Jose D. Flores, Jr. is a Photographer Based in Chicago, Illinois, USA
I first met Joe at a Leica Akademie Master Class in Chicago, Illinois. In the years since, Joe and I have stayed in touch and shot together on occasion. I’ve watched as Joe applied tremendous discipline to his art, investigating equipment, technique, and emotion as he developed his new book.
Joe recently released his new book, “I Leave.” and has a gallery exhibit at the Rangefinder Gallery in Chicago, Illinois.
Thank you Joe for taking time to share with RedDotBlueDot readers!
If you would like to meet Joe he has additional scheduled events including:
Booksigning - Leica store Miami - April 16, 2020
Book signing - Leica store Boston - May 14, 2020
Five Foto Facts
First camera: Kodak Brownie
Favorite camera: Leica M10
Photographer who has most inspired you: Maggie Steber
Favorite travel destination: Oaxaca, Mexico
One place left on your travel bucket list: Auschwitz-Birkenau
Photograph by: Jose D. Flores, Jr.
The Interview
RDBD: Tell me a little bit about yourself. What do readers need to know about you to get to know you? What is your personal, professional, and photography background?
J.F.: I came to America in 1966, at 22, to attend the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), where I obtained my M.S. degree in Advertising Management. I spent ten years working for a major corporation as a marketing manager, after which I decided to be my own boss. At that junction, desktop computers were just evolving, so I started a computer consulting business, which I sold after ten years when I realized I was just using the left side of my brain.
Witnessing my mother's death was the epiphany that switched my perspective to the right side of my brain. This experience inspired me to go into the long-term care business of assisted living in 1995, henceforth dedicating my life to serving the elderly and the dying.
In 2014 I had a quadruple bypass open-heart surgery, which forced me to semi-retire. This traumatic experience made me realize how close I was to being "elderly and dying" myself. My subconscious started stirring up fear, wild imaginings, and questions about the meaning of life. As a complement to my physical and spiritual healing post-surgery, I turned to photography in 2015 to distract myself from my fears. I directed my creative vision to street photography; vibrant street life is the salve that soothes my restless spirit.
RDBD: What type of photography do you consider your primary genre and why? What does it mean to you? How did you become focused on this area of photography?
J.F.: Tom Smith of Leica Akademie and my mentor, Maggie Steber, guided my street photography into the sub-genre of "mystery," resulting in my work,
"I Must Leave," a spiritual quest of self-discovery.
RDBD: How did you become focused on street photography?
J.F.: Photography is my platform for self-expression, for reinterpreting life beyond its banal gestures and boring everydayness, for methodically removing the layers of filters through which I have been seeing the world over the last seventy-five years; and when I'm tired of shooting I still go out to seek inspiration for my next project. Serendipity has been good to me.
RDBD: Please tell me why you chose the image to submit as your one image. What meaning does the image have to you?
J.F.: The image I am submitting, "The Blind Guitar," is rife with quintessential irony and paradox because the subject is hiding his blindness while simultaneously expecting to be rewarded with alms. It's human nature to want to eat our cake and keep it too, not realizing until later in life that fulfillment is attainable by doing the opposite: subtraction.
RDBD: In an era where everyone has a smartphone and selfies and micro-blogging daily activities are quickly becoming the norm, why does traditional photography still matter?
J.F.: Traditional photography will remain relevant as long as a photographer is challenged by sticking to the fundamentals of adjusting a camera and manipulating light. Skillfully navigating a camera's variables, not taking snap shots, is how a creative mind keeps its passion for creating great images.
RDBD: What is one question you thought I should ask but didn’t?
J.F.: Question you should ask: "If your house was burning and you could save only one thing, what would it be?"
Answer: "I would save the fire because without it we are nothing." This perspective is what "passion" means to me. Remember, "removing the filters from seventy-five years...?"
RDBD: What photographer would you like to see answer these questions and recommend RDBD contact to be featured?
J.F.: I recommend you contact my mentor, Maggie Steber, to answer the same questions. www.maggiesteber.com