Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Zeke Ruelas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Zeke, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?
Discipline came to me in two significant ways during my youth. First from my parents. They both had great work ethics and my father, being a Vietnam Veteran always pushed for us to have focus and direction for whatever it was my sister and I wanted to do. Growing up with an ex-Vietnam Vet with PTSD (which was not a diagnosis back then) was also a factor in self-discipline. The second was from my first career choice of being a professional dancer. Not many people associate a professional dancer with an athlete, but that is exactly what it is, especially the discipline part. I earned a scholarship at Edge Performing Arts Center in LA. Having 5 classes a day, 5 days a week, along with having amazing teachers and administrative faculty – all instilled a great self-discipline. We were constantly focused on picking up and performing choreography in a short amount of time, We were always preparing for auditions and last minute changes, which occurred constantly on set. We need disciple in being prepared to roll with the punches of frequent change. These two periods brought the self-discipline to my current work of being an architectural, interior photographer, along with being a creative, self-employed person all my life. Architectural, interior photography is constant manipulation of light, problem solving, and staying on schedule with completing the shot list. The early discipline lessons aided me throughout my life and within my careers and helped me develop essential, quality habits that have served me well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
At a very young age I was always creative. and I always loved to dance. I started pretty late in studying dance, which was my junior year of high school. Proudly I came from a background of Longshoreman, and even though my parents knew I loved dance at a very young age, they didn’t know how to go about getting me started. In high school I was finally at an age that I could take control and explore the world of dance. I called up some local dance schools in my area, and my first contact with them was very disappointing. With that feeling of disappointment I pulled up to the second dance school, which was a very old, dilapidated building standing alone in a parking lot. I parked and sat discouraged at the lack of curb appeal thinking this class too would be disappointing. What good teacher or good student would come here? With my hand on the car keys ready to start up the car I thought, why not just go in and take the class. You drove here, just go take class. That class changed my life. The teacher was so amazing, inspiring, and opened my eyes to actually having a career as a dancer. That teacher, who was also a working choreographer, saw my potential and came up to me after class. She took me under her wing and brought me into the business of being a professional dancer. As a dancer, on all my gigs and tours I always had a camera. I loved taking pictures. A dancer’s life is a short-lived career and I was always thinking about what I would do after the dance shoes were hung and retired. As the dance career progressed, I started to find myself in unfamiliar territory of not knowing what I would move into and that was a very unsettling for me. I remembered in high school that I had taken a photography class that I loved. Being that I always had a camera on all my dance gigs, I decided to enroll in the local community college when I was not touring and see if that would lead to the next path. On our first assignment I found myself lost in the moment of capturing our homework exercise where the world around me goes quiet and I’m fully engulfed in that moment. I knew then – this is what I wanted to do after dance. The similarity of being lost in the moment of dance and being lost in the moment of a capture enthralled me. I was relieved, excited, but also frightened that I was starting from ground zero of a new career with no guarantees. The self discipline would serve me well on this new venture.
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?
Definitely passion and discipline are qualities that have been an asset on my journey. Knowledge and training from school gave me a good base, but assisting amazing photographers taught me a lot. Absorbing the knowledge on set and seeing the interaction of client and photographer, as well as how the photographer can set a positive vibe on set. These are all such important skill sets to learn when venturing off on your own. But the one best ideal that I can share for anyone early in their career is persistence. Do it because you love it and nothing else.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The most impactful thing my family did for me was to encourage me and support me with enthusiasm and also financially when I needed it. I still had up’s and downs, and many things to overcome, but I’m very thankful to my family as they helped make my journey a great deal smoother.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zekeruelas.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zekeruelas/
Image Credits
All image credit is me Zeke Ruelas Designer Credit Image 1: Whiskey Bar- Jennifer Cataldo Image 2: Black Sitting Room – Jonathan Savage Image 3: Office – Brad Ramsey Interiors Image 4: Exterior Front – Jonathan Savage Image 5: n o t e by Mint House Image 6: Mint House at The Reserve Image 7: Mint House at The Reserve
