Today we’d like to introduce you to Lion And The Rooster Kelsey & Juan Iglesias.
Hi Lion and the Rooster, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We’ve both been photographers for as long as we can remember. The idea of family photography really started when we moved to the San Gabriel Valley to raise our own kids.
Between the two of us, we have decades of experience in the film industry — both in front of and behind the camera — so storytelling has always been a big part of who we are. Juan came out to CA to get his Masters in film from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and I was working in a factory sewing fabric while trying to break into the film industry. Fast forward ten years later and we meet each other and are married within a year. We instantly bonded over our shared passion for film and photography. We found ourselves working together and that it came easy to us as we share a similar sensibility and aesthetic. When the pandemic happened and the film industry shut down and we had a new baby at home we naturally turned the camera on ourselves.
That’s when Lion and the Rooster came to life. It’s named after our boys’ nicknames, which feels fitting because they were really the start of it all. What began as a way to document our own family grew into something much more — a way to share our love of photography and storytelling with other families. Looking back, it doesn’t feel like we set out to start a business; it feels more like we followed a thread that’s always been there.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been mostly a smooth road, largely because this has been a long time in the making. We’ve really taken our time to build a company that expresses a vision we’re passionate about. We quietly built up our clientele and portfolio so we could focus on creating work that felt personal and exciting to us.
Now that we have a fully booked fall season, the challenges are starting to come faster. The business side will probably always be the hardest part — we would do this for free if we could.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our work has a cinematic quality — We shoot a roll of film at every session, which adds a sense of nostalgia we both love. It’s a little documentary- a little bit editorial, but typically less posed. Juan photographs in black and white while I focus on color, so our visions naturally complement each other. We also offer videography- Juan shoots and edits vignettes that really capture the moment in between the moments and the kids and families personalities.
We want our work to feel lasting, like something you could find in an old family album.
What we’re most proud of is that we’ve built this together, from the ground up — just the two of us, raising our family here and creating something that’s truly our own. It’s been a labor of love and a way to share our passion for photography with each other and with the community around us.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
We’ve had so many people support us along the way. Our friends have been our biggest cheerleaders — letting us photograph them and their kids when we were first finding our rhythm, and sharing our work with others. It took a while to learn a language that kids respond well to, and those early sessions with friends gave us the space to practice and find our flow.
We’re so grateful to be part of the San Gabriel Valley — this little pocket of Los Angeles that often flies under the radar. It’s such a close-knit, supportive place, full of families who show up for one another. There’s a quiet creative energy here that we love, and the way this community has supported and embraced us really feels like its own kind of hidden gem.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lionandtherooster.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lionandtherooster/
Image Credits
Leonard Tam (image credit for main photo of us)
