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Exclusive Interview with photographer/director Estevan Oriol on May 29, 2010

LULA: Let’s start with family life. Tell us about yours.

EO: I’m an only child, but I have a wife and four kids; three are teenagers and one is 11-years-old. I do the family life thing, you know … I’m with my kids in the morning and drop them off at school, and then I work 10-12 hours per day during the week. But weekends are family time. Teenagers are exposed to so much bad stuff through the Internet, TV and music, that it’s really a challenge for parents. Because of my work, I can’t be there right after they get home from school, but I listen to them, give them advice and pay the bills. My wife does the afterschool stuff. I’ve been married for two years but with her for 14-years. I had girlfriends before I met her, and before it was always like they come and go. But I thought if I could stay with one woman for 10 years, I could stick with her … so that’s why we got married. A lot a people like to say, “watch what your kids are doing and make sure you monitor them all the time.” But if you’re a parent, instead of just talking about being a parent, it’s a whole different story, because usually the people giving this advice don’t have kids of their own. Even though your kids might think they know it all, you do have to watch them … but you also have to let them go and spread their wings. My friend was telling me just last night, “People used to tell me that high school was the best test of life, but once I got out in the real world … that’s where the real test of life begins.” This is very true. It takes a lot to be a family MAN.

LULA: Tell us about how you started with Upper Playground in 2006.

EO: Matt Revelli, the CEO from Upper Playground, wrote me an e-mail a few years ago, when I wasn’t really good with e-mails. Since I didn’t grow up with computers – only NASA and the military had them – they weren’t in my schools. But now everyone wants to text, IM, e-mail and all that. To me, talking is what is important. So when Matt first wrote, telling me he was interested in my photography, I didn’t answer him right away, because I didn’t check e-mail too much. But then, when I was looking for something else on my computer, found it and said, “wow, this is a good thing, I need to e-mail him back.” Matt is a lot like me and like DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill. He’s a real go-getter, he knows his business and he’s one of the few people in the industry who does what he’s says he’ll do – he always comes through. Those are the kind of people I like to be involved with. So I got lucky. What if I had never found Matt’s e-mail? … I would have missed out on a great opportunity. Upper Playground is the kind of company that is like a family, so it’s been cool doing business with Matt and working with Upper Playground and Matt’s magazine, Juxtapoz. I did a signing of my book, L.A. Women, with Matt in Mexico City, and I did a show in San Francisco at Upper Playground with the Japanese photographer, Yone.

LULA: Do you shoot some of your photography specifically for T-shirt designs?

EO: No, everything is pulled from our archives; if I turn in 20 designs, Matt picks maybe 15.

LULA: How much time have you spent in Asia, and have your experiences there inspired any new directions in your art? EO: I have been to Beijing and Shanghai, and I’ve visited 13 cities in Japan. But I want to spend more time in Asia. I was asked to go to Taiwan to do an art show, but we’re still talking about that.

LULA: Why do you think your art appeals to the Asian market?

EO: I have no idea why my art has translated to foreign countries so well. All I can say is I’m happy and grateful. I’ve had about 40 shows throughout the world, and my work has appeared in about 30 magazines in other counties. My art takes me traveling, I get to do something I love, and people pay me to travel, which something I also love. There are a lot of people who travel around the world for work for business or sales, but they don’t like it. For me, it’s a different story. Some countries take me to the urban side; some countries take me to the art and fashion areas with the nice restaurants. I personally like to see it all … from the bottom of the barrel to the top of the top. I might not shoot it all, but I like to see it all.

LULA: Would you give different advice for Asian youth who want to become streetlife photographers than you would give to American youth with the same desire?

EO: No, because even though cultures might be different, and maybe have a different lifestyle, all cultures share lots of the same things. We all eat chicken and beef … we just prepare it differently. We’re still talking about a chicken and a cow. So when I’m talking to the youth, I say “respect where the art form comes from – you can be influenced by certain things and people, but make it your own. Don’t copy others … make it different.” The more copying that goes on, the more it waters down the art that already exists. When you water it down, you ruin the art.

LULA: If you go to Taiwan, what would you like to do?

EO: I think it would be cool to do a show with Yone there. When we work together, we like to show girls from the same city. My girls and his girls. When we were in San Francisco, we had two side-by-side shows and shot the same girls. So we like to shoot the girls from one city and then show those photographs in the next city we go to.

LULA: Do you research your subject matter before a shoot?

EO: No. You can research whatever you want, but it’s usually not what you thought it was going to be. So I like to go in, get with the vibe and go with the flow. Every place I’ve been to is always different than I thought it would be, so I don’t want to get too technical. I just go in and do it. If you’re really a creative person, you can improvise … and you need to be able to go with the flow.

LULA: Tell us how you learned your art, including your knowledge of using manual SLR cameras.

EO: My father showed me the basics. He gave me an old-school Minolta, and when you looked through the viewfinder, there were two needles that needed to match up to get the focus right. That’s how I learned to take pictures. That was my photography lesson. Once I started, I kept on spending my money from being a tour manager for Cypress Hill to pay for more film and have Schulman Photo lab, which is the best, do the darkroom work. LULA: Tell me about what you and your father, Eriberto, have collaborated on and how you have influenced each other?

EO: We’ve collaborated here and there, and we did a show together a few years ago in Shepherd Fairey’s gallery. We’re doing another next year. I think we both influence each other. My dad comes from the old school, and I’m bringing him around to the new stuff. Sometimes I go home after a shoot, I’m tired, my feet hurt, I’m sunburned and I think to myself, “maybe I want to stop in a few years.” But knowing that my dad is 68-years-old and still running around taking pictures inspires me. I think I’ll always be doing this.

LULA: What did you want to be while growing up?

EO: I didn’t have a career plan. When I was 18, I just thought I’d get out of high school, get a good job and maybe buy a house at 30 and start a family. But that just shows you I didn’t know nothing about life. You have to work hard to make your life the way you want. It doesn’t just happen for you.

LULA: What do you think you would be doing if you hadn’t become a photographer?

EO: I went on a couple of trips with firemen, and it seems like a good job. It pays well, and there’s always something exciting going on. So I think, maybe I’d be a fireman.

LULA: If you could only use three words to describe yourself, what would those three words be?

EO: Good looking, handsome, funny … no, really … if I had to describe me, it’s from my art, which is rough, rugged and raw.

LULA: What makes you happy?

EO: Getting more work, going places with the family, traveling, my cars and motorcycle, low riding … and just creating more projects.

LULA: What scares you?

EO: Not knowing when my next job is going to be. But I try not to think about work not coming in. Sometimes a job will give me enough money for three months, sometimes not. Then I might think maybe my pics aren’t cool no more, maybe they’re not the “in” thing, you know? But then I think that what I do is classic … it’s not a trend, so it should last. I think young people coming up behind me are inspired by me.

LULA: So what’s next?

EO: More book projects. Brazil in October for 20 days of shooting street culture. Keeping our movement alive, creating new stuff; creating products. Sometimes when new work doesn’t come in, making products from what I’ve shot is what I do. A lot of photographers just shoot for shows, but a long time ago I took a different approach. Today, every single person has a camera with them, because they all have cell phones. Everybody likes to be a photographer. So I knew I had to make products to sell to keep the money coming in. Anybody else who didn’t work for three months would have real problems. But if there is no new work for me, I am still pushing my products. It’s a hustle.