Today we’d like to introduce you to Frank Mojica.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Frank. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
A decade ago, I traveled to England to attend the Glastonbury Festival. Armed with only a notebook and a digital camera, I documented everything I saw and experienced, then wrote a story from the perspective of a music-obsessed, festival-loving Coachella veteran making this pilgrimage into this place of legend. Taking the feedback from that story to heart, I started writing for music sites, covering concerts, reviewing albums, and interviewing artists. I never set out to do anything with photography, other than maybe snap a picture with a digital point and shoot or phone for posterity, but assignments soon required photos, and when a photographer wasn’t available, I’d have to do both.
As a music journalist, I covered Coachella several times, as well as Sasquatch, Primavera Sound, ATP, Echo Park Rising, NXNE, Sled Island, Green Man, and countless concerts large and small. For the first few years, I’d just bring my then-outdated point and shoot to whatever show or festival, but for the SS Coachella, I bought my first DSLR. From that point on, what I found from shooting all these festivals and concerts is that even when I was there as a writer, taking photos was a more pressing creative challenge, and I eventually found that side more fulfilling than writing.
I’ve been in the middle of a career change for the past eight months, and have not shot many shows during that time. I became disillusioned with both the music industry, but also photography itself. I felt like the nature of this work is too fleeting, because that’s just how things are in the digital realm. If I take a photo I really like, post it on Instagram, then what? If I’m lucky, it racks up some likes and comments and generates some publicity for the artist, many of whom will never even see it, and inevitably new shots will come along and bury the photo in the obscure depths of my profile.
Despite all this, not shooting things left me feeling unfulfilled. Even when not formally photographing an event, I found myself bringing a point and shoot film camera or SLR whenever I went to shows as a fan or artist guest, or whenever hanging out with friends. I realized that photography was an integral part of me and that I just needed to go about things in a different way.
Inspiration soon came during the darkest of times. Just a few days after having surgery on both eyes, I went to the ophthalmologist’s office for a second followup to get glasses since I could not wear contacts for two months. While on the way home from the doctor, I was robbed while bystanders laughed. As I struggled to breathe in the minutes following the incident, I had an epiphany.
The eye operation was bilateral strabismus surgery, and it was not the first time I’ve had surgery for the condition, and doubtfully the last. In short, ever since birth, my left eye has been slightly farsighted, and my right eye significantly nearsighted, and my brain never fused these competing images into one 3D image. Instead, whichever eye’s the dominant one at a given focal length takes over, with input from the other eye suppressed. Conscious efforts to force the eyes to work together usually result in a chaotic, headache-inducing effect of double vision.
If photography is all about vision, then I needed to be true to mine both figuratively and literally. I feel compelled to shoot a photo series that conveys the nature of what and how I see the world using multiple exposure film photography. To instill that aforementioned missing sense of tangibility to my work, this series will be one of several in my upcoming photography book Seeing Double.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’ll say this much. People think that music journalism is like being in Almost Famous, but it’s more like The Upside Down.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Frank Mojica Photography – what should we know?
I taught myself everything I know about photography. I never took a class on photography, nor did I ever take one in journalism. I learned by trying, failing, succeeding, and Googling.
Although I’ve been dialing the concert photography back some in favor of more portraits and more personal projects and experiments, that’s what I’m known for. People used to know me for writing for various websites, but now know me for always being at shows around town, up in the front with a camera or two or three.
I used to shoot everyone and everything I could, going out of my way to shoot everything possible at festivals and shows and also attending them solely to take photographs. The last couple of years, I tend to just shoot what I am into. There are several bands and artists I’m specifically known for shooting, either because I’ve done it so many times, or I started as just another fan in the front row and then moved on to the photo pit. Or both. I feel this method of shooting a handful of subjects throughout their careers serves not only as a way to document a band’s rise but also as a way for me to grow along with them as a photographer.
My style eschews the uncanny valley sheen in so much digital photography nowadays for the nostalgic warmth that no amount of megapixels can replicate. To me, film is an equalizer in photography. Even though film and development is costly, the point of entry is still so much cheaper than digital, and it comes with that often-imitated, never-replicated analog aesthetic. Don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to spend on a DSLR and lens? Why not get an old film camera at the local thrift store and have at it?
For example, when Alice Glass made her live solo debut at The Echo a couple of years ago, her team said no to photo passes for the show, aside from her official photographer. Non-professional cameras were permitted, so I brought a Polaroid and a point and shoot film camera I had recently found at Out of the Closet. Other photographers, however, just ignored the artist’s specific wishes and smuggled their professional gear. I’m especially proud of how those pictures came out, and especially in regards to how I got them.
When I do shoot digital, it’s with a lofi approach and dreamy, sometimes trippy effect. In fact, I’m usually rocking an older DSLR with a vintage lens. For a big gig, like shooting Coachella or Primavera Sound, I’ll rent something, though.
I’m told that my aesthetic, methodology, frequent subjects and affection combine into something that sets me apart and has struck a chord with at least some fans and collaborators. Also, apparently my best photos can reveal just as much about me as they do about who I’m shooting.
Pricing:
- $250 portrait session
- $100 live photos
- $50 8×12″ photo print
Contact Info:
- Website: https://frankmojica.myportfolio.com/
- Photobook: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/seeing-double-a-film-photography-book
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realfrankmojica/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/realfrankmojica/
Image Credit:
Photo of me by Safaa Kaderi
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