A Kid from Rancho.
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Hi, my name is Chris but my friends all call me Soy. I was born in Los Angeles, CA and raised in Rancho Cucamonga (yes, a real place). I am the oldest of three brothers, a husband, and proud father to hilarious four year old boy who loves to dance and binge Paw Patrol. As the son of a Flipino DJ and photographer, my appreciation for the arts developed at an early age. My first endeavor into the arts was through music, heavily influenced by the various artists my father played in the house growing up (everything from Aaron Neville to Zapp & Roger). In high school I added dance into my arsenal of artistic expression, particularly popping and eventually bboying. After graduating from high school and flunking out of college at the University of Central Florida, I enlisted into the United States Air Force as an aircraft mechanic for F-16 fighter jets. I served for 6 years and during that time I picked up my first camera and began experimenting with photography as another outlet of self expression, first venturing into the world of weddings but eventually making my way back into dance and also fashion photography.
After 10 years of trial and error and putting in my 10,000 hours into this practice, I was able to finally make the leap into shooting full time as a freelancer. My penchant for capturing the culture I love and the raw aesthetics of street fashion has driven me to pursue this career to the fullest and as a result I’ve been lucky enough to travel to places like Colombia, Canada, and even India to share my work with other passionate creatives. Ultimately my goal was to combine all of the things that I’m passionate about and incorporating their elements into both my photography and videography. I still make music on the regular and I do dance every now and then, but I have also started a clothing line called YOSOY REAL in which I design and produce pieces that promote cultural empowerment and the celebration of art.
Outside of creative work, I thoroughly enjoy eating noodles of all kinds (though I am particularly fond of ramen), good boba, Motown music, the Los Angeles Lakers, stand-up comedy, collecting sneakers, thrifting, digging for records, playing Tekken (I’m on PS4 and PC if you wanna run it), scary movies, and binging true crime documentaries. If you’d like to know more about me, feel free to reach out or book a session to find out first hand.