Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Vasquez.
Hi Christian, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey as a photographer began back at the end of 2019. I was visiting my family up in New Jersey for the holidays, which ended up turning into an extended stay. During that stay, my back was injured and I wasn’t able to skate, which resulted in a serious case of cabin fever because I am very much an active, outdoors kind of person. My aunt, who I was staying with, is a very talented photographer, saw how much I needed something to do aside from my daily walks and offered the idea of borrowing her first kit and taking it out for a spin. At first, I wasn’t very excited about the idea but it was something different and new to me so I figured why not. I decided to go to the local trail that was just up the street and started point-and-shooting. After a few pictures, I instantly fell in love. The methodical way of composing the shot and reviewing it afterwards to see if it’s how you envisioned was addicting to me. My aunt saw this and took me under her wing, teaching me so much about the technicalities behind taking and editing pictures.
After a couple of months of using her kit, she gifted it to me and from there on out, I was taking it seriously and really wanted to grow as a photographer. I started with landscapes and nature/wildlife since that was the easiest to access and really my only option to take photos of due to times because at this point, it was mid-2020. Birds in flight and wildlife are my aunts foray so I tagged along to a couple of her trips to get some practice with that but ultimately, I knew I wanted to do skate photography more than anything else. 12-year-old me tearing out page after page of the latest Transworld skate mag to put on my wall seeded love for not only skateboarding but the art of capturing skateboarding. This was before social media and YouTube was still in their infantile stage so all I had were old skate VHS tapes and DVDs and the monthly mags that I would sit and read/watch for literal hours on end, every single day. At this point, I had recovered from my injury, so I was back on the board and going to the local DIY. At first I was too shy to bring my camera out but was constantly framing shots in my head and going through the angles to see what could and wouldn’t work down to the placement of an obstacle and how the light hits it at different times of the day and what tricks would look good on it.
After getting close with the locals, the day came where I was comfortable enough to ask if I could take pictures of the skating and the responses were better than I ever could have imagined which boosted my confidence like crazy. Fast forward a couple more months and I’m back home in Orlando feeling better than I ever have. Ready to skate and take photos, I frequent my childhood local skatepark, Orlando Skate Park (OSP). During this time I was still using a wide-angle long lens but the shots I would imagine were in fisheye perspective so I had to learn get the angle without the lens so that was a fun challenge and ultimately helped curate and form what people would consider my “style” once I got my hands on a fisheye. Combine that with my attraction to black and white compositions and you get “Frame of Mind”! Before I knew it had collected a magazines worth of skate photos and I honestly never expected my photography to grow and gain the traction it has and I am humbly thankful for that.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
“Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor”… this was a saying my recent assistant store manager would tell me things would get challenging and it resonates so true to me because my journey as a photographer definitely has not been smooth. Every shoot is a learning experience and you have to be prepared for the unexpected. Weather changes and equipment failing is always a big struggle but you learn to work around these issues when they arise the more you are subjected to them. I say my biggest struggle so far was when my backup hard drive with all of my photos, photoshop overlays, texture packs and more decided to short out and I ended up losing everything on that drive. That was definitely a very challenging moment to process.
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?
In bare terms, I’m an amateur photographer but when you get down to the nitty-gritty I’m an amateur skateboard photographer who specializes in color-to-black and white conversions. However, I am not limited to skate photography. That, mixed with my unique eye and ability to freeze a moment in frame and my love for monochrome, I believe, is what sets me apart from others. My overall growth and how I let nothing stop me or get in the way from doing what I wanted to do with this whole photography thing is what I’m most proud of.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
This is a tough one! I have to say my favorite childhood memory was going to blockbuster to pick out a game to rent for the week which was always followed up by a pit stop at the pizza shop right next door.
Pricing:
- 3 pictures + color retouch = $50
- 3 pictures + color retouch + B&W conversion = $100
- 10 pictures + color retouch = $100
- 10 pictures + color retouch + B&W conversion = $175
- 11+ pictures + color retouch + B&W conversion = $200+
Contact Info:
- Email: fomfotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/fom.vision
