We recently connected with Josiah Mendoza and have shared our conversation below.

Josiah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

The hardest thing about what I do is telling people “No” that ask me to teach them. It’s not so blunt like that, but it’s hard

to explain to someone that you can only learn so much. I never went to school or took training courses. I know some people

that have and it’s clear to me that it has a hard stop when it comes to excelling. The biggest thing about learning this craft

is that the “learning” part is only the training wheels. Eventually, you’ll have to take them off and do it on your own. Anyone

that tries, can shoot what I shoot and light how I light. Coming up with the idea and plan is something that the majority of people

have a hard time accomplishing. The way I learned everything, is I envisioned what I wanted first, then researched how to shoot

it. Anyone can go online, learn something, and shoot it the same way. Coming up with a vision is nothing short of an ability we were all

born with, and that’s something that can’t be learned.

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?

I’ve been doing photography since 2012. That was pretty much the time I picked up a non-disposable camera

for the first time. I’ve never had the desire to be a photographer, but I just wanted good photos of our new

puppy. My cousin was the only photographer that I knew of in my entire family and he was really good at it.

I guess you could say he was my first inspiration.

I currently run Josiah Mendoza Photo/Video Productions which is mostly commercial video work

and corporate photography. My passion is setting aside a few days out of a month where I can just

shoot exactly what I want. That’s the only thing that keeps my sanity.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing is the recognition of good art. The emails or texts I receive from clients is the main reason I keep doing this. If you knew my current prices you would believe it.

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?

People say to shoot every day to improve. I’ve been friends with people on social media who take daily selfies and photos and they’re still the same. Finding your mistakes is more valuable than shooting over and over. Don’t let others only give you praise. You need people in your life who will give you the blunt honesty if you ever want to improve

Contact Info:

• Website: Josiahmendoza.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/josiahmendoza___?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@josiahmendoza831