We recently connected with Zeke Ruelas and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Zeke, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

The first time I saw the Universal film Billy Elliot back in 2000, I was filled with so much emotion. It’s a movie that I could completely relate to – a young boy from a working-class family unexpectedly falls in love with dance.

I proudly come from a family of longshoremen; my father, his father, my uncles, my mother, my sister . . . everyone. I did longshoring for a couple of years, but I always knew I had a different creative path to pursue. I had always loved dance and photography, so I was always playing around with both. Knowing I had to focus on one career, I started out as a professional dancer.

It wasn’t easy explaining this career choice to my longshoreman dad, but he eventually came around with full support the first time he saw me dancing on national TV.
Dancing allowed me to travel the world and, wherever I was, I always had my camera and was taking pictures. When I started thinking about retiring my dance shoes – since professional dancing can be short-lived as a career – I knew exactly what I wanted to do next: photography.

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 went back to school taking photography during the end of my dance career and eventually started assisting some great photographers. Slowly transitioning out of the dance world – there were two photographers in particular who made a huge impact and influenced and shaped the genre of photography that I shoot today: interiors and lifestyle. Those photographers are David Tsay and Robert Deutschman. David is a brilliant interior photographer and Rob creates and captures the most amazing moments in his lifestyle/advertising work. I will always be grateful to these gentlemen. I learned so much from them, and they always taught me to find the light. I am very grateful I found two passions in this one lifetime of mine that I love and get to do them for a living.

The thing I love about photographing interiors is creating the shot before the clicks; the collaborative detail it takes for set up and styling to get the room perfect and to get the perfect shot. I always say: It’s all in the details. It’s thrilling for me to collaborate with the designer, stylist, and even assistants. The more creative eyes I have on the image the better. Everyone is looking at different things, and that’s where my love of the collaboration comes in. So, if I’m working with very detailed designers and stylists, I love it. My ultimate goal in interior photography is to have any viewer of the final image to want to be in that room, in that space. A desire to be a part of the interior.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Aside from being published, the most rewarding aspect of my job is when my client loves the end result of our shoot, the final images. There is so much thought and prep work that goes into a shoot, not to mention the 10 hour shoot day, that sometimes turns into a 12 or 14 hour shoot….then creative post production is important to get just right. After all the effort, when my clients are happy it makes it all worth it.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Client referrals. That’s the best source and when that occurs, it’s such an amazing affirmation of the work we do together.

With having my clients happy with our end result the best source of new clients are, client referrals. That’s always one of the best feelings.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zekeruelas.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zekeruelas/

Image Credits
Designer credits are labeled on jpeg image. Alexandra Joy Interiors Brad Ramsey Interiors Jason Arnold Interiors Jonathan Savage Interior Design Rambeau Interior Design