October 22, 2016

Meet Whittier Sports and Portrait Photographer: Stephanie Romero

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Romero.

Stephanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started photography when I was sixteen years hold. I had already been intrigued by photos and I decided to take a black and white 35mm photography class. It wasn’t available at my high school, so I would go to night school at the local community college to take the photography class. In that class, I met an amazing teacher, Misty Cervantes, who really pushed me artistically. She opened my eyes to the idea of pursuing photography as a career. So naturally, finishing high school I imagined myself going to a traditional college and so I attended UCSD.

At UCSD, I studied Visual Arts, but I was still deciding if I wanted a career in medicine or in photography. After my first year of school, I realized my passion was photography and after one and half years at UCSD, I transferred to Art Center College of Design. Going into school I was set on shooting fashion. As any natural student discovers, I was running into some financial problems to cover school and I had to quit school for a year. I worked three jobs at the time, one of them being a photographer for a local studio. In that time of working for the studio, I discovered my desire to get my degree in photography, but it encouraged me to develop my skills in studio even more so. I also, shot sports for the first time for many schools. I thought shooting sports was fun at the time, but I knew it wasn’t my cup of tea. After a long year, I went back to Art Center and was taking any course in fashion. I had heard about a sports class being offered and I knew I didn’t want to shoot sports, but I wanted to work with those professors. Not sure if I was going to take the class, I had someone tell me that I was too girly to take the sports class. Immediately after that conversation, I signed up for the class. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. I met my two professors, Andy Bernstein and Tony Di Zinno who are not only amazing artists, but two men who have mentored me since I stepped into their class. In that sports class, I discovered myself as an artist and I realized my passion was shooting sports. It gave me the creative freedom to interpret an athlete, yet it is filled with constant adrenaline. I continued to work on projects with both my mentors and that led me to work with dancers, boxers, and the IWFL.

Then in the Spring of 2015, both Andy and Tony asked me to be a part of a photography team documenting Special Olympics World Games. In those eight days of shooting, I fell more in love with sports and photography. It was the hardest/ bestest things I had ever done both creatively and physically. From the World Games, I had one of my images chosen and published in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times. At this time, I was approaching graduation and I was also working with the La Serna Football Team on my graduation project. This consisted of being with the team for about 4-5 days a week for six months in total. Beyond my project, I was also freelancing and assisting on the side. Before I knew it graduation was approaching and I saw an opening to be an associate photographer for LA Galaxy. I graduated from Art Center College of Design with my BFA in Photography and Imaging in December 2015. I then started working with LA Galaxy in January 2016. From then on, I work with LA Galaxy, La Galaxy II, and LA Galaxy Academy on a daily/weekly basis. This position has allowed me to photograph the LA Rams. I also freelance in my spare time, having me shoot for the LA Kings, Longines Masters, portraits, and other teams.

Has it been a smooth road?
No, it has never been a smooth road, but I find that in every obstacle I face I learn more about myself as a person and that leads me to grow as an artist. I think the perception of a photographer is that every moment is glamorous, but the reality is as a sports photographer, you work longs days, weekends, holidays, rain or shine. I think for example when I shot the Special Olympics, my foot was broken and I shot on baseball fields, in a boat, on the beach. It is insane what an artist does for their work, but when you have a complete stranger tell you your work inspires them, it is one of the most humbling experiences. To know you have impacted someone is a gift and I know that for me it is something I don’t take lightly.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and career?
I wouldn’t really say luck has played a role in my life and career. With that being said, I do understand that I have been very fortunate in grad from school and working with LA Galaxy right away. I am incredibly grateful for working with LA Galaxy and having real life experience in the sports world, but I wouldn’t say that a lucky or unlucky situation got me to that position. I think that I have worked really hard to have a voice in this world through my images. Every team and athlete that I have worked with has led me to face good and bad situations. Each situation has made me evolve as a person and as an artist. But, every time I face a good or bad situation I find that my mentality is to continue to work hard, to push myself. I think that people recognize that I continue to work hard among positive or negative obstacles and that results in them being inspired. I think many of my athletes respond to that work ethic because it is very parallel to their mentality. At a certain point, I feel athletes respond to an individual that is pushing themselves and is passionate about what they do because they understand that process of devoting your life to your passion, among good and bad obstacles. I guess this is a long way of saying that I think luck has nothing to do with anything. I believe that I have faced good and bad obstacles, but my outcome has always been to push myself to work harder to get a more powerful image, to have a voice that inspires many.

Do you feel like there are certain traits that increase the likelihood of success?
I think persistence and laughing have played a huge role in the work that I have created. Persistence really comes with all of the work that I have made. I have had to be persistent in showing up day in and day out in order to get athletes to a point where they don’t recognize the camera. I think persistence also shows your devotion to your work, that fact that you show up on good and bad days in order to tell a true story. I think also, laughing plays a huge role in photography. Anyone who knows me, know I love to laugh. Laughing allows me to communicate on a personal level that sometimes having a camera in your face all the time is ridiculous. I think sometimes people see me behind a camera all the time, that laughing allows us to connect on a humanistic level and to acknowledge that the work we are creating is beyond just the subject and me.

Tell us about your favorite and least favorites things about our city.
What I like the best about Los Angeles has to be that we are centralized to everything. We can drive an hour one way and we are at the beach, you can drive an hour the other way and you’re in the mountains. As a photographer, the possibilities are endless for photo shoots. No one city looks the same and that is simply amazing to photograph. What I don’t like is traffic. I understand it is a necessary evil to deal with in Los Angeles, but I’m pretty sure I have lost like three years of my life sitting in traffic! haha

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