Episode 9 : Rawl of the Dead | Chasing Shadows: The Art of Horror

Step into the shadows with photographer and indie filmmaker Rawl Paredes as he reveals his journey from corporate confinement to creative liberation. Discovering photography at 42, Rawl's story proves it's never too late to follow your passion – even when that passion involves zombies, demonic priests, and Gothic aesthetics.

Transcript

Introduction to Raul Paredes

Speaker 1 0:04

All right , we're here with the lovely Raul Paredes and Raul of the Dead .

Speaker 2 0:09

Yes , this is what you go by .

Speaker 1 0:10

Yes , Fabulous . So you have a lot of mediums going on , correct ? So you have photography and you do podcasting , you do your indie films right yeah , a lot of plates .

Speaker 2 0:23

I'm juggling Love it , love it .

Speaker 1 0:24

So let's , before we go there , before A lot of a lot of plates I'm juggling Love it , yeah . So let's , um , before we go there , before we kind of break down all of your loves of life , let's kind of go back a little bit and learn a little bit about you and where are you from .

Speaker 2 0:34

Um , I'm from LA , so I grew up here in California , in Los Angeles , and um , my parents moved here from Peru in the late 60s but we were all born here . My sister , my brother and me were all born here . We grew up in LA and then , around when I was 11 , 12 , we moved to the West Covina area . I've kind of been in that area , the same vicinity , since 1982 . Nice , that's where you're at now . So now I'm in Covina . Yeah , so I'm still in the same vicinity , for since 1982 .

Speaker 2 1:05

Nice , that's where you're at now . So now I'm in Covina . Yeah , so I'm still in the same same area . But yeah , but grew up mostly like as a kid in Los Angeles , over over by the original Tommy's .

Speaker 1 1:16

Oh , okay , yeah , that's that Very cool . So let's talk about a little role . So you have a brother and a sister .

Speaker 2 1:22

You're saying yeah , little roles , so you have a brother and sister . You're saying , yeah , I have a younger brother and older sister . Okay , and how'd you get into photography ? Where'd that start ? So the photography started late in my life , because I'm 55 right now and I was 42 . So this was 2012 yeah , roughly 2012 when I got a camera , but I think the year before that , maybe a year or two , I was . You know , the iPhone was fairly kind of new in 2000 . When was it 2006 or 8, ?

Speaker 1 1:48

7 , somewhere around there , yeah .

Speaker 2 1:50

So I got an iPhone around that time , 2008 , and started messing with all the apps . And one of the first apps I think in 2010 was Instagram and I just thought it was a filter app . So I just thought I want to put cool filters on the pictures I'm taking on the phone . So I got Instagram , I got some other ones and I go how come my photos aren't looking like some of these other photos I'm seeing on there ? And I didn't realize it was a social media thing at all . And my girlfriend now that wasn't my girlfriend back then , she was my first follower because she said I'll follow you on there I'm like , oh , I didn't even know you can do that . So I started seeing that and I started seeing a lot of photography popping up on there . I'm like this is amazing . These photos look .

Speaker 2 2:39

I was naive . I was thinking they were doing it all on the phone and they weren't . They were using a camera , they were editing on some software , you know Photoshop or Lightroom , and so I started getting intrigued by it at that point , but I still wasn't thinking about it being a photographer . And then , when I went to go to a book signing , nicky Six had a photography book that he put out , and so I was in line at Barnes Noble over at the what's it called the Grove in LA , and it was a five-hour waiting line to wait for an autograph .

Speaker 2 3:12

I'm like he even took a break and I was like , oh man , you're taking a break , dude , come on , I want to go home . I went after work , not after work . I got out of work early to go there . And so while I was like in those five hours I was looking through the book and everything and I was like these are amazing images . And that's when I got the idea . I'm like that's it , I think I'm just going to do photography , like I want to do . Images like this , like his , were like a little bit darker and twisted , but I was like this is exactly what I kind of want to do . So I saved up some money to buy my first camera . I bought a Rebel T3 , t3i , or was it T , I can't remember . Now it was a Rebel camera .

Speaker 1 3:54

It was a digital camera .

Speaker 2 3:55

Yeah , and it was a Canon one , and so I had that camera up for a long time , from 2012 to 2018 , 19 I think .

Speaker 2 4:07

no , I think up until , yeah , 2019 , 2020 is when I switched over to sony and I was able , because these cameras are expensive , you know and I wasn't making a lot of money doing photography in those years , but that was basically the starter camera and then and then I've been doing it ever since then and just been .

Speaker 2 4:26

It's been growing since then , just like I always wanted to do architecture and landscape photography , which I still like doing , um . But once I started going to the conventions and bringing my camera with me , I started to get more into the darker stuff and all the horror stuff with characters and makeup and the goth thing , just kind of like . I just kind of got drawn by that . So I decided just doing more of that stuff was more appealing to me doing portraits and that's what I was really enjoying . I was really opening my my horizons of other things I could do , because I think everybody starts off wanting to do architecture or landscapes yeah , like that's everybody kind of stuff or street photography , but I didn't think portrait was something I would do , like I go .

Speaker 2 5:20

I don't know how to take pictures of people . You know what I mean . I think I'd be too , but no , I've worked with a lot of people since then and it's been great , so I've been enjoying it .

Speaker 1 5:30

So how did the horror stuff come about ? Is that from youth , or where were you introduced to that whole genre ?

Speaker 2 5:36

Well , the horror stuff . I've always kind of been into horror , so I just didn't think about combining it into photography .

Journey into Horror Photography

Speaker 2 5:43

And until I , like I said , I started going to some of these horror conventions , started meeting people and wanting to do like whatever their look was and like whether it's Michael Myers or whether it's like some witch , that looks kind of demented , and and I started organizing photo shoots based on those themes of whatever they have . And so , yeah , and then I've just kind of like loved , I just fell in love with it , because I just thought it's so different the way you can light some of these people in this makeup , whether it's got blood or whatever they have on it . It's the same principles as doing a regular real estate photography . You know , it's the same principles apply because you're still doing a three point lighting and it's still going to look great .

Speaker 2 6:34

So people think like , oh , I just concentrate on horror stuff . But I go , it's the same setup , the same settings , everything's the same , it's just the subjects different , that's all it is . Just the subject's different , that's all it is . So there's nothing . There's nothing different I'm doing , except for maybe a little post . I'll add a little bit more desaturation or something , and that's how it kind of looks the way it looks , but I can make any images look the way you want it to look like . If you give me a sample , I could like , I could know where the lighting is . I could could totally replicate it .

Speaker 1 7:04

I feel like it takes a good eye though , because you'll see some photography and I mean even in the horror genre where you're like , ooh , that wasn't very well , didn't come across very well , and yours are very striking . I think you've got a picture of a demonic priest and it's so well done . And if something incites a feeling , then you know it's done well and you know it comes across right . So I think it takes an eye to not . You know , it's not like a real estate photo .

Speaker 1 7:31

Yeah , exactly , I think there's a big difference between like okay , this is well lit and well done and kind of invokes that you know feeling about it , so it's definitely it kind of separates you .

Speaker 2 7:41

I think what I like about doing it is too , it's like replicating kind of movies or movie stills , so like watching the actresses and anything from the seventies . I sort of liked that color grade that they used , because it's very soft shadows , it's contrasting still , but it's got some kind of like um , some . It's got a different color grade than than you , you know , if you watch , like something , some family movie , where it looks a little bit more bright glowing . So I try to like , uh , get inspiration from watching even guillermo del toro movies . But any horror movie I watch or anything dramatic that I watch , I look at the colors and that inspires me . I'm seeing where the shop . You can still see like it's dark , but you can still see like it's dark but you can still see because it's a soft shadow . You know it's not , it's not dark like contrast , and I've seen photographers crank up like they . They crank up the black and the contrast and now it just looks completely dark .

Speaker 1 8:40

It gets lost . It gets a little lost , I've noticed some horror movies like that , where you're having to turn on all the lights in the house just to see the film . Then it gets lost , that emotion gets lost . Yeah , because now you're looking like this is a little too dark . What am I watching ?

Speaker 2 8:57

But if you have a good cinematographer that's doing the lighting , like , say , nosferatu , the last film that just came out that's like a work of art .

Speaker 1 9:05

Oh , so beautiful . It's dark . That cinematography was beautiful , but you can see everything .

Speaker 2 9:09

So those are the things that I get inspired by . I'm like , and I even created a preset of the Nosferatu color grade that I've applied at a few photo shoots that I've done and it looks really great . You just have to make sure it's like the , it's the right lighting where you're like . If it's an outside shot , it'll work for it , but if it's a studio shot , I just got to make some little bit of adjustments . So it just depends . But it's worked out on a couple of shoots that I've done and I've had that same look to it . So so I saved it and and um and uh , if people like it , you know I can apply that to it and I don't have to do all the settings over again . I just save the preset .

Speaker 1 9:46

I hear like I'm going to write this down .

Speaker 2 9:48

Yeah , yeah , no , I totally like mimicked it as best as I could and I'll do that with other movies too . Like I'll see a movie and then I'll put the stills by the picture that I just took and I'll try to replicate the same colors . And I'll try to replicate the same colors and I'll see what they're doing here and I'll try to apply to it , especially if it's somebody that wants a specific look of a movie or something , or usually leave it up to me . But if they want a specific look , I can go ahead and recreate it as best as possible .

Speaker 1 10:19

Yeah , so take me through . Like , did you take classes to learn all of that , or are you just kind of self-taught and just went for it ?

Speaker 2 10:25

Self-taught and YouTube . Youtube has taught me so much . I followed photographers early on , like Serge Ramelli , who is a French photographer . He was one of my early inspirations . There's another one , joel Grimes . He does amazing work . He does a lot of the . He used to does a lot of the posters for superhero films . He does the three point lighting where it's light on the sides and one on top and then a reflection at the bottom . That's kind of his style and he's also does a lot of landscape stuff too , and , yeah , those are like . Those are some of the influences I've gotten from from photography . I'm trying to think who else , who else ?

Speaker 2 11:15

Oh , I can't think of anybody else but yeah , those are all things that like that got me into , like how to learn , how to learn lighting um , also also carl taylor . Actually , I should credit that carl taylor . I I took one of his courses online . You can pay a monthly thing on that . Uh , I learned so much in the two years I took the course from products , uh , portraits , um , any style he can do it and he does everything in light . He very rarely relies on post .

Speaker 1 11:49

And that's good , I think .

Speaker 2 11:50

Yeah , because all the stuff he does I go . I could do that in post , but I remember the one he lit a motorcycle . He used 12 lights on the motorcycle and you see where he's going and where he's putting the focus on . Whether it's the tire , like you want to see the tire part , he'll put a light there and he'll narrow it down , he'll dial it in and then he moves on to the next light , then the next light , then this light and then he's . He was up to about 12 lights .

Speaker 2 12:19

At one point I was watching the whole two hours of it . I'm like this is unbelievable , like I'm don't even know where , where to start on that . Like I would probably just do like two or three lights maybe , but but no even . And his , his product stuff is even more amazing . It's like this is insane . He's got a , he's got a really good eye on on everything and , like I said , he very rarely relies on any post work . It's all in camera and it's all lighting and I've learned so much from watching his courses and and then youtube , just any any . There's so many tutorials on youtube , but I've even I've even done a few tutorials myself just to like kind of give back to show people . Like you know , this is something I learned , and maybe you . Maybe you learn something from what I just learned as well .

Speaker 1 13:09

Yeah do you feel like you're constantly learning and wanting , to like , change things up and yeah , I like , I like to share knowledge as well .

Speaker 2 13:16

So , um , I I don't know if you want to talk about this , but I'm actually starting a one-on-one teaching course . If anybody wants to learn photography , um , I'm have . I have it available on my website . You can sign up 35 for one hour one-on-one and you can learn the basics . Uh , any level that you're at , we can start , and whatever you want . If you want to do the dark photography stuff , I can teach you that . So , um , I like to give . I like to give back , because a lot of people , like when I first started off , were kind of like holding secrets I feel like everybody's like gatekeepers that way and especially in the photography world .

Speaker 1 13:55

They're very like oh , this is nope yeah , I'm gonna tell you what I'm using , or what they're like . Oh , what camera is that ? Oh , it's You're like okay , I'm not trying to steal your secrets .

Speaker 2 14:04

You can't afford that camera .

Speaker 1 14:05

Oh , I'm so rude .

Speaker 2 14:07

Yeah , I mean I've had people like I don't know that I got inspiration from in the very beginning and then they blocked me for some reason . I don't know why I was working with the same model or whatever it is , but it doesn't matter . I still think I appreciate their , their talent , and I get inspiration from , even like local photographers and there's many of them , A lot of them I'm friends with . You know what I mean . Like I don't believe in like hating on somebody for working on the same style that you're doing in the same brand and the same model .

Speaker 1 14:40

Yeah , we're supposed to like I want to be friends with the art world . Yeah , yeah , yeah , we're supposed to like lift each other up in the art world .

Speaker 2 14:43

Yeah , I'm just too old to be like nitpicky , like that . It's like no , I mean , like I said when I first started , like you know , people were like not wanting to tell you a lot of information , and now it's like I reach out to photographers and I tell them I think what you just did right now is amazing and I think it's great . Keep doing what you're doing , like I get inspiration from it and and they like hearing from from me or from you know , in general , you like hearing like positive feedback , yeah , and so I think it's important just to keep doing it because , like I'm not , you're not taking any work away from me . You know I'm working with where I'm working with and you're working with whoever you are .

Speaker 1 15:20

I think that's the thing too . It's , you know , people just starting out , or people that maybe haven't reached the age of like , knowing okay , well , I'm , I'm settled in my craft and I'm still confident in my craft . Maybe they're not to that level of confidence yet , or maybe they just feel like , oh , they have to , you know , keep everything secret and they're not to that level of like okay , I know I'm I'm settled and comfortable . I got this .

Speaker 2 15:42

Yeah .

Speaker 1 15:42

And that shows a big difference . You know , shows that growth and that you know being an adult Like okay , yeah , this is good I can share this with you .

Speaker 2 15:51

Yeah , it's too bad that , and I love talking to other photographers just about . You know it's the only time I get to nerd out about gear . You know what I mean . Like even before we started this podcast , I was already asking like about the equipment Cause I just I'm just a nerd with with gear , so I'm just like what are you guys using ?

Speaker 2 16:07

What is this ? What is that Like lighting , and I love learning all that stuff and I'm like knowing about it and and what everybody's using and and how they're using it . You know , I know people that just don't use off-camera flash at all . It's just all natural , and I'm amazed by it . I'm like this is great what you're doing . You're producing amazing photos .

Speaker 1 16:28

Yeah , you catch that right light and the natural light is beautiful .

Speaker 2 16:31

Yeah , I do both . So I just recently shot yesterday with no lights but I brought my lights . But then I thought about it . You know , we have this weather that's really cloudy , it's still kind of daylight . The light's not going to make . I could probably do something with the lights , but I think it's not necessary , let's just do natural light . So I pick and choose , depending on how the weather is for shooting outside studio , I'll decide whether I'm going to use a light or not . You know , sometimes , sometimes I don't , so I think it's just like hey , it looks great , just right out of camera . A little post work will go a long ways and and we can do it this way . So like both . So I don't have a preference as far as natural , because there's some people that don't want to . They get intimidated by lights , like using off-camera flash , and then there's like a camp like natural lights , and I'm in between because I believe in both .

Speaker 2 17:37

Yeah , I think there's a time and place for both it depends on the situation , because I've done both and I'm like I can do either one . You know , one time my , my , my , my flash broke , so I was . I had to shoot , naturally .

Speaker 1 17:49

You have to be forced to do it , yeah .

Speaker 2 17:52

So as long as you can make , make it work and make it still your own , you should be able to do both . You know what I mean . If somebody hands you like some flights , like we need this lit , this way , you should be able to do it you know , and or , or , if you can't . You know , if there's no lights , then you have to make it work somehow . Yeah , you know .

Speaker 1 18:14

I love it , I love it . All your stuff is so . And then the light . I like the fact that you said you work , because I feel like that kind of sets apart to like you know who can naturally make something happen and make it look really good .

Speaker 2 18:27

Yeah , I mean it just depends . Well , I could spend a lot of time in post , but that's because I'm editing like a bunch of photos .

Speaker 1 18:35

Yeah .

Speaker 2 18:36

If it's like , if it's somebody that's showing a lot of skin , it's going to take me a while to retouch that in photoshop , you know . I mean because I want it to look smooth . I want the model to be satisfied with the , the look of it . If it's horror makeup , that's even like I could just crank up the clarity a little bit and then I don't have to worry about any beauty touch-ups , because this doesn't have to be .

Speaker 2 19:02

Yeah I can just roll with it and like , okay , we can just get like . I think the other day I we shot like this , um , I think he called it the cursed hag uh dan dan , who does a amazing makeup this is the one with the like the blood coming out .

Speaker 1 19:18

Yeah , yeah , that was cool .

Speaker 2 19:20

Yeah , um , super cool that one I I edited in two days because we didn't shoot a lot . I go , we got the shots that we needed was getting dark already , I was using my flashes and adding some color to to the back of the wall as well , and I said I think we got everything right because we're really just going to post three or four photos maybe , like maybe a few more yeah but we got over like 100 photos that I'm gonna save and I think that's gonna be fine , like I don't think we need , and so I went through those really quickly .

Speaker 2 19:50

And then there's another one where I'm I just got done editing , but it took me two weeks to edit because it's uh , it was for a gym , um trainers , and so that takes a little bit more work because I had to , like , um , take out all the lights and um , so I had to shoot , um , I had to shoot a plate shot , which means take out all the lights , take out all the people and just shoot the room okay and I'm going to use that plate shot to go into post so that when they're , because , like , if you see the lights here , they're in the middle and the lights are in the shot- okay , because I can't get away from

Speaker 2 20:25

it because it's it's a . It's a wide . It's a wide shot Because if you see the lights here , they're in the middle and the lights are in the shot . Okay , because I can't get away from it , because it's a wide shot , because they're doing stuff with their dumbbells and their weights and all that and they're extended out too . So I can't do really a tight shot on that . So it has to be wide . We want to show the gym and everything . So that takes a little bit more work too , because now I got to do some post-work in two photos the plate shot and then them , and then edit out the lights . So it just depends you know what I mean . This depends what the subject is . I could spend some time like that one . I felt like I spent a lot of time . I'm like man , I'm still editing . I'm editing like 10 at a time only because an hour has gone by and I've only done 10 photos and it's like damn , I still have like a lot more to go . I edit way too many photos than I really should .

Speaker 2 21:11

I edit over like easily over 100 all the time , and this one was , like , I think , at almost 300 . And that's a lot .

Speaker 1 21:18

That's a lot of photos , I know , see , everybody says that I'm like we shot 800 photos . Yeah , I'll go do a shoot and I get like they're like here's your 50 photos . I'm like , okay , great Thanks .

Speaker 2 21:30

That's where I should . I should do that , but I can't choose . I'm like I might as well just give you all the photos .

Speaker 1 21:34

And I've had that too .

Speaker 2 21:45

And then you're sitting there going , oh my gosh choices . You know , I mean that is nice though , yeah , so I'd rather just do that and not not have like , oh , they might ask for more photos anyway . So yeah , and I've had people ask me for like the whole raw photos of the 600 photos I took . I'm like like about that , you only need like two , two for the cover or something of your album . It's like , yeah , but we want all the photos oh my goodness , that's so many .

Speaker 2 22:02

Well , there's a lot to edit on that Cause it was like a like something running on the on the wall that was not matching . It was like some plumbing thing . I had to edit that

Lighting Techniques and Creative Process

Speaker 2 22:10

out on every single photo and I only chose like a couple of hundred .

Speaker 1 22:14

Oh my goodness , that's still a lot .

Speaker 2 22:16

Stuff like that . I'm like I go okay , 200 wasn't enough .

Speaker 1 22:20

No , they don't need to see them all , just know you're like there was only 200 , I know I'm like what do you ?

Speaker 2 22:26

I don't know what they wanted , but I'm like , okay , that's like . So I'm trying to , I'm trying to narrow it down a little bit more , but even right now , before I got here , I was editing photos . I'm like I'm at 170 of favorite photos that I took of my shoot from yesterday . But we took , and also , if you don't use light and you do , natural you're going to shoot more photos .

Speaker 1 22:45

Yeah , cause you're trying to get that right moment of that hitting it just right .

Speaker 2 22:50

Yeah , so with the lights it slows you down . So I kind of don't mind , cause it slows me down . I'm not taking as much photos , but with natural light I'm like okay .

Speaker 1 23:00

It's hitting just right here . It's hitting just right here . Yeah , absolutely , yeah , absolutely .

Speaker 2 23:03

Yeah , so it could take . Yeah , it just depends what it is . But yeah , I was editing those photos and those are . Those are flying by , those are . I'll get those done , probably by the weekend .

Speaker 1 23:12

So how often are you shooting during the week ?

Speaker 2 23:14

I shoot two to three times a week . Usually There'll be some days where I don't shoot at all . Uh , I might be doing like video work , um , but I feel like I spend a lot of time editing yeah mostly , I wish I spent more time shooting than editing .

Speaker 2 23:32

I wish I can give the work to somebody else but that's not the not so fun part yeah , because you're sitting there like , oh , then my cat gets on the keyboard , so I was like and then she wants attention , so I can't really like I have to take a time out every few minutes to comfort her and give her time .

Speaker 2 23:49

And then when she gets bored with me , I go , okay , let me go back to the editing , and so she slows me down too . But everyone thinks I'm editing fast , so which I go hey , as long as you think I'm editing fast , I don't , I don't mind . I think I could get it done even quicker . But things slow me down , like , um , like just I do it late in the day and then the cat needs attention , so , um , so , yeah , I try , I try to like , yeah , I try to shoot as much as possible , though , and I feel like I don't do enough .

Speaker 1 24:22

I should be shooting every day and I don't . I tell people to shoot every day .

Speaker 2 24:23

I'm like that's I should shoot every day , though I really should like just to get um . There's some things that I kind of want to still learn that I could do on my own and experiment .

Speaker 1 24:34

Yeah .

Speaker 2 24:35

So I think that's so , though , that when I want to experiment , like I'll have a model come down and the next thing you know , it's like I'm not experimenting anymore , we're just doing a nice photo shoot , and there goes my experiment .

Speaker 1 24:44

You're like this is not what I had planned for today .

Speaker 2 24:46

That's what ends up happening all the time , like yeah , I wanted to experiment with lighting , but then I feel like I'm wasting their time too . Like oh , let me just get you some nice shots .

Speaker 1 24:53

Oh , you're too nice .

Speaker 2 24:55

Yeah so . Oh , so rewind before photography before photography uh , before photography well , I was still working at fox . Um , I started working at fox in 2005 . Before that , I was working at a uh , at a music corporation , uh called roland corp , which is a roland boss .

Speaker 2 25:17

The boss does the pedals , roland does the keyboards oh , yeah , yeah and then uh , but my first stand at fox was between 95 and 2000 in the , in the I was working in the mailroom , um , but then I left to go work at Roland , um to do , uh , what was it ? I think I was trying to do some receiving there , um , uh , and then that job kind of switched around where everybody was . It was became more like a like a real warehouse job . You know where you're unloading trucks , and I was too old for that already . I mean , this is stuff I did when my twenties . I go , I'm in my thirties now and I'm unloading a truck and I'm like I don't want to be doing this .

Speaker 2 25:57

So when my dad retired , I know he wanted me to go back to fox . Um , and that's probably not a good reason to go , you know . I , I know your parents kind of like influence sometimes , as me growing up not knowing you better I'm like , okay , well , this is what they want , but it's not what I wanted . You know what I mean . So I ended up going to work at where his department was and and I knew the people there already , so it's kind of easy transition to get there . But I basically worked at a studio supply call . It was kind of like a home depot , uh , office depot combined and basically the lot . Anybody that needs any supplies , whether it's for sets or for your office , they would get it from us . Okay , so we would supply that and that was the I was doing .

Speaker 2 26:47

Receiving there so totally night and day from photography yeah and then I didn't get me out of here that was 2005 , so I still had not picked up a camera at that point . You know , I mean my . I didn't start that till 2012 . And then , once I started , like , I started a magazine for a little while and I showed it to a friend of mine that worked on Modern Family he was the painter and I miss him so much . I should reach out to him , mike and I showed him . He's a photographer too . So he goes I like to see your works . I go hey , I actually put a magazine together , I'm going to show it to you . And he was looking through it and he's like Raul , he's like this is amazing . He's like you're not going to be here very long . I go what do you mean ? I mean you're not going to be in this department very long .

Speaker 1 27:34

I go .

Speaker 2 27:34

I don't understand . Like I don't know what he was talking about , cause I just figured I'm going to be here for the rest of my life probably , and I didn't think of making photography a full-time thing , it was just a hobby , and so he really kind of like opened my eyes to like I think he's talking about doing this full time . So when I left there , it was during the pandemic shut down . Oh yeah , I was waiting to get furloughed from there . I'm like oh man , I want to get paid to like , oh darn , to just sit at home so I was working , uh , I was doing two .

Speaker 2 28:17

I was doing like I was getting paid from fox when I was furloughed in march 2020 . And then I was doing edible arrangements , with still delivering stuff , oh yeah . And so my daughter worked there at the time and she goes hey , we need drivers , are you interested ? I go , yeah , just delivering , cause I do it once in a while for Valentine's and mother's day .

Speaker 1 28:39

Yeah .

Speaker 2 28:40

Just to get some extra cash and it was kind of it's , it's a good extra money . Yeah , I think it's ten dollars of delivery . So I'm like if you do like 20 of those , it's a , it's a good amount for the day . And then I think I did more like yeah , I did like 20 to 40 on any given day , but I was really enjoying it . I go , man , just driving in my car listening to music . I felt like I had my own time and I was so much enjoying it . It was like two , two weeks in . I'm like this is awesome . And then all of a sudden my boss called me and he's like , oh no , what's going on ? He's like , hey , so we're going back two days a week .

Speaker 2 29:13

Oh wow , starting next week , like . And I got so bummed out , I'm like , oh man , okay , so I , oh man , okay . So I went back and it wasn't the same yeah my , my mentality had changed you're already gone .

Speaker 2 29:28

I was gone I was like , I think I just want to work for myself . So I left that year , um , but not on my . I wanted to find another job . So I I saw that , um , I think my girlfriend sent me a post that blackcraft was hiring blackcraft cult , which is a , a clothing brand that does a lot of like , you know , gothy clothes , and they were based out of Anaheim . So I'm like , oh , that's even closer to my house .

Speaker 2 29:52

So I'd been applying for jobs at that point for for a while , but nothing ever stuck out . And then I just applied to be in the warehouse because they needed a warehouse worker . So , like , I applied and they called me and they said and they said it's basically warehouse work and I go , all right , well , that's what I do here . So , but what I do here is like receiving , so I receive stuff , uh , inventory stuff , so . So they decided to give me a chance in doing like a receiving and a Blackraft , but like a receiving and black craft . But my real goal was to get into the photography department , because I know they need photos , because I've been seeing all their stuff , and so I go , do you guys need a photographer ?

Speaker 2 30:30

you need help with this , yeah they're like , well , we're not hiring for photographer , we're hiring for this , like okay . So when I got into the interview I even asked again I go so , by the way , like , uh , if , if you guys do need a photographer , let me know like I can do . I can do it . It's like , yeah , we'll let you know , but that's not what we're hiring you for . So I saw the photo section , though , like where was that ? I'm like , oh , there's all the gear . But I think once I started in there , I got in good with , obviously , raquel was working there and she was the main photographer and we became really good friends . And so once they were expanding that photography uh department , I applied right off the bat and and so I was only nine months into black craft and I got a job as a photographer that's great and but they actually wanted me to do more video because I was mostly doing during the pandemic , I was like messing around with video stuff , so they liked the video .

Speaker 2 31:22

So they said why don't you do more video ? Because I was mostly doing during the pandemic , I was like messing around with video stuff , so they liked the video . So they said why don't you do more video ? A little bit of photography , because we need more content , you know so . So I didn't really know how to do video at that point , Like I know very little about it , but I learned quickly just through working there , like how to do video and and again YouTube .

Speaker 1 31:45

Thanks to YouTube .

Speaker 2 31:47

I was able to learn a little bit of the settings , how you can make it look this way , and you know , I'm still learning . I'm still learning from video . But yeah , that's where it led up to . Like you know , once I got laid off there in 2023 , I just decided just I'm not going to work a job anymore . I don't think it's really for me . I think it's better if I just try to make my own money , my own income , and not rely on a job that might lay you off .

Speaker 2 32:16

Yeah , always have that stress in the back of your mind or working hours , yeah , or working break times and when you're supposed to eat , and all that . I think as I got older I just kind of was over all that stuff . I didn't want to listen to people .

Speaker 1 32:32

You're like listen , I want to be my own boss . Thank you very much .

Speaker 2 32:34

Now I just enjoy it , even if I'm not doing work all the time . I just feel like I'm in a better place mentally Now my eyes have really been opened .

Speaker 2 32:43

it's like man , I could just do all kinds of stuff now , like yeah I could venture out into other avenues of photography , videography , even other types of businesses that I'm like , um , thinking of doing and just open my eyes like I could be my own boss . You know what I mean . So it's uh , I could never go back again . I think I did go back . I work , um , I think in 2022 I worked at the haunted he ride oh yeah , nla so yeah , but I think I quickly realized I go , I don't want to be doing this like

Working Life Before Photography

Speaker 2 33:20

that . Like there was a lot of rules .

Speaker 1 33:22

Oh , again .

Speaker 2 33:23

And I think again , like I think I just got so used to not really being told what to do anymore . I don't know if this is good advice or not , but like I really don't want to be doing like what other people are telling me to do Go on breaks and all that . I mean I don't mind like doing it because I have to do it there , but I just don't think that's my thing to do anymore . I think I just want to do my own thing .

Speaker 1 33:47

I feel like , once you open that gate , of being your own boss and doing your own thing . It's so hard to go back it's hard yeah . I've same thing . I've been , you know , doing my own thing for so long . It's like I could never do the corporate thing ever again now .

Speaker 2 34:01

I realize I just want to tell myself what to do . That's it yeah , it's nothing wrong with like people enjoy doing their job and everything , but really it's like you gotta like you're you're doing .

Speaker 2 34:14

You're doing somebody else's work , um , and making somebody else rich and and you're trading your time in for that and and that's costing your time . And I realized it was costing me a lot of time because even at Fox , when my aunt passed away , my grandma passed away , my dad passed away all those three things happened while I was at Fox and all three times they gave me a hard time about it .

Speaker 1 34:40

And that's so heartbreaking to me . It's like you know , I have a death in the family , legitimate reason why I can't be here . Well you should be at your job . No , actually , this is really more important . It's where we put the focus on certain things in life . It really is sad , especially in the corporate world .

Speaker 2 34:57

They were looking at like uh , well , if you're , if you didn't clock in , we could have , like it was something weird that he told me about . I'm like I go , well , I don't know my grandma's going to pass away that morning , like what are you talking about ?

Speaker 2 35:09

Yeah , like I'm not in control of that , so those things are not normal and they were trying to . They had embedded so much in my head that that's actually normal . I think that's all of that . Once my dad passed away , that's when I realized this is not normal , the way they're acting . No , they're acting like I mean . I got yelled at . My dad passed away . I told him I'm going to have a hard week because he's already in the hospice and I told him that . I told my boss that and if you're watching you know it's just . I don't know how you can live with yourself knowing that I retold you this and then you decided to bring me into your office and tell me that I'm not doing my job and what's wrong with you ? Like asking , like something's wrong with me . I'm like dude , what is wrong with you ?

Speaker 1 35:56

Like I just told you what's going on and you just look at them and you're like really , I'm still showing up . I'm still doing my job . Just don't even give me a hard time .

Speaker 2 36:04

It's amazing that you're even there . That's all I wanted . Yeah , yeah , and I think so . But those things needed to happen because I think the universe was trying to tell me like this is not where you belong anymore . Yeah , we don't belong there . You're dealing with stuff that you shouldn't be dealing with , yeah . And so now it's like oh man , like this is all , like this is all things that I now I can do whatever I want . I can go take a nap . If I want , I can go have lunch with a friend if I want .

Speaker 1 36:30

You can take the week off if you want .

Speaker 2 36:32

And I still do a lot of the work for and I'm doing a lot , of , a lot , a lot of work with the clients that are , like you know , like the guy from Goods and R roses , like I did work with him and , uh , you know , um , just a lot of , like a lot of other people that are in industry that I've done work for . I'm like you know , I'm not trying to like drop any names , but it's people that are high up there and it's like this is . I'd rather be doing this .

Speaker 1 36:56

But they were also respecting your time and they're . And also , you know , consider of what you're doing , which is a huge difference from people that are like I'll just clock in and clock out and see you tomorrow .

Speaker 2 37:06

Exactly . All they're really asking for is like , give me some footage at so-and-so time , like , oh yeah , I could . I mean , what else do I have to do ? Like that's what I'm here for , I'm here for you , guys . So I always tell them I go no , no , no , you tell me what you want , I'm here , I'm here for you , whatever , I'm not here for me . Like I could make this video the way I want it , but I want it to be the way you want it .

Speaker 2 37:29

And if you're not sure , we can exchange ideas of how you want it . That way we meet your expectations and you know , maybe there'll be a little bit higher than what you expected , and that's always a good thing .

Speaker 1 37:40

You know what I mean . So , yeah , so moving forward into other avenues of things you're doing , you're doing the indie filmmaking , right ?

Speaker 2 37:48

yes , okay , yeah , so what are ? You currently working on with that so right now I'm currently working on , so we just finished this year . It really was motivated to do more short films . Um , it's just things on my own . If I could just do it all on my own , uh , so I can learn . So I can learn lighting , learn cinematography , storytelling , and so we just . I did a zombie movie called the Awakening and that's out on YouTube now . We did another one . I did like three back to back movies .

Speaker 1 38:20

Oh my goodness in one month that's kind of exact in one month yes sir , that is very .

Speaker 2 38:28

You're aiming for the stars yeah , it was like we did the the , the poe movie , which was like we shot that one january I think january , february , I can't remember exactly when and I remember the next day I had to shoot my zombie movie and so I did that the whole day , so I was exhausted . And then , I think two weeks later , we shot another one called uh , a shadow , which we just did in my apartment . It was just something really quick and that's like literally like two minutes , but it took us like three or four hours to make . The zombie movie took us about six hours and probably more . With the makeup . Yeah , because Dan again he came through with the makeup .

Speaker 2 39:07

With the zombies , I mean they look unbelievable and I wish I would have got more footage of them as zombies . But and then I'm working on it . So , and then the Poe movie was a lot longer because we had to shoot this at a house and we had to do a reshoot . So the reshoot was done two weeks later because we forgot to add a couple of things . This is all part of the learning experience because , like , when I go into post and I'm looking , I go oh , you know , we're missing this part in the hallway where she's looking for her daughter . Like we didn't really get that . You know what I mean . So again , like I go , maybe we should just do half days where we get a good idea shot and everything and then come the next day and be refreshed , because I get burned out after about six hours oh yeah I'm like tired .

Speaker 2 39:54

I'm like I'm just like trying to get through the day and get through the shoot and I'm realizing like I'm rushing it now and I shouldn't have to . So that's why these other movies were a lot smoother to do , because they were ideas I already had and everything ran smooth as far as , like you know , we had to change the set out , we had to change the lighting , we added some flicker lighting on top , but it all came together really quickly and I go , man , this is only two minutes . I feel like we did a lot more work than that . We did like six hours of shooting and but it's all because of all the other things that it takes up , like the audio , all that stuff and um , and so the poe movie is out , uh , is out june .

Speaker 2 40:41

I haven't set a date yet , but we have a screening on j June 6th . So I don't know when this podcast premieres , but it'll be a little bit after June 6th . We'll put it on YouTube . I'm just haven't picked a date yet , but the other movies are on there right now , and then the other one I'm working on it's also in . I'm trying to shoot for this in June , or I mean we're already almost into June . It's a . It's another idea I have of , um , the two girls that played the zombies . Actually they're not going to be zombies in this one , but I enjoyed working with them . So , um , same studio , but it's kind of more of a twilight zone-ish sort of story . Uh , but we'll get to that when it's done , you know .

Speaker 2 41:18

I mean , I don't want to spoil the the whole spoilers the whole thing what it's about , but basically it's a woman that wakes up in a white room and you'll find out why she's there .

Speaker 1 41:30

Stay tuned . So that will be a good one Watch all the movies .

Speaker 2 41:33

Yes , yes . And then I have another alien one that I want to do as well . So I have all these ideas that I wrote down earlier in the year of story ideas , just ideas . I go , I want to do zombie , the Poe , the second one , and then , uh , what was the other one ? Uh , the alien one , and and then the shadow one . I had that one . I had the all those figured out already . So I'm trying to write down more ideas . So , um , I want , I want to do almost like a little Twilight Zone type of episodes where they're all really short .

Speaker 1 42:05

Yeah .

Speaker 2 42:05

Short and sweet , but get to the point .

Speaker 1 42:08

You know what I mean , if there was a certain director , your dream to work with a director , who would you want to work with ?

Speaker 2 42:16

Oh man , I don't know . I feel like I'm a director . I didn't even ask to be a director , but I like , let me think , I don't know maybe like James Wan you know he does a Saw movie , insidious . I think that would be great , that would be pretty awesome . I think Vince Gilligan would be amazing . Vince Gilligan doesn't do horror movies , but Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul . I mean , I think I get a lot of inspiration from watching that , like the way he picks the camera angles . They're different .

Speaker 1 42:55

Cinematography is good .

Speaker 2 43:01

It is so like creative and it looks visually like cinema . I'm like this is , I think those two , I think Vince Gilligan for sure . Yeah , I think that would be great .

Speaker 1 43:07

What kind of advice do you have for people that are like looking to get into photography or maybe they're stuck in that like nine to five . And what would you have told yourself ,

Breaking Free From Corporate Life

Speaker 1 43:17

like , if you could go back and you know , like , hey , you know what , just get the hell out of here , just do it . What would you say ?

Speaker 2 43:24

I would say just you know it's going to take time , but don't give up . Don't give up on it . I think a lot of people that I've started off doing photography , a lot of people have dropped off .

Speaker 1 43:39

Yeah .

Speaker 2 43:40

And I think that's the number one . People get frustrated because they don't see you can't get into it for money . That's the wrong reason to get into it . You got to get into it because you love it .

Speaker 1 43:52

And if you love it enough that goes hand in hand with everybody , though you know , you slide by night .

Speaker 2 43:56

People are like I'm just gonna make so much money , but art , there's not a lot of money in art no , there isn't a passion shows there and that's when you start like kind of you know if you're very passionate about it , if you just want to do hobby , that's fine , you want to stick to your nine to five job . But if you don't want to stick to your nine to five job and you want to get into photography , I would say you know , learn as much as you can , but also realize it's going to be years before you're a success . It could take 10 years . So ask yourself are you willing to do 10 years of this ? Yeah , that you might not see a dime , you might make a little money , but you're not going to be , you know , rich .

Speaker 1 44:37

Yeah .

Speaker 2 44:41

You know . So I would say like I'm still trying to stick to it as well , like I don't want to do anything else . So , and I'm very passionate about it , and I'm very passionate about it , this is what I want to teach photography and and go into that medium as well to to teach people , cause I know I would have appreciated somebody like doing a one-on-one with me , and if it's only like a few dollars to do it , it's like that's worth it to me .

Speaker 1 45:06

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 45:08

Yeah , I think that's important . So , yeah , I just don't and don't take . Take criticism , but take it well , not where somebody's like like just trashing your work . That's different . That's just somebody trashing your work . But if there's constructive criticism , uh listen , I always ask people for their opinions , which I always do . I ask people like what was wrong with the film ? And they always look at me like oh , like they don't want to insult me , like no , no , you're not insulting me . Yeah , I know what's wrong with it .

Speaker 1 45:36

So you're like , I need some honest feedback , but let me know what else you see that you were could have improved , even photography .

Speaker 2 45:42

Like , you can ask people's opinion . You can ask my opinion , like people have asked me , like what do you think of this photo ? And I'll break it down . I'll like , okay , this , this , this , that you could improve this a little bit more . Uh , don't be afraid , you know , I mean that's uh , that's how you learn , that's how you're going to learn and that's how you're going to get better and better , because you're going to see the mistakes .

Speaker 2 46:03

You're going to see , and mistakes are just , are just learning lessons . They're not mistakes , they learning lessons . That's the way I look at it and , like anything that I've done , whether it's film , photography , audio stuff I see the mistakes , but I also see , oh , that's something that just taught me something , and so it's it's more of a lesson . I go , okay , I just learned something , and now I know how to fix it , I know how to improve it , I know what to expect now .

Speaker 2 46:30

I know how to fix it , I know how to improve it , I know what to expect now . And even , like when I'm recording podcasts , that's a new medium for me as well , like I've never recorded podcasts before , but now I'm producing podcasts . Now I'm not talking about my own , I'm talking about different people's podcasts , and that's a learning curve for me too , cause I've never done it before , I've never had to like sync in audio with video before . I'm like that's kind of new to me and , and so now I know what to expect now . Now I know , like , how to bring the mediums together , where the lighting can improve , uh , what mood they're going for , um , all these things like that . I'm learning , uh , as I go , and how to improve it and make it so I don't have these mistakes again . I was even telling you earlier like a mistake I made where I , you know , one of the cameras is only 30 minutes and and I forgot about it . And I , how can I improve on that ? Yeah , I have everything on silence . I can't put an alarm .

Speaker 1 47:27

Yeah .

Speaker 2 47:28

So I got to think of a different way to like to like improve that for myself , to like just put a note on there Like hey , check this in 30 minutes .

Speaker 1 47:38

Don't forget about me .

Speaker 2 47:39

Yeah , cause I could . I could be walking around , I could be listening , I could be in . I get intrigued by the podcast . I think that's where it would happen . I'm now , I'm listening . I'm like , oh wait , I'm supposed to be producing this thing .

Speaker 1 47:52

I'm the one doing this , yeah .

Speaker 2 47:53

I forgot I'm doing something and um so yeah , those things like that . You know just uh , I'm always learning something .

Speaker 1 48:00

Yeah , I feel like if you're not learning something , you're dying Like your craft will just I was in the pinup world for a hundred years and there was always you know these certain photographers .

Speaker 1 48:11

You're like , oh , that's so-and-so , Cause it looked cookie cutter . Every time you're like knew who this photographer was , you knew who took it and you could call them out , Cause it was the same every time . I mean , they made good money and they did , they were good at what they did , but after a while you just wanted to see something different , of getting outside the circle of like , okay , I just I don't want to do that style anymore . I don't want to even see that style anymore . I think I have like pinup PTSD at this time in my life .

Speaker 2 48:34

Cause they all have like the same kind of look to it .

Speaker 1 48:37

Same lighting , same look , same poses . You're like you know exactly what to go in and do . You could knock out a shoot in like 15 minutes . You're like , okay , here we go . Okay , good , go . And I feel like that . You know a lot of people slip into that . You know the photographers , artists , singers , things like that . They just all fall into this rut and they don't grow or change or evolve , and I just feel like then that's when that person kind of just you know that I've even heard too , people say like I'm I'm bored yeah , absolutely I go why are you bored ?

Speaker 2 49:09

yeah , it's like I just it's the same thing Like that's because you're doing the same thing .

Speaker 1 49:13

Yeah , because you're boring and you're not kind of like get outside your box , Get outside of your comfort zone .

Speaker 2 49:18

There's a lot to learn , so like , even like . If you're bored with like natural lighting , well then , learn some lighting .

Speaker 1 49:22

Yeah , learn some lighting .

Speaker 2 49:24

Learn something else Learn shoot your shoot pets , I mean , if you're .

Speaker 1 49:33

There's a challenge in that I've had to shoot pets too .

Speaker 2 49:34

There's a challenge that's gonna be real challenging . Oh my god , that's probably yeah , especially kids , I don't think I'd want to . I don't think I'd want to braise that kids , I mean kids , it's like a little bit easier , but I've had kids that have been been fussy and crying and they're not having it oh , yeah , no and we have to take timeout , calm them down and then get them back in .

Speaker 2 49:53

You know , wipe away the tear , wipe the red on their face yeah , but with pets , man , they don't . They don't stay still . Like I need to do a portrait of my cat Actually I'm surprised I haven't done one yet Like I really want to want to get her a good portrait of her , but I think that's going to be hard . She does not sit still .

Speaker 1 50:14

You're like that's going to be a miracle .

Speaker 2 50:15

I think that's going to be my challenge to myself . I'm going to take a portrait of my cat and see if I can do it . Both cats , because my daughter's cat as well . Oh , that would be great . I'll do a portrait of both of them . Maybe do that at home , I them . Oh well , maybe do that at home . I have to do it . I had to do one with my daughter's cat , uh , for Blackcraft , because they they were having pet clothes .

Speaker 1 50:36

Oh yeah .

Speaker 2 50:37

Yeah , they called it pet clothes , but it felt like more like dog clothes .

Speaker 1 50:40

Yeah .

Speaker 2 50:41

But they said it's for pets . I said that , but they need cats because because , for the same reason I just told you like , oh yeah , like no , people think it's for dogs but it's actually for both . So I took the toys , I took the little shirts or whatever , and the little hoodies and I put it on my daughter's cat and she was so good about it . We had like a black craft blanket that we laid down and she was just like I'm like a model , I'm like , oh my gosh . She was so easy .

Speaker 1 51:07

Some of those easy to deal with cats . That was easy .

Speaker 2 51:09

My cat was a little .

Speaker 1 51:11

I think that would be if she doesn't want anything on her .

Speaker 2 51:14

She tries to get out of it . So no collar or nothing . I can't do anything with her . But yeah , that was actually an easy shoot . I was shocked that we got her into it . But the dogs that we were shooting for , the pet stuff , that was hard . That was a learning lesson . I'm like this is really hard .

Speaker 1 51:34

Yeah , I tried to get some of those dogs to sit . Still I forget it . Mine went no way .

Speaker 2 51:37

Yeah , we wanted just on the white background and they'd move a little bit , so they're not in the white background anymore . I'd go , no , just move . They're posed good , but just move a little bit , so it was a little hard and very challenging . But yeah , I don't mind doing pet photography either , because I've had success in some of it but not all of it .

Speaker 1 51:55

So what's coming up ? I saw you're going to be at Midsummer Scream .

Speaker 2 51:58

Yeah . So Midsummer Scream is the next big event that I'm doing . We're going to do a Nosferatu photo experience Fabulous so it's going to be the new Orlurk Nosferatu from the movie . So Josh , who goes by Dead Static on Instagram , follow him . He does a lot of amazing cosplays in general and he's very , very different from other cosplayers he's intelligent . I'm not saying all cosplayers are not intelligent , but he's just very focused , saying all cosplayers are not intelligent , but he's just very . Uh , how do you say he's very focused ?

Speaker 2 52:33

okay on his intent , of his stories , of his characters I like that not just like oh , I'm gonna wear a clown suit .

Speaker 1 52:41

It's just , yeah . No , he's just , he's not just that guy .

Speaker 2 52:43

He's just , he's very intentional and like what are we gonna do ? Like , so I'm so , I'm going to do this this . And then . So I asked him right after the last Midsummer Scream , because he was at my booth , he was hanging out a lot and he was bringing all his different looks in it and our our shoot was last year was like Beetlejuice slash graveyard . It ended up being more of a Beetlejuice shoot , but because we had a Beetlejuice character there , he , it ended up being more of a Beetlejuice shoot , but because we had a Beetlejuice character there , he was so good .

Speaker 2 53:13

But Josh was hanging out with us the whole time . So I asked him I go hey , so the Nosferatu movie is coming out next year and or at the end of the year . I go , we should consider doing something like that . Like , would you want to do the old Nosferatu ? And we'll do that for next year ? If , if that movie is a success which we didn't know if it was going to be or not I go . But there's just an idea , like for the next one , he goes oh , that sounds good . So we didn't talk to him months later

Indie Filmmaking Projects

Speaker 2 53:41

and then the movie came out and then it was huge success and I go , I wonder if we can still ride the wave of that . You know what I mean . So , and sure enough , you know , I pitched it to rick west at midsummer scream and he's like totally gung-ho about it and and so I'm starting to work on um , I hired somebody that's going to do a whole set .

Speaker 2 54:00

He just showed me the sketch oh , fantastic it's going to look like a total vampire theme that's so cool we're gonna have a coffin , a couple of coffins there , and then , josh , he's getting the whole suit hand-tailored made . The mask is coming from Immortal Mask . They've never done one , so they're doing it for him .

Speaker 1 54:20

Oh , that's , so neat .

Speaker 2 54:20

And so I think the next step is like I kind of want to do a cool intro when he comes out you know what I mean , so everybody can watch him . Do maybe a couple of lines or something yeah and that'll be his introduction . Then we'll start the photos you know what I mean and get the line going . So , um , so that'll be at midsummer scream , august 15th through the 17th I believe , and that's . That's going to be huge . I'm going bigger with this one .

Speaker 1 54:46

That's always a huge show . It's really fun yeah , it's , it's .

Speaker 2 54:49

I mean , I wish I could enjoy the whole , the whole experience of midsummer scream because there's so much to it , but I'm basically stuck in my area for the whole weekend and I don't mind , because you know , I mean , we're we're , we're doing photos , we're gonna have prints available , um and uh and um . The whole set's gonna be really cool looking . I just I can't wait . I still gotta get a lot of supplies for it , but I'm looking forward to it . So I've wrote everything down that I need to get and how I'm envisioning it to look and , yeah , if this is good , we'll do more of them . You know what I mean . I like to switch up the theme , though every year .

Speaker 1 55:24

Yeah , yeah , I can imagine , because you wouldn't want to go every every year and do the same thing .

Speaker 2 55:27

People are like , oh , I did that last year yeah , yeah , because the whole reason I wanted to do the photo booth is because , like , when you go into the hall of shadow , you go into any horror convention .

Speaker 2 55:35

They have like these amazing sets oh yeah so awesome and it's all dark and it's lit like with their led lights . But as soon as you get your phone out and you take a picture , it just doesn't quite do justice , not at all , and so that was bumming me out because I would take pictures . I'd go , hey , take a picture of me at this house right here , and my girlfriend would take a picture or do the flash , and I'd go , it doesn't look that good , it's not capturing what I'm seeing . So that idea came to me a long time ago where like , hey , why don't we do something like this ? But we'll do it ourselves and we'll light it like the way it should be . Get a good camera and have a good photo booth area that look , that'll well lit and oh sorry , well lit that . That that looks good for um for people to take with them , whether it's digital or a print , and so we're providing both .

Speaker 1 56:27

So oh , that's cool .

Speaker 2 56:35

So you guys are just doing the prints there , we're doing the prints there , so you don't have to take it anywhere else . And then , and then you'll get a digital download as well .

Speaker 1 56:38

So yeah , all right roll . One last question . I ask everybody what is your favorite horror movie ? The exorcist I love that . I love that but I also have so many favorite ones I know that's really it's a hard question , especially for someone that loves horror .

Speaker 2 56:52

I like the original Halloween . Also , I love um saw . I love all the song movies , yep .

Speaker 1 57:00

How'd you feel with the last one ?

Speaker 2 57:01

I loved it , yeah Right .

Speaker 1 57:03

I know I'm a fan of the whole thing and it's funny , cause my sister and I we watched them all and I was like , okay , what do we think of that ? I was like I love it . I just love it for what it is , you know .

Speaker 2 57:14

Yeah , I remember when Saw every year every October it would come out , yeah . I remember people were complaining like oh , another Saw movie . I'm like what's wrong with that ?

Speaker 1 57:23

Yeah , it just is . It has this , I don't know I . I just have to see it . I have to see what the games are going to be . I just have to see it .

Speaker 2 57:29

Yeah , and that's you know . James Wan did the first one . I don't know if he did any other after that , but he's done his own movies after that ?

Speaker 1 57:35

Yeah , I think it changed . It changed directors Because it was such a different vibe from the other ones .

Speaker 2 57:40

Yeah .

Speaker 1 57:52

I think I didn't the only one I didn't see and people suggested not rock did one , but it was not saw , but it was called something else it was .

Speaker 2 57:55

It was a saw movie , but it was kind of funny because it was .

Speaker 1 57:56

I can't take him seriously , I can't . So when he was trying to be mr serious cop , I was , I was just dying . I felt like it was very comedic .

Speaker 2 58:01

I'm like oh sir , I think , what was that called it ?

Speaker 1 58:05

was a saw movie , but I can't remember the name of it , but it would .

Speaker 2 58:07

Yeah , it was just like oh , I can't take it seriously yeah , I didn't see that one , so , but I saw the the one that came out , and they should just keep doing them like oh yeah , I love just keep going with it , like I like the traps they're all really like and it's like yeah , it's a little , it's gory , but it's not like terrifier gory oh man , yeah , yeah I haven't really seen terrified . I've seen like half of the first one .

Speaker 1 58:29

Those are a lot and I've seen some of the third one Don't eat before you go to the theater . That's all I'm saying .

Speaker 2 58:34

What I was watching was a good 20 minutes of torture and I was like this is never stopping , yeah it's intense , it just kept going , it's a lot . So I'm not totally into that type of movie . I like something that's going to be like really really has a story behind it . Like Saw , it has an anthology to it . You know what I mean .

Speaker 1 58:55

That suspense draws you yeah exactly .

Speaker 2 58:58

So yeah , but going back to my favorite movie , exorcist , it's just one of those movies that , like I could watch it now and I still appreciate how scary it is .

Speaker 1 59:10

Oh yeah .

Speaker 2 59:11

And how intense the acting is . Good , it's just such a well-done movie and I think when did that come out ? What was the year I ?

Speaker 1 59:19

want to say like 70 .

Speaker 2 59:22

1973 or something I can't remember .

Speaker 1 59:24

Three or four , something like that . I don't know if somebody can look it up .

Speaker 2 59:26

Yeah , but it was around the year . I was born in 1970 . So it was around the year like I was born . I was born in 1970 . So it was very early , early on , and I remember seeing it as a kid in the late seventies when it came on . I don't know if I watched that at the theater , I don't think I . I don't think I was old enough to watch it in the theater , but um , but I remember when I saw it I was like wow , that was completely like I started off at the top with the movie . Everything else has not . Now every movie that comes out it's like it's the scariest movie that's ever been made you're like , but it's not the x-axis and then people like , oh my god , I just saw this , like tiktok .

Speaker 2 1:00:02

They're like I just saw the scariest movie of all time and they're like they go into this it's not the scariest movie of all time . What ? I doubt it . I really doubt it , and I've watched some of these movies . I think they even said this movie Malignant

Advice for Aspiring Photographers

Speaker 2 1:00:17

, that James Wan also did was supposed to be the scariest movie of all time a long time ago and I watched it and I fell asleep . I was bored with it and I like his movies , but I was just like I'm not feeling this one . Maybe I'm just tired , I don't know what it is , but I just like . I was like where's the scary part ?

Speaker 1 1:00:37

I'm not .

Speaker 2 1:00:38

I feel like insidious was pretty scary .

Speaker 1 1:00:41

I loved insidious until I saw it . It's when I see the thing that they're afraid of that just kills it for me , like Jeepers .

Speaker 2 1:00:48

Creepers , the first . Like 20 minutes of that just kills it for me like jeepers .

Speaker 1 1:00:50

Yeah , yeah , jeepers , creepers , the first like 20 minutes of that film .

Speaker 2 1:00:52

You're right , it was incredible .

Speaker 1 1:00:53

Then I saw the guy and I'm like nope , I'm out . It looks like a cockroach yeah , I don't like .

Speaker 2 1:00:58

Yeah , I think jeepers creepers was really well done and then then it kind of became comedy with the second one yeah , oh yeah . The second one was I , totally nope it's like nightmare on elm street , like the first one's great , the third one's great and I know people will argue the second one was really good , but the second one I can't watch it . It's just . I tried , I've tried people , I've tried watching it . I just can't get through it .

Speaker 1 1:01:24

Yeah , there's something , just I don't know .

Speaker 2 1:01:25

I feel like they reshuffled everything in the third one .

Speaker 1 1:01:28

Yeah .

Speaker 2 1:01:28

Like they really got their crap together .

Speaker 1 1:01:30

I think it was , and they had a good cast . Yeah , it was a different cast , it was a different feel .

Speaker 2 1:01:34

I mean they got Nancy back for that one .

Speaker 1 1:01:35

Yeah .

Speaker 2 1:01:36

And I like when Nancy's more involved in the movies . I feel like are they going to do a new one ?

Speaker 1 1:01:43

I feel like they were going to do a watch it . It was that other guy . Yes .

Speaker 2 1:01:52

I forgot his name . I forgot his name , it was not .

Speaker 1 1:01:54

It was not well done .

Speaker 2 1:01:56

No , I didn't even . I didn't even watch that one , but it's gotta be Robert Englund .

Speaker 1 1:02:00

He's gotta be . There's no comparison Like that is crazy .

Speaker 2 1:02:02

He's gotta be the guy Absolutely yeah , so yeah oh well , we're all .

Speaker 1 1:02:09

Thank you so much for your time today . It was lovely talking to you , getting to know you . I can't wait to see you at midsummer .

Speaker 2 1:02:14

Scream , I absolutely want to come and , yes , come down , it's going to be so amazing . I love that show .

Speaker 1 1:02:20

I love going to that because there's I mean it's just everybody's there oh my god , there's so much to do .

Speaker 2 1:02:25

You can't even do it all in .

Speaker 1 1:02:26

No , you can't I've tried to do it , like one day I I'm like no , I have to come back .

Speaker 2 1:02:29

There's panels , there's shows . There's the mazes , there's all the amazing vendors .

Speaker 1 1:02:35

That's what I didn't realize the first time I went . It's all the cool mazes , it's all the haunted houses and stuff . I was like this is like taking me a whole day anyway .

Speaker 2 1:02:44

So you have to go for the whole weekend . You know that's where they get , like the early previews of the haunts that are coming out in october , and you can stand . Yeah , some of those lines are long and my , my lung gets , my line gets pretty long too .

Speaker 1 1:02:58

Yeah for the photo .

Speaker 2 1:02:59

So I'm trying to get through it really quickly so people don't have to stand in line too long . But no , that got . That got pretty intense , like the last couple years . I'm like , wow , this is like . This is great . I was not expecting some of that .

Speaker 1 1:03:09

That's so great though .

Speaker 2 1:03:11

All the people that showed up . I'm like this is insane . So now I'm aware of it Again . I learned and I'm pivoting to how to , and now I expect it .

Speaker 1 1:03:21

Yeah , now you're ready , I'm ready , I'm ready .

Speaker 2 1:03:24

I think I'm ready .

Speaker 1 1:03:25

Oh , that's so cool .

Speaker 2 1:03:26

But yeah , I appreciate you having me on this is fun . Yeah , thank you so much .

Speaker 1 1:03:29

Well , take care of you and we will see you soon .

Speaker 2 1:03:31

Yep , thank you .