Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel Lugo.
Hi Gabriel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The first shows I ever attempted to shoot where with an Iphone 6 and a moment lens for the phone. I wasn’t confident enough yet to outright buy a camera so I just grabbed a few phone lenses that seemed incredible at the time and just took them to a few of my friend’s local shows. I quickly bought my first camera after that – a fujifilm x10 with a kit lens – shot a few shows, and decided this is way too hard and my gear sucks. I wouldn’t shoot another show after maybe a whole year after upgrading to a fuji X-t20 and a faster lens. After that, I really took off shooting shows with tons of help from Marshal (Montgomery Drive), eventually leading to my first tour ever with the band ZETA. That tour opened the flood gates and I spent the next two years goin from regional tours in a van to international bus tours and even got the opportunity to travel to some very foreign places like India, meeting Monks and shooting music festival acts in the middle of a Forest.
Today I still keep extremely active in the local scene. Music In Orlando and surrounding cities has grown exponentially over the last 5 years and I am always out photographing locals when I’m not on the Road!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all! Maybe the biggest struggle in my opinion is Consolidating business Savvy with your Art and Community. I still remember how jarring it felt charging someone for the first time for my services. I am constantly at odds with wanting to make a living and knowing my worth as a professional. Combine that with an online grind/hustle culture and thousands of cold emails to managers, bands, ect. and you can easily end up with an unhealthy amount of self worth issues.
These issues where a monumental hurdle early on in my career. I have broken down more than a few times to my friends and family over the years because of how much in my head I would get over what I was doing. Combine that with unexpected schedule changes (Cancelled Tours, being dropped from month-long tours less than two weeks out, COVID) and there has definitely been more than one time I have felt like just dropping the whole thing forever.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well, I have sort of developed my own brand over the years In Orlando. I call myself the GIF Daddy, due to my style of photography that utilizes short form stylized videos. One of the things I love the most about shows and photography is the freedom to experiment with light and style, and I have leaned heavily into stylized editing over realism. This has given me an extremely unique editing style that people instantly recognize anytime they see one of my pieces of media. Really, I just enjoy finding new ways to express my art.
I learned how to create video games for the express purpose of making music video lyric video games for bands! that was a huge accomplishment and I am still on the hunt for these kinds of projects.
I also make use of a vintage piece of gear to take stereoscopic photos right from my camera. And so, I also call myself, 3d Daddy.
More recently I have started to Experiment with 3d printing my photos using a process called lithoprinting, where my photo is embossed into a flat multi-color print that, when backlit, reveals itself just like a painting framed a wall. These prints are what I am most proud of and a huge personal accomplishment.
I also 3d print knuckle dusters for bands 🙂
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I am VERY into physical activities like biking, skateboarding, ect. and I also enjoy roasting my own green coffee beans at home!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gabelugophotos.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabelugophotos/
