My name is Tony Rivas who is a photographer and videographer based in Southern California. To say that surfing was the gate way for me on finding a passion to photography and videography is an understatement. Who would have thought that after trying to self teach myself to surf from YouTube video would awake a passion that was dormant inside of me. I can go on forever on just this topic alone so to leave it short and simple there is one video that inspired me to dive into the world of photos and videos and that video is from John John Florence(Professional Surfer) and it’s called “Twelve” Ep. 4. The series alone was enough for me to keep pushing to surf but that specific episode paved a path to go behind the lens and capture the moments. From there I used mostly my iPhone and GoPro for the next two years and finally decided to invest on a camera and gears. So officially, I started taking photography professionally in 2020. Once I’ve upgraded my gear I started exploring different niches and found that taking photos of people and landscapes is really fun. From people doing candid shots acting silly or just having a good time to make the photo more natural to just taking stills of people to capture the moment of themself or family and keeping those memories. I also love the idea of documenting an event that way people can look back and recall those memories. Not only to help people capture moments or to make something to help with their business but just behind the camera is a whole lot of fun. From learning the spec of the camera you’re using to learning the key settings to capture a nice exposed photo/video. Beyond that is the post-production, that is a different ball game and can be tedious for some but I just love being behind the computer, firing up the editing software and start creating art.
