Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Vega.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was about six years old, my father would always have a small point-and-shoot camera that he would take on trips and outings. Those things were literally four megapixels, it’s crazy to think about where we are now. When we would visit our family in the Dominican Republic, he’d take the camera with him and, of course, you’d always find me messing around with it. I definitely wasn’t taking good pictures or anything, it was more like a fragile toy for me than anything else, but I’d love walking around wherever we were at and taking vacation photos of anything and everything. I also (seriously) loved that Spider-Man movie in 2002 and Peter Parker was a photographer in that film so that was definitely another part of the reason why cameras were intriguing to me as a child.
In 2010, my cousin introduced me to Tumblr. She set up my profile and followed a couple of urban South Florida photographers and that changed my perspective on how awesome photography can be. A couple of years later, I took a photography class in my sophomore year of high school where I learned how to shoot and develop film, and in my senior year of high school, I got my first DSLR. A lot of the kids in my school were into the car scene, myself included, so that’s what I started off shooting. From there, I began shooting portraits of my friends, then of things like shoes and products, then events, concerts, and sports. For a long time, I didn’t have much to shoot, so I’d go downtown with my camera after work and take photos of random people and things going on in the city. I’m still gladly surprised I never got into any altercations taking photos of strangers like that without asking.
Today, I love shooting a number of different things including events, concerts, portraits, shoes and more, and there are different stories for how I got into shooting each of those things. Little by little, I created a decent portfolio of all the things I wanted to shoot more, I connected with other South Florida photographers and creatives, and before I knew it, I found myself shooting every day. I’ve also met some amazing people who’ve helped me out in tremendous ways. People like Mike, the social media manager for FIU Athletics and co-owner of LYFE BRAND, NickJustChill, a photographer who’s brought me on to Just Chill Productions, Michael, owner of The Edition Sneaker Boutique, and a few others have provided me with amazing opportunities and taught me a lot about this career. A good amount of what I shoot today is thanks to their help.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It was definitely not a smooth road, but it was an enjoyable one, nonetheless. When starting out, if you don’t have the connections, the ability to network, nor a strong portfolio, it can be a challenge to find things to shoot. You can’t get a good picture if you don’t have anything in front of your camera, so you have to go out and get it. I feel like I struggled with this a lot my first few years. I started off with no friends/relatives that were into photography, so the drive to go out and make something happen had to come from within.
On top of that, there’s always the challenge of having a day job to financially support yourself and your craft, managing your academics, or having to balance both. Juggling my job schedule with my classes and my desire to start my career as a photographer was tedious, but it made me sure not to waste any time and to only chase what’s important.
There have also been a few rough experiences that I had to push through in my personal life. I don’t talk about it much at all but I’ll always remember what those were like and how tough it was for me to get back on my feet and stay focused during that period. It was times like those that showed me the amount of passion I have for work, and how much I can accomplish when I’m really focused on shooting and getting better as opposed to being distracted by things that bring me down and hold me back. This whole thing wouldn’t have lasted if I didn’t really have a love for what I do, I likely would have given it up somewhere in the middle of it.
What I love most about starting businesses and building on talents is seeing the growth and progression. After any kind of struggle, challenge or obstacle, seeing the end result and how better it is than the previous outcome fuels my energy to take on the next obstacle. So, I believe if I really have a passion for something, getting through the struggles it comes with will make the result well worth the journey.
What do you do? What do you specialize in?
As I mentioned earlier, I started off trying to shoot anything that intrigued me: cars, portraits, street, products, events, concerts and sports. As I move forward in my career, I try to narrow down that list and focus on doing the things I really see myself doing for the next 5-10 years. Today, I still shoot concerts, sports, streetwear, portraits and occasionally other material. If it was up to me, I’d love to specialize in concert, sport and lifestyle photography and focus mostly on shooting concerts. I love documenting moments and capturing the energy of a crowd or an artist.
I’m most proud of being able to do this for a living. While it has been almost five years since I started shooting personally, I didn’t imagine myself living strictly off of photography this soon. I’ve always had a distaste for routine and that’s basically what my previous day jobs have been. This career, in a way, serves my desire to stay away from routine since I get to work with various teams on different projects every week. I’m grateful for everyone in my life for allowing me to do that.
I’d say that I set myself apart from others through my work ethic and my genuine intentions for myself and the people I work with. Time doesn’t stop and we never know how much of it we have, so I try to keep my time devoted to my passion for this craft and spending it with the people I love the most. If I’m not spending time with family or my closest friends, I’m trying to work and better my craft. Additionally, the people who hire me, and my peers who help me out in numerous ways are a big reason as to why I get to do this every day. I’m extremely thankful for them and I try to always give that energy back however I can. I believe that trying to step on people’s toes or take advantage of them is just putting negative energy out into the world that’s going to come back to you in some way, shape or form. So, I try to do the opposite and just keep my intentions good for everybody around me.
What are you striving for, what criteria or markers have you set as indicators of success?
I define success as having what makes you happy around you most, if not all, of the time. Sometimes, maybe you just need one thing to make you happy, but most of the time, you need a good balance of a number of different things. I can be working with all of my favorite clients, but without love from my family in my life, I don’t think I’d be happy. At the same time, if I had just my family’s love, I may be happy to have them in my life, but not doing what I love for a living might bring me down to a state that doesn’t make me happy. If that happiness isn’t there for me, I don’t think I’d call myself successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nickvegavisuals.com
- Email: nick@nickvegavisuals.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/vegv_
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