The Other Side of the Lens
A Sit-down with Photographer and Influencer, Jose “Tutes” Tutiven
Tutes, the man behind the lens, sits down with Bloglovin’ to discuss making it in the world of photography.
At A Glance
Jose “Tutes” Tutiven of Tutes
Stats: 125k followers on Instagram, clients including Anheuser- Busch, Weight Watchers feat. Oprah Winfrey, Range Rover, and LG USA Mobile
Bloglovin’: Can you tell us how you began…how you got here?
Tutes: I was born in Ecuador. I came here when I was 10. I grew up in Bushwick and now I reside in the Bronx. It keeps me humble. As far as photography, I was in IT for like 10 years. The first time I picked up a camera was when my daughter was born. I felt like it was an investment so I ended up buying an entry level DSLR. I was never ever a good person to verbally express… I was better at visual expression. A passion built from that. It became the ultimate hobby. I just felt like there was a void there with expressing myself. Once I picked up the camera and started shooting my daughter, it kind of created a burn… a passion that was filling that void.
BL: Can you describe your aesthetic?
T: There was an evolution in my aesthetic. I never saw myself as a serious photographer… I still don’t but as you grow you become more aware of what you need to practice and how to perfect the art of photography. I realized that throughout the years, as I grew, it was more so about knowing myself. So now, my aesthetic is I’m going to put out what I love and what feels true. I’ve grown from that point of accepting things for work or notoriety to working with clients that are really interested in giving me full creative control. A lot of the time it will never be 100% what the clients want. I think a lot of people get lost there. They lose their identity and their style trying to appeal to everyone.
BL: At what point did you feel like your passion for photography could be/turn into a successful business?
T: I was at my desk in 2013 and got an email from an agency asking to hire me. Back then, money wasn’t involved in creativity. It was more so about just being yourself, so you felt validated in that way. The job was for Adult Swim. They wanted me to go out there and take a few images. They said before you post, send us the images for approval, and use some hashtags. That was it. It was like $500 for those first images. So then I was like not only can this be therapeutic and a sense of passion but it can be something to make money on the side.
BL: Do you have a favorite social media platform? One that you feel works best for distributing your content?
T: My main source of what I’m currently doing is Instagram but I also have a blog. I started blogging, I would say last year because I wanted people to have a better idea of what I do on a day-to-day basis. I felt like people would ask me all these technical questions on Instagram that enthusiasts or current photographers have. I really didn’t want to answer that in a comment field. So I started writing a little blog. It’s not often that I do it but I definitely keep that in mind when I have a project that I’m working on. I want to be organic so if I get enough inquiries about something then I’ll create a post. I’d rather put effort into something that people are going to utilize for themselves. I’ve also evolved into doing little videos so I have project videos now too.
BL: So cool…you’re doing video now, can you tell us a little about that?
T: I was super hesitant to move into video because I am not a videographer [laughter]…I always say that. The first thing that got me thinking about video was Boomerang. I would shoot it and then have something in motion. It put more energy into the shot. It put a lot more of a challenge and creativity in [my work]. I loved that because it kind of pushed me outside of my box. When I started doing that, I started getting good feedback and positive encouragement. Then, Instagram Stories and Snapchat came out. I wasn’t comfortable being in front of the camera [laughter]. But Instagram and Snap allowed me to create a personality behind the brand. Before, the audience didn’t know how I talked, they didn’t know how I sounded. I saw that as more important than trying to look good in front of the camera. It was more about letting people know who I am. It was definitely a new way of being intimate with my audience. I thought I was going to hate it but it really motivated me.
BL: How do you approach brand partnerships? How do you balance maintaining your aesthetic — staying true to yourself — with what the brand wants?
T: Yeah, that was a big struggle for me. When a client would place creative limitations on me and say this is what we want, I would do it and get a lot of backlash. The audience that I grew up with would say, “This is not you”. I never want to taint or jeopardize that loyalty for money. That bothered me more than actually settling for money. At the beginning, companies were stuck on the traditional type of marketing: I will pay you to shoot this, make it pretty, make it pop, make sure the Empire State Building’s there, or make sure a yellow cab is there. You know that’s kind of like you’re telling me what you want me to see, instead of me telling you what I see in the product that my audience will understand. So now it’s definitely gotten to a point where brands are acknowledging that they don’t want to taint your clout so they trust you to do the best you can with their product, even if it’s unusual for their type of aesthetic or their type of branding.
BL: The work you’ve done with Budweiser definitely has the “Tutes” aesthetic. Tell us how that partnership came about.
T: So what I did with Budweiser, as an example, they reached out to the agency that represented me and said they wanted me to work on this project. They really liked what I produced. Eventually, they wanted me to work outside of those projects and produce content for them. I felt like I stayed on such good terms with them, being myself, that they wanted to see more of me. That’s where they approached me, not on the influencer side but more on content creation for their brand. They wanted me to produce content on their new summer products…towels…tank tops…hats…coolers. I said I would love to do something like this but in my own way. They said Tutes, pick anything you want from the e-commerce side, 8–10 items, you have full creative vision.
That was the first time that I had been given a concept where I was managing my own project for a client. It got to the point that they wanted to buy out my images. I always had a team that dealt with that. Then, I started dealing with licensing and buyouts. That was definitely a milestone for me in that I didn’t know how to handle it. That was when I had to reach out to people or sites or blogs that had experiences in this. To that point, I had finally realized that I needed somebody with experience on my side to handle those types of contracts. That’s what lead to having an agent. Now it’s more about having a team and being myself. My team and agent handle [the logistics] and allow me to focus on being creative.
BL: Have you ever collaborated with other influencers? Can you describe that process? Is that somewhere you see yourself doing in the future?
T: That’s my goal this year. The person I had in mind is actually an artist. Her name is Rita. I found her through one of my favorite Tumblr sites called This Isn’t Happiness. I saw her images constantly being published there. She hit me up early last year. I met her at a TicTail pop-up store that was showcasing her work alongside other artists. We just connected so well that we decided to stay in touch. We’ve been in talks for a good two years. Hopefully, we’ll connect and do some sort of gallery together. It’s definitely going to be more community based. It’s exciting but it’s not written in stone. It’s something that we both want to do and hopefully we can do it sooner than later.
BL: We noticed that you focus a lot on giving back to the photography community? You have an upcoming project with ONA? How did you decide to start these events where you connect with the community oftentimes in person?
T: I want to give people as much knowledge as I can from my personal experience. I really didn’t have a mentor. I had to do it all by myself. And I think I would be where I am a lot faster if I had a mentor. I always want to give back to the community whether it’s a panel talk, a photo walk, a meet and greet, etc. I do these meet-ups about every 2 weeks. I’d rather be outside juicing creativity and encouraging someone who’s creative. I feel like that’s the best way to give back to the community. I know a lot of people say, “Hey, can I work alongside you, be your assistant.” That’s work related. I don’t want to get to know you via work. It’s just not conducive. You won’t get the time that you need while you’re with me. I’d rather give you my knowledge and my brain and put the work aside. There’s an emotional stamp on your brain there. You’ll remember that moment more than you’ll remember an image.
T: I think obviously video is still one of the main things. I think video is going to get to that point where everything is going to be in motion. There’s more visual consumption now, people see a lot of the same thing, so when you start seeing a moving concept, it pops. So video is going to be what people are doing moving forward in 2017. If you can make it more movable and more relatable, then I think you’ll have a lot more success.
BL: What’s next for Tutes?
T: One other project that I have in mind is I’m supposed to be going to Colombia and documenting lifestyles of indigenous people, where they’re still creating products for shops but in a wholesale concept. My friend put me on to it, these people don’t have any technology…there’s nothing….everything is handmade. So I want to go back way before technology where people still worked with their hands and put all this effort into their work and every single item is unique. I think that will be more of a documentary/photojournalism style concept that I want to do…the people behind the brands or behind the products. With my upbringing in Ecuador there was more human connection than technological connection. I want to revert back to that.
Many thanks to Samone Wheeler for her contributions to this article.
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