[Remmy.]Nice to meet you man! I know we've been a fan and posting some of your work over the years. Much love for all your support in just showing us love back as well. People underestimate just showing love for other creatives as a powerful way to build a network. So if you could, first, give us a little background and introduction.
[Pedro E.] Nice to meet you too man! Well My name’s Pedro Espronceda, only son out of 4, I live in Houston Texas, and I’ve been in photography for 2 years now.
[Remmy.] How's the scene out in Houston? I've heard some pretty great things out there and have some family in San Antonio so try to go there every now and then. Are you guys pretty collaborative out there? I'm constantly running into the battle of even getting my own city to come together.
[Pedro E.] Houston is full of love and amazing artists, we have a good amount of photography meets through out the year and in those, everyone’s just having a great time, you can meet so many amazing artist out here and some are actually really good people! So finding people to collab with... really isn’t hard.
[Remmy.] So I see in your twitter bio you have "Not really a photographer" which kind of led me to the Interview title haha. But I find it pretty interesting that you said that because of the type and amount of work you put out. And the quality...just speaks for itself. Truly some amazing work man. So would you consider yourself more than a "photographer" like that work is somewhat watered down?
[Pedro E.] Haha it's kinds weird.. I feel like a “photographer” is more of a certified college student who took classes and with a paper that labels them as a “photographer.”
I consider myself more of an artist, to where I can always create something out of nothing, plus I was self taught so everything you see in a picture was from imagination and just slapping things together. Kinda like a painting.
[Remmy.] What's your overall vision for yourself? I'm always pretty fascinated with people dreams for themselves and equally shocked when people don't really have any for themselves.
[Pedro E.] My vision... I want to be great. I want to succeed, I want to prove wrong everyone who doubted me. Especially my family because honestly sometimes I feel like they don’t believe in me. I can personally say I’ve made it so far by the type of people I am collabing with. I’ve wanted to give up but never did. It’s honestly a blessing on where I’m at today. High school was rough after I quit sports, I was basically a nobody. Had probably 2 or 3 friends and only 1 of them still talks to me. People judge people on what they see on social media but never care for the story outside of it. Depression took a big part in my journey, and I overcame it. I didn’t give up. Things hit the fan and I still manage to smile and see the positive side. So today, I cherish every moment because it’s a blessing to me. A helping hand is what everyone needs.
[Remmy.] So what do you think about both the overall creative scene online and then what do you think of like our community? Be honest haha. Love to figure out where we need some improvement. But also I have to remind people sometimes we're still a startup haha. Big Dreams yes! But cash flow for some of the "moves" and things people would like to see are just not feasible right now, you know? Definitely future plans for some stuff but you have to work with what you have.
[Pedro E.] For a creatives, just stand out do your own style, create your own art, some people will love it some people won’t, who cares, it’s honestly what makes you happy, ride your own wave. And Urban Gorillas is so unique, I personally love it, I’ve met great people in the community, for a “startup” community I don’t see anything wrong, y’all are doing great, that’s why I decided to join the group, I’ve been following y’all for over a year now honestly so it’s improved a lot for sure.
[Remmy.] Sure you know we're big on quotes haha. What's a bit of motivation you live by? Quote or Affirmations, anything that's your go-to mental booster.
[Pedro E.] There’s actually a good quote that they have at the gym I go to that says “Proud but never satisfied.” You can be great at what you do but there’s always room for improvements. “Don’t quit before miracles happen.” Is another that I’m linked too. Things may start rough, but don’t give up.
