We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elvis Alvarez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elvis, 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?
I started learning photography during my freshman year at the University of Houston. Going through a bunch of classes and having to endure endless studying, I needed some time to take a break and wanted to do something active – a therapeutic distraction from classes. When I joined Instagram in 2012, I saw many posts from photographers that captured the creative, urban side of Houston. I wanted to do that, but I didn’t have any money to afford a camera or an editing program. So, I used my old Samsung Galaxy phone to learn the basics like adjusting the shutter speed and iso, adjusting the focus to get a sharper image, composing the picture properly, etc. Whenever I had free time from my studying or classes, I would usually wander around the UH campus to take some pictures and learn some techniques from some YouTube videos between my sessions. Sometimes, I would drive to downtown Houston from my campus to explore the city and capture some scenic views of the skyline from many perspectives, going from the narrow roads of Main Street to some of the high-rise parking lots. Photography was my escapism when I got stressed from my classes and studying.
Few years later, I was able to save up enough money from my sales associate job at Old Navy to afford myself my first DSLR camera, which was the Canon T5. And I remember the first thing I did when I played with the camera was switching from Auto to Manual because I wanted to keep progressing my photography skills as I was continuing to endure more exploration. And later on, I was able to acquire Lightroom so I can enhance my editing better. And at that point, this was a starting point of my photographic journey.
In the beginning, photography was just a small hobby to relieve my stress from college. But later on, I discovered that it was a way to connect with people, explore different perspectives, and appreciate the beauty of the craft. As my portfolio grew, so did my confidence. By sharing my work on social media and getting feedback from the friends I’ve made, my passion for photography deepened. However, looking at my journey as a photographer, the only thing I could have done to speed up my learning process would be to be more time-oriented on photography, mainly because I was too occupied with school at the time, and now with my priority in my career as a Business Analysis, I didn’t have much time as I wanted to explore, but overall, the growth process itself helped me to be where I am at. Balancing my life with photography was a complete challenge due to my current job and the personal challenges I’m going through, but I always find a way to make time to explore, connect with other photographers, and create memories.
The skills that I think were the most essential are understanding my surroundings and how to be patient to get the “perfect” story – and what I mean by that, is the picture must capture a significant moment. We all live in the same world, but how we observe the world around us is different. I want to curate that story with photography by comprehending the elements (structure, lighting, weather, emotions, etc). in the moment and focusing on the story at the moment. But not all the time these elements can influence your photos. How you edit your photos can also play a big factor in your storytelling; you want to make your work to be an outlier. As a photographer, you can enhance a mood or a general feeling in processing that you will never really be able to fully capture in camera. So, another essential skill that I think it’s important is finding your editing style through Lightroom, Photoshop, or any other editing app and learning how to be consistent with your style to express the stories you capture.
At the end of the day, I’m grateful for where I am as a photographer because it’s more than just clout or exposure – from my perspective, it is mainly about the journey where your curiosity leads you to an opportunity. Instead of waiting for it to come to you, all you must do is pursue it. As James Clear once said, “It is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.” This journey has been a road with a lot of amazing opportunities and lessons. I’ve gained tons of knowledge working in this field and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My curiosity got me into photography while I was attending the University of Houston. In the beginning, I only did this just to have fun and explore Houston, only focusing on capturing moments in the city and streets, but now I want to evolve more as a photographer and expand my skillsets beyond urban. I want to explore different opportunities with my content with a certain mood and subjectivities.
I am very humble about myself when it comes to my style or preference because I desire my photography to be qualitative in a way where the audience can understand my world through narratives. Every session I go to with other photographers, every event I attend, or every exploration I participate in, every moment I capture will be different, but memories will be created. It’s important to realize that photography teaches us to look harder and be open-minded about what we perceive. It is a universal language that speaks to the mind and heart. So as a photographer, I want to showcase my memories through the lens. Overall, we came to see the world differently by giving in to our sense of curiosity.
To the present, basically what I do now is focus on various types of photography. When I started my journey as a photographer, my content on Instagram was only oriented toward urbex and streets. But now, I’m trying to enhance my craft by shooting more types of photography including portraits, cars, nature, and running. I offer arrays of services like graduations, engagements, family, professional, and car photography, and I would even attend any running events to capture the moments during the race. Additionally, I do sell my prints to customers and clients. But at the end of the day, everything is a learning process for me – I treat photography as a passion.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Honestly, when it comes to the rewarding aspect of being creative, just being out to capture the moment has made me more cognizant and appreciative of the world around me. Regular people don’t notice a lot of interesting details like the formation of abstract shadows, the faded light beaming down a road, or the skyline being lit during rainy nights. I always like to capture these details because it is something that is out in the open that people pass by without noticing them. Having that level of unique vision is something that would make you a significant photographer – it’s not always the subject that tells the story, the setting also plays a big part. Additionally, it helps me become more connective with others, as I’m usually an introvert when it comes to social settings. I tend to have a difficult time resonating with a lot of people because I have the tendency to isolate myself. But ever since I became a photographer, I realized you can’t really do everything all by yourself. A lot of people that I’ve met and traveled with have really made a huge impact in my photography journey because they really pushed me out of my comfort zone. In order to have a better life, you need to get better by change, and to make that leap of faith, you had to get yourself out of that comfort zone. I think that would be most rewarding aspect of being a creative.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
This one is something I recognize from other photographers’ experiences, but it is one thing I want to unlearn because I know any creatives have been through this before. And that’s sticking to one area and not expanding your interest in other areas. For instance, there are a lot of guys who shoot cars because they develop a strong interest in cars. That’s fine and all, but they only focus on shooting cars – nothing more. The issue I see from that is they’re stuck in that comfort zone because they don’t want to change their style, or they desire to stick with one theme. And when we find ourselves in our comfort zone, then we begin to settle for repetitive performance and mediocre results. That happened to me when I was only shooting streets for a few years ever since I started. Later, I realized that I wanted to do more because I felt like I was doing the same thing, capturing similar moments. That’s how I was able to evolve my focus by getting into the car community, then into the running community, and also exploring other parts of the world to capture the wonders of other cities and natural wonders. As a photographer, I see this as a way to express myself creatively. A photographer shouldn’t limit themselves creatively to one medium of photography. Starting out, you will naturally be drawn to things that are relevant to your interests, but like anything else in life, you get bored and want to expand on that. This is your opportunity to explore outside of your comfort zone, expand that curiosity, and drive your passion to capture the moment you desire. I personally don’t want to brand myself with a certain type of photography – I want to showcase to the world that I can shoot multiple types of photography because it is something that keeps me wanting to explore more. In a way, it is a learning process to become a better photographer and expand your work while intentionally gaining new skills through your curiosity.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/e.alva95/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elvis-alvarez-401b51b3/
Image Credits
Models in the photo: https://www.instagram.com/mayraa__10/ https://www.instagram.com/utopiandrea/