Meet Tom Kubik | Photographer, Men’s Coach, Meditation Instructor

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

Hi Tom, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?

Maybe one day I will fully be able to grasp how my background has shaped me but honestly it’s still unfolding, yet this question is still very rich to me. My hometown of Youngstown, Ohio was one of the centers of Italian mafia activity when I was in my youth. This meant I spent a lot of time rubbing elbows with mobsters in the lounges where my mom was serving tables. And by rubbing elbows I mean they would give me money for the claw machine, which I mastered at a very young age. Being raised by a single, (undiagnosed) bipolar mom afforded me a lot of freedom, lessons and opportunities to get in trouble. The area I grew up in was depressed since the steel industry moved overseas post World War 2, so the neighborhood boys were rowdy and down to wreak friendly havoc.

When my mom remarried we moved to the SF Bay Area for my middle school years which opened me up to a whole new world. It was my first peek into how many types of folks there are on this planet and how many different viewpoints there are, a profound realization (as simple as it sounds) that deepened exponentially during my military service. Touring overseas in less-than-glamorous circumstances taught me so much about listening when you don’t share a verbal language, which taught me a lot about feeling into people’s emotions and inner landscapes, which led to understanding and compassion (though the LSD in high school may have also had something to do with that).

All of this and more is what has led me to where I am as a professional photographer. I use my perception of people’s emotional states combined with technical know-how from a college degree to relate and then create photos that help the viewer feel a real piece of the subject. Both in my childhood and my travels, during military service and volunteering in East Africa, I’ve seen everything from deeply impoverished populations to having dinner with celebrities and regardless of who’s in front of me there is an unmistakable humanness that’s hiding underneath the exterior facade.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

Nobody: Being a working artist is so easy! Everyone should do it!

Me: Unless it’s coming out of you from every pore with such force that you can’t stop it, run away. Run far away.

There were many signs along the way that I was meant to be an artist. I ignored all of them until I was in my late 20’s. But after trying on the military, and dealing poker in Las Vegas, I finally woke up to the fact that my eye for aesthetics and intentionality around basically everything was best channeled into making art.

For all of the seemingly unfavorable situations I’ve been in during my time on this planet and how hard it’s been at times, I can’t deny that my journey through the darkness and relating to others with a full spectrum of emotion and experience, where nothing is “too much” allows us to co-create something really different than other photography you see out there. The magic happens when we can meet each other where we are.

It’s been anything but easy. I have put in countless 14-18 hour days, 10+ years of grinding and scouring for clients, and for my own voice in all of this. Becoming an artist is nothing less than a transformative spiritual experience. The world demands your deepest nature and if you can’t deliver you’ll be lost in the crowd in an instant. There has been one major driving factor that has kept me going whenever things get hard; if someone else has done it before me, it’s entirely possible. It’s only a matter of how bad I want it. How do you know if you want it bad enough? How much TV do you watch instead of practicing? When you are engaging in things outside of your practice, are you asking yourself how you can apply this to your practice or your deeper mission? If not, you want it, but not more than you want to do other things. No judgment in that, it’s just how it is.

One of the greatest gifts of knowing myself and acting from my heart is that it has allowed me to crossover into other mediums and create through sound baths, reiki, meditation instruction, and a podcast on death and dying. It’s called On Death, check it out everywhere.

If I could write all the lessons I’ve learned through this process, I would have a NYT best seller! That being said, I’ve found that resilience has been the number one contributor to my success more than any talent that I’ve gained over the years. Be humble! Learn how to ask for help from people who are better than you at what you do. Surround yourself with people who care as much as you do, because having a support system is critical. Take chances ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME.

It’s where most of your growth will come from. Choose wisely when asking for feedback. Not everyone’s opinion matters. Learn yourself and you’ll be better at everything and people will respect you more. And be curious! If you want people to like you, ask more questions about them and talk less about yourself. If you want people to respect you, have strong opinions held loosely.

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?

Well, I may be off-the-beaten-path on some of these but hey, you’re interviewing me for me, so here we go!

– Ecstatic Dance LA for an amazing fancy-free dance experience
– Grand Central Market for a variety of LA cuisine
– Amara kitchen for an under-the-radar brunch experience
– Art District when you want to get a gorgeous meal, see some art and flex your drip (is that what the kids are saying these days?)
– The Geffen almost always has a stellar art show up
– Huntington Gardens for a getaway from the city
– Peace Awareness Labyrinth for quick meditation drop in
– Bacari Silverlake for a fancy Moroccan brunch wonderland vibe

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh man, I had this story for the longest time that I didn’t have mentors, that I needed to find someone to guide me on this path. One day I woke up and realized that everyone I had surrounded myself with was an inspiration and a mentor, even if not in the traditional sense. Together we rise and I wouldn’t be who I am without so many people. Nyla Rodgers has shaped my social landscape more than anyone in the later half of my life thus far. She’s the founder of Mama Hope and Satoshi Is Female. Catherine Hoke showed me the beauty of forgiveness and healing during 30+ prison visits across California. Christopher Kern and Margo Moritz got me started in the photo industry and have always been cheerleaders and a support system for my career path. Ram Dass keeps me humble, loving and connected to something bigger. And there are SO SO many more. I could go on for ages.

Website: https://tomkubikphoto.com

Instagram: @tomjohnkubik

Linkedin: in/tomjohnkubik

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqgIhu9TrG1RQyMn51EQHjA