Daily Inspiration: Meet Sebastine Paragas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sebastine Paragas

Hi Sebastine, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I became a photographer on accident! It all started when my good friend, Sparky got invited to be in Karri’s “3AM in Oakland” Music Video. I asked him if he was sure, and he said yes. After getting surprisingly good feedback on the photos and seeing them get used for promo- my friend who was curating her own photo show jokingly threw me in. The rest was history.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The public street is always smooth, but the personal driveway is a bit bumpy at times! I entered a whole new world that I knew nothing about and till this day, I still feel weird about calling myself a real photographer. At most, I’ll tell people that I take photo. People will respond back like, “So you’re a photographer?” in which my response usually is hesitation. I’m still lacking confidence in this field. However, I believe that confidence is like a muscle, the more you do it, the more confident you get.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I feel like I have two identities. My professional side and my artist side. I resonate and am known more for my artist side- which is photography and a little bit of video.

I now specialize in film photography and am most known for my film and instax photos.

Right now, I am the most proud of being able to pay rent with photography. It’s been a little over 1.5 years and it’s such a blessing that I am able to do what I enjoy for a living.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I was about 4 years old and my dad was heating up a pot on the stove for dinner. I followed him around a lot as a kid because as a kid (and still now) I was just so curious about everything. Time passed, and he looked at me as I was staring at the pot. He literally told me not to touch it and I just looked at him and mischievously put my index finger in the pot. Naturally, I started screaming and crying. Not funny at the time, but this is my favorite childhood memory because it’s one of his favorite stories to tell.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icyphotogirl/