BIO
Juan Pablo is a Mexican photographer who from the early age of 7 years old was interested in the first camera he had in his hands, it belonged to his father, a Canon AE-1 and it was him who taught him the basics of the settings to be able to use it, what he did not know is that it would completely change the course and destiny of his life. For little Juan Pablo that moment was just a game, a toy that he had completely fallen in love with.
For him everything was a game because it was amazing to be able to see the world from the viewfinder of a camera and to be able to capture, to freeze moments that for him, as a child, were important, such as family characters, animals, toys, games, etc... To be able to see them later printed on paper, printed in photographs, was a real time machine, a toy with magical powers.
Coming from a middle class family and being the youngest of 4 siblings, the opportunities for Juan Pablo to receive photographic rolls during a year were limited so he would ask on special occasions like his Birthday and Christmas for photographic rolls instead of toys since the real toy and the real fun came with the photographs that he could develop and encapsulate in time through that incredible and magical instrument called photographic camera.
Over the years Juan Pablo became more and more interested in photography to the point of buying different cameras with the savings and money he could get either with small jobs as a teenager and among the jewels he could buy in second hand markets ("tianguis" Mexican word for this kind of markets) were some 8mm video cameras in which he was very interested for a period of time in his adolescence, which he keeps in his studio with much affection and occasionally uses, when he can get film for such video cameras.
When the time came to decide a university career, Juan Pablo was clear about what to study; Photography, but his parents were a little speculative about it since the idea of generating a life as a photographer in Mexico at that time was uncertain, so due to the pressure and influence of his parents he reached an agreement to study something that would give him more opportunities in life, so he decided to study Communication at the Universidad Panamericana, it is worth mentioning that in this career there was a subject that Juan Pablo fell in love with even more; Photography from scratch and it was there where he fell in love with this profession because they had a darkroom for the development of these photographs, which completely fascinated his imagination and creativity playing with more abstract elements, different from those he had used until then.
After graduating from the University and with the opportunity to start working in an important and large advertising agency in Mexico, Juan Pablo's career began, always with a visual aspect of the hand, which accompanied him until the moment in which he decided to make his own advertising agency since some clients asked him for more things and he began to make them on the outside, He then decided to found Frondadesign, the advertising agency that would give him the opportunity to grow in many aspects since he came to have brands such as FEMSA, Grupo Modelo, Procter & Gamble, FedEx, among others, with whom he worked for a long time as a product photographer and also portraits for several local and national magazines, giving him a broader vision of scope in visual matters.
After an event that would change his life completely, he decided to move from Mexico City to Oaxaca, closing completely operations in the successful Advertising Agency and changing his life completely, with no one to know and no idea of what to work on, he decided to move his life by a greater intuition looking for new opportunities and a better quality of life in a quieter and peaceful place, since the city and the pace of work at that time was consuming him completely.
It was in Oaxaca where he began a new stage of his life and took root in what he loved the most; photography and began to give workshops to local teenagers, he began to found his photographic studio; Jaguar Estudio and little by little he consolidates what he was already working on along with the Advertising Agency and that is how he begins one of his great projects, the book "Mexicans" with National Geographic that will give him the worldwide exposure he has been looking for and consolidate the vision of what started as a game and now has become a fun reality and isn't that how this life should be lived?
At the moment Juan Pablo lives a quiet and happy life near downtown Oaxaca where he gives photo tours, photographic experiences and helps other photographers through workshops to develop skills that will help them generate income as a photographer, changing the current vision of photography as a way of life.
Jaguar Estudio is an important place for Juan Pablo because it has everything he needs to create portrait photography concepts, and that is where he works most of the time for magazines and clients who ask him for portrait photo shoots.
This is how he consolidates himself as one of the most complete Mexican photographers so far, since he not only focuses on a specialty within the various branches of photography, he is one of the few photographers who performs all types of photography because in essence it is what he loves, it is what he always dreamed of, it started as a game and has continued as such and it is very important for him to continue playing in this life that he calls; A video game with different levels to advance and the best way to get there is to have fun on that road, in those levels.