We recently connected with Andres Perez and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andres, thanks for joining us 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?

Growing up I was a math and science guy, so no one would have guessed I would be a wedding photographer. I wish I could say I was born with a camera in my hands but I didn’t learn photography until my late 20s. In a way you could say learning photography was a happy accident. You see I was originally trying to learn a different skill, how to present.

It all started in 2015 at a call center I was working at the time. I was one year in and ready to move up in the company. We had just reorganized teams, I approached my new coordinator Cathy and told her I wanted to be a Team Lead. She stared into my eyes and with a stern look she replied “okay, but it’s not going to be easy. I’m going to push you outside your comfort zone. Are you sure you want to do this?” With a slight panic I did my best to assure her I was ready. Cathy softened up a bit and said ” good, with hard work and dedication I will make you a Team Lead.” And so began my baptism by fire.

Cathy’s teaching method was to push me into the deep end of different situations. Like having me coach my teammates without warning me or having me present at a company assembly. During this time it became obvious I would need to strengthen my presentation skill. I took it upon myself to practice. I figured if I started a YouTube channel I would be forced to get better.

The first year on YouTube I concentrated on only improving my presentation and editing skills. I started with an iPhone 4s and a window for lighting. My second year I was comfortable enough to start learning about videography and how to grow the channel. Two of my favorite channels were Nick Nimmin and Brian G Johnson TV. During those first two years I received a whopping 143 subscribers. I decided to hire Brian as a coach. Brian helped me 10x my subscribers within the year. He did this by teaching me how to present better through lighting, SEO, videography, thumbnails, audio and much more. The other thing I got from Brian was a Canon 70d camera. He was no longer using it so he sold it to me at a fantastic deal!

I finally had a real camera! I became obsessed with learning how to use all the buttons and settings. This is when I discovered photography. It started by trying to get better thumbnail pictures but soon I gained a passion for photography. I practiced every chance I got with the help of my wife Holland. She was supportive through it all. I picked up the skills quickly. There is a lot of overlap between videography and photography.

Although the technical skill came “quickly” and “easily” there was years of preparation that went into it. I’m still learning about photography. Composition, posing, and making people feel comfortable, confident, and authentic. My subjects are not objects, they are real human beings! Wedding photography is about making and capturing connections.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Andres, proud owner of Fiesta Lens LLC a photographic and cinematic wedding production company located in San Antonio, Texas. We specialize in providing stress-free wedding documentation. By providing both photography and video we eliminate the need for you to evaluate separate companies.

We believe in and practice redundancy; which means we have back-ups for our back-ups. The cameras we use have dual card slots so every image is automatically backed-up. After leaving your wedding venue I create another back-up of the original images before beginning to edit. This may seem excessive but we do not leave things to chance because your wedding is a once in a lifetime event and should be treated with the utmost care.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

What people don’t understand is how many skills you need to be a successful creative. Simply being the amazing at your craft is not enough. Unless some one has hired you as an employee for a creative role you must understand business and marketing. I’m using business and marketing as umbrella terms for so many skills like: networking, managing, advertising, pricing, sales, copywriting and much more. The journey of a creative is fulfilling but it is also scary and difficult.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I acquired my equipment overtime. I never considered charging for photography until I shared some of my work on Facebook and someone asked “how much do you charge?”. By then I had enough to get started. The rest came from the projects I took on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fiestalens.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/fiestalens
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fiestalens
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fiestalens