© Luis Garcia

Meet Southern California based editorial and commercial photographer and APA member Luis Garcia.

Do you have a favorite podcast?
I subscribed to some podcasts but not always listen to all of them; one of my favorite podcast is How I build this with Guy Raz on NPR.

Who are your top 5 favorites that you’re following on Instagram?
I don’t have a favorite, my feed I filled with accounts from photographers, designers, travelers, cyclists. 

What 3 words describe your photography style?
Simple, honest, clean.

What do you listen to when you’re shooting?
Most of my work is on location, so I don’t listen to anything but the sound of the city or nature.

What inspires you?
I’m always inspired by nature and humanity; we live in such a beautiful and wonderful world.

What’s your favorite thing about being a photographer?
Knowing new people and new places.

When you aren’t making photographs, what other pastimes do you have?
I used to be an elite cyclist, now I’m just a cyclist, so I enjoy a lot going out and riding my bike.

Describe your daily or weekly work habits. (Pre-Covid and currently)
I’m not set on any kind of daily routines, I need to work on that.

Who were your biggest influencers?
Too many to list them all.

What was the best piece of advice you were given starting out?
Show up and don’t fuck it up. (*mess it up) advice given to me by a photographer friend that is no longer with us.

What have been some of the highlights and challenges of your career so far?
As an editorial photographer the highlight of my career has been being able to somewhat travel the world, I’m still waiting for that call to shoot an assignment in Africa. Challenge, making the full jump to commercial photography.

What were you doing before you became a Photographer?
I was a photo assistant for a few years, before that I tried to become a professional athlete, did not succeed on that.

If you weren’t a Photographer, what would you be doing?
I would be a chef, I love cooking!

What do you do when you get stuck?
I step away from that thing that I feel stuck in, I look for some type of distraction, watch a movie or go for a bike ride to clear my mind, I talk to friends and ask for advice from my peers.

What is your best advice for your peers?
Be honest to yourself, always under promise and over deliver, and show up and don’t fuck it up.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back 10 years? 20 years?
Be more focused.

What is a photographer’s role now that technology has made it so much more accessible to the masses?
I think it has always been, but now more than ever; the photographer’s role in today’s day is as a problem solver. You need to work with what you have and make it work. Technology is there to make things easier and more efficient, but ultimately you have to make it happen.

What do you see yourself doing in five years?
Hopefully shooting more commercial work.

To view more of Luis’s work you can follow along here.