:11.280
And I switched over to I was shooting medium format film, which is great for printing as well, because it's just it's a bigger, it's a bigger negative.
00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:21.039
So it's in the medium format cameras, it's a bigger sensor, so there's more information, there's more pixels, um, which leads to bigger prints, you know.
00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:30.079
But then some people don't care having super pixelated images, and it's fine to have big images that are super pixelated if you know you're viewing them from a certain distance, you know.
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:34.480
It's funny because maybe pixels are the new uh green, grainy photos.
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:36.639
Pixels are the new grainy photos.
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:42.719
What is something that something about you that might surprise people?
00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:44.480
I love growing food, gardening.
00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:45.440
Oh, nice, nice.
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:46.639
Yeah, we talked about that.
00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:52.719
Yeah, you know, uh tending to, yeah, I just planted some tomatoes, I got uh, I mean they're all in planters, right?
00:37:52.800 --> 00:38:00.320
I don't have much space, but I'm growing tomatoes, cucumber, chilies, um, got a passion fruit vine on the fence.
00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:00.960
Nice.
00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:11.199
Um yeah, nurturing a plant, growing it, and then uh and then being able to consume it and taste what you nurtured.
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:14.960
It's kinda uh you can correlate that to printing and photography, right?
00:38:15.039 --> 00:38:26.800
Yeah, taking the photo, working on it, you know, in the dark room or in Photoshop, and then actually printing it is like cons like actually consuming it.
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:27.199
Yeah.
00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:36.719
So it's like um, yeah, if you're not printing your photos, it's kind of like just growing the plant and cooking it and then just staring at it, right?
00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:44.719
Putting it on the paper and printing it is like can now you can actually consume it and really dive into it and share it.
00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:45.679
And share it.
00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:46.320
Yeah, yeah.
00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:48.079
So yeah, sharing a meal.
00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:53.119
Yeah, so I I'm yeah, I'm a big uh I go to the farmers market every Wednesday.
00:38:53.280 --> 00:38:55.039
I like to support local farmers.
00:38:55.119 --> 00:38:56.079
Uh which one?
00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:57.119
Santa Monica.
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:58.880
Yeah, I I've never been to Santa Marketing.
00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:01.760
But any any farmer's market is great to support.
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:03.599
Um but that Santa Monica one is.
00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:07.360
Well, obviously that's the one all the best all the all the restaurants go to.
00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:09.440
I used to get to see some of my chef friends.
00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:12.559
I used to shoot food and beverage and some restaurant stuff.
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:18.639
So yeah, it's kind of like get to say hi to some people, but yeah, um, food is very important to me.
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:22.239
Um supporting local farmers and just knowing where your food comes from.
00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:24.480
That's something my mom always drove into me.
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:24.880
Yeah.
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:27.119
She grew a lot of her own food.
00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:35.119
And um, yeah, nurturing a plant and growing it and then consuming it and organic, no pesticides, you know.
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:42.159
Yeah, that's a whole another rabbit hole about I could go off about our food culture here.
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:42.719
Yeah.
00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:43.280
Yeah.
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:44.559
Yeah, we talked about this.
00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:49.280
I I I uh I dropped off some uh veggies from my garden.
00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:50.400
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:39:50.480 --> 00:40:03.360
Uh yeah, food is so important, man, and and I love being around chefs and seeing their passion and and um yeah, so yeah, I look at you know, a lot of this printing like that, you know, these are basically organic prints, right?
00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:11.760
When you don't have chemicals in them and you know, they're you know, I correlate it to uh yeah, farmers market food.
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:16.559
So um a couple more questions here.
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:21.360
What what should people know before they come to you and want to print their work?
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.639
Best to email me so we can set up like an appointment.
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:34.880
I I I take walk-ins, but best to email me so we can set up an appointment, get a conversation going about what images you're interested in printing or what it's gonna be for, an exhibition, or you know.
00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:37.840
Um so yeah, email me first.
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:49.760
Um or call, prefer email, and um then I'll set up an appointment and then you know, we can come in, take a look at whatever you need done, and uh give you my advice.
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:53.840
And um but I take walk-ins, right?
00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:57.119
You know, I I had some people come in, they needed a memorial photo that day.
00:40:57.199 --> 00:41:03.199
Yeah, you know, so I'm like, yes, I can, you know, I can do a memorial photo right there for them, you know.
00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:03.920
They needed it.
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:06.239
So I do some same-day printing for people.
00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:10.320
As long as I don't have a super crazy important exhibition I'm printing for.
00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:10.880
Yeah.
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:16.320
Edit down your images, yeah, and then I can help you edit it more too and give my constructive feedback.
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:17.679
Yeah, you did that for me too.
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:20.079
Which I'm I do all the time for people, right?
00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:38.079
So it's like a little like constructive feedback critique about you know, maybe what I, you know, yeah, I give my what would look good on paper and what's important to you, and and um and then yeah, maybe try not to bring images on CDs.
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:44.079
So yeah, thumb drive, or you know, you can airdrop it here if it's not massive, or you know.
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:46.400
Um but yeah, usually drives are the best.
00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:48.239
You've been doing this for a long time.
00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:50.719
What what still excites you about photography?
00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:59.679
What really excites me is seeing the the joy of people seeing their images printed for the first time, you know, the joy and the love and the yeah, the passion that I see.
00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:07.599
And uh yeah, I mean, people come in here I all the time, never printed their images on nice papers ever.
00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:10.559
It really blows my mind, you know?
00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:14.639
Because then once they see that first print, it's like, yeah, it's addicting.
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:16.239
You want to keep printing your images.
00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:21.920
I mean, you don't need to print all of them, but you should be printing more of your images and living with them and putting them up in your walls.
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.960
I've always, everywhere I've lived, I've always had my images on my walls.
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:33.280
And then you live with those images and then you you take them down, you replace them with new ones, so it's just a constant source of nutrition.
00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:35.360
Yeah, image nutrition.
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:40.000
And you learn and you get better at Tarver and you grow by printing your images.
00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:43.920
And um so yeah, that inspires me.
00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:48.400
And um let's see what else.
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:51.280
Um I mean, I'm a shooter too, right?
00:42:51.360 --> 00:43:00.480
So I get you know, being around so many people, I haven't been shooting a lot, but since I do really enjoy shooting, that's why I got into this.
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:03.199
Um what's the last thing you shot?
00:43:03.519 --> 00:43:07.519
Uh personally, I haven't shot too much recently.
00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:09.840
Um what's the last thing you shot?
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:15.039
I did print one of my landscapes recently, my Hollywood winter landscape I shot three years ago.
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:16.079
Yeah, that's gorgeous.
00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:16.880
I saw that post.
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:19.599
Yeah, so I mean here in the shop.
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:20.079
What's that?
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:21.360
Is that print here in the shop?
00:43:21.679 --> 00:43:22.880
It's rolled up right over there.
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:25.280
43 by 76 inches.
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:28.400
So that's a 16-9 uh aspect ratio.
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:30.719
So yeah, aspect ratios are very important to think about.
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:32.400
Like what aspect ratio are you shooting in?
00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:34.079
How's that gonna translate on a paper?
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:38.880
You know, you can change your aspect ratios, um, you know, and think about that way.
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:48.400
I don't do a lot of cropping of my own images, cropping's fine, but when you really start thinking about aspect ratios and how that's gonna lay on paper, that helps you become a better photographer as well.
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:55.039
Um so you can just get the most resolution out of your sensor because you start cropping, you're losing resolution, right?
00:43:55.119 --> 00:43:55.440
Yeah.
00:43:55.920 --> 00:44:01.599
So really thinking about aspect ratio is very important and Becoming a better photographer, yeah.
00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:03.199
I mean, some people say it's all good to crop.
00:44:03.280 --> 00:44:07.920
Yeah, I think it's fine, but really you want the most info info out of that sensor.
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:08.400
Yeah.
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:14.239
Um but yeah, personally, I shoot a lot of you know, I'm I'm a big landscape guy, man.
00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:15.920
I I you know I love landscapes.
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:17.519
I love surrounding myself in nature.
00:44:17.679 --> 00:44:21.679
You know, I grew up going, my mom took me to all the national parks as a kid out west.
00:44:21.840 --> 00:44:23.360
I've been to pretty much all of them.
00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:25.920
You know, I was very avid outdoors, man.
00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:29.440
I was climbing mountains, I was, you know, whatever, snowboarding.
00:44:29.519 --> 00:44:31.760
I'm I'm a nature dude, even though I live in the city.
00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.639
And I love surrounding myself in my own.
00:44:35.039 --> 00:44:39.519
And right now in my house I have photos of Japan, snowy winter landscapes.
00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:42.239
Um I love photographing in Japan.
00:44:42.320 --> 00:44:43.679
I love photographing the winter.
00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:45.280
They just they calm me.
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:48.159
So I have some massive, they're pretty big.
00:44:48.239 --> 00:44:49.840
I showcased them here for a second.
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:52.880
They're uh I'd say they're 48 by 64 inches.
00:44:53.119 --> 00:45:02.719
So I have one above my bed, I have one in the kitchen, just these really tranquil, beautiful, snowy landscapes that make me feel good when I get home.
00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:09.599
So it's really about what you you want to look at when you come home and what makes you makes you feel more at peace, right?
00:45:09.679 --> 00:45:09.920
Right.
00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:13.119
Yeah, it could be a big portrait, it's fine, you know.
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:15.840
Um I used to shoot a lot of portraits.
00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.960
Maybe someday I'll make a book of those.
00:45:19.199 --> 00:45:26.079
Um, but yeah, for me, a lot of landscapes, so I get you know I get more inspired now when I go on trips, you know.
00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:28.000
So I don't have any trips planned yet.
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:31.119
Maybe I'll go back to Japan uh in December.
00:45:31.599 --> 00:45:34.239
But um, you know, I I went to Oaxaca.
00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:36.400
Here's a here's a shot from Oaxaca.
00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:37.519
Oh, that's yours.
00:45:37.679 --> 00:45:37.840
Yeah.
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:39.920
All these images on the papers are mine.
00:45:40.159 --> 00:45:40.719
That's beautiful.
00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:47.760
See, I did uh went to Oaxaca a few times um with my friends from uh this restaurant, Amano, up in uh Idaho.
00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:53.360
They took me down there and and learned all about Oaxaca and did a little book on Oaxaca.
00:45:53.440 --> 00:45:54.880
So I love Oaxaca.
00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:55.760
Yeah, Oaxaca.
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:57.199
I mean, everyone should go there.
00:45:57.519 --> 00:46:05.679
Um here's a here's a shot of um some wild mustangs up uh near Mammoth.
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:07.119
Amazing.
00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:10.320
And um they're just out there living, man, these wild mustangs.
00:46:10.480 --> 00:46:16.000
There's a that's yeah, that's a whole nother subject actually though.
00:46:16.159 --> 00:46:23.440
Um, because they're starting to, you know, they're actually rounding up some of those mustangs.
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:24.480
It's not a good deal.
00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:30.079
Um this is a landscape I shot uh from Santa Monica Pier.
00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:32.719
Uh Golden Ocean.
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:35.920
Um here's a shot of my sister that on that you saw this earlier.
00:46:36.480 --> 00:46:37.199
Yeah, it's such a beautiful shot.
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:40.159
Shot this 2007, probably on my Mamiya 7.
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:45.519
Um I really I really think your portraits are really amazing.
00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:46.800
Thank you, man.
00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:48.480
Yeah, I have a lot of portraits no one's really seen.
00:46:48.559 --> 00:46:51.039
That's why actually I've been diving into my archives.
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:54.559
I have a lot of film photos I'm scanning right now, so I might make a little book.
00:46:54.639 --> 00:46:58.639
Um, probably mostly of portraits, early portraits.
00:46:59.199 --> 00:47:03.039
Um I wanted to ask you, yeah.
00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:07.119
When people print, usually framing is an afterthought.
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:08.320
Oh, framing, yeah.
00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:24.480
Is should people be thinking about framing more when they talk about aspect ratios and fra and image size, or is should you just focus on the image and the best size and then you figure the the the print out, I mean the frame out later?
00:47:25.119 --> 00:47:30.000
Yeah, so what I always say is that you know, people want to they want a nice big print.
00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:31.599
Where's that print gonna go, right?
00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:33.039
It's gonna go above your bed.
00:47:33.199 --> 00:47:35.039
Where what what space is it going into?
00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:39.119
If it's not going to exhibition, where is that print gonna live for a long time?
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:41.760
Um so I always tell them to measure that space.
00:47:41.920 --> 00:47:44.320
You know, you want to fill that space properly, right?
00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:47.039
You don't want it too small, you don't want it too big.
00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:52.159
So really measuring the space where your print's gonna go is probably the first step before printing.
00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:55.760
And then, you know, a frame usually adds a few inches.
00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:01.920
So yeah, measuring the space and then framing, yeah.
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:05.679
If it's gonna be in a ready-made frame, which are mostly smaller frames, I have some over there.
00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:11.679
People need it last minute, they need it in a frame, you know, for an affordable cost, which is fine.
00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:13.920
I'm not I have nothing against ready-made frames.
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:18.800
Um it's a great quick, you know, thing to do.
00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:24.239
And you have to think about, yeah, if what image is gonna fit in that ready-made frame, you know, down to the sizing.
00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:24.960
Do I have to trim it?
00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:27.519
You know, so that gets a little more tricky there.
00:48:27.599 --> 00:48:33.760
But custom framing, I really it's about measuring where that image is gonna go, and then custom framing.
00:48:33.920 --> 00:48:37.440
You can add a mat, you can keep the image right to the border.
00:48:37.599 --> 00:48:39.199
You know, do you want your signature shown?
00:48:39.280 --> 00:48:45.199
So then you give a little space on the below the image, so then you put a mat around that, or you just use the paper as a border.
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:46.559
I mean, there's many ways to go about it.
00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:48.559
So, yeah, I talked that out with people.
00:48:48.800 --> 00:48:49.840
A little bit of framing.
00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:55.039
I offer um some framing through my friend's Sherman Gallery in Venice, so I have some samples here.
00:48:55.280 --> 00:49:02.239
But uh yeah, framing is very important to protect the image, having that layer of plexi.
00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:08.400
I I always say plexi is better than glass, but um to protect it, yeah.
00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:15.360
I mean, because yeah, I if you don't, yeah, over time your image will just things will get on it.
00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:16.719
Yeah, it'll get ruined.
00:49:16.800 --> 00:49:26.800
But then there's something to be said for for not like I do shows here without frames just so you can really see the paper, and it's more affordable, and it's easier to hang.
00:49:26.880 --> 00:49:31.599
And this is how I've been doing shows here with just these clips, and it just makes total sense.
00:49:31.920 --> 00:49:42.480
Um and then once these ladies take their images, then they can decide how they want to frame them or you know what they want to do with them, and and it's just easier to transport.
00:49:42.639 --> 00:49:46.159
And yeah, so I'm gonna keep doing shows, probably not framed.
00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:50.639
And then, but when an image finally needs to live in its space, it probably should be framed.
00:49:51.119 --> 00:49:55.519
I don't ask all my guests this question, but this the show is called shoot wisely.
00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:56.320
Shoot wisely.
00:49:56.559 --> 00:49:58.239
It's something my brother always used to tell me.
00:49:58.639 --> 00:50:01.280
What would your advice to shoot wisely be?
00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:03.199
First advice, print your photos.
00:50:04.719 --> 00:50:08.880
If you're not printing your photos, man, you're missing out.
00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:13.119
And you know, like I said, those images could disappear.
00:50:13.280 --> 00:50:23.440
You know, you get them on paper, at least you can re-photograph them or scan them, or you know, don't don't trust the digital cloud and don't trust hard drives.
00:50:23.679 --> 00:50:42.480
And um and get your images out in the world, you know, get your images living in whether it's a restaurant or your friend's place, or get get your images living and breathing out in the world that you know that you know bring uh joy to people and you know reflection.
00:50:42.639 --> 00:50:45.119
And uh I mean that's why we do this.
00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:53.119
So yeah, print your images, um whether it's with me or someone else, I don't care.
00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:56.239
Um and let's see, what else?
00:50:56.559 --> 00:50:58.480
Definitely keep shooting.
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:08.639
Um and uh growing as uh, you know, keep pushing boundaries and uh don't get set in your ways.
00:51:08.719 --> 00:51:12.239
Um, you know, we kind of pigeonhole ourselves.
00:51:12.559 --> 00:51:18.559
And um like most people probably think I'm a landscape photographer because I print a lot of my own landscapes and that's what people mostly see.
00:51:19.039 --> 00:51:19.840
That's what I thought until I started.
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:20.559
Yeah, you don't know.
00:51:20.639 --> 00:51:22.159
I I have a lot of portraits, man.
00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:26.719
Yeah, you know, so maybe I need to print more of those.
00:51:26.880 --> 00:51:38.480
And um, so yeah, don't pigeonhole yourself and experiment and you know, and just keep pushing, you know, once you feel comfortable and it's time to change it up, you know.
00:51:38.559 --> 00:51:42.320
If you know you're a portrait shooter, start taking some landscapes, you know.
00:51:42.639 --> 00:51:46.639
Um play with double exposures, triple exposures, quadruple exposures.
00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:49.440
That show shot I just showed you earlier, that's a double exposure.
00:51:49.519 --> 00:51:51.039
That's only where I got the sun and the moon.
00:51:51.199 --> 00:51:52.639
Oh wow in one, you know.
00:51:52.719 --> 00:51:58.719
I saw the moon, captured it, and I put it over the sunset because I saw it at the same time, and like they belong together.
00:51:58.800 --> 00:51:59.199
Right.
00:51:59.360 --> 00:52:03.920
So, you know, um I love multiple exposures, those are fun to play with.
00:52:04.159 --> 00:52:24.960
Um and um, yeah, uh besides printing, man, just being a good person, eating well, you know, trying to support your local farmers, support your community, um, be nice to each other.
00:52:25.679 --> 00:52:31.519
Um yeah, there's a lot of competitiveness, I think, in the everything, right?
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.039
And I kind of felt it in the photo world a little bit when I was younger here.
00:52:35.199 --> 00:52:42.239
Everyone's trying to be competitive, like, oh, especially in the commercial world, oh, they got that job, or why didn't I get that job, or how did you get that job?
00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:44.639
It's like just throw all that out the window, man.
00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:46.400
There should be no competitiveness.
00:52:46.639 --> 00:52:50.960
Get rid of all that, and just be like, I'm me, I'm shooting my photos, you know.
00:52:51.280 --> 00:52:54.239
You know, it's just and be patient, you know.
00:52:54.960 --> 00:53:00.320
And um, and yeah, I think yeah, community is very important.
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:05.920
That's why this space for photographers to come together, and there is no competition here, you know.
00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:07.360
That's what's great about exhibitions.
00:53:07.519 --> 00:53:11.760
Everyone's showcasing what they love and how they shoot and how they see.
00:53:12.320 --> 00:53:14.320
You gotta shoot personal work.
00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:27.039
I think that's what you gotta shoot your person, you gotta shoot your friends, you gotta capture your family, you gotta capture your life because you're the photographer in your own surrounding circle, and if you don't do it, maybe no one else is doing it.
00:53:27.280 --> 00:53:31.920
It's like my family photos that I have been going through, all these negatives, four by five, six, seven.
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:35.280
Um no one else in my family took those photos.
00:53:35.519 --> 00:53:48.880
So they're very important to my brother now and and my family, and you know, I just my uncle passed away recently, and it's like, you know, you gotta be the photographer in your network and document it all because life is.
00:53:49.840 --> 00:53:53.679
I'm I'm mid-40s now, and you said you're 50, but it goes by quick, man.
00:53:53.840 --> 00:53:54.000
Yeah.
00:53:54.239 --> 00:53:56.320
And you start really feeling it more in your 40s.
00:53:56.559 --> 00:53:58.320
And it's like life is fleeting, man.
00:53:58.559 --> 00:54:00.880
I got, you know, I had a friend that just passed away recently.
00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:01.920
Sorry to hear that.
00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:03.920
Yeah, multiple people passed away recently.
00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:06.480
It's just like it makes you think about what's that?
00:54:06.800 --> 00:54:08.480
Unfortunately, the longer you live, the more people.
00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:28.000
Yeah, and there's gonna be a lot more, I feel like, coming at me soon, and you know, um, whether I like it or not, it's just so then it's like, you know, so yeah, the best advice I can give is really to take those pictures that no one's taking in your surrounding network, just like you do, like all the photographers do.
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:42.559
But yeah, and not just not just the commercial and stuff, but you know, the family photos, the friends, like I said, uh the landscapes that you see, those sunsets that mean something to you that you know maybe no one else saw the way you saw it.
00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:51.440
And um because yeah, in the end, that's you know what's what's remaining is our our photographs, right?
00:54:51.679 --> 00:54:56.880
And hopefully by printing those, those will last for generations to come, and that's why I do this.
00:54:57.360 --> 00:55:02.880
And hopefully that inspires other people to come in and print their photos.
00:55:03.280 --> 00:55:03.760
Awesome.
00:55:04.159 --> 00:55:18.880
I heard um I heard a photographer say that uh, and I can't remember who it was, but they said that you know, not all your pictures are gonna be like the one, you know.
00:55:19.599 --> 00:55:23.280
But it's like it's like collecting change.
00:55:23.599 --> 00:55:31.440
It's like you got pennies, you got quarters, you got some dollars in there, yeah, and then before you know it, you got this jar filled with all this money.
00:55:31.599 --> 00:55:34.880
And together, it's it's worth a lot.
00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:42.559
And I thought that was such a great way of putting it because some some pictures you take might be a penny, and other pictures you take might be, you know, yeah, a silver dollar.
00:55:43.039 --> 00:55:55.039
That makes me think about um I studied up at CCA in in Oakland with some legendary photographers, Jim Goldberg, Larry Sultan, Todd Haido, and uh Larry Sultan had a quote.
00:55:55.199 --> 00:55:56.079
I actually have it here.
00:55:56.159 --> 00:55:57.760
I was I'll read it.
00:55:58.079 --> 00:56:04.639
He says, When it comes down to making work that really sings, I don't know if I can teach any of it.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:08.000
I don't even know if I can do any of it half the time.
00:56:08.159 --> 00:56:15.679
It's so much about failure, it's so much about making pictures that are so utterly boring and overstated, you're endlessly disappointed.
00:56:15.760 --> 00:56:20.559
And in that process, you hopefully find something that always draws you back and calls to you.
00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:22.639
Great quote by Larry Sultan.
00:56:22.719 --> 00:56:22.960
Yeah.
00:56:23.119 --> 00:56:25.039
He passed away pretty young.
00:56:26.719 --> 00:56:28.639
But look up that guy.
00:56:28.800 --> 00:56:40.239
He's yeah, so yeah, I mean, yeah, keep shooting, man, because yeah, those some of those photos, just like this one that, you know, of my sister that you said.
00:56:40.400 --> 00:56:40.719
Yeah.
00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:44.400
It's like, I'm so glad I took that picture, right?
00:56:44.880 --> 00:56:46.000
How old is she there?
00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:54.239
She's probably probably seven, eight, or seven or eight or nine.
00:56:54.480 --> 00:56:54.880
Yeah.
00:56:55.199 --> 00:57:00.719
And you know what's special too is you're probably the only person that could have taken that picture of her in that setting.
00:57:01.119 --> 00:57:01.920
She's very vulnerable.
00:57:02.320 --> 00:57:02.480
Yeah.
00:57:02.559 --> 00:57:06.800
You know, it's just her and I on the little walk in the park near where she grew up, you know.
00:57:06.960 --> 00:57:07.280
Yeah.
00:57:07.599 --> 00:57:12.719
And uh I actually documented her every year because I only saw her pretty much Thanksgiving.
00:57:13.280 --> 00:57:17.920
I only saw her a little bit growing up, um once or twice a year.
00:57:18.159 --> 00:57:20.320
So every time I saw her, I document her.
00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:23.679
Maybe that could be a book of her growing, getting older over the years, you know.
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:23.920
Yeah.
00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.480
So that's the thing, thinking about time, like, yeah.
00:57:27.360 --> 00:57:31.920
Some things just come into little projects without you even knowing it, you know?
00:57:32.079 --> 00:57:34.480
That's why I just keep shooting.
00:57:34.639 --> 00:57:34.960
Yeah.
00:57:35.199 --> 00:57:36.239
Shoot wisely.
00:57:37.760 --> 00:57:39.599
Pascal, I really appreciate your time, man.
00:57:39.760 --> 00:57:40.480
It's always a pleasure.
00:57:40.800 --> 00:57:41.039
Okay.
00:57:41.119 --> 00:57:42.079
Thanks for having me, man.
00:57:42.400 --> 00:57:42.800
Awesome.
00:57:42.960 --> 00:57:43.360
Yeah.
00:57:43.599 --> 00:57:45.519
Thank you for listening to Shoot Wisely.
00:57:45.760 --> 00:57:53.519
If you found something in this conversation that inspired you, moved you, or made you think a little differently, please share it with someone who might need to hear it.
00:57:53.760 --> 00:57:56.719
Your support means a lot, and it truly helps the show grow.
00:57:56.960 --> 00:58:03.599
If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a review or comment on your favorite podcast platform.
00:58:03.840 --> 00:58:08.400
Those small actions make a big difference and help more people discover these conversations.
00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:10.639
I'm your host, Amir Bahemi.
00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:17.599
And remember, create with intention, live with curiosity, and always shoot wisely.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.199
Today I'm joined by Pascal, founder of Pascal's Printing in Los Angeles, a photographer, printer, snowboarder, and one of the people helping keep photographic culture alive in a very real and tangible way.
00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:18.399
We live in a time when millions of images are made every day, but most of them never leave our phones, hard drives, or social media field.
00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:22.719
They exist as digital files, viewed for a moment and then forgotten.
00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:27.280
Pascal has built his career around the idea that photographs deserve more than that.
00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:37.920
He believes images live in a physical world, that they should be printed, held in your hands, hung on walls, shared with others, and experienced as objects that carry meaning and presence.
00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:42.640
But what makes Pascal's contribution to photography so special goes beyond the prints themselves.
00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:51.759
Over the years, he's created a space where photographers and creatives can come together to share their work, exhibit their images, exchange ideas, and inspire one another.
00:00:51.920 --> 00:01:00.560
Whether you're just beginning your photographic journey or you've been making pictures for decades, Pascal has cultivated a community where artists can connect through a shared love of media.
00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:04.319
In this conversation, we talk about why printing still matters.
00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.760
What is lost when photographs exist only as pixels on a screen?
00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:15.680
The importance of creating physical spaces for artists to gather, and how community can play an essential role in helping photographers grow and find their voice.
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:17.840
Please enjoy my conversation with Pascal.
00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:18.799
Pascal.
00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:19.200
Hi.
00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:20.400
Hi, how's it going, man?
00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:20.719
Okay.
00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:21.519
Thank you for your time.
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:22.159
I really appreciate it.
00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:23.120
Thanks for having me, man.
00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:23.519
Yeah.
00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:43.280
So we are here in your print shop, and I wanted to start with I heard a story, it may or may not be true, but you are an avid snowboarder, and you had a sprinter van that you sold in order to buy your first printer.
00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:45.840
Not a sprinter van.
00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:48.480
Those are very expensive.
00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.879
Um I had a 16-foot trailer.
00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:53.599
Oh, okay.
00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.920
So yeah, I was pulling it behind my Tacoma.
00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.879
And um yeah, I did that because I was going to Mammoth all the time.
00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.159
And um, you know, I grew up mostly in Colorado.
00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:16.719
I was born in Texas, lived there until I was about 13, and then parents divorced, and then I went off to Colorado, ended up, and then my mom came out, ended up living with my mom, and um just fell in love with snowboarding in the 90s, man.
00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:25.199
So that's all we wanted to do in high school was go snowboarding, and I took some photos of snowboarding, kind of probably early photos with snowboarding stuff.
00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:32.719
And um, yeah, and then you know, I just kept snowboarding for a while, and then uh yeah, but back to the trailer, yeah.
00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:40.159
So I got a trailer um because mammoth is very expensive, the lodging, and uh, and I have a dog.
00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:56.800
So it was made perfect sense to be able to just pick that thing up in Bishop, pull it into uh Mammoth, the RV lot there at the bottom of the town, and uh just post up for a storm, and it was like I think it was 45 bucks a night.
00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:01.919
So I could literally just tap in the electricity, have my heat, um, no water, right?
00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.240
There's no running water, so you bring all your water.
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:11.520
Um and yeah, my dog and I could just live our own lives there in a little little lot and then go uh hit the storms.
00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:13.120
I was always chasing the powder.
00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:14.400
I'm a powder chaser.
00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:16.319
How long how long did you have the trailer for?
00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.400
Uh I only had it, it wasn't that long.
00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:26.719
I would say I got it in maybe it was 2016 or 2017.
00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:37.199
Um yeah, and then I sold it yeah, right before I opened this to help pay for this massive printer right here.
00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.599
And it was just time to let it go, man.
00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:43.360
It was it was, you know, I spent a lot of time in Mammoth.
00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:44.240
I love it up there.
00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:44.560
Yeah.
00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.039
I didn't buy the pass last season, so I took a it was my first time not buying a pass.
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.120
So I took a season off.
00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.680
I got one day of snowboarding in at June Mountain.
00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:57.280
It's probably the least amount of snowboarding I've ever done in my life because that's an outlet for me.
00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:59.280
It's an active outlet, you know.
00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.879
Uh I'm not really a surfer.
00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:08.800
I grew up mostly in the mountains, so I tried to get into surfing, but uh Venice, I don't know, just didn't happen.
00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:11.919
Um so yeah, snowboarding's always been my active outlet.
00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:16.639
And uh I bought the icon pass for this winter, so I hope to get back and do more.
00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:18.639
Hope to get back to Japan again.
00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:25.600
Been going to Japan about uh probably 13 or 14 years, at least once a year, but I missed the last season.
00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:33.120
And um that's the Powder Kingdom, Japan, and best culture, best people, best food.
00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.079
I mean, it's that's snow surfing over there.
00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:37.519
Yeah, Japan is the best.
00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:42.079
I I don't know anything about the mountains or anything like that, but I've spent some time in Japan and I'm definitely falling in love with it.
00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:43.360
There's a reason everyone goes.
00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:45.120
It's and they love photography.
00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:45.519
Yeah.
00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:47.360
You know, just it's insane.
00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.319
Japanese have a lot of respect for the arts, that's for sure.
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.120
Well, I mean, they m they also make all the machines in here.
00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:53.680
Oh.
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:58.079
All my Epsons are Japanese, my monitor is Japanese.
00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.560
Pretty much everything I use in my life is Japanese.
00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:03.519
You know, I never made the correlation that Epson was a Japanese company.
00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:04.079
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:06.079
And so is the uh Canon 2.
00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:06.560
Okay.
00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:14.560
So yeah, I mean, they're all the technologies coming out of Japan, the inkjet technology, and um and I mean the cameras.
00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:22.480
I mean, look, the camera you're using, yeah, my Fuji camera, yeah, my Tacoma, right, my glasses, my snowboard, yeah.
00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.560
Everything I use in my life is Japanese.
00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:27.759
Yeah, my indestructible third gen foreign exhausting.
00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.759
They're on the forefront of technology.
00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:34.480
What's crazy is how small that country is.
00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:36.720
Yeah, I I need to explore more of it.
00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:41.759
I'm gonna go explore uh more of Hanchu this winter instead of going back to Hokkaido.
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:43.360
I'm gonna check out Uzawa.
00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:44.160
What's that?
00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:45.199
That's all up north?
00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:49.759
Uh still no, it's uh I'd say it's west of Tokyo.
00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:50.720
A few hours.
00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:51.120
Okay.
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:52.240
Two, three hours.
00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:56.879
There's a whole zone of mountains I've never been to because I just kept going back to Hokkaido.
00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.519
I ended up in Yamanashi one night.
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:00.480
Yamanashi.
00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.279
I met a bunch of guys there, and we were pretty close to Mount Fuji.
00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:05.920
So that was a pretty epic night.
00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:10.720
So I know you do some landscaping, but I also know you do some amazing um portraits.
00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.160
When when did you start shooting?
00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:14.319
How did photography become a part of your life?
00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:16.319
Um, yeah, photography.
00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:29.360
I'd say, you know, my dad was he collected photos a little bit when I was younger, and I'd see him buy some big photographs and put them up on the wall, and I think that's when I really got inspired.
00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.120
Um did he shoot?
00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:32.720
He never really shot.
00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:45.279
He might have taken a couple, you know, just point and you know, he wasn't an avid shooter, probably just some point and shoot cameras, but but I remember seeing some of his early photographs that he collected and just being around photography as a young kid.
00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.399
I remember seeing some of those first big prints that were like big prints.
00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:49.360
I was like, wow.
00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:56.639
These are I just kind of really fell into them and just love seeing a massive photograph printed on paper.
00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.720
Um because back in the day, yeah, there was there was no digital.
00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:05.279
So, but then I think I really got more into it.
00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:07.439
It was kind of in high school.
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:12.000
Yeah, I started taking in high school in Colorado in the 90s, mid-90s.
00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:22.879
So um had some darkroom classes and and um yeah, I just started documenting my friends in high school, I guess.
00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:27.519
Those are some of my earliest photos are my friends just in snowboarding, so a couple snowboarding shots.
00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:27.839
Yeah.
00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:31.199
And uh then that led to uh me.
00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:43.120
Well then I went to college and and then I you know I kept taking a I was always I would have a photo class here and there, and then I just kept I kept being drawn back to it.
00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.120
So I did a lot of dark room printing.
00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.959
Um and then I that was in Oregon.
00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.000
I went to school in Oregon for a year in Portland in '99.
00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:59.680
So I did some uh still some early photographs then and then um what do you think drew you to photography?
00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:01.439
What drew me to photography?
00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:09.279
Um I think I moved around a lot when I was younger, you know.
00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:28.800
Uh whether it was the parents getting divorced, moving to Texas, Colorado, and then and then Colorado to Oregon, Oregon, I went to Arizona, Arizona, did a stint in New York for a year, all in my early 20s, and um lived in Wyoming for a bit, worked at Jackson Hole Ski Resort for a little bit.
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:47.759
Just kind of I was all over, and I think just realizing how um just quickly how we move around and meet new people and how we leave those people and passage of like time just continually moving, and if we don't document it, it's like we can't reflect on it, we can't you know see.
00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.840
I've always been like a I was a collector of like baseball cards when I was a kid, right?
00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:57.600
So I collected cards, I collected basketball cards, I collected a lot of cards, anything visual, I was collecting.
00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.919
I even collected stamps, I think.
00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:20.799
So I was always a collector, and I like collecting images, and I think that's what traces back to is collecting photographs, is being able to collect photographs of people or places and moments in time and being able to look back on them and just have a whole, you know, it's just a whole library of images of your life.
00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.039
It's it's it's always fascinating me, man.
00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:23.600
Yeah.
00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:26.960
I had a similar experience with um albums.
00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:33.759
Like my dad had a bunch of albums, and I would just stare at those big albums, you know, all the different pictures and the pictures in the back.
00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:36.559
They were so the four photography was so important.
00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:36.879
Yeah.
00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:38.559
For those, yeah, the vinyl.
00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:38.960
Yeah.
00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:44.720
And uh yeah, holding tangible, you're holding tangible photos.
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:45.279
Yeah.
00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:56.480
So we're sitting in your print shop, and the one thing that I love about you and this space that we're in is that you've created a space for photographers.
00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:13.600
You've made a community here where people come and have a place to print their work, they have a place to show their work, and they have somebody to sit with that knows what they're doing and will take the time to help them make the most out of their print.
00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:20.080
And I'm seeing that um in the story that you just told me, how that kind of comes full circle.
00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.080
How did this print shop come about?
00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:24.320
Uh yeah, the print shop.
00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:35.039
So let's say, I well I got my first inkjet printer probably in 2002.
00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.399
So what is that almost 24 years ago?
00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:44.480
It was like an Epson 2200, I forget the exact name, a 13 by 19 inch printer.
00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:49.039
So, and that was I think early 2000s is when inkjet printing really got good.
00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.200
In the 90s it wasn't there.
00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:55.039
So that's why I was strictly in the darkroom mostly.
00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:08.879
And um, and that printer just I mean, to be able to print your photos in your bedroom or in your home, take a photo, print it out, and just see it come out of the machine and see that image revealed just blew my mind.
00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:13.279
And so um I've had inkjet printers since then.
00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:25.039
So 2002, had that one for a bit, and then um the big one, the first big one I got was over there, the P8000.
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:30.559
So I got that in 2016 when I was living in Venice.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.399
And did you get that with personal for personal use, or did you get that with the idea of the?
00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:35.600
I got it just for personal use.
00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:46.000
Yeah, I was um yeah, I had a a breakup, went through a breakup of that time, and I just it was kind of impulse purchase.
00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:57.679
Um I'd always had the small printers, but I'm like, okay, now I just you know, I think it was like I had it, I was super into art photography, and then I got kind of moved into the, you know, I was assisting photographers.
00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:11.679
I came here from the Bay Area, I started assisting celebrity lifestyle, fashion, food photographers in my late 20s, into my early 30s, and I just got so involved and into that, assisting and lighting and helping other people produce the work.
00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:23.600
I think I'd I'd I I'd still be taking my own photos, but I had lost track, I think, of printing my own work for a good chunk of time between my late 20s and I'd say, you know, 34, 35.
00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.320
And so it hit me kind of mid 30s.
00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:29.360
I was like, wow, I need to get back to printing my photos.
00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:31.759
And I think people were starting to want more prints.
00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:33.519
I mean, people were reaching out for prints.
00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:49.919
And so yeah, I got the 44-inch printer around then 10, 11 years ago, and then I was able to sell my own prints to people, and because I had requests, and and then be able to put my images large on my walls again, which is very important for people to do, photographers to do.
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.600
You gotta be looking at your prints in your in your own home, in my opinion.
00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:55.679
Makes you a better photographer, yeah.
00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:56.559
Yeah.
00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:01.279
So yeah, the 44-inch, and then yeah, I just started.
00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:10.000
I think after that, um some people started hitting me up for some prints because yeah, these machines are difficult to manage and they're heavy and they're take a lot of room.
00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:13.120
Yeah, not everyone has the big ones, a lot of photographers have the small ones, right?
00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:15.759
But the big ones are it's a whole nother beast.
00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:27.360
Um and so yeah, I just started printing for some friends, a few photographers, and then um, yeah, that and then this space really came together.
00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:33.200
So, you know, post-pandemic, my photo shoots, my commercial shoots started slowing down.
00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.919
I just saw kind of like my income going down.
00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:42.799
I was like, but people were hitting me up to print more, and I just kind of saw that going up, and then my shoots going down.
00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:54.799
So I just stayed up late a few nights thinking about it, and it's like, you know, I was doing it out of my garage here in West Adams, and I was like, I think I need to pivot more into printing and just helping more people get their images on the paper.
00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:55.440
Yeah.
00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:00.480
And um, and then yeah, this I opened this place a year and a half ago.
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:01.759
It's not even been that long, man.
00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:15.519
A year and a half, probably done 10 or 11 exhibitions here of other people's work, group shows, which I love to do, and um got this 64-inch machine and and started learning.
00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:21.279
I mean, I knew about papers, but I didn't know I wasn't utilizing a lot of different papers because I had a tiny garage.
00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:24.960
I couldn't store all these papers, and so I was really only using a couple papers.
00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:37.759
And so I'd say in the last few years, man, I've actually I've learned a lot just about printing images on different kinds of papers and what you know what that does and how the images look and which images belong on certain kinds of papers, you know.
00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:49.039
Yeah, whether it's a matte paper, a soft gloss paper, you know, a satin paper, different kinds of matte papers, textured papers, um, less texture, warmer papers, whiter papers, you know.
00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:49.679
Yeah.
00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.679
Um and um yeah, it led to this, man.
00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:58.320
And I'm sh you know, it's it's scary to uh open a business by yourself.
00:14:58.480 --> 00:14:58.799
Yeah.
00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:05.279
You know, especially on a main street when you know it's it's yeah, I stayed up late a few nights thinking about it.
00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.799
But you gotta I'm so glad I did it, man.
00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.679
You gotta step into the deep end and just step off the cliff and you know, pivot sometimes in life.
00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:18.159
And I can't believe if I didn't do it, where I'd be, you know, what I'd be doing.
00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.960
I've I mean I was on the borderline of changing careers, man.
00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.720
I was like, I was reaching out to my buddy about selling doors and window frames.
00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:25.279
Right.
00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:28.799
Because I wasn't, you know, my yeah, my income had gone down.
00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:43.440
So I was like, but I just love photography so much, and this print shop has helped keep me in it and killed it's reignited the passion I have for photography and and you know, yeah, printing my own work and just um really helping other people, you know.
00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:49.600
Um and um what about the the community that you've built here?
00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.000
Community in West Adams or the shop?
00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:53.679
Yeah, just the shop in general.
00:15:53.759 --> 00:16:03.440
Like I've uh every time I come here, I always meet some photographer that you're printing with, and I'm able to conversate with them and to be able to see their work, and you're constantly having shows here.
00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.480
So um what what has that done for you building a community of photographers and creators?
00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.120
Yeah, I mean it's very important, man.
00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:27.919
Um uh obviously community is important, but yeah, the photography community, we don't have a lot of spaces in LA um to come and you know, chit-chat about photos and you know, look at images and you know, there used to be the Annaberg space for photos.
00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.440
I think they sh they shut down a while ago.
00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:30.879
That was a cool space.
00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:38.799
Um but photography is always kind of hasn't had a lot of spaces for people to come today together community-wise.
00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.279
Um and so yeah, offering this space.
00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.399
I mean, I have random people walk in here and just, you know, they're just I can see the fire.
00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:54.399
Like they want to get their images on paper and they want to learn and they wanna, you know, they think about, oh, I can sell my photos, I can have an exhibition, you know.
00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.279
I've done exhibitions for people here who have never printed their work before.
00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:57.600
Yeah.
00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:00.879
It's like yeah, I can do this and making it accessible, you know.
00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:13.279
I'm not, you know, high these high-end galleries, you can't just go and bring your work in and you know, I'm not I'm not showing everyone's work here, but if I see there's it's quality imagery, then yeah, you know, you print with me, I'll give you a show, you know.
00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:17.359
I'll like this group exhibition right here is up for you know five weeks.
00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:24.000
Some of these ladies have never printed their photos before, um, never sold their photos before.
00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.000
And the last opening, just to see the the joy, how much joy that brought everyone, the passion, the the love of the community.
00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:36.160
Brought, I mean, I think over maybe 300 people came to this exhibition.
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.960
Um, Black Girl Shoe 2, um, that my friend Kai started.
00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:55.519
And uh yeah, I mean, I think the exhibitions and having a space to showcase your work, and I think people uh they desire it, they need it, it's healthy.
00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:00.640
They you know, it's yeah, it's I see and a lot of the youth, I see it.
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.680
I mean, I'm gonna have another show July 11th, all Latino photographers here.
00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:04.960
I think it should be a big one as well.
00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:06.799
Yeah, that's the next big one.
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.640
Um we did it last summer.
00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.960
Um, my friend Oscar curated it.
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.119
So we're gonna put that on, and yeah, art is the driver, man.
00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:24.160
Photo's the driver, people are passionate about it, and you know, it's better than going to some club late night, and you know, it's like I see the sh the art shift happening.
00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.240
People don't want to go to the clubs in Hollywood anymore.
00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:27.039
They used to.
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:33.200
People need art, they want art, they want to exhibit come together more daytime style, you know.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:37.039
But yeah, I think uh community, back to community.
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.279
People need spaces that come together.
00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:41.119
I mean, it's LA too, right?
00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.960
It's this is a visual city.
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:43.680
Yeah.
00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:47.279
I mean, we just it every I mean so many creatives here too.
00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.319
I mean, this is besides New York, this is an epicenter.
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:55.839
I mean, you know, Los Angeles gives it a get gets such a bad rap, and I might have something to do with that as well.
00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:04.480
But I feel like, you know, per capita, there are so many artists here, and there's so much talent in Los Angeles.
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:30.640
Um but um you know, I was gonna say in this digital world that we live in, and you know, people showcasing, you know, most people showcase their art on Instagram, and most people are looking at these really small pictures that are like, yeah, you know, I was I was going through a bunch of bunch of old um photographs from my family the other day, and I came across all these um like wallet-sized pictures.
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:39.119
And I've I remember like, oh, we used to have like a mini Instagram in our wallet of carrying around pictures, carrying around pictures of special people.
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:46.799
But I feel like now people are realizing that you know that is not the best way to show your work.
00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:56.559
So can you talk about the importance of just being able to print your work and to see your work large?
00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.759
Yeah, get it off the internet and online.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:00.240
Yeah.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.960
Instagram, I I'm an avid user of Instagram.
00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:04.880
I signed on pretty early on.
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.680
My photographer friend that I was working for, this guy Craig Olson.
00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.279
He's like, You gotta get on this platform.
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.480
He said it was started by photographers for photographers.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:13.920
Just showcase your work.
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:22.079
I mean I never really loved Facebook, you know, it was not my thing, but Instagram was made for photographers.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.519
So I think it makes sense to use it, and that's really the only thing I use.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:27.039
People try to get me to use TikTok.
00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:27.839
I I can't do it.
00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:28.640
Yeah, me not.
00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:33.440
Um it's just a way to categorize your work, make a library of it.
00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:34.400
You can look back.
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.279
It's I think it's very important, and most photographers should be doing it.
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.440
I understand some that don't want to do it, it's all good.
00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:48.319
But yeah, to get your images off Instagram, off the internet, and put it on paper, obviously this is very important, that's why I started this space.
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:55.680
Um because the internet, yeah, it devalues a lot of things, right?
00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:12.079
Like uh even movies, uh books, um, photographs, yeah, because everything's free and everything's fast and everything's, you know, we don't spend much time, you know, really holding it and and putting images onto paper, it just it creates value.
00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:16.799
It creates value and it you know, it makes you stare at it.
00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.160
It's it's it's a statement.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:27.119
It's you know, it makes you really I mean to even just print want to print your images, you know, it's it's it's uh it's a you know, it's kind of a bold thing.
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:27.359
Yeah.
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:29.599
Like I'm gonna make a permanent object.
00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:36.000
Yeah that, you know, these images that if you're using these nice papers, these museum quality papers, will last two to four hundred years, if not longer.
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:37.759
You keep them out of the sun, right?
00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:52.640
So you're making something that's gonna last long after you're gone for you know the grandkids or the family to see in a moment in time that you thought was important and precious and that you put it on paper for a reason.
00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.920
And the internet, yeah, I mean, images.
00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:09.680
I mean, I had a guy recently wanted to print an image and And it was on a CD not even that long ago, maybe it was 10 or 11 years ago, got put on a CD back when we used CDEs to instead of hard drives.
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:24.319
And he had trouble getting it off the CD recently, you know, and that got me thinking, I'm like, you know, having your image on paper is just it's you know, it's kind of future-proofing.
00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:24.960
That's what it is.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:34.160
Future proofing your image, I mean, the only way it can disappear is if it burns up in a fire, which is, you know, those are usually the first things you're grabbing when you're leaving the home are your photographs.
00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.720
The most important thing that just shows you how powerful they are.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:37.200
Yeah.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:42.240
Um so yeah, I mean, we don't know how long hard drives are gonna last.
00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.079
We don't know how long the cloud storage.
00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.279
Things are always changing.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.400
You know, I have old hard drives.
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:51.119
I I I I can't even figure out the right plugs to plug them in anymore to access my images.
00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:51.440
Yeah.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.680
And eventually that's all gonna keep changing and changing and changing, and things will fail.
00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:02.559
So in the end, if you don't get your images on paper, you're uh it's it's it could be bad.
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.200
Yeah.
00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:03.759
Yeah.
00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:14.799
My brother was a photographer who passed away, and my mother and father also passed away, and and I always say the most valuable thing I have is the hard copy photos.
00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:24.880
Like I have a lot of the negatives too, but like all the photos that my father took of his family, and then I found all these pictures of of f images he got from his family.
00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:35.920
So like I have this whole catal, like I just have like boxes of all all this film, and it's it's so valuable to me because if I lose them or if something happens to them, that it's just gone.
00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.279
It's just completely gone.
00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.440
And yeah, it's the only thing that my daughter has.
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:50.960
And you know, when I do show them to her, it's a completely different experience when she's holding an image in her hand as opposed to me flipping a phone or a can or on a computer.
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.240
It doesn't hit her the same.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:53.039
She doesn't retain it.
00:23:53.680 --> 00:24:08.480
But when she holds the image, she you know, she remembers what's in the background, she like the color and she's really inspecting it and she's probably holding it for I think I saw most people go to museums and look at art pieces for 15 to 30 seconds.
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.039
Right.
00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:18.480
You know, so you're actually really looking into the image in every corner and looking around and you know, being like, how does this piece of the image, you know, correlate with this?
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.400
And what's the what does that mean?
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.160
And you know, with the internet and Instagram, we're scrolling.
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:24.559
Yeah.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:27.359
It's boom, you see the image maybe what, a second or two.
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:27.599
Yeah.
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:29.119
It ain't 15, 30 seconds.
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:30.960
I mean, as you really dive into it.
00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:35.359
But yeah, most people are just, it's yeah, it's really um.
00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:44.400
Yeah, it's good for I think that's why the younger generation is really wanting to print more of their photos and they're shooting film, right?
00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:45.519
They want that tangible.
00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.400
They want to be able to hold things, they want to be able to look at it longer.
00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:54.960
They want to, it's it's a counter attack against the digital and the AI and everything that's happening right now.
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:55.359
Yeah.
00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:56.799
Film is booming.
00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:00.319
I think I think the print business is only gonna go up and up and up.
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:05.200
Um, so yeah, it's uh in a world of speed.
00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.559
Everything's so everything is just flying by these days.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:09.200
And disposing.
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:12.960
And we're digesting images like more than you know, we drink water.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:13.359
Yeah.
00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:14.720
We digest them every day.
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:16.079
I mean, we all do it, I do it.
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.920
We're digesting so many, and what do we really retain of those images, you know?
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:31.599
So to put an image on a piece of paper and put it up in your house or put it in a show, and it's stagnant and it's there to be looked at over and over and over and over for years and years and years, that's a powerful statement, man.
00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.200
It's a powerful thing to do.
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.839
And um, it makes you a better photographer, it's made me a better photographer.
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:42.000
And um, yeah, it's very important.
00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:42.960
Very important.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:56.559
Well, let me talk about this community here, because uh I kind of stumbled across this this area, and but instantly it just reminded me of like certain areas of Brooklyn before they really got popular.
00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:58.799
How how long have you been in this area?
00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:02.720
Yeah, you know, it's uh I came over here, what was it?
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:08.160
Uh I was in Venice for 10 years, and I moved over here in 2016.
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:12.960
I'd been coming over here because uh my friends had a warehouse down the street on Jefferson.
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:18.240
Some of my friends from Jelena, they had like a late night, a breakman brewery, it was called.
00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:22.000
So they did music shows and kind of a speakeasy bar.
00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:26.480
It was like a it was a social underground, speakeasy gathering spot.
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.799
And yeah, it was just right down the street here.
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:35.440
So I was coming over, I was, I don't know, 20, 2010, 2011, 2012, I think that's when they were doing it.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.480
And uh I just I was like, you know what?
00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:41.279
It was not that it was easy to get to here.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:59.839
Wasn't it's right in the middle of LA, it was like I like the location, it was you know, it was mostly Latino uh community around here, which I love, and uh the sense of community is very strong, and um and you know it's obviously a ch the neighborhood's changing, right?
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:02.000
You know, this was a laundromat before.
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:02.799
Right.
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:07.759
Um and uh you know, all these buildings, it's a lot of new things coming up.
00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:10.319
As you know, most neighborhoods they change over time, they do.
00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:17.440
And uh I think that's reminds me of of Brooklyn when like I was always moving to places that I could afford.
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:27.759
Yeah, I mean they weren't the best places ever, yeah, but they had like these big beautiful buildings, and then somebody opens up a cafe and somebody opens up a restaurant, and then all of a sudden more people start moving here and yeah.
00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.240
I mean, when I was living in Venice in 2006, seven, it was totally different.
00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:52.799
I mean um yeah, I mean neighborhoods change, but I don't think this one, this one, the culture is staying strong in this neighborhood, I believe, just because uh I mean there's so many cultures right here in Mid City and West Adams and Crenshaw, and um we're also not by the ocean, so that's you know not drawn super heavy tourists.
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.200
Um a lot of artists are moving here, yes.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:56.960
Um it's more affordable.
00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:59.759
I mean, that like you said, you you know, that's it just happens.
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:01.839
People move to more affordable neighborhoods.
00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:05.839
Um but you gotta move in here and you know give back to the community.
00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:07.839
Yeah, can't just move here and take, you know.
00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:10.240
Yeah, you can't just move here because it's cheaper, you know.
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:10.799
Right.
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:13.440
And um you gotta give back.
00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.440
And and hopefully that's what I'm trying to do, get back to the community.
00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.480
I'll do, you know, I do memorial photos for the neighbors for free, you know.
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:24.559
I'll you know, I'll I you know, give lots of free prints away to the neighbors.
00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:26.640
I take pictures for the neighbors, you know, all the time.
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:35.519
They ask me to do a quinceanera photo or family photos, or you know, um so yeah, giving back to the community of West Adams, very important.
00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.799
So um what else were you asking?
00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:40.319
No, that was pretty much it.
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:42.480
And uh, you know, you talking about giving prints away.
00:28:42.559 --> 00:29:04.079
I mean, I don't don't not I don't want everybody to expect this, but I I appreciate how um committed you are to the craft and how you're willing to take chances for other photographers, and I could speak on that because when I was doing my show Canyon Peacocks, I had an idea what I wanted to do, and you were like, wow, this would look really good on metallic.
00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:06.960
And the minute you said metallic, I was like, ugh.
00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:10.559
Like, I'm not putting my prints on metallic paper, that just sounds horrible.
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:17.519
And you saw the look on my face, and you were like, Alright, let me just do it, and if you don't, like I'll I'll just do it for free.
00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.960
I just want you to see what it looks like.
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:19.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:22.000
And I couldn't that then my whole show was metallic.
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.400
Like I couldn't believe how amazing the cars looked on metallic.
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:25.599
Made sense for the cars.
00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:33.839
But it just goes, it speaks to the fact that you you care about the craft because you could have easily just said, like, alright, dude, like if that's what you want, let's do it.
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.160
You know, I got other things to do.
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:37.359
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:39.680
No, dude, I'm you know, uh yeah.
00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:45.200
Every person that comes in here, I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna look at the images, I'm gonna suggest papers, I'm gonna show you papers.
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:47.279
Um, yeah, I'm a one-man show, you know.
00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:58.720
I want I want everyone that leaves here to be happy and feel like they've learned something and that they're growing as a photographer and artist, not just like a, you know, I'm not just you know, I'm just yeah, I'm not just trying to get your money, you know.
00:29:58.960 --> 00:29:59.680
I do it for the love.
00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:00.960
I'm a photographer.
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:05.759
So, you know, I you know, I'm not I'm not even a businessman, you know.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:08.160
I'm learning the business side right now as we speak.
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.079
Um and how's that going?
00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:12.160
Uh yeah, I'm I'm learning every day, man.
00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:13.279
Yeah.
00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:13.680
Yeah.
00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:15.119
I got to be more to you, right?
00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:15.599
You don't have to do it.
00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:16.400
It's just me, man.
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:17.200
It's just me, yeah.
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:20.720
So that's why, you know, you know, I have right now I have clamp lights for my walls.
00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:23.200
I don't, you know, I don't, you know, I don't have track lighting.
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:25.200
Maybe the next space, I'll get some track lighting.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.640
I want to keep the next space, because I have to move out of here eventually.
00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.599
Who knows when, but yeah, next space.
00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:35.440
Hopefully I want to get some walls and keep doing the exhibitions because I don't want to just be a print lab.
00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:48.240
I want to I want to showcase people's work, give the opportunity for people to showcase yeah, group exhibitions, solo exhibitions, and um yeah, I want to keep that going because I mean that's that's what it's all about, you know.
00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:49.680
I just don't want to be a print factory.
00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.559
Yeah, I never want to be a big warehouse print factory.
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:53.680
That's not what I'm trying to do here.
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:54.079
Right.
00:30:54.319 --> 00:31:00.079
That being said, what what do you think one mistake that you see a lot of photographers make when they come here and want to print something?
00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:00.960
Resolution.
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:14.720
A lot of people don't understand resolution and how big they can print their files without them being super pixelated or you know how how you shot your what camera you shot your file on and how that correlates with how big you can print it.
00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:23.839
Um yeah, so I'll I'll make you know I'm not gonna print a massive print for someone if I don't think it's gonna look good.
00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:24.880
You know?
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:25.359
Yeah.
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:26.640
I wouldn't do that.
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:43.039
So I you know, I look at the file resolution, the size, and I always suggest, oh, you can go this big with this file, you know, unless you can find the raw file and reprocess it, or you know, there's you could use AI, but I know a lot of people are against it to enlarge, but I don't recommend it.
00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:44.000
But yeah.
00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:46.400
Yeah.
00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:52.720
But um, but speaking about that, do you um has AI changed anything?
00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:57.519
Your approach or in your style of work or anything for you?
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:12.160
Um I I literally I only use it for a few people that they only have like kilobyte size files, or not even the megabytes, and they really want something printed a little bigger.
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:16.000
I'm like, well, if you can't find the original, this is all you got.
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:23.359
I think AI can just it just smooths it out so you can print it a little bigger and it doesn't look pixelated.
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:28.240
But how is that different from just going into Photoshop and enlarging the size of the image?
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:34.559
Well, if you just enlarge in Photoshop, yeah, it would be really pixel, it wouldn't, it wouldn't, yeah, it wouldn't come out looking.
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:43.920
So AI is able to go in and kind of interpolate and somehow smooth out those pixels and just make it so it prints smoother, I would say.
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:51.519
I just like, yeah, I mean it's I've I've used it a few times for people, and you know, some people are fine with it, you know, and some people don't want to even want to touch it.
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:52.480
I get it.
00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:59.680
Um I don't want to use it on my own work, I don't think I've ever used it for my own work, but I think a guy, yeah, from Baldwin Hills came down.
00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:06.000
He had an image from Rio de Janeiro of like and it's super tiny, and he really wanted to enlarge it for his house just a little bigger.
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:10.240
So I was like, well, we could use this Topaz Gigapixel AI.
00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:12.960
That's basically there's a bunch of softwares, but that's one of them.
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:14.480
He was happy with it, man.
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.680
So if you're happy with it, then it's just another tool.
00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:18.640
That's how I look at it.
00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:22.000
But I'm not trying to use AI at all, really.
00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:28.480
What technically about an image takes it from a good print to an amazing print?
00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:30.240
A good print to an amazing print.
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:33.680
Oh, well, that goes back to the paper.
00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:38.640
Um yeah, I mean, it depends.
00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:41.440
This is a metallic paper, the one that you printed your works on.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:44.000
I mean, it really depends on paper choice, right?
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:47.759
You know, here's a uh Japanese paper with decled edges.
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:49.200
Softer effect.
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:56.480
Um yeah, the paper choice is very important, and I've you know I've learned a lot through my friend Eric over at Freestyle about paper.
00:33:56.799 --> 00:34:07.920
And um, yeah, paper choice is well, first I gotta see the image, and then you know, I'll suggest a paper, and then I'll suggest a couple papers, and then I let people kind of choose the paper they gravitate towards.
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:10.480
You know, and yeah, paper choice is very important.
00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:11.920
People don't realize it is.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:20.320
People, you know, they're used to printing their photos at, you know, whatever CVS or getting just super glossy photos, and they just don't even think about the paper, you know.
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:24.239
And like these are a lot of the papers I've here are 100% cotton papers, right?
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:28.239
So they'll they're this that's why they're super archival the last hundreds of years.
00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:34.000
There's um and a lot of these papers I carry on for a reason is they don't have any optical brighteners.
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:39.199
So they won't um fade or yellow as quickly, and the longevity will be there.
00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:41.199
And um what is an optical brightener?
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:46.639
Optical brighteners is basically chemicals they put in paper to make it brighter white.
00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:51.360
Um, you know, so most papers we see have optical brighteners in them.
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:54.880
Um and those break down over time and deteriorate.
00:34:55.039 --> 00:35:00.480
That's why you look at old family photos, they're starting to they become really yellow or they start to disintegrate.
00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:10.639
And um yeah, optical brighteners, they're you know, they're in a lot of fine art papers, but I'm trying to carry a lot of papers here that don't have them.
00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:13.599
I'd say 90% of the papers I have here don't have them.
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:19.039
Some people say they're okay, some people there's kind of a whole conversation about that.
00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:24.800
We could go on for a while about it, but yeah, I mean I'm trying to carry mostly um no OBA papers here.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:33.920
Um because I think again, back to the longevity, I want your images to last for hundreds of years and look how they did when we printed them.
00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:38.400
You know, if you keep them out of sun and maybe if you frame them, you know, it's better.
00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:42.320
Um yeah, paper choice is important.
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:44.960
Um, you know, the printers, the printers are so good now.
00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:51.360
So I mean, as long as you're using Canon or Epson, I mean, those are the the best, you know, you gotta use pigment inks, right?
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:53.440
Dye-based ink doesn't last.
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:56.239
So pigment inks that is very important.
00:35:56.320 --> 00:36:03.519
So if you want longevity and to be truly called an archival print, you gotta be using uh pigment inks.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.360
Um this printer I think has like is it 12 colors?
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:14.159
Um and nozzles, it has like 9,600 nozzles laying down ink.
00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:16.159
I mean, it's it's a magic thing, these printers.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:16.559
Yeah.
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:21.840
What do you think the biggest misconception or of the biggest misunderstanding when people come here to print?
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:23.199
Um resolution.
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:24.719
I think I touched on that earlier.
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.360
Resolution, how big I can print my photos.
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:34.559
Um, you know, people want to print their iPhone photos massive, and I'm like, well, you know, those iPhone billboards are completely they're a lie, right?
00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:37.840
And they're just those are massive pixels on the billboard you can't really see, you know.
00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:43.440
They're and then there's hundreds of people working on those images, probably using AI to enlarge them, who knows?
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:50.400
So yeah, people think, yeah, big misconception is people think they can print their images massive and they'll look incredible.
00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:50.800
Right.
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:57.840
You know, but that it, you know, then it comes back to the yeah, uh technology of cameras, like how many megapixels is your camera, right?
00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:58.079
Yeah.
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:04.239
Reason I shoot a medium format Fuji GFX is because it's a hundred megapixels, it's meant for printing.
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:11.280
And I switched over to I was shooting medium format film, which is great for printing as well, because it's just it's a bigger, it's a bigger negative.
00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:21.039
So it's in the medium format cameras, it's a bigger sensor, so there's more information, there's more pixels, um, which leads to bigger prints, you know.
00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:30.079
But then some people don't care having super pixelated images, and it's fine to have big images that are super pixelated if you know you're viewing them from a certain distance, you know.
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:34.480
It's funny because maybe pixels are the new uh green, grainy photos.
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:36.639
Pixels are the new grainy photos.
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:42.719
What is something that something about you that might surprise people?
00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:44.480
I love growing food, gardening.
00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:45.440
Oh, nice, nice.
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:46.639
Yeah, we talked about that.
00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:52.719
Yeah, you know, uh tending to, yeah, I just planted some tomatoes, I got uh, I mean they're all in planters, right?
00:37:52.800 --> 00:38:00.320
I don't have much space, but I'm growing tomatoes, cucumber, chilies, um, got a passion fruit vine on the fence.
00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:00.960
Nice.
00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:11.199
Um yeah, nurturing a plant, growing it, and then uh and then being able to consume it and taste what you nurtured.
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:14.960
It's kinda uh you can correlate that to printing and photography, right?
00:38:15.039 --> 00:38:26.800
Yeah, taking the photo, working on it, you know, in the dark room or in Photoshop, and then actually printing it is like cons like actually consuming it.
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:27.199
Yeah.
00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:36.719
So it's like um, yeah, if you're not printing your photos, it's kind of like just growing the plant and cooking it and then just staring at it, right?
00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:44.719
Putting it on the paper and printing it is like can now you can actually consume it and really dive into it and share it.
00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:45.679
And share it.
00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:46.320
Yeah, yeah.
00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:48.079
So yeah, sharing a meal.
00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:53.119
Yeah, so I I'm yeah, I'm a big uh I go to the farmers market every Wednesday.
00:38:53.280 --> 00:38:55.039
I like to support local farmers.
00:38:55.119 --> 00:38:56.079
Uh which one?
00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:57.119
Santa Monica.
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:58.880
Yeah, I I've never been to Santa Marketing.
00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:01.760
But any any farmer's market is great to support.
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:03.599
Um but that Santa Monica one is.
00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:07.360
Well, obviously that's the one all the best all the all the restaurants go to.
00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:09.440
I used to get to see some of my chef friends.
00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:12.559
I used to shoot food and beverage and some restaurant stuff.
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:18.639
So yeah, it's kind of like get to say hi to some people, but yeah, um, food is very important to me.
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:22.239
Um supporting local farmers and just knowing where your food comes from.
00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:24.480
That's something my mom always drove into me.
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:24.880
Yeah.
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:27.119
She grew a lot of her own food.
00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:35.119
And um, yeah, nurturing a plant and growing it and then consuming it and organic, no pesticides, you know.
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:42.159
Yeah, that's a whole another rabbit hole about I could go off about our food culture here.
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:42.719
Yeah.
00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:43.280
Yeah.
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:44.559
Yeah, we talked about this.
00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:49.280
I I I uh I dropped off some uh veggies from my garden.
00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:50.400
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:39:50.480 --> 00:40:03.360
Uh yeah, food is so important, man, and and I love being around chefs and seeing their passion and and um yeah, so yeah, I look at you know, a lot of this printing like that, you know, these are basically organic prints, right?
00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:11.760
When you don't have chemicals in them and you know, they're you know, I correlate it to uh yeah, farmers market food.
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:16.559
So um a couple more questions here.
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:21.360
What what should people know before they come to you and want to print their work?
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.639
Best to email me so we can set up like an appointment.
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:34.880
I I I take walk-ins, but best to email me so we can set up an appointment, get a conversation going about what images you're interested in printing or what it's gonna be for, an exhibition, or you know.
00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:37.840
Um so yeah, email me first.
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:49.760
Um or call, prefer email, and um then I'll set up an appointment and then you know, we can come in, take a look at whatever you need done, and uh give you my advice.
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:53.840
And um but I take walk-ins, right?
00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:57.119
You know, I I had some people come in, they needed a memorial photo that day.
00:40:57.199 --> 00:41:03.199
Yeah, you know, so I'm like, yes, I can, you know, I can do a memorial photo right there for them, you know.
00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:03.920
They needed it.
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:06.239
So I do some same-day printing for people.
00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:10.320
As long as I don't have a super crazy important exhibition I'm printing for.
00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:10.880
Yeah.
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:16.320
Edit down your images, yeah, and then I can help you edit it more too and give my constructive feedback.
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:17.679
Yeah, you did that for me too.
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:20.079
Which I'm I do all the time for people, right?
00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:38.079
So it's like a little like constructive feedback critique about you know, maybe what I, you know, yeah, I give my what would look good on paper and what's important to you, and and um and then yeah, maybe try not to bring images on CDs.
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:44.079
So yeah, thumb drive, or you know, you can airdrop it here if it's not massive, or you know.
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:46.400
Um but yeah, usually drives are the best.
00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:48.239
You've been doing this for a long time.
00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:50.719
What what still excites you about photography?
00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:59.679
What really excites me is seeing the the joy of people seeing their images printed for the first time, you know, the joy and the love and the yeah, the passion that I see.
00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:07.599
And uh yeah, I mean, people come in here I all the time, never printed their images on nice papers ever.
00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:10.559
It really blows my mind, you know?
00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:14.639
Because then once they see that first print, it's like, yeah, it's addicting.
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:16.239
You want to keep printing your images.
00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:21.920
I mean, you don't need to print all of them, but you should be printing more of your images and living with them and putting them up in your walls.
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.960
I've always, everywhere I've lived, I've always had my images on my walls.
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:33.280
And then you live with those images and then you you take them down, you replace them with new ones, so it's just a constant source of nutrition.
00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:35.360
Yeah, image nutrition.
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:40.000
And you learn and you get better at Tarver and you grow by printing your images.
00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:43.920
And um so yeah, that inspires me.
00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:48.400
And um let's see what else.
00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:51.280
Um I mean, I'm a shooter too, right?
00:42:51.360 --> 00:43:00.480
So I get you know, being around so many people, I haven't been shooting a lot, but since I do really enjoy shooting, that's why I got into this.
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:03.199
Um what's the last thing you shot?
00:43:03.519 --> 00:43:07.519
Uh personally, I haven't shot too much recently.
00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:09.840
Um what's the last thing you shot?
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:15.039
I did print one of my landscapes recently, my Hollywood winter landscape I shot three years ago.
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:16.079
Yeah, that's gorgeous.
00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:16.880
I saw that post.
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:19.599
Yeah, so I mean here in the shop.
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:20.079
What's that?
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:21.360
Is that print here in the shop?
00:43:21.679 --> 00:43:22.880
It's rolled up right over there.
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:25.280
43 by 76 inches.
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:28.400
So that's a 16-9 uh aspect ratio.
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:30.719
So yeah, aspect ratios are very important to think about.
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:32.400
Like what aspect ratio are you shooting in?
00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:34.079
How's that gonna translate on a paper?
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:38.880
You know, you can change your aspect ratios, um, you know, and think about that way.
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:48.400
I don't do a lot of cropping of my own images, cropping's fine, but when you really start thinking about aspect ratios and how that's gonna lay on paper, that helps you become a better photographer as well.
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:55.039
Um so you can just get the most resolution out of your sensor because you start cropping, you're losing resolution, right?
00:43:55.119 --> 00:43:55.440
Yeah.
00:43:55.920 --> 00:44:01.599
So really thinking about aspect ratio is very important and Becoming a better photographer, yeah.
00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:03.199
I mean, some people say it's all good to crop.
00:44:03.280 --> 00:44:07.920
Yeah, I think it's fine, but really you want the most info info out of that sensor.
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:08.400
Yeah.
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:14.239
Um but yeah, personally, I shoot a lot of you know, I'm I'm a big landscape guy, man.
00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:15.920
I I you know I love landscapes.
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:17.519
I love surrounding myself in nature.
00:44:17.679 --> 00:44:21.679
You know, I grew up going, my mom took me to all the national parks as a kid out west.
00:44:21.840 --> 00:44:23.360
I've been to pretty much all of them.
00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:25.920
You know, I was very avid outdoors, man.
00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:29.440
I was climbing mountains, I was, you know, whatever, snowboarding.
00:44:29.519 --> 00:44:31.760
I'm I'm a nature dude, even though I live in the city.
00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.639
And I love surrounding myself in my own.
00:44:35.039 --> 00:44:39.519
And right now in my house I have photos of Japan, snowy winter landscapes.
00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:42.239
Um I love photographing in Japan.
00:44:42.320 --> 00:44:43.679
I love photographing the winter.
00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:45.280
They just they calm me.
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:48.159
So I have some massive, they're pretty big.
00:44:48.239 --> 00:44:49.840
I showcased them here for a second.
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:52.880
They're uh I'd say they're 48 by 64 inches.
00:44:53.119 --> 00:45:02.719
So I have one above my bed, I have one in the kitchen, just these really tranquil, beautiful, snowy landscapes that make me feel good when I get home.
00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:09.599
So it's really about what you you want to look at when you come home and what makes you makes you feel more at peace, right?
00:45:09.679 --> 00:45:09.920
Right.
00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:13.119
Yeah, it could be a big portrait, it's fine, you know.
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:15.840
Um I used to shoot a lot of portraits.
00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.960
Maybe someday I'll make a book of those.
00:45:19.199 --> 00:45:26.079
Um, but yeah, for me, a lot of landscapes, so I get you know I get more inspired now when I go on trips, you know.
00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:28.000
So I don't have any trips planned yet.
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:31.119
Maybe I'll go back to Japan uh in December.
00:45:31.599 --> 00:45:34.239
But um, you know, I I went to Oaxaca.
00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:36.400
Here's a here's a shot from Oaxaca.
00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:37.519
Oh, that's yours.
00:45:37.679 --> 00:45:37.840
Yeah.
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:39.920
All these images on the papers are mine.
00:45:40.159 --> 00:45:40.719
That's beautiful.
00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:47.760
See, I did uh went to Oaxaca a few times um with my friends from uh this restaurant, Amano, up in uh Idaho.
00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:53.360
They took me down there and and learned all about Oaxaca and did a little book on Oaxaca.
00:45:53.440 --> 00:45:54.880
So I love Oaxaca.
00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:55.760
Yeah, Oaxaca.
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:57.199
I mean, everyone should go there.
00:45:57.519 --> 00:46:05.679
Um here's a here's a shot of um some wild mustangs up uh near Mammoth.
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:07.119
Amazing.
00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:10.320
And um they're just out there living, man, these wild mustangs.
00:46:10.480 --> 00:46:16.000
There's a that's yeah, that's a whole nother subject actually though.
00:46:16.159 --> 00:46:23.440
Um, because they're starting to, you know, they're actually rounding up some of those mustangs.
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:24.480
It's not a good deal.
00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:30.079
Um this is a landscape I shot uh from Santa Monica Pier.
00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:32.719
Uh Golden Ocean.
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:35.920
Um here's a shot of my sister that on that you saw this earlier.
00:46:36.480 --> 00:46:37.199
Yeah, it's such a beautiful shot.
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:40.159
Shot this 2007, probably on my Mamiya 7.
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:45.519
Um I really I really think your portraits are really amazing.
00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:46.800
Thank you, man.
00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:48.480
Yeah, I have a lot of portraits no one's really seen.
00:46:48.559 --> 00:46:51.039
That's why actually I've been diving into my archives.
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:54.559
I have a lot of film photos I'm scanning right now, so I might make a little book.
00:46:54.639 --> 00:46:58.639
Um, probably mostly of portraits, early portraits.
00:46:59.199 --> 00:47:03.039
Um I wanted to ask you, yeah.
00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:07.119
When people print, usually framing is an afterthought.
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:08.320
Oh, framing, yeah.
00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:24.480
Is should people be thinking about framing more when they talk about aspect ratios and fra and image size, or is should you just focus on the image and the best size and then you figure the the the print out, I mean the frame out later?
00:47:25.119 --> 00:47:30.000
Yeah, so what I always say is that you know, people want to they want a nice big print.
00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:31.599
Where's that print gonna go, right?
00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:33.039
It's gonna go above your bed.
00:47:33.199 --> 00:47:35.039
Where what what space is it going into?
00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:39.119
If it's not going to exhibition, where is that print gonna live for a long time?
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:41.760
Um so I always tell them to measure that space.
00:47:41.920 --> 00:47:44.320
You know, you want to fill that space properly, right?
00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:47.039
You don't want it too small, you don't want it too big.
00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:52.159
So really measuring the space where your print's gonna go is probably the first step before printing.
00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:55.760
And then, you know, a frame usually adds a few inches.
00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:01.920
So yeah, measuring the space and then framing, yeah.
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:05.679
If it's gonna be in a ready-made frame, which are mostly smaller frames, I have some over there.
00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:11.679
People need it last minute, they need it in a frame, you know, for an affordable cost, which is fine.
00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:13.920
I'm not I have nothing against ready-made frames.
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:18.800
Um it's a great quick, you know, thing to do.
00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:24.239
And you have to think about, yeah, if what image is gonna fit in that ready-made frame, you know, down to the sizing.
00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:24.960
Do I have to trim it?
00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:27.519
You know, so that gets a little more tricky there.
00:48:27.599 --> 00:48:33.760
But custom framing, I really it's about measuring where that image is gonna go, and then custom framing.
00:48:33.920 --> 00:48:37.440
You can add a mat, you can keep the image right to the border.
00:48:37.599 --> 00:48:39.199
You know, do you want your signature shown?
00:48:39.280 --> 00:48:45.199
So then you give a little space on the below the image, so then you put a mat around that, or you just use the paper as a border.
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:46.559
I mean, there's many ways to go about it.
00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:48.559
So, yeah, I talked that out with people.
00:48:48.800 --> 00:48:49.840
A little bit of framing.
00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:55.039
I offer um some framing through my friend's Sherman Gallery in Venice, so I have some samples here.
00:48:55.280 --> 00:49:02.239
But uh yeah, framing is very important to protect the image, having that layer of plexi.
00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:08.400
I I always say plexi is better than glass, but um to protect it, yeah.
00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:15.360
I mean, because yeah, I if you don't, yeah, over time your image will just things will get on it.
00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:16.719
Yeah, it'll get ruined.
00:49:16.800 --> 00:49:26.800
But then there's something to be said for for not like I do shows here without frames just so you can really see the paper, and it's more affordable, and it's easier to hang.
00:49:26.880 --> 00:49:31.599
And this is how I've been doing shows here with just these clips, and it just makes total sense.
00:49:31.920 --> 00:49:42.480
Um and then once these ladies take their images, then they can decide how they want to frame them or you know what they want to do with them, and and it's just easier to transport.
00:49:42.639 --> 00:49:46.159
And yeah, so I'm gonna keep doing shows, probably not framed.
00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:50.639
And then, but when an image finally needs to live in its space, it probably should be framed.
00:49:51.119 --> 00:49:55.519
I don't ask all my guests this question, but this the show is called shoot wisely.
00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:56.320
Shoot wisely.
00:49:56.559 --> 00:49:58.239
It's something my brother always used to tell me.
00:49:58.639 --> 00:50:01.280
What would your advice to shoot wisely be?
00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:03.199
First advice, print your photos.
00:50:04.719 --> 00:50:08.880
If you're not printing your photos, man, you're missing out.
00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:13.119
And you know, like I said, those images could disappear.
00:50:13.280 --> 00:50:23.440
You know, you get them on paper, at least you can re-photograph them or scan them, or you know, don't don't trust the digital cloud and don't trust hard drives.
00:50:23.679 --> 00:50:42.480
And um and get your images out in the world, you know, get your images living in whether it's a restaurant or your friend's place, or get get your images living and breathing out in the world that you know that you know bring uh joy to people and you know reflection.
00:50:42.639 --> 00:50:45.119
And uh I mean that's why we do this.
00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:53.119
So yeah, print your images, um whether it's with me or someone else, I don't care.
00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:56.239
Um and let's see, what else?
00:50:56.559 --> 00:50:58.480
Definitely keep shooting.
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:08.639
Um and uh growing as uh, you know, keep pushing boundaries and uh don't get set in your ways.
00:51:08.719 --> 00:51:12.239
Um, you know, we kind of pigeonhole ourselves.
00:51:12.559 --> 00:51:18.559
And um like most people probably think I'm a landscape photographer because I print a lot of my own landscapes and that's what people mostly see.
00:51:19.039 --> 00:51:19.840
That's what I thought until I started.
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:20.559
Yeah, you don't know.
00:51:20.639 --> 00:51:22.159
I I have a lot of portraits, man.
00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:26.719
Yeah, you know, so maybe I need to print more of those.
00:51:26.880 --> 00:51:38.480
And um, so yeah, don't pigeonhole yourself and experiment and you know, and just keep pushing, you know, once you feel comfortable and it's time to change it up, you know.
00:51:38.559 --> 00:51:42.320
If you know you're a portrait shooter, start taking some landscapes, you know.
00:51:42.639 --> 00:51:46.639
Um play with double exposures, triple exposures, quadruple exposures.
00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:49.440
That show shot I just showed you earlier, that's a double exposure.
00:51:49.519 --> 00:51:51.039
That's only where I got the sun and the moon.
00:51:51.199 --> 00:51:52.639
Oh wow in one, you know.
00:51:52.719 --> 00:51:58.719
I saw the moon, captured it, and I put it over the sunset because I saw it at the same time, and like they belong together.
00:51:58.800 --> 00:51:59.199
Right.
00:51:59.360 --> 00:52:03.920
So, you know, um I love multiple exposures, those are fun to play with.
00:52:04.159 --> 00:52:24.960
Um and um, yeah, uh besides printing, man, just being a good person, eating well, you know, trying to support your local farmers, support your community, um, be nice to each other.
00:52:25.679 --> 00:52:31.519
Um yeah, there's a lot of competitiveness, I think, in the everything, right?
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.039
And I kind of felt it in the photo world a little bit when I was younger here.
00:52:35.199 --> 00:52:42.239
Everyone's trying to be competitive, like, oh, especially in the commercial world, oh, they got that job, or why didn't I get that job, or how did you get that job?
00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:44.639
It's like just throw all that out the window, man.
00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:46.400
There should be no competitiveness.
00:52:46.639 --> 00:52:50.960
Get rid of all that, and just be like, I'm me, I'm shooting my photos, you know.
00:52:51.280 --> 00:52:54.239
You know, it's just and be patient, you know.
00:52:54.960 --> 00:53:00.320
And um, and yeah, I think yeah, community is very important.
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:05.920
That's why this space for photographers to come together, and there is no competition here, you know.
00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:07.360
That's what's great about exhibitions.
00:53:07.519 --> 00:53:11.760
Everyone's showcasing what they love and how they shoot and how they see.
00:53:12.320 --> 00:53:14.320
You gotta shoot personal work.
00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:27.039
I think that's what you gotta shoot your person, you gotta shoot your friends, you gotta capture your family, you gotta capture your life because you're the photographer in your own surrounding circle, and if you don't do it, maybe no one else is doing it.
00:53:27.280 --> 00:53:31.920
It's like my family photos that I have been going through, all these negatives, four by five, six, seven.
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:35.280
Um no one else in my family took those photos.
00:53:35.519 --> 00:53:48.880
So they're very important to my brother now and and my family, and you know, I just my uncle passed away recently, and it's like, you know, you gotta be the photographer in your network and document it all because life is.
00:53:49.840 --> 00:53:53.679
I'm I'm mid-40s now, and you said you're 50, but it goes by quick, man.
00:53:53.840 --> 00:53:54.000
Yeah.
00:53:54.239 --> 00:53:56.320
And you start really feeling it more in your 40s.
00:53:56.559 --> 00:53:58.320
And it's like life is fleeting, man.
00:53:58.559 --> 00:54:00.880
I got, you know, I had a friend that just passed away recently.
00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:01.920
Sorry to hear that.
00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:03.920
Yeah, multiple people passed away recently.
00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:06.480
It's just like it makes you think about what's that?
00:54:06.800 --> 00:54:08.480
Unfortunately, the longer you live, the more people.
00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:28.000
Yeah, and there's gonna be a lot more, I feel like, coming at me soon, and you know, um, whether I like it or not, it's just so then it's like, you know, so yeah, the best advice I can give is really to take those pictures that no one's taking in your surrounding network, just like you do, like all the photographers do.
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:42.559
But yeah, and not just not just the commercial and stuff, but you know, the family photos, the friends, like I said, uh the landscapes that you see, those sunsets that mean something to you that you know maybe no one else saw the way you saw it.
00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:51.440
And um because yeah, in the end, that's you know what's what's remaining is our our photographs, right?
00:54:51.679 --> 00:54:56.880
And hopefully by printing those, those will last for generations to come, and that's why I do this.
00:54:57.360 --> 00:55:02.880
And hopefully that inspires other people to come in and print their photos.
00:55:03.280 --> 00:55:03.760
Awesome.
00:55:04.159 --> 00:55:18.880
I heard um I heard a photographer say that uh, and I can't remember who it was, but they said that you know, not all your pictures are gonna be like the one, you know.
00:55:19.599 --> 00:55:23.280
But it's like it's like collecting change.
00:55:23.599 --> 00:55:31.440
It's like you got pennies, you got quarters, you got some dollars in there, yeah, and then before you know it, you got this jar filled with all this money.
00:55:31.599 --> 00:55:34.880
And together, it's it's worth a lot.
00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:42.559
And I thought that was such a great way of putting it because some some pictures you take might be a penny, and other pictures you take might be, you know, yeah, a silver dollar.
00:55:43.039 --> 00:55:55.039
That makes me think about um I studied up at CCA in in Oakland with some legendary photographers, Jim Goldberg, Larry Sultan, Todd Haido, and uh Larry Sultan had a quote.
00:55:55.199 --> 00:55:56.079
I actually have it here.
00:55:56.159 --> 00:55:57.760
I was I'll read it.
00:55:58.079 --> 00:56:04.639
He says, When it comes down to making work that really sings, I don't know if I can teach any of it.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:08.000
I don't even know if I can do any of it half the time.
00:56:08.159 --> 00:56:15.679
It's so much about failure, it's so much about making pictures that are so utterly boring and overstated, you're endlessly disappointed.
00:56:15.760 --> 00:56:20.559
And in that process, you hopefully find something that always draws you back and calls to you.
00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:22.639
Great quote by Larry Sultan.
00:56:22.719 --> 00:56:22.960
Yeah.
00:56:23.119 --> 00:56:25.039
He passed away pretty young.
00:56:26.719 --> 00:56:28.639
But look up that guy.
00:56:28.800 --> 00:56:40.239
He's yeah, so yeah, I mean, yeah, keep shooting, man, because yeah, those some of those photos, just like this one that, you know, of my sister that you said.
00:56:40.400 --> 00:56:40.719
Yeah.
00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:44.400
It's like, I'm so glad I took that picture, right?
00:56:44.880 --> 00:56:46.000
How old is she there?
00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:54.239
She's probably probably seven, eight, or seven or eight or nine.
00:56:54.480 --> 00:56:54.880
Yeah.
00:56:55.199 --> 00:57:00.719
And you know what's special too is you're probably the only person that could have taken that picture of her in that setting.
00:57:01.119 --> 00:57:01.920
She's very vulnerable.
00:57:02.320 --> 00:57:02.480
Yeah.
00:57:02.559 --> 00:57:06.800
You know, it's just her and I on the little walk in the park near where she grew up, you know.
00:57:06.960 --> 00:57:07.280
Yeah.
00:57:07.599 --> 00:57:12.719
And uh I actually documented her every year because I only saw her pretty much Thanksgiving.
00:57:13.280 --> 00:57:17.920
I only saw her a little bit growing up, um once or twice a year.
00:57:18.159 --> 00:57:20.320
So every time I saw her, I document her.
00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:23.679
Maybe that could be a book of her growing, getting older over the years, you know.
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:23.920
Yeah.
00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:26.480
So that's the thing, thinking about time, like, yeah.
00:57:27.360 --> 00:57:31.920
Some things just come into little projects without you even knowing it, you know?
00:57:32.079 --> 00:57:34.480
That's why I just keep shooting.
00:57:34.639 --> 00:57:34.960
Yeah.
00:57:35.199 --> 00:57:36.239
Shoot wisely.
00:57:37.760 --> 00:57:39.599
Pascal, I really appreciate your time, man.
00:57:39.760 --> 00:57:40.480
It's always a pleasure.
00:57:40.800 --> 00:57:41.039
Okay.
00:57:41.119 --> 00:57:42.079
Thanks for having me, man.
00:57:42.400 --> 00:57:42.800
Awesome.
00:57:42.960 --> 00:57:43.360
Yeah.
00:57:43.599 --> 00:57:45.519
Thank you for listening to Shoot Wisely.
00:57:45.760 --> 00:57:53.519
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00:57:53.760 --> 00:57:56.719
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00:57:56.960 --> 00:58:03.599
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00:58:03.840 --> 00:58:08.400
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00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:10.639
I'm your host, Amir Bahemi.
00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:17.599
And remember, create with intention, live with curiosity, and always shoot wisely.
