We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jorge Grau a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jorge, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
Since I was a kid my parents gave me a strong education, sometimes a bit too rigid but full of humanistic values, strong beliefs, and clear guidance. At the same time, they taught me curiosity in the physical world (my dad) and in the ideas and philosophy (my mom). This curiosity came with acceptance and tolerance to understand others and their point of view. But over everything one of the most important lessons was one that my dad gave me. I was always very curious and sometimes I got into trouble. One day he stopped the car and told me “Jorge, anything that you do, any trouble you are in, it doesn’t matter how big it seems, I will always be here for you and I will love you no matter what.” At that moment I didn’t know how important those words were. But since that moment, a huge weight was lifted and that has impacted me and my career in every risk I’ve taken.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I was born in 1990 in Valencia, Spain. A Friday afternoon, the 9th of February. I opened my first studio in my hometown at the age of 22; at that moment I quit my university studies. I moved to Madrid at the age of 24 to have more contact with clients and to expand my way of seeing the world. Now I’m living in Los Angeles. Ever since I was a child I have been very interested in memories. Memories of all kinds. I kept the tickets from the cinema, old wristbands from a friendship, or even the corks from a bottle of a special event in my life. Obviously, at that time, I wasn’t aware of the idea of keeping memories, but when I became a teenager and I realized that I was always the one in the group with a camera hanging from my neck. And a very powerful idea struck my head: when you are living a moment normally it’s not that important, but maybe one day, when you are 80 years old you will look back at that memory and think it was very special. That idea, like in inception, grew in my mind and its one of the main reasons why I’m a Photographer now.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Knowing the structure of my industry, and how big projects work.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Finish every project with the client happy and you being satisfied and wanting to work together again I think is the most powerful strategy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jorgegrau.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graudeco/