Rising Stars: Meet Joe Scarnici

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Scarnici.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
When I was 6yo, my father took a photo of one of my plastic dinosaurs and an army soldier and said to me, “Look at what happened when you were in school today!” I knew it was him teasing me, but at the same time, I caught the photo bug because I was amazed at the storytelling aspect of photography. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I started photography in the film days for the first few years, but it quickly turned digital a few years after I got out of college. Then, everyone had a camera and was taking pictures! The talent pool of photographers all of a sudden exploded, and the industry didn’t know which way to turn. I needed to keep the course and prove that I was the real deal and could stand the test of time while the rest of the world took up the digital cameras and became photographers. For me, this was easy. I’d wanted to be a photographer since I was a kid, but it took some determination during that time period to wade through the “GWCs” (guys with cameras) and come out the other end as a professional. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I come from a family of artists. My father had and to this day has a wood shop where he builds everything from furniture to creative boxes to art pieces. He can find something at an auction and repurpose it into something outstanding. I remember my mother always was creative as a stained-glass artist or with sewing… she always had a hobby. Growing up around this kind of mindset helped craft my already curious mind into being the artist/photographer that I am now. 

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that LA is filled with every kind of person that you can imagine. You have your models, your athletes, and your entrepreneurs, and they come from all walks of life, race, sex, and religion. I love the diversity of the talent that I’m working for and with. The traffic and sheer size of LA can be tough; one day, I can be working golf in Pacific Palisades, and the other, I’m down in Orange County shooting editorial portraits for a magazine. In LA, we have every resource available to us as creatives. A drive to get to them sometimes.  

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joescarnici.com
• Instagram: @joescarnici
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-scarnici-12a28635/