Meet Kelvin Garcia | Photographer

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

Hi Kelvin, what makes you happy? Why?
Overall, I love taking pictures, I love landscapes, urban photography, weather, and astro-photography. I like to see the ever-changing landscape Southern Arizona experiences from Fall on Mount Lemmon to Spring in the desert with the Mexican Gold Poppy blanketing Catalina State Park to the rare phenomena like the Aurora Borealis in the desert. But what brings me most happiness is storm. chasing during the Monsoon in the summer brings me the most joy. Think about the storm brewing and check the radar until that perfect storm cell pops up. This is when I meet up with photographers such as Ray Cleveland, Nick Boettcher and so many to name in this single article. When we all stand out waiting for that perfect moment of lightning captured by our cameras, we all celebrate the electrifying power that it possesses. It’s all pure happiness, I just want to keep experiencing it over and over again.

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.
I think what sets me apart is that I like to keep things as raw as possible. I pride myself on showing the world what things look like without some crazy editing and manipulation. I try to push out my content to Instagram as much as possible, but I have always kept in mind that the picture comes first and the enjoyment of it before posting on the website. I feel like putting myself out there on my photography page has gotten me to where I am at. Without it, I wouldn’t of been able to express my work to the world. As well to meet new local photographers that I can rely on to go create pictures together and collaborate. I had to invest a lot of time to get to where I am at right now, and it has all been so worth it. As one of my favorite characters in Star Wars says, “Do or Do Not, there is No Try”, and that’s something I consider on the daily. If I don’t keep growing and trying new things then why even try? I keep pushing myself towards success. I’ve learned that no photo can be perfect, and that’s ok; it takes a lot of practice and growth. I hope I can inspire anyone who wants to learn photography to go for it; don’t let anything put you down. Keep trying, keep growing, and you will succeed. It is so challenging but yet rewarding, and that’s what I love about it.

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.
That’s hard to say. Tucson and its surrounding areas have a lot of amazing spots. For starters I would introduce them to what makes it so special, and that is the Sonoran Desert. I would take them to spots like Saguaro National Park-West or gates pass for a true Arizona Sunset. Mt. Lemmon is another amazing spot, you experience a whole different biome while you’re up there. From forests all the way to the Arizona Desert. One of my favorite things to eat is the Sonoran Hot Dog and you can find that anywhere in South Tucson, as well as our delicious tacos. Being Mexican American, I take pride in our food from Sonora. Also I for some reason love Downtown Tucson, it’s a playground for Photography, Food, and nightlife. One of my favorite spots would be Cobra Arcade, I have a passion for games. But that’s just a snipped of what we have to offer. I think hiking and exploring is also a good thing to do. As it helps connect with nature. Tucson is just great all around.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to credit my work to my photography teachers in High School and College; they are the ones who helped spark this love for photography. One of them inspired me to keep pushing forward and to do what I love. I also have a lot of inspiration from a well-known photographer, Mike Olbinski, he is a storm chaser who, in the early days of my career, would post time-lapse videos on Youtube of the Arizona Monsoon. I was inspired by that to capture that same magic that he did. I began to chase the monsoon and started to create my time-lapse films.

Instagram: kelvinaz_photo

Image Credits
These are my images.