Las Fotos Project
Creative Entrepreneurship Opportunities
A partner of Community Residencies
Program Overview
Las Fotos Project’s Creative Entrepreneurship Opportunities (CEO) program is a social-enterprise and apprenticeship program that provides teenage girls and gender-expansive youth with valuable entrepreneurial skills for careers in the creative industry.
Community Residencies aim to enable local organizations to broaden the opportunities available for youth-centered career development in the arts. Our partnership with LFP CEO empowers photographers to expand their portfolios through opportunities to capture performances and learn from The Ford community.
About Las Fotos Project
Las Fotos Project is a photography mentoring nonprofit located in Boyle Heights that utilizes the power of photography to encourage students to explore their identity, community, and future careers.
Meet the Photographers
Learn about the previous Community Residencies LFP CEO Cohort
Maryjane “MJ” Joya
MaryJane “MJ” Joya’s specialty is funky portraiture and candid street photography. They wish to continue to learn and practice fashion photography, and photojournalism. This past semester at Las Fotos, Maryjane focused mainly on portraits with a still-life mood; photos that capture a moment in-between. They wish to work with The New York Times in the future and their dream job is to photograph fashion / editorial work.
Xitlali Martinez
Xitlali Martinez is a photographer based in Los Angeles. She has been a committed LFP student for six years. She is currently a student at Rio Hondo College, with plans to transfer to Cal State Fullerton next fall. Her love for photography began seven years ago when she was first introduced to it by her uncle. Her uncle would always capture every important moment in her and her family's lives, which made her want to do the same for other people as well. Moments don’t last forever but photos do.
Uzuri Ray
Uzuri Ray is a Mexican American teen based in Boyle Heights and her biggest inspiration is her mother’s passion for photography. She’s always found photography interesting but never had a chance to fully experiment with a camera until she joined the Las Fotos Project. She loves having the opportunity to capture special moments. They find it fascinating how pictures can tell stories, so they try to take photos that have some kind of connection to them. She focuses on portraiture and capturing her subject’s true personalities.
Catherine Rodriguez
Catherine Rodriguez has been fond of practicing different art forms since they were 11, whether it was in the form of painting, photography, or music. They spent most of their time after school engaging in activities involved with the arts and took a keen interest in photography in the seventh grade. Since then, they grab a hold of any camera every time they go out. “I put time into it because it brings me great joy! I’m excited about my journey with art through the Las Fotos Project.” Now, she is going to UCLA to study design and media arts.
Sawyer Sariñana
Sawyer Sariñana has expanded on weaving client visions with creative experience to create unique deliverables for each project. In working with class mentors and other students they have initiated new pathways of creative discovery and are excited to continue collaborating. They are continuously inspired by the creative process of other artists and would love to expand on a long-term mixed media project that merges visual, performing art, and writing in documenting the visual cultures of Los Angeles.
Virtual Gallery
Enjoy the selected work of the previous Community Residencies LFP CEO Cohort. The gallery updates at the end of every season.
Program Components
Pre-Season Preparation
The Ford welcomes five LFP CEO photographers and their LFP mentors to capture 10 different shows every season after cohort applicants undergo a selection process in review by LA Phil concert photographer(s) and members of The Ford team.
The Ford provided two professional development sessions to the LFP CEO Cohort to foster the necessary skills to excel in their show captures (for which they are paid) and to build their portfolios and their professional network.
The sessions took the form of workshops conducted by LA Phil professionals, offering hands-on training:
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One professional development session, hosted at the LFP site and open to all LFP students and community members, consisted of an in-depth presentation on the camera settings and equipment needed to excel in concert photography, followed by an in-house performance to give photographers the chance to implement their newly learned skills.
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The second session was hosted at The Ford for the LFP CEO cohort and their mentors to learn about concert photography and asset delivery specific to the venue. We invited Farah Sosa, LA Phil House Photographer, and LA Phil staff from Media Initiatives and the CLARK management system to explain venue-specific protocols necessary for the cohort to have a successful experience at The Ford.
Work During the Season
Each photographer from the LFP CEO Cohort gets the chance to capture two shows, with guidance and assistance from an LFP mentor during their show capture.
The LFP CEO Cohort receives guided support from The Ford and an LFP mentor to help the photographers deliver their images within 24 hours of a show capture, which aligns with industry-standard asset-delivery expectations.
Cohort photographers are encouraged to use any approved images in their portfolios and social-media pages to display their photographic skills and potentially widen their opportunities.
Post-Season Work
To commemorate the work of the LFP CEO Cohort, The Ford inaugurated a Las Fotos Project x The Ford Gallery wall. The gallery highlights 10 images, one image for each show and two per cohort photographer.
Once The Ford season ends, the LFP x the Ford Gallery updates to display selected images by the new cohort. (Unfortunately, the physical gallery is not open to the public, but please enjoy the selected images available for viewing via the virtual gallery.)
Past Cohorts
2022 Cohort
Wendy Cubillo, @eonagapi
CJ Calica, @audienceink
Ruth Gutierrez, @pigeon.fotos
Ketzally Alcala, @K3yzally
Mia Peña, @miapenaphotography