We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Reggie Rose Gonzales. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Reggie Rose below.

Reggie Rose, 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.

I learned photography from many different chapters in my life. Four different chapters actually. I wanted to come at it from as many different angles I could get my hands on. I needed to try, try again, and then try something else. What else are your college years for, right?

First chapter was from my mother, in highschool, she showed me the basics of the camera, getting shots, and how to get creative. She showed me what it means to have ‘the eye’ as she would say. These lessons I got from her were the seeds that grew into what I am today. I saw a new way of looking at the world and I knew I wanted everyone to be able to see how amazing it is.

For my Second Chapter, I then went to art school for Digital Photography and learned what I could there in the classroom. With all honesty I feel this held me back some. I felt caged during this time. I needed to break free from assignments and routines. I needed to learn what I knew I was aiming for, not cast a wide net and hope something useful will land. Although this route did not feel right for me, I still needed to go through it to come out knowing what I need and not be afraid to seek it.

For my Third Chapter, I then got the grand opportunity to join a local multi media company for an internship. I was brought on as the Visual Media Consultant and Photographer. I got the privilege of working directly under the creative director and learning all I can about business! The greatest skill he taught me was to be the ‘Research Queen’. He would come to me with an issue that he wanted solved. When I would ask how to solve it, he would grin and say, ‘I don’t know, figure it out.’ I would be blindsided but laugh at the the situation while shaking my head. I knew what I had to do. Research, Research, Research! Figure these problems out on my own and don’t depend on anyone else’s research but my own. It was a true honor and I would not trade that experience for anything.

But even so, I still wanted to unleash myself. I kept craving that freedom from someone else’s schedule, management, and duties. So in 2019, for my final chapter, I broke out on my own. I began the long process of starting my own business Rose Visual Captures. Through years of trial and error, read and reread, draft and print, redraft and print, and unlimited support from my family and business partner, I am finally there! I made it!

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?

Well hello, I am Reggie Rose Gonzales. I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I come from a home with my wonderful husband and 2 amazing children. I have been active in photography for about 16 years. I began in 2008 with Image Manipulation and other Visual Media. This led me to find a passion for photography. I attended the Art Institute of Phoenix for a degree in Digital Photography. I later attended an internship at a local multimedia company in the valley. I have worked as a Professional Photographer since 2016. In 2019 I branched out on my own with my business partner Michael and created Rose Visual Captures, an Arizona Photography Service. I am enthusiastic, very down to earth, and genuinely love what I do. From the name Rose Visual Captures, I show my passion. Visual capture is a phenomenon in human perception where people tend to rely on visual images and the things they see to create their understanding of a scene. This emotional connection is not only drawing you in, but it is telling you a story and is designed to make you feel a certain way. This phenomenon is the basis of my passion as a Photographer. I will try to draw you in and show you just how beautiful you and the world can be. Through my high quality photography, charismatic customer service, and budget friendly prices, I am looking to spread a little joy one client at a time.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The best advice I can give from someone whose mind is similar to mine. Like a computer with 200+ tabs open in the background, is to schedule and to research.

I have perfectly scheduled my daily life to include not only household and family, but business and social media interaction. I have researched, researched, researched! I found the peak times for when my followers are online and on which apps. I researched the best times to post for my target clients. I researched what they generally liked and interacted with. I researched scources that will schedule posting for me to stay active once a week so I don’t over post. I researched what to post and how to word it for peak interactions. I made my own graphics, ads, promos, and system for posting. I scheduled time to post these every week. I scheduled time when to promote every day and time to interact with my followers. Genuinely go through my feed and talk with them. Smile, say hi, talk about things. Show some love online basically.

Scheduling for 30 minutes each day for my business is definitely worth it. When I discuss this with other business owners, I always get the reply, ‘I could never find that time every day.’

Well, I come from a home with a husband who is away because he works full time as a respite provider, 2 special needs children, and I work daily as a caretaker for my disabled mother in my home. If you want to, add 2 dogs and a cat that need to be taken care of too. If I can find time, anyone can find time.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The resources I wish I knew about earlier would be anything that is needed to be set up properly.

Meaning contracts, invoices, questionnaires, websites, etc. There are so many resources out there to find the best and be prepared to make yourself be better than just having a single social media page for your business. Pixieset is one I particularly love for my business setup for photography. But there are resources to get a lawyer to draft you a business contract.
There are resources to post for days for your social media presence. There are resources to create your own promos, graphics, and ads. There are resources to create your own videos for your business using just your phone. Photography editing tools, Finding your cost of doing business tools, researching peak times for online for your followers tools, and so much more!

These great tools that I wish I would’ve had in the beginning. Maybe I would’ve used them. Maybe they would’ve overwhelmed me. I will never know but, I do know about them now and how to utilize them to the max!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rosevisualcaptures.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosevisualcaptures/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosevisualcaptures
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reggierose/
• Twitter: https://x.com/rvcphotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rosevisualcaptures
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rose-visual-captures-phoenix

Image Credits

All Photos from Rose Visual Captures.