Meet Louis Jacinto | Photographer

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

Hi Louis, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
I’ve heard it said that by being evolutionary one becomes revolutionary.

My work may or may not start a revolution to improve the world, but it has revolutionized how I act, think and see.

About 3 years back I was featured in a documentary about a community organizing group that I belonged to throughout the 1980’s – Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU). At the premiere, during the panel discussion along with the other 7 individuals featured in the film, we were first asked, “What did you think when you saw yourself in this film?”

I was the first to answer and I said, “While watching the film, I thought, oh, yea, I did that.” It was not to be dismissive of the work done through GLLU, but rather, that I did not stay there emotionally. After the demise of the group by the mid-1990’s, I continued to move on with my life, never wishing for the “good old days”.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My creative medium is photography. I began shooting soon after my arrival in Los Angeles to start my 3rd year of college.

I never thought of “success”, but rather focused on photographing everything that came within my camera lens.

In 1977 I began to photograph the local Los Angeles punk music scene. It was thrilling, that first wave of new sounds being made by kids my own age. Because I was still in college and usually broke, each image I took had to count, unlike today with digital photography.

Using film is what honed by photographic eye. I wanted each shot to be a piece of art.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A visiting friend would want to see all of Los Angeles during that week. We would begin with the usual tourist attractions – Hollywood Boulevard, Olvera Street, a visit to one of the studio tours (not Universal Studios since that is an amusement park).

Then, we would jump on a bus/subway to explore downtown, Chinatown and Long Beach.

We would visit the local museums, MOCA, LACMA, the Academy, the Broad, the Getty Center.

And we would spend our evenings having dinner out (the Grove, Canter’s) or having dinner at home and inviting other friends over so that they all could meet.

We would spend one day in Long Beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Grapefruit by Yoko Ono. It allowed me to expand my mind without having to take mind expanding substances.

Website: https://onodream.com/home.html

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onodream

Other: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/louisjacinto.bsky.social

Image Credits
Louis Jacinto