Meet Pascal Shirley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pascal Shirley.

Pascal, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I fell in love with photography as a teenager in Colorado during the 1990s. I spent countless hours developing film, printing and learning the old school basics. I continued my interest in photography during my undergraduate studies and then at California College of the Arts in SF for my MFA. In 2006 I was offered a teaching position at CCA and taught incoming freshmen for one semester. I started to assist photographers during this time and I worked with an LA based celebrity and travel photographer named Jeff Lipsky. His first assistant at the time Nate Bressler encouraged me to move to LA for more assisting work and my former teacher Larry Sultan thought it was a good idea I head south. So I packed up a U-Haul and moved to the city of angels in 2007. I ended up in Venice Beach and started assisting a variety of LA based and NYC photographers. Assisting for still life, fashion, lifestyle, celebrity and travel photographers definitely contributed to me being a more well-rounded photographer. I assisted until about 2015 and early that year I was featured as one of the 30 up and coming photographers in Photo District News, a leading industry magazine out of NYC. Images they showcased were mostly of my friends and from road trips I had been taking around California. I was honored to be featured and shortly after more assignments started coming in.

Great, 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?
No road is ever completely smooth. I was taken advantage of in my younger years due to my inexperience on the business side of photography. I have had my images used without my consent over and over. I even had one of my images being printed in Australia for a big print house without my knowledge. As I’m writing this, I’m sure someone is using my images to sell something without my consent. I highly recommend that photographers safeguard their high res images. Also one of the biggest struggles is the fact that no matter how well you execute a shoot for a brand they might not always come back. Brands and magazines move on to the next artist pretty quickly these days as they like to change it up. So acknowledge that and keep pushing forward and creating new relationships. When one door closes another door opens.

Pascal Shirley Photography – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I specialize in lifestyle, portraits, food and travel photography. I think what sets my photography apart is if you look through my Instagram feed its not the same type of imagery repeated over and over. What really made me fall in love with photography was large format prints. I produce fine art prints out of my tiny studio in West Adams. These prints have helped supplement my income when I’m not shooting. So I’m proud of my www.pascalprinting.com side business. Not many people print their images these days and I think it’s very crucial as an image maker. It’s too easy to swipe to the next image online while a print commands your attention. I help other photographers print their work as well and it’s exciting to see a younger photographer watch their first print come to life. Lately I have been taking more landscapes of Los Angeles. I have been riding the train to the westside and working on a new series of beach images from the pier. I hope to make my first book in the near future.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I would say the transition from a full-time assistant to a working photographer was very fulfilling. It’s not an easy transition to pull the plug on assisting when the money is steady. As an emerging photographer, you will eventually know when you are ready to step out on your own and it takes time and patience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pascalshirley.com www.pascalprinting.com
• Phone: 310-266-6637
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: pascalshirley

Image Credit:
All images copyright Pascal Shirley

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