I had the honor of interviewing with Voyage Phoenix Magazine this October. It’s a super long interview but well worth the read if you’ed like to know more about me and where I’m headed as an Entrepreneur.

OCTOBER 27, 2017

Meet Joseph Gutierrez of Joseph Signature Arts

Thanks for sharing your story with us Joseph. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.

I’ve always been passionate about Filmmaking growing up. I was a big Ray Harryhausen fan and remember running around the house with my parents VHS camcorder making short little animated movies with toy action figures. In 1998, we received our first household computer. My parents literally had to pry me away from because I was addicted to a game called 3D Movie Maker.

In high school, I joined TV Production and fell in love with making PSA’s and announcements for the entire school. I enjoyed having a media pass, walking the halls and pulling kids out of class to interview.

After High School, I made the decision to pursue my education with a college degree in Film and Media Production. I made several Short Films and was published in the Arizona Republic for producing a Suicide prevention PSA that was sponsored by United Way. The PSA was broadcasted on local city channels but pulled off air for mixed messaging reasons. During my college years I lived with my mom, I worked at Walgreens photo processing lab and had a part time job at Blockbuster Video, which till this day happens to be one of my coolest jobs ever!

After completing my A.A. in Media Arts, I decided to transfer my credits to a well-known film school in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they couldn’t accept me in and I took it very personal. During this time, I decided to go back to my same college to finish my bachelors but ran into a prescription pill addiction.

I became lost and almost homeless, 6 months into my program I ended up dropping out of college.

It was seriously a dark period of my life in which I hope to adapt into a movie later. After sobriety, my mother was kind enough to let me live with her to get back on track so I turned half her garage into a Production Studio, focused on my career and pursued my passion for filmmaking again. I made several animated shorts, music videos, mastered audio and video editing, specialized in prop making/miniature sets and worked a lot with green-screen compositing.

It wasn’t too long until a friend offered me my first paid film Gig to be a part of a show via Food Network. I must have done something right because after that I continued receiving calls to do more gigs and almost quit my job because I was sustaining enough work to pay the rent. I started as a PA and worked my way up to a Digital Imaging Technician to an Assistant Producer. I networked with a lot of new production friends, had on-set experience with celebrities and executives, developed many horror and success stories and stayed committed to my DREAM. It was the happiest part of my life.

This in turn came to an end when I found out I had a child. Samantha who is now my wife, explained that she neglected to tell me anything over the years because she didn’t want to interfere with my success. She later found it hard to raise a child on her own without any real father in the picture. It was a complete total shock and adjustment on my part. I went from bachelor to father overnight. After reflecting on the situation, I decided to move Samantha and her two children in with me so I can get acquainted with my real child, stepchild and build a relationship with her. I’m not going to lie, it was extremely hard at first and we’ve had many ups and downs.

When I made the decision to start a family with Samantha, I thought it was best to quit my production gigs due to long 16-hour days. It was just too time consuming while adjusting to a family, career and Industry life. While settling in things really started to slow down. Samantha and I had another baby and we started talking about marriage.

During this time, we were living in a hip 1930’s historical home in downtown mesa. We began making friends with the phoenix art scene and submerged ourselves in an alternative young lifestyle culture. Samantha pursued a passion for modeling and rapidly started making a name for herself around the valley. I went on every shoot with her and found myself pursing interest in photography. Also during this time, I had a great career that allowed me to invest in photography equipment. As Samantha continued modeling, I began building a mobile photo studio and started my first year as a photographer, she was the perfect subject to practice on.

Shooting multiple projects per month with random models and consuming about 40 shoots a year, I was really determined to go-pro and make a name for myself as well. I read over 50 books on photography, lighting, special effects and movie magic tricks to name a few. I focused mostly on dark fashion, pinup, sci-fi, alternative and lifestyle themes incorporating both a portraiture and a CGI look because it’s what I enjoyed making. Somewhere along the lines, I developed my own unique style and signature incorporating the usage of vivid colors. Samantha started merging into the tattoo culture shooting with popular national photographers that were on tour. Inspired by their success and talent, I wanted to do the same so I followed.

In 2013, I made it official to only work on paid shoots moving forward so I established Joseph Signature Arts as my side hustle, plus I was getting tired of shooting the same models in Phoenix over and over. During that time my highest paid client happened to be enoble media group in NY who offered me $100 per photo for an editorial set of 5 images to be featured in rebel ink magazine, I could have asked for more but I was new to negotiations and it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. It felt great to see my work published in local grocery stores, gas stations and book shops. To this day, I still have not made enough to pay off the investment I put into my photography gear – so it remains a hobby to me.

Samantha had stopped modeling in 2016 and we’ve been “up in the air” on shooting local models. Since then I’ve slowed down on photoshoots and have moved my focus over to commercial advertisement photography only. We purchased our first home that November and still adjusting to the lifestyle. My priorities right now are career and family with the intention of getting back into Filmmaking, Music and Media Arts. I’m almost determined to take the leap and start my own business full time, I feel I can do a lot of heavy prospecting for new businesses that need custom creative content for social and web. As of right now, I don’t know what the road has in store for me, I just hope its involving anything Creative with strong emphasis on Imagination, Arts and Production.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?

I think my biggest challenge is utilizing time properly and what projects I’m investing personal energy in.

It can sometimes be very difficult to balance a fulltime work-life, family and pursue a passion for Filmmaking/Arts and Photography. I think by finding the right relevant career or going into business for myself would be ideal when it comes to life long goals. Everyone’s after success and every story different. The one thing that relates to all is timing, repetition and consistency.

I’d say I’m halfway or close to the 10,000-hour Rule, but there’s also a lot of young hungry competition out there willing to work for free to obtain top educational experience under internship programs. This too is a challenge I face since I’m a 32-year-old first time homeowner with a family supporting 3 children. I’m unable able to work for free in return for the latest experience so I have to figure things out on my own, like going guerilla – meaning self-taught. In essence, Time is my biggest challenge. But hey, I believe in Luck too!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Joseph Signature Arts story. Tell us more about the business.

Joseph Signature Arts is a creative base freelance company founded in 2013. It was designed to create (Custom Editorial Media) suited for strategic advertisement and digital marketing needs. We are not your average content cookie-cutter turnkey solution. We work solely on a branding and strategy level with the intention of beefing up consumer engagement while utilizing a “Wow, Coolness and Edgy Approach”. If it’s Weird, New and Artistically resonates with pop-culture language, we’ll use it!

We specialize in custom editorial Photography, Video Creation and Visual Effects. From lifestyle images that define a unique captivating story, to a custom 15: 30: second commercial for both TV and Web. We can also build miniature-sets or props incorporated with greenscreen special effects. We have a wide range of styles and creativity to bring your vision to life with the purpose of making a dramatic impact tailored specifically to your market.

We are known for thinking alternatively “outside the box”. Innovation, creativity and storytelling are the three components to our work-life. We are risk takers, adventure seekers, and distinctive artists testing multiple variations of creative mediums while incorporating unique messages designed to persuade consumer decision making. We are 100% determined to create and influence Buzz both online and off.

We are proud of the work we put out and are constantly aiming for higher grounds. Every project produced feels like a box-office movie. There’s a lot of synergy and schematic craftsmanship in the air. What sets us apart from others is competitive pricing, customer service and the authenticity of each strategic assignment. We are Artists first, and professional brand builders second. We’re you’re number one stop for custom Media Arts.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?

Luck is spontaneous. I think being in the right place at the right time plays a major role. There’s also really nothing I regret or would have done differently in my life. I believe everything happens for a reason. It’s those moments we feel like giving up in sudden turmoil that reveals and pushes us to our best – or at least I think so. I love my kids and my wife, in fact if it weren’t for them I would have never gotten to where I’m at now or be in this conscious state of mind. So in the end, we may be the creators of our own Luck. I don’t really have an answer for that.

Contact Info:

Website: www.josephsignaturearts.com

Phone: 602-999-2117

Email: josephsignaturearts@gmail.com

Instagram: Joseph_Signature_Arts

Facebook: @josephsignaturearts
Other:

linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephcarlosgutierrez/

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