Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Junior Santillan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Junior, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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 most meaningful project I’ve done so far is the photoshoot of my dad standing by the US/Mexico border. My dad spent over 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. After being released, he was deported to Mexico. Ironically, the prison gates turned to a border, still separating us. Taking a photo of my dad in front of the border meant taking control back.
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?
Hi I’m Junior, a photographer. I’ve been shooting professionally for about 2 years now. So far it’s been a good experience and I’ve met a lot of cool people and have worked with cool brands along the way. Creative photography is where I feel most comfortable and connected to myself. I’ve done studio shoots and event shoots but to me, nothing beats a raw and creative photoshoot. I love capturing the feeling of ‘hope’ and sadness as those emotions played a big part in my life. Through my photography my main goal is to try and be vulnerable with any feelings I have at the moment. I’ve recently done a photoshoot called “why am I not happy” and it shows to process of my emotions when I’m not feeling that good.
Pop culture is definitely a strong influence in my work and I see myself in the future contributing to it. I would love to shoot for magazines and album covers.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is that at times it can be very healing. Maintaining my creativity as an adult is something I’m very proud. If I’m in a funk I tap into my creativity to help cheer me up.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Before taking photography and myself serious, I worked at many 9-5’s. Although they provided me with enough money in my pocket for bills and stuff like that, I was never really happy. I always had it in the back of my mind that I needed to express myself creatively but it took me a while to really go for it. As soon as I did it felt like everything started falling into place very fast. 
Contact Info:
- Website: http://juniorsantillan.com/
- Instagram: @juniortheoutsider
- TikTok: juniortheoutsider
Image Credits
List of names in order @s.te.phanie @theerealkarlaj @urtoas._.t @dlambaren_20 @amordeldemonio @hoodriggs @lexaceli @almaavvaldez