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

Hi Carlos, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The way I realized to get into the business of photography was pretty straightforward. I originally went to film school. One of my favorite things about filmmaking was the cinematography. I’ve always considered myself a very visual person. So to become a better filmmaker visually, I started taking some photography classes. I immediately liked it and little by little I fell in love with photography. Throughout my whole time in college, I ended up taking almost all classes that could be offered of photography even though it was never my major or even a minor. After graduating, I bought my first professional digital camera. At this point, photography was still just a hobby but I slowly started experimenting with fashion and editorial portrait shoots which I always loved looking at in magazines, especially after just discovering photographer Anne Leibovitz at that time. The more I did it, the more satisfaction and gratification I would feel compared to filmmaking. I saw that I was slowly starting to get the hang of doing commercial shoots. So I just had the epiphany of beginning a professional carrier in photography. It just made sense. As much as I carry insecurities as an artist and on my work, photography was giving me more pleasure and confidence on the work i would do.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I do editorial portraits. Fashion plays a role in my shoots but I mainly focus on capturing in a creative way the personality, the essence, of the person in front of my lens. A perfect example of this and another source of inspiration for me is the photography of Mary Ellen Mathews. She is the photographer for SNL who does the bumper photos of celebrities. Just like her, another big influence of mine is Ramona Rosales. She is someone whose photography is vivid with colors and I try to emulate that feeling in my work as well. In other words, my photography is most definitely not moody or in any way trying to take itself too seriously. The work I create does not need to be full of symbolism or have a layered meaning. For me photography can just be about making something that is visually interesting, appealing, fun and entertaining.

For sure, it hasn’t been smooth 100%. It’s been a really long battle from which I’m still emotionally bruised. You see, I was the first in my family that has ever moved to the US to study and build a career. I came into this country without any guidance or mentorship. Some people forget that I had to discover it all on my own and figure out how things work here in this country. It was a lot of trial and error. I was the first to test the waters and at times, it felt like I barely came out alive. It is no secret that being an immigrant is difficult. Without getting into details or getting political, it really feels that they really don’t want to make it easy for you, especially at the University. It’s almost as if they were trying to make you quit, but my tenacity to be here persisted so I never gave up. A motto that I always use as a guide is “I rather be a comma than a full stop”.

To me that means that I rather be on a rough journey than no journey at all. In all honesty, a bit more stability would be nice and I could use a vacation. But even though it has been a rough journey, and can still be at times, it’s been equally good. I have had great moments and experiences in my life that I feel very proud of. And also, my journey has opened the door for my brother and cousins to have a smoother and more knowledgeable path into the US. It’s almost as if I drew a map for them with all the booby traps revealed and road maps sketched.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First, we would go to Little Tokyo and eat some ramen. You have no idea how much I LOVE that country and its culture. I’ve always been fascinated by it. At a very young age, I started watching Sailor Moon and Studio Ghibli films and from there my love for that culture grew. I hope one day soon to do professional work over there.

Later at night, we would go to either the art district or my favorite bar called Harvard and Stone, a very underground rock n’ roll type of place.They play great music to dance to.

Lastly, we would save the best for last, which is going to Disneyland. It’s one of my favorite things in the world and I can’t get enough of it. I’m a kid at heart.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Well, my family is the first to deserve a shoutout for supporting my decisions in life and especially in the arts. It was nice that they didn’t force me to go to law school or medicine.

Other than that, honestly, my journey in photography has been a bit of a lonely road. A lot of what I’ve learned is thanks to the instructors I had in college, to which unfortunately don’t remember their names. It has been a while. But a lot of it was also by teaching myself. I did a lot of reading, youtube videos, and just by trying out things I learned a lot. I arrived at this city knowing no one. I didn’t have any connections and dint know how to make some. To this day I still struggle to make connections a bit. It’s hard to be at the right place at the right time.

But I can thank my favorite photographers like Ramona Rosales, Mary Ellen Matthews, and Pari Dukovic for their work that has to inspire me. I’ve spent hours studying them.

Website: https://www.paradacarlos.com/

Instagram: @parada.charlie

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