Meet Evan Naka | Photographer and Director, Owner of Naka Studios

We had the good fortune of connecting with Evan Naka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Evan, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Before working for myself and starting Naka Studios, I thought about of work life balance having a single definition. It was simple, it meant balancing your day to day work load while also leaving space in your life to enjoy personal and/or social time. Now that I’m in my 3rd year of operation with each year getting more and more busy. I don’t see my time getting anymore flexible anytime soon, but the difference is… I’m okay with that. I want to work more and build more relationships as much as possible in this stage of my life, so that later in life I can reap the benefits of this all this young energy, so I’m able to enjoy “life” without the stress of the next paycheck, the next job, the next, the next… I want to be able to choose the projects I work on and the people I surround myself with and perhaps more importantly be able to say no to things that don’t fit my future myself, especially in that stage of my life that I will most likely want to spend more time with family and loved ones.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What makes me different from most photographers is my on the fly creativity and my ability to adapt during a shoot. I have been like this my whole life, where I would use anything around me to create something out of nothing. I remember when I would wrap gifts for my sister and I would make the most extravagant contraptions to hide a present out of everyday house hold items and that is the exact way I faced my early days being a photographer. I didn’t go to school for this and I didn’t have anyone to guide me. All I had was my creativity and willingness to try and learn from my mistakes. In my earliest product shoots, you’ll see me using anything and everything to get a shot but what you don’t see is that my original idea changed drastically once I began shooting. Maybe I would notice something different or the light would catch something in a certain way that sparked an idea, or even the music I’m listening to motivates me to try something new that I’ve never done before, it doesn’t matter I would accept it all in the art that I was creating. It’s not easy trying to start over after you quote “check all the boxes,” I went to college got a degree, went back, got my MBA, got a good job and then gave it all up to use a camera. Some people would say that’s crazy but just how my art reflects making something out of nothing and being able to adapt to your surroundings, my life has been exactly the same.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Top places to go while in LA:

Fitness – Santa Monica Stairs, Culver City Stairs, Solstice Canyon Hike

Food – Broken Mouth in DTLA (personal favorite), Bestia and Bavel, Sushi Iki Chef Eddie is always up for a good chat, head to Sawtelle for some Tsukemen, Eatily (great ambiance), Good Boy Bobs in Culver (amazing breakfast burritos but they are more like wraps), Kazu Nori by Sugarfish

I also love movies so would probably check out a movie. The bigger the theater the better IMAX! Or iPic for a classy experience

Other places – Arts District, Little Tokyo, Melrose, The Row DTLA, The Bloc DTLA

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It may sound cliche, but I would love to dedicate this shoutout to my wife, Anissa Tanaka. Without her support I would not have been able to confidently move forward with accomplishing my goals. There are too many times to count that she has been there to pick me back up when I was down and encourage me to keep going when there didn’t seem to be a point. A lot of my journey so far has been made up of decisions that I have had to made wether that means sacrificing vacations or giving up the security of a full-time job, there was truly never a part of her that doubted me.

Website: www.nakastudios.com

Instagram: Evan_Naka: https://www.instagram.com/evan_naka/?hl=en

Linkedin: Evan Tanaka: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evantanaka/

Twitter: EvanNaka: https://twitter.com/EvanNaka_

Youtube: Evan Naka: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC544wgZVGXORbuaZskjc6PQ

Other: TikTok: Evan_Naka: https://www.tiktok.com/@evan_naka