Meet Luis Perez | Photographer and Video Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Luis Perez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Luis, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is the make or break if you decide to pursue a career in the creative field. You have to be willing to experiment and get comfortable being uncomfortable because it allow you to stay ahead of the curb and stand up and be noticed. If you simply stay in your shell and play it safe by not talking outside of your circle or by not trying out new ways to improve your work, then you’ll find it difficult to separate yourself.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As an artist, the main priority should always be expression and talent. Art without emotions is empty, so I try to always have or give meaning to the work I do. Not only that, but I also want to deviate from the rest of the artists in terms of style. I found my niche, and now it’s only about perfecting it. It’s great to be versatile, but you should strive to be specific because you’ll be able to be something no one else is. Whether that is having your photos have a certain colors, drawings having a watermark of some kind, or music always having a certain instrument, try to find your niche and improve upon it. It’ll take time like most things do. It took me 5 years to finally find the style I wanted in photography. The reason why it took 5 years was because I battled against the biggest enemy to an artist… yourself and motivation. I struggled to find projects I enjoyed and wanted to work on, and even when I did find one that suited me, I wouldn’t want to finish it. Lack of commitment hurt my development and caused me to stagnant for a while. It was until I started pushing and forcing myself to get up and finish projects that I started to progress again. You are your own worst enemy because you know yourself best. You know how to downplay your strengths and expose your weaknesses. So it’ll be up to you to make adjustments and make sure you celebrate your strengths and improve your weaknesses.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If you don’t mind a crowd, I always recommend checking out downtown Houston. Great food, architecture, people, and art. Traffic isn’t great, but walking would help. There is motorized scooters that you can rent too if walking isn’t your forte. As for specific locations, my go to is Discovery Green park. They host local events that include shows by poets and musicians around the area. Not to mention the graffiti art and lush surroundings of vibrant trees and fauna beside the small ponds to make you feel close to nature. After that, you could make a stop at a place called Finn Hall. It’s basically a small food court filled top notch cuisine from fried noodles and beer to BBQ and coffee.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My passion and talent for music and photography came from my teachers at my high school. They throughly pushed me to pursue further development and improvement because they saw potential in me when I didn’t. They showed me the basics and made me think for myself when it came to the more advanced techniques and equipment. They wanted to form a path for me, but knew that if I wanted to grow, I needed to also have room to fail because that’s how one learns. Thank you Rakeda Ervin, Phillip Goetz, and the late Shannon Park… I owe everything I learned to you all.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/eclipse_of_sun_and_moon?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ThetoXic_SoySals