Ralph Velasco

Above photo of Ralph Velasco shooting at the Los Rios district in San Juan Capistrano by Jenny McMasters Photography.

My interest in photography has stemmed from my various travels and dates back to my first trip to Europe, which was to Spain in 1979.   On this trip I took with me a simple compact film camera and was able to capture my first images of the Old World, a continent that would eventually stand as my favorite place to both travel and capture images of its unique cultures.

At present I’ve traveled to over 40 countries on 5 continents, and so I’ve had the pleasure of photographing all over the world.  I’m often asked what my favorite destinations are and I can safely say that although each of the places I’ve visited has touched me in some way, the ones that stand out for me are:

1. Kotor, Montenegro
2. Trinidad and Havana, Cuba
3. Segovia, Spain
4. Mendoza & Buenos Aires, Argentina
5. Cusco, Peru
6. Hong Kong, China
7. Prague, Czech Republic

I’ve also enjoyed scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef; parapenting near Queenstown, New Zealand; wine tasting in and around Mendoza, Argentina and hiking throughout the European Alps and Andes.

I currently live in Corona del Mar, California, where my interests outside of photography include competitive sailboat racing and discovering all the new places this region of the country has to offer.  I’m also a graduate of the Indiana University School of Business and received my Masters in International Business from United States International University in Mexico City, Mexico, and San Diego, CA.

MY PHOTOGRAPHY

My approach to photography is to capture the best image possible “in camera.”  My goal is to limit the amount of manipulation I do during post-production so that the image you see is as close to the original as possible, the exception being when I may add filters or extreme saturation or another effect in order to take the image to another level and to add my own artistic flair.

With my own photography, my primary goal is to make images that are unique, ones that capture a moment in time that is of interest not only to me, but in the end to the person enjoying the image in its final format, whether that be as a framed picture or one in an electronic or other format.  Any photographer will tell you it’s getting harder and harder to come up with original approaches to what are increasingly popular and “overexposed” subjects.  I force myself to make the extra effort of getting above, below, behind or around a subject – or to zoom in on its details – so that I might capture it from a unique perspective or encounter the subject in an exceptional or rare circumstance.  Often times I’ll use a tripod or my new TriPaddTM (an alternative stabilization device that I recently developed), allowing me to slow the shutter speed down to emphasize motion, or I’ll intentionally go out in less than ideal weather conditions in the hopes of encountering my subject in extraordinary lighting conditions or in snow, sleet, rain or fog.

As difficult as it is to achieve, the greatest compliment I can receive is that my images are unique, or oftentimes someone will tell me that an image “makes me want to be there now.”  These sort of comments are why I do what I do, and they encourage me to push myself to go the extra mile and to continue to seek out unique perspectives and subjects.

For more information about Ralph, please visit his website.