We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chase Barloga. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chase below.

Chase, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Barloga Studios is a family affair through and through. Everything that I have learned behind the camera and keyboard, I learned from my father and grandfather. Aside from the technical photographical aspects, I’m lucky enough to have been exposed to a range of different music, food, places, and people from a very young age. As an artist, I believe this broad scope greatly impacts what you see in a given subject. This sense of sight or vision is everything for us, it is up to you behind the camera to find that angle that everyone resonates with. In regards to learning, failure is absolutely essential to us. Our biggest failures in production or composition are often our most teachable moments. At Barloga Studios we are not huge believers in obstacles. We like to say that our own obstacle is our creativity itself.

Chase, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As I mentioned previously, Barloga Studios is a family business and I am the third generation striving to preserve the same quality and vision that we have become known for over the past few decades. Everything we do starts with our high resolution photography which is done in house at our studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our current line focuses on printing this imagery on papers that are regarded as “unprintable.” While our printers have to work overtime, we laugh at this assessment. We are also known for a range of original hanging systems comprised largely of leather, wood, and steel.

While printing our imagery may be our bread and butter, some of our most rewarding moments in recent years have been finding new ways to present our photographs without a paper medium. Recently we released a line of coasters that have been a huge success and have no plans on stopping our search for new mediums and product types. This search actually led us to a brand new printing technology that will essentially allow us to print on anything we please. What was once a pipe dream, arrived at our studio just a few days ago and we could not be any more excited.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As a photographer there are two distinct moments that I find particularly rewarding. The first happens minutes after you photograph something and pull it up on your computer screen and ideally think to yourself, ”Oh man, I’ve got something here.” An overwhelming mix of excitement, pride, and responsibility rushes over you as you prepare for the long journey of mastering this photograph for production. However, there is always a sense of relief because the hardest part has already passed. I have learned firsthand that there is no amount of color work or editing that can fix a photograph that lacks proper execution and an inviting vision.

The second moment is a little more obvious. Months after the inception of our photographs, and weeks after mastering the color work, we finally release our prints online and display them at seasonal trade shows. Seeing and hearing our customers’ reactions to our releases after months of work is the perfect mix and humbling and gratifying, and finally beginning to see these photographs properly presented in peoples’ homes, stores, or TV shows provides a nearly unmatched sense of gratification.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The creative journey that I have embarked on is centered around a correlation of beauty, relatability, and originality. My goal is not just to create things that “look good.” My goal is to create things that evoke a sense of emotion in viewers. Wether that be nostalgia or accordance, I want our images and everything we create to tell a story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.barlogastudios.com
• Instagram: @barlogastudios