Today we’d like to introduce you to Ursula Vari.
Hi Ursula, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I arrived in the U.S. in my early twenties as an immigrant with two suitcases, all by myself, wanting a fresh start. Being born and raised in Romania, with a few brief years in Hungary, didn’t quite prepare me for the intricate challenges I had yet to experience in Los Angeles, my new, chosen home.
My upbringing gave me a big, open heart but it was L.A. that raised me and transformed me into the woman I am today. I spent the first few years in L.A. soul searching and enrolled in Santa Monica College and later went onto UCLA Extension. At S.M.C. I started to get an even wider world view through my professor James A. Mitchell who often spoke about the socio-economic disparities in our society. It was then that I first walked down on Hollywood Blvd and witnessed the houseless communities seeking refuge in the shade of storefronts. I remember wanting to tell their stories through my point and shoot camera. As my own soul-searching continued, I eventually stepped on the yogic path and became a yoga teacher declining USC’s invitation to attend their International Relations Program.
Yoga became my life. I taught thousands of students through the years. Many became teachers themselves. A few years later, I had come to find out that yoga wasn’t my path, it was simply a part of my journey. This became evident when I adventured deep into the Peruvian Amazon in 2015. That journey revealed to me that I am here to tell stories through my lens and through my words to help elevate humanity and inspire compassion in action. That revelation came to me in the form of a street dog on his last legs, who I eventually rescued and brought home with me to Los Angeles. It was also in the Amazon that I learned about the intelligence of plants and Kambo (frog medicine) and its application as the “vaccine of the forest”. After returning from Peru, I bought my first professional DSLR camera, a Nikon D750 and started taking photos of everything that moved. I also wrote my first novel, Four Seconds, as I continued planning my mission to save more dogs.
The flow of life and my passion led me to document the Native Nation’s Rise March and Rally in 2017, life in the Peruvian Amazon, the houseless on Skid Row, the BLM Protests, street basketball culture, as well as taking portraits of Dwight Howard, Will Kemp, Erfan Paydar and many others in the public eye.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being a female photographer in a very much male-dominated industry has its challenges. I will never forget the first time I stepped on the basketball court to photograph the game and was looked at with scrutiny until people saw my work and through it, I earned respect. And now it is those very players who hire me to photograph them. It often feels like us women have to work much harder as photographers to prove ourselves. Through my journey, I learned that you have to keep pursuing your passion with integrity and to never be idle, even if that means you earn and sleep less.
On November 1, 2019 I was in a debilitating car accident. I couldn’t pick up my camera for a while and for weeks, I couldn’t walk. Yoga wasn’t in the cards for me, neither was taking photos because of the tremendous pain I had experienced. Months went by and slowly, my body started to heal. I had to relearn many of the yoga poses that I used to do with ease. Eventually, my left hand was able to support my camera and I started taking photos again. Till this day, there are times during shoots when I have to ask my assistant to prop up my head with her knee or with a sandbag while I shoot from the ground up – limitations left over after my accident- but the gratitude to be able to work and walk permeates every cell of mine.
Last year, when the world came to a halt because of COVID, many of us lost our livelihoods and many lost their lives. But I didn’t lose my gratitude for my life and for each breath. I never thought that I would be driving for Postmates, but I know the responsibility I have to care for myself and for my three former street dogs (two from Peru and one recent rescue from Watts) who chose me as their guardian. So in between gigs, I jump on the Postmates Fleet App to deliver your dinner.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a portrait/editorial photographer and budding photojournalist and author, I take photos, tell stories. They call me the “gringa loca” in Peru because I am not afraid to take on new challenges like trekking through the knee-deep Amazonian mud, or being on the frontlines while the police shoot rubber bullets, or standing up for black and indigenous communities and the underserved in all walks of life. My favorite part of the process is my ability to connect with my subjects and truly see their essence and letting them believe in their own greatness no matter the circumstance. I love shooting in natural light. What I noticed is that my subjects truly come alive in natural settings and they have more ease allowing their essence to be seen when not constricted by studio settings.
I also have great love and reverence for animals and nature. In 2015, I founded and I am the director of Amazon Alliance/Project Street Dog, a non-profit organization that rescues and rehabilitates street dogs and brings free spay/neuter campaigns and educational campaigns to the underserved communities in the Peruvian Amazon. In 2018 I was nominated a Nobel Peace Prize for my work with street dogs.
What’s next?
With the world slowly opening up, I look forward to continuing to tell stories and to capture humanity and human potential through my lens and to inspire with those stories. I recently did a couple of editorial photoshoots that were a total blast and I am excited to work with my new clients who recently booked their sessions with me. I also recently linked up with the Washington Post and hope to join their team as a freelance photojournalist.
My organic, handcrafted, natural skincare line, Native Science Botanicals, just launched, incorporating all the plant wisdom I was bestowed upon in the Peruvian Amazon . It was an exhilarating process to photograph my own products and to design the website all by myself. You don’t get that kind of creative freedom every day, so I cherished each moment.
My second book, Street Dog is about to be published. It is pretty much my life’s work and a true testament to unconditional love. I also recently re-opened my schedule for Kambo healing sessions as many people are seeking more natural methods to boost their immune systems. I will never forget when a friend said, why don’t you just choose one path and focus on that. Us, artists are like trees with our myriad of branches sky-bound helping in the process of photosynthesis. The branches are our talents. We need to allow them to breathe and grow so we can continue to create, lifting up and inspiring the world.
Pricing:
- Photo shoots: $350-$625
- Individual Kambo Ceremonies: $275-$350
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ursulavari.com/
- Instagram: @ursula.vari @projectstreetdog @urbanshamanla
- Other websites: https://www.projectstreetdog.com/
https://www.urbanshamanla.com/
https://www.nativesciencebotanicals.com/ - Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Seconds-Ursula-Vari/dp/1537287923/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=four+seconds+ursula+vari&qid=1620761331&sr=8-1
Image Credits
All Images are taken by me: image 6297 depicts Composer Jonny Shaseri image 0304 depicts Will Kemp, Actor image 6297 depicts Dwight Howard, NBA player/ L.A. Lakers image 6297 depicts 7526, Phillip Ponesky, Model image 6297 depicts
