Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Rodriguez.
Hi Steven, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Back in 2014 when a friend gave me her old Ricoh 35mm camera that she has been using as a decoration. This got me back into Street Photography that I have been obsessed with since. After many documentaries on YouTube and Netflix, I’ve been working on my art trying to get better and conquer my introversion by going out everyday that I can to shoot. Before the nightly demonstrations and “riots” in Portland, Oregon in 2020, I once asked myself, “when and where is my Civil Rights Era or Kent State to cover.” Beware of what you ask for. After the Pandemic, I moved back to San Diego due to lack of work, seeing old relatives and because my depression got the best of me. After that, I try to pick a neighborhood every weekend to shoot in. I spend most of my weekends in Oceanside but try to shoot in Ocean Beach, North Park, South Park, Pacific Beach, Logan Heights and South of Downtown. All of San Diego is open game to me and is a good mix for my work. Lately, I have been taking the Metrolink to downtown LA to wander around all day to shoot and get used to a bigger population. I spend most of that time in Koreatown, Skid Row, Downtown LA and sometimes take the underground to Santa Monica or Venice. There is always something new to shoot.
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?
No it hasn’t been easy for me. I have to constantly battle my Social Anxiety to get the shots. I’m a natural introvert, so that doesn’t help. Sometimes I miss something good cause I’m not ready or sometimes people around me can be an issue. People don’t want their picture taken or they do get aggressive with me. Thankfully I have become good at “hip shot” and Garry Winogrand style secret shots (acting like a tourist or something is wrong with my camera). In Portland, the cops were aggressive and would attack anyone with a camera…so I’ve been beaten and chased by the “Good Guys/Girls”, as well. Tear Gas and smoke aren’t fun but shooting photos to record what can happen make me happy. Anything for the shot.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in Street Photography. Capturing life and feeling in my photos is what I’m known for. I’m most proud of this “being my thing” and no one else in my family does it. What sets me apart is when I get bored, I pick another city to shoot in. It’s what got me spend weekends in Seattle when I lived in Portland and what moved me to take the train to LA. There is always something new to shoot and I want to capture it. Always something going on that needs eyes on it. Nowadays people like to think it never happened or isn’t real unless there is a picture. I enjoy putting that image in their head that makes them think.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
How much of a loner I can be but most Street Photographers are. I can be an acquired taste for some and don’t have the need to be everybody’s friend. As much as I love a crowd, I’m not much of a “people person”. Just shoot and move on. I’m on no one’s side but just there to photograph life.
Contact Info:
- Email: mrplugs@gmail.com
- Instagram: r3verend
Image Credits
Credit Steven Rodriguez. All photos were taken by me from the streets of Portland, LA, or San Diego.
