We were lucky to catch up with Alexandro Zamora recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexandro, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?

I’m still learning to do what I do! Every gig is a chance to learn something new or to refine what I already know. I got my bachelor’s degree in art from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2011 and I loved the program there. It was very theory heavy but I was obsessed with learning how to use lighting gear in the studio, which they did not teach. We had a little photo studio with some basic lights and backdrops that we could reserve and use for whatever we wanted and that’s where I spent a lot of my time practicing. I made a lot of ugly photos. A lot. But I kept going back and trying new things. If I considered an image ‘ugly’ I would question why I thought that, make notes on how I wanted the light to look, then go back and try again. Huge shout out to all my friends who volunteered as models, y’all rule!

Alexandro, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been playing around with photography most of my life, but I’ve only treated it as a serious profession since 2019. I have been practicing my lighting techniques in my living room for years, usually just inviting a good friend over and taking some portraits while hanging out. I am very grateful to everyone who has sat for me and let me obsess over tiny corrections so that I could refine my technique, thank you all!

As a portrait photographer I offer fine art portraits, actor/corporate headshots, family portraits, fashion/editorial photography, and wedding photography.

I also run my own unique photo booth experience by the name of Zamora Visuals Pop Portraits. I took the traditional idea of a photo booth and mixed in the directing and camera movement of a portrait session and created something fun and innovative. I direct every subject through 3 images that then all get instantly printed on a custom template on one 4″x6″ print. It’s a lot of fun to run and take part in!

My friend Anjelica Saucedo and I are both big advocates for building strong communities so we decided to host monthly photography workshops under the name Fotolab Workshops. Every 3rd Sunday we enlist 2-3 models and invite photographers of all levels to come out and have a photo session with us for free. Our goal is to provide a fun, safe space for people to create freely.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

The best thing society can do to support us is to hire us!! Nothing is more encouraging or helpful than being paid for your own work.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn questioning every creative decision I made. I was constantly afraid that I wasn’t doing something “right” or that my images needed to be more this or less that. There was always something for me to criticize. I forget which show I was watching but I just remember hearing this interaction between one of the contestants and a host in which the contestant deliberately under salted their dish because they had “a salty tongue” and the host says, paraphrased, “don’t season your dish for who you think is going to eat it. You need to cook to the proper level of salt for your tongue because that’s what people are here to see. You. your level of seasoning. That’s what makes your food yours.” And it was exactly what I needed to hear to understand how I was holding myself back by not trusting myself. If I embrace the imagery I believe in – then I am succeeding. Whether other people like it or not is not my concern.

Alex will be releasing X-Ray Magazine on April 14. It will feature photography, interviews, and poetry by local LA artists and personalities.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zamoravisuals.com
• Instagram: @zamoravisuals

Image Credits
Elizabeth Gomez