Meet Jairo Morales of Photos by Jairo in Northridge

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jairo Morales.

Jairo, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started doing photography with an iPhone back around 2012 when I was photographing graffiti/street art. I was really amazed at how graffiti artist would get up on how places and literally take over freeway walls, billboards around the city and out in the streets with their names. My brother and I would go on night missions around the city to catch a new piece of art with my phone. At that time, I was using Instagram, I would use the filters that it provided on all my photos and started uploading them. A little after I started a clothing brand and I would always have other people photograph the clothing that I was putting out.

Fast forward to 2014, my parents gifted me a Canon power shot camera for Christmas and began shooting here and there with that. I was still shooting a lot with my phone since I wasn’t taking photography serious. I had an idea with my clothing brand that I wanted to bring to life and I reached out to a few people I knew to see if they can help me with that. After going through headaches and them not being able to bring that to life, I went back to the drawing board an came up with the idea of me taking over the photography side of my brand. I made this my goal and waited a year to be able to afford a good camera. With a lot of hard work, I was able to pick up a new Canon Rebel T5 Camera and started bringing my ideas to life. I decided to book a trip for my birthday on October 1, 2016, to New York City and took my camera with me. The second day I was there I was so excited to hit the city to see what kind of photos I can come up with. I saw walls out there from some of my favorite LA Graffiti artists and was thinking to myself, wow they really flew all the way out here to paint this knowing that someday it will be painted over and gone forever. On that same street, there was a piece of cement on the sidewalk that had been completely redone and I bumped into a couple there who were writing their initials on it. I politely I asked them if I could photograph both of them while they did it and they said it was fine.

After I got the shot and their Instagram, I stopped for a minute to look at my photos and that was the moment when it hit me, I felt like the universe gave me that sign, that photography was meant for me. To be honest, I was shocked by how I was able to do storytelling with that photograph. That day opened my mind to all these new creative ideas. From 2016 to 2017, I dedicated a lot of my time to learning how to edit my photos through watching Youtube videos, photography books and even using my favorite photographers as references. I also spend a lot of my time outside looking for different things to photograph to see what would attract me the most when it came to photography. In the mix of it all, I was also learning my camera since I didn’t know what the ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture was. I met two of my good photographer friends during a photo meet and they helped out a lot in learning those three things. All three of us were constantly hitting the city to see what we can learn from each other and the streets. Having a good group of friends like them helped me out a lot with feeling comfortable when it came to shooting the streets and going up to people for their portrait.

From 2017 to 2018, I found my love for Black and White photography. It’s a funny story because I use to dislike black and white photos since I thought they were just so simple and plain and now every time I see a bnw photo, my eyes quickly gravitate to it. There was a style of Black and white that I wanted to learn and master. I would go out and shoot my photos with the idea of them being black and white so from the get-go I knew how I wanted them to look already. Thinking like that when shooting my photos made the editing process way easier for me. I would like to say that it took me two years to get down the black and white style that I always wanted to have but mastering it will probably take me a lifetime. And also during those two years, I came to a realization that street photography is where the heart is, I like to shoot a little bit everything but when it comes down to it, the streets are what keeps me creative and inspired.

Towards the end of 2018, I decided to start a Photography clothing brand for the year 2019 called We Run The City. I plan on creating apparel, accessories, and photo magazines to showcase photographers work that doesn’t get the recognition they deserve. Lastly, I would like to add that if there’s anyone out there reading this who are looking into getting into photography, is to just have fun with it, ask and you shall receive, take your camera everywhere you go and never give up.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of the top struggles that I can think of right now would be getting over rejection when you decide to do photography. Getting over this type of rejection can be applied to anything you do in life. It has literally taught me to keep going and to keep looking for bigger and better opportunities with life. In the beginning, I was uncomfortable with going up to people to see if I can take their portrait or just taking photos out in public was really hard to do. The thing with photography is that you need to have confidence when you’re out shooting and not be scared of rejection if you’re out doing street portraits because the way I see it is if one person says no to you, you can get 3-4 people to say yes and be hyped to get a photo taken by you. Getting over rejection is all part of the struggle and learning how to deal with that will help you so much in the long run. I always tell my friends and anyone who comes to me for photography that my best advice is to keep shooting and little by little, the fear of getting rejected will slowly fade away and you will be so comfortable with shooting portraits and the streets.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Photos by Jairo – what should we know?
My clothing brand We Run The City is for the people to explore new places while capturing priceless moments in time, The City is our Playground. At the moment on the online store I have for sale a We Run The City Vol. 2 Streets on Polaroids 11-page photo zine, along with a Sticker pack and a We Run The City Photo print.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I would like to thank my brother for taking me on those late night drives out to the city to shoot all the graffiti we shot. If it wasn’t for him, I would not be this passionate now about my photography. I would also like to thank my parents for always supporting whatever I put my mind and heart too, I drive them nuts but they know I love them. I want to thank the homies Karlos and Petey for always being down to hit the city and for teaching me half of the things I know about photography. Thank you to my friend Wendy Chavez (@Wendyrandom) for always helping me out with photography advice and for inspiring me to create beautiful lowrider photos. Thanks to the homie Carlos Vaz (@uberalles) for always being there for me whenever I need help with photography related questions, he definitely kills the game. And to anyone who likes my photography, supports the vision and has helped me in any way with getting my work out there, I thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://werunthecity.bigcartel.com
• Phone: 818-455-6280
• Email: photosbyjairo@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jairo.d12/

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