A Conversation with Isai Zepeda ~ Big creative energy in a small town
Introduce yourself, where you’re from/located and what type of photography you primarily shoot.
My name is Isai Zepeda and I am from Gainesville, GA. A small town about an hour away from from Atlanta. I live with my wife, Rebecca who is a great supporter of my work and helps me with my projects. Photography is a hobby for me and not my full time job. I actually sell used cars for a living at a small independent dealership and do photography on my days off. The majority of my work is based on scene found in this small town ranging from old cars, old buildings to just mundane scenes in which one can come across every day life and not think much of it. Im also a portrait photographer but my portrait account got deleted years ago so many of my followers from instagram may not know I do portraits. For over a decade, my work had consisted of only portraits.
How did you get into your chosen medium? Do you remember the catalyst that influenced your decision to begin your journey?
I never took my camera with me everywhere (Sony A7Rii) because it was too heavy and big so I only took it to photoshoots. I did mainly portraits for so many years but during the pandemic, something changed. As collaborations at the time were risky between models and photographers with fear of getting each other sick, finding people to work with became very difficult and only a few photoshoots were done but with extra precaution. It wasn’t till I decided to purchase a Fujifilm XE4 just for the fun of it that changed it all. Being such a small camera, I carried it with me every day. This introduced me to a whole new world of photography that wasn’t just portraits anymore. I began to photograph the things around me such as the streets, buildings, and just random objects that looked interesting. I posted these things to my instagram which at the time was a new account, and just did it for fun. No consistency or anything and didn’t think much of it. It was until one day I did a few reels just for fun that instagram began to get a lot of attention and I saw that many people enjoyed the photos I posted. I began to find photographers with similar interest, one of them being Jason Hunter!
With a portfolio of work including landscape, street, lifestyle and portrait photography, you’ve managed to maintain a consistency in your creative style. Do you have a preference on the type of photos you produce?
I think my street work is my favorite work to create. It's easy since I don’t depend on a model to do this kind of work. As long as mother nature cooperates with me, I'm able to just go out and do a photo walk to produce new work. It's very nice when traveling too because all you have to do is photograph your surroundings. Before, when I did portraits, I had to coordinate with models and locations and it was very difficult specially when traveling.
Do you have any photographers or artists who have influenced your creative style when composing your photos? Anyone in particular who inspires you to create?
As mentioned before, Jason Hunter has been a great inspiration to my work and fine example of finding your style in very difficult locations to do so. I remember traveling to California a year ago and thinking “ man, anyone can take a good photo here!” Because everywhere you looked there was a photo opportunity. Jason and I live in similar looking towns, so finding interesting things to photograph can be more difficult. That’s why he’s been an inspiration to me. To be able to find the beauty in mundane things. That why you’ll see me taking photos of water meters, utility posts, cars and walls.
Another great artist I really enjoy watching is Vuhlandes. He’s another great example of someone creating beautiful work with what he’s got. So every time I see him on YouTube talking about the struggle of finding inspiration in places like the one he lives in, I can really relate to that.
What is the camera (and film stock if applicable) that you're currently using while out taking photographs? Can you share what drew you to this setup?
The work you see on my instagram consist of photos taken with the Fuji Xe4, x100v and XT5. I had purchased the Fuji XT5 solely to review it while trying to start my Youtube channel but I ended up falling in love with it! So I kept it and used it for a bit with the Fuji 23mm 1.4 but I always felt like I needed a little more freedom to zoom in and out in situations where I couldn’t take a few steps forward or backwards to do so with the prime lens so I bought the Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 and that’s been the lens that stays on my XT5 for my street work. Its very lightweight set up that it delivers great images. It has worked out so well that I really don’t use the XE4 as much and I even ended up selling the x100v.
Can you share some insight into your creative process when looking for a composition or framing your photo?
Depending on what I'm shooting, I look for certain key things. For example, for my street work I look for compositions with a lot of color. I like scenery with pastel colors and with some form of subject, in many cases with my work, that subject could be a vehicle, a house, or still life such as a tree, cactus, or a utility pole. As for my portraits, to me, the background is as important as the subject in a sense of composition, colors and light. I always want it to compliment the subject and not distract from it.
In your opinion, what makes a great photograph, and how do you strive to achieve this in your own work?
We live in a day where it's very difficult to stand out. There’s so many good photographers out there and with the platforms we have today, its so easy to share our work so it comes to no surprise that its common to put work out there and have it go unnoticed. I feel like the work I've seen that stands out is work that is not so much based on trends but seeing someone really putting their heart behind their work. I always look at a photo and think about the effort the photographer put into obtaining that specific shot. Because you can tell if someone put out a photo just to have something posted for that day apart from the one that may not post every day but when they do, you’re thinking “Wow. Time was definitely put into this!”. A great example of that is Bryan Birks. Every time I see his videos on YouTube of him just simply explaining how he got that certain shot, I am left all inspired by the end of that video to create. That right there makes a great photo! The ones that inspire you in a deep level.
I am guilty of falling into the trends for the attention. I do feel like I've created great images and those are the very same ones I feel so excited when editing them and posting them. But not all images I take make me feel that way. So I can’t say I'm consistently creating great work one shot after another. I guess that’s the fun part of taking photos though. Chasing for those photographs that make you feel good and proud.
Do you have any other creative hobbies you’re interested in that people don’t see shared on social media?
Depends. Is playing video games a hobby? Lol I sometimes mention this on my twitter but I'm a huge fan of Destiny 2 and some of the Call of Duty titles. I play just about every night at 10pm with my friend Jorge. Other things I enjoy doing too but not too often is cooking! Ever since I got married, my wife has been teaching me how to cook the simplest things. I’m definitely no chef but I'm proud of finally not burning the steak and learning to make some tasty potatoes in different ways. I love the process of cooking, but I hate the process of cleaning everything up afterwards (that’s why I don’t do it as often lol).
Do you have anything creative you’re working on or excited about for the future?
I’m currently diving into making videos! Like cinematic short films and things of that nature. Im in the learning process so I'm really enjoying the journey and discovering new way and techniques to make my videos better. I’ve been posting a few short clips on my instagram and I hope people will come to enjoy them as much as photographs as I get better each day. I’m looking to reach out to some local businesses to offer to do a video for them just to really challenge myself so I'm not looking to charge them but I feel what I learn from the process will help me so later I can make a decent side hustle from it and provide people with great content for their pages!
