We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hugo Aguiluz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hugo below.
Hi Hugo , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
At the beginning of my photography journey, I sometimes thought I wasn’t good enough as the famous photographers I got my inspiration from. I thought I would never be capable of achieving good photographs. At a certain point, I saw myself drowning in my own fears of not being good enough.
A good friend told me once to go one step at a time, stay strong, and be patient. It was hard at the beginning, sometimes a little frustrating. However, I decided to give myself all the time I needed to improve my skill and aging all the knowledge necessary to be where I’m right now. It took me time to learn, and it took me time to be confident in my own work, but eventually, it was easier and effortless, to the point that people started noticing my work.
I’m still learning, I will never stop exploring in this journey. However, now I don’t have to carry the imposter syndrome. Now, I believe in myself, and I know I’m capable of more things that will help me enrich my vision and my passion.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hey there! my name is Hugo Aguiluz. I’m a maternity/family photographer in the Houston and Katy area, and I have been photographing hundreds of beautiful families for more than 10 years. My wife and I focus primarily on maternity and family photography, but occasionally, we also photograph weddings, graduation sessions, and quinceaneras. Besides our digital photography service, we also offer different fine arts products to our clients, such as prints, posters, canvas, metallic prints, etc.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The number one quality that I learned and that we implement always is customer service. We believe in the quality of our service and the way we treat our clients is the number one priority for us. Another important aspect that defines us is our niche in maternity photography. For many years it has been our number one photography service and we love to photograph our beautiful mommas because of the powerful meaning of being first-time mothers, sometimes, it’s their rainbow baby, or their third child, some other times they are twins! It is the beauty of these experiences that makes us love this profession.
For those who are starting out in photography, let me tell you, it’s ok not to know everything. You will discover eventually your path in photography. The more that you practice, the better you will become, the more that you learn about how to use your camera, the easier it will become during a paid photoshoot. When I started out, I didn’t know exactly what area of photography I wanted to dedicate the most. In fact, I started photographing flowers, animals, buildings, toys, food, family members, friends, etc. And I loved every phase of it, until later, I enjoyed photographing people a bit more. One more last thing is that you got it enjoy it, even if your photos are blurt, you can find the beauty in them.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
One of the first books I read about photography was Composition from Snapshots to Great Shots by Laurie Excell. This is a phenomenal book that helped me learn how to compose an image to get a better final result. It teaches you how your lens and camera work, and how to use the space and the subjects to achieve unique looks.
Another great book is This is Strobist Info, your setup guide to flash photography, by Dustin Diaz. Let’s be honest… When I started my photography journey, I sucked at taking pictures at night… It was such a frustration to only had a pop-up flash and not know anything about flashes, speed lights, or strobes. This powerful book teaches you how to set up your camera and light equipment at night. It shows you what setting to use in your camera, where to place the light equipment around the subjects, etc. This definitely helped me to jump to the next level in my career.
Some other great books are Mamarazzi Every Mom’s Guide to Photographing Kinds by Stacy Wasmuth. An interesting book that helps you on how to photograph kids which I believe is one of the most difficult subjects to capture in my opinion.
A few other fantastic books are Fine Art Wedding Photography by Jose Villa and Jeff Knet, Film is not Dead a Digital Photograpger’s Guide to Shooting Film by Jonathan Canlas and Kristen Kalp, and finally a beautiful collection of refined imagery of weddings, boudoir, family and portrait photography for Vol 1 and Vol2, The Jen Huang Guide to Fine Art Photography.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hugoaguiluzphoto.com
- Instagram: @hugoophoto
- Facebook: @hugoophoto
- TikTok: @hugoophoto
- Instagram Wedding Page: @hugoweddingphotos
Image Credits
All taken by me.
