Community Highlights: Meet Jose Genaro Sepulveda of 85mil.Productions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jose Genaro Sepulveda.

Hi Jose, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?  
I am a photographer born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. I’ve been taking photos for about 5 years now. My preferred subjects are portraits and concert photography. I enjoy creating concepts with models, especially themes inspired by music. My love for concert photography stems from music being my first craft. 

I started as a musician in middle school joining concert band where I learned how to play tuba, from there I learned other brass instruments as well as percussion and guitar. I’ve been playing music for about 14 years now. Music has always surrounded my life, whether it came from the several school bands I was in or family gatherings, hearing my cousins sing and jam out together. I fell in love with the connections music made and how much I felt that the more I learned to understand music the more music seemed to understand me. Just have to give a quick shoutout and thanks to my middle school teacher Mr. Rodriguez, he’s the first person to ever teach me about music and made music such an influence in my life. I owe all of my experiences, including the recent ones with photography, to you, Mr. R, and I am forever thankful. 

The transition to photography I would say is definitely a surprising one. Growing up, I was definitely the last person to be trusted with taking family photos. My hands would shake uncontrollably and would come out all blurry. But in 2019 I just began taking pictures on my phone of friends and my surroundings… I’d say I started taking it seriously when I was able to get my hands on a camera through work. I would practice with friends and try to shoot but would be frustrated with not being able to produce on camera what I had in my head. That’s where I would have to give credit to my friend Alejandro Ambriz, he’s one of my closest friends and now business partner for our company 85mil. Productions. He had been into photography a year ahead of me and so I learned so much from him. The first big moment for me would definitely have to be when some friends of mine asked me to shoot for their album cover. I would definitely say it sparked something in me where I remembered that something I was always drawn to in music was albums cover art. The idea that I would be creating one for a band absolutely amazed me. To this day, it’s one of my proudest moments, and those friends are still one of my favorite bands. Their name is Cooli Oooli, and I highly recommend everyone checks them out. 

As for now, I honestly can’t even fathom how many opportunities and amazing moments I’ve experienced this year. I definitely have been learning the power of manifestation and putting a dream on paper. January of 2023, I wrote on my agenda that for the year I want to shoot for a big band, at this point I had already been pretty experienced at shooting some of my friends local shows but I wanted the opportunity of shooting for some of my favorite well known artists. With some luck and the support of an amazing photographer, Lily O., who is in charge of the outlet Local Gems Ca. I was able to shoot for one of my favorite rock bands, Movements, in the House of Blues in Anaheim. The experience was surreal, and it snowballed into bigger opportunities. Within the last 4 months, I’ve shot for bands like Softcult, Heart to Gold, and Inner Wave, and even shot for my first festival, Besame Mucho, in Dodger Stadium, where I was able to photograph big names in Spanish rock like Mana, Enanitos Verdes, and Cafe Tacvba! 

Besides my music photography, I’m a big fan of shooting portraits involving my culture, especially during the Day of the Dead. Through those experiences, I got to meet an amazing artist, Ricardo Soltero, who creates these beautiful, giant paper mâché catrinas. I instantly became fascinated by his work and would capture as many of Ricardos Catrinas as I could. Thanks to him, some of my work will be published this year in Playboy MX this March. 

I am excited for this point in my career. Finally, I discovered I have a style and certain perspective in my photos. Everything I’ve accomplished within a year has been amazing, and I can honestly say I did it while not being 100% certain of my abilities and confidence and just going through life overall. I’m eager to see how much more I can create as I strengthen those three things. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
An old friend told me “If life were easy, it would be boring.” I think that’s really helped me with my low points in my career and life overall. My personal life definitely has dramatically changed this past year, so balancing that with my day job and photography has not been easy. I tend to shut down and not focus on my tasks and goals when those personal things happen. That and feeling like I’m not as skilled as other photographers or I haven’t discovered my “style” has always been a type of “Identity Crisis” I’ve been struggling with. But even with that, I can definitely say those struggles unlocked a different side of creativity in me that I didn’t have before. I felt limitless, untethered, and like anything was within my reach. The impossible things began seeming more possible. 

The challenge and goal now really is to strengthen my technical skills in photography. I want to be a better counterpart for my friend Alejandro and newest team member and friend Rudy Zamora. Our company 85mil has gained some traction, and we really want to capitalize on that. The dream is to make photography both of our full-time jobs. Just like my previous dreams, it’s just a matter of writing it out and taking it day by day to accomplish that. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
85mil Productions is a company founded in 2021 by me and my friend Alejandro Ambriz. We provide photo and video services for any events, be it weddings, graduations, or celebrations. I think we specialize in people. The irony of being photographers is we ourselves are super uncomfortable in front of the camera, so we use that understanding to empathize with our clients. We do our best to make sure all our clients feel comfortable and understood during their shoot with us. We become the client’s biggest cheerleader, and I dare anyone to book us and say they weren’t laughing and smiling the whole time with us… it’s impossible, I promise. 

I think that’s what sets us apart. We obviously care about the photo and how it’ll come out, but I think we emphasize the moment what exactly you’re trying to capture and giving you the support or words of confidence you need to feel that. After that, capturing the picture is the easy part. 

I’m excited for this new endeavor that Alex and I set out for ourselves. I think we have a lot of potential, especially now that we added our third member, Rudy Zamora, who is an amazing photographer and friend. The three of us bring a different perspective and experiences in photography that whatever one of us feel we lack in the other can support and teach. 

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk-taking is definitely new for me. This year the risk-taking involved just being brave enough to ask. I’ve learned to appreciate rejections and criticisms. When you stop counting those rejections as “another no” and you change your perspective to counting down those “no’s” as you’re getting closer to that big yes, you become almost excited to put yourself out there and begin counting down the rejections because they will eventually lead you to that big break. 

Alex always jokes about my people skills and how he’s amazed at how easily I go up to people for a photo or a collaboration. It’s something I’ve definitely seen in myself intensify because I’ve learned the power of networks. Being fearless in putting yourself out there gets you in the headspace of “the worst someone can say is no, and you’re currently living in the circumstance of no, so you might as well ask and see if you get a yes. My way of making those risk-taking moments less scary as by seeing every interaction as a good one. I either make a friend, a business network, or I discovered someone to avoid. 

Pricing:

• Hourly Sessions $250
• Events Starting at $1000

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.85milproductions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sepulveda_takesvisuals/

Image Credits
Alejandro Ambriz