August 29, 2016

Meet San Fernando Valley Photographer: Gil Riego Jr.

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gil Riego Jr..

Gil, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When I was a nerdy, anime-obsessed freshman at Chatsworth High School, I took a beginning black and white photography course with some friends. The chemistry, darkroom and I became good friends. I embraced this more than I probably realized, because after that semester I was a little lost. I wandered around my sophomore year, and during my junior year I tried to work with the school paper, but I ended up taking yearbook classes instead because the paper didn’t match my schedule. One of our duties was to photograph everyday life of the students, and we were each handed a 10-pack of 36-frame film. I just went crazy.

I documented everything I could and took photos of everything. Though the product wasn’t quite as artistic as what I produce now, that period marked the realization of my passion for photography. I took the course again as co-editor my senior year to try it all again with digital cameras. I was in Heaven. I can’t even recall how many 3.5-inch floppy discs I burned through.

Fast forward past graduation and you’ll find me wandering again, weighing the benefits of remaining in college or pursuing employment out in “the real world.” I worked some retail and construction and decided I needed to find myself again. Eventually I would elect to attend Los Angeles Pierce College and try another photography class. The chemistry of the darkroom pulled me back in an instant. I delved deep into crazy darkroom manipulations and sought to improve my work by absorbing advice and criticism from everybody I could.

After dipping my toes back in the water, I decided to join the journalism program at the college. What most students would make a two-year stay in the Media Arts department became a five-year jaunt thanks to my insatiable desire to explore the creative boundaries of photographic journalism. I revitalized the college’s magazine, became editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper and wore just about every other hat a journalism student could get their hands on.

As all good things must come to an end, I finally graduated with three associate degrees (journalism, photojournalism and liberal arts) and got accepted into the journalism program at San Francisco State University. It was around this time I began my personal photo-a-day project, an endeavor which continues today. During my first semester I acquired an internship at the San Francisco Weekly, a venue that helped me develop my identity as a photographer. I photographed protests, riots, parades, concerts, portraits—anything and everything I wanted to do. Within the next few years I joined the San Francisco State news publication, completed an internship with the San Francisco Examiner and got hired as a freelance photographer for the Weekly.

I had a great foothold in the city and made lasting connections. I have since moved back to Los Angeles to photograph events, concerts and portraits. The ethics and creativity I learned from my experience in photojournalism continue to permeate my work today.

Now here I am, returning full-circle to the days of that nerdy, anime-obsessed freshman. While I continue to shoot events and other assorted projects, my current passion in photography is capturing the art of cosplay, a community in which I have developed a strong family. But no matter where my camera finds itself, the product no doubt benefits from nearly two decades of diversified photography.

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s the same bumps along the road that you have whenever you chase your passion. Establishing myself when I went to San Francisco was task. Then once I finally got a hold of life up there, finances caused me to move back to Los Angeles, where I basically came back with a fresh start. Which is good and bad when it comes to making a name for yourself.

Currently the only real obstacle is time. With my photo-a-day project, various jobs/passion projects and time to edit them all, things start to backlog.

Have you ever felt like giving up?
There are always moments when I question myself and what I’m doing. Sometimes it’s a slow month and then it becomes a slow two months and it gets real tight budget-wise to the point of “should I just start over and get a ‘real’ job?”

Every time I come across kind of thinking that I think that I’m in too deep and the past decade or so would just be wasted if I did such a thing. I’m sure there’s some sort of balance I could find, but If you don’t do what you love, you’ll never be happy.

What would you tell someone who is just starting out?
Learn the basics. Know why rules are there before you break them. And network. Do shoots that you’re not comfortable with so you can break that fear. Make it happen.

What are you looking forward to?
Professionally, I try not to get excited about things too often. Obviously, I try to bring my excitement up to where the client is at, but I never try to get it to the point of unreasonable. Getting too excited gives things a false expectation, and if they’re not reached you won’t be happy with what you’ve done. I just try to look at future gigs and jobs with fresh eyes whenever I can.
Personally, I’m excited at whatever opportunity life throws at me and how I can tackle them. I enjoy the ideas of projects I’ve never done or seeing how extreme I can take my tasks (like shooting for more than 8 hours straight and still keeping things fresh).

Pricing:

Prices vary per project. Some events can go as low as $50 overall or $100 an hour. Portraits/Modeling work usually have a sitting fee of $75 and then I’ll work with whatever the budget is for the client.

Contact Info: