Conversations with Jesus Lozoya

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesus Lozoya.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As the youngest of my family, a young tike would love anything technology. With that, my curiosity grew. I landed my eyes on a digital camera that would take pixel photos and try to understand it; I couldn’t figure it out since my knowledge at the time was that of how film photos would work – with chemicals and having to send it to someone that would take the film apart.

But that little black box could work all on its own with just a computer – which was also something new for me. At last, I was able to obtain my first camera, a ninja turtle-themed digital camera. I was taking pictures at my aunt’s wedding – they didn’t hire a photographer. My favorite aunt talked to me about selling the photos for a profit. She then took me to Walmart to print the photographs; we were at the Instant Photo Kiosk printing photos for an hour. I came back to the reception and offered the photos to the couples with whom I had shot their pictures.

Almost everyone bought their memories for 10x the amount I bought the photos. I made quite a profit and decided to get deeper into this business, getting a better toy camera and repeating the scheme. After that, I had summer jobs to supplement my photography addiction. I was a ruffer during one summer, several fast-food-flipping burger jobs, and many small gigs shooting for small club events.

After so much work during high school, I obtained a full scholarship to work in the college media program, where I wrote and photographed stories for both the magazine and newspaper. I finished college without any debt thanks to many wedding and quinceañera gigs I worked during those years, and now that’s one big part of my business.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, it has been smooth sailing, but as a young entrepreneur, I didn’t know how much to charge. I was always competing on pricing with other photographers in the area, and the most memorable thing I can remember was someone not paying me for the work I had done. It was my friend who wanted me to photograph their Grandparents Wedding anniversary.

They didn’t sign a contract since it was my friend, first red flag. They took a long time to review the photos, second red flag. They made comments about the color or the way photos were shot —  I’ll give you that, I was a green and didn’t have much experience, but I wasn’t charging seasoned photographer pricing either. I wanted to finish this project as soon as possible; after they selected the photos, I went to turn them in and get payment for the work.

Well, they weren’t happy with the job I had done, and they let me have it. They weren’t going to pay for something they didn’t like, and I would get suit, and tell everyone to not hire me. I was defeated; though I had done a good job with the knowledge I had, I couldn’t apply them. They wanted a refund, and this gig was one of the first gigs I had charged more than usual. Which prompted me to want to do a good job. I even bought a new camera just for this special event.

I didn’t want to deal with this stain on my reputation, so I let them have the more than 300 photos, which I printed on my new printer and spent many color cartridges on. Now, I know that they were looking for free labor, and the work I had turned in was great for the level of expertise I had at the time. I was taken advantage of, that would be the real lesson to learn here.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work as a photographer, graphic designer, and art director.

I work with bilingual businesses to help them with their social media, marketing, and branding efforts. Currently working as an art director for ProActive Safety which is an online safety certification elearning site, producing their teaching videos.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
There are so many opportunities and so many things going on all the time.

It’s easy to get lost trying to do everything. But once you get involved in something that you like there are plenty of ways to get more in-depth on your hobbies or business interests. Traffic would be the thing that I like the least, but everything else is pretty fun and awesome to experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pqcrtive.photos
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pqcrtive.photos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pqcrtive.photos

Image Credits
@2023, Jesus Lozoya, Pull Quote Creative Photos