Meet Allen Flores

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allen Flores.

 

Allen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I was first starting out in photography, I was 20 years old. I became more serious about my artwork when I got my Nikon 3400 DSLR, which is a basic beginner camera. I began by taking pictures of things that I found interesting or captivating. After some time, I struck up the courage to ask my friends if I could take pictures of them; and that was a huge step into photography for me. From that moment on, I realized that I had a preference in doing portraiture and steered myself towards that direction.

I’ll admit that it was a bit rocky at the beginning. There was a lot that I wanted to do, although I didn’t have a general idea what it was or what road I wanted to take. During this time, I already knew many photographers who had specialties in particular types of photography. They had also built massive followings on social media, raising my curiosity further when it came to their photo methods. Seeing their photos made me question my own work. I just had to know: “What category was I under?”

Later, everything fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle. Little by little, I recognized that what I truly liked to capture were other people and their outer shell. I admire that everyone has their own unique way of presenting themselves to the world.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Where do I even begin! The whole thing has been one huge adventure.

Like I had previously stated, when I started out, I had no sense of where I was hoping to go with photography. It takes a lot of ‘feeling things out in the dark,’ to really find what you want to do.

The first ‘gig’ I did was taking action shots at a basketball game at my old high school. I liked the intensity of the actions and the tense mood; and how I could capture the entire moment through a shutter. There were some challenges that I had to overcome, such as time management and the dreaded art blocks.

Time management was a big one because there is literally so much planning that has to go into it that people tend to underestimate. You really just have to crank out a plan, no matter how boring you might find the process. It’s the best way to get things done in a timely manner.

Think about what needs to be done and schedule allocated times for everything. Always give yourself extra time to edit; it can take longer than you think.

There were moments where I had an idea for a photograph, although it wouldn’t come out the way I thought it would, which is why time is of the essence. It can get frustrating, but the best way to handle that is to make time for it and going with the flow/experimenting.

Don’t get me started on the art blocks though, they’re the worst! They’d happen out of nowhere and completely throw me off. I’d lose motivation and get discouraged from taking photos when things weren’t going the way I wanted them to. The best way to deal with art blocks, and this goes for every art medium, is to power through and keep working. Your work doesn’t have to look perfect, and producing some work is better than producing none! How I have dealt with it was by taking pictures of whatever I liked. I would also look through the internet and social media, bookmarking anything I found inspiring and ambitious, such as: different color palettes, concepts, surrealism, and new ideas that I have not seen yet.

So I wouldn’t say that everything was necessarily easy, but I learned a lot along the way. That’s what life is really about though, isn’t it?

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
My business is photography, specifically portraiture. I’d call myself a lifestyle photographer since I mostly take photos of people in their day-to-day lives. What I like to capture is the character of a person and how their personality can be portrayed through photography.

What I am most proud of as a professional is snapshotting people’s portrait/identity. I love the planning behind it, the action, the effort, and the trust between one another.

When I take photos, I see the moment as something that is timeless. I could place someone in imaginative scenarios and capture how the person felt in that point in time, whether it was shown through a specific emotion or feeling.

I would say the thing that sets me apart from other photographers is how I showcase the person I am taking photos of and using the environment around them as a way of highlighting my subject.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I believe the moment I would always look back on was when I finally got my first camera and my first gig. When I got my first camera, I was completely amazed, I felt so excited. It was beyond anything else I have ever experienced. All I could think to myself was “This is it, this is something I would like to keep doing for the rest of my life.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://allen-flores-mf4f.squarespace.com
• Email: alfloresphoto@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allenaflores/

Image Credit:
Madison Ortiz, Ashley Alicia, Vennie Tran, Stephanie Anguiano, Rebecca Bermudez, Eden Rox, Darla Cozzarelli, Autumn Loud, Nadira Selen Jauregui, Marina Santana

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