Ricky Shoebio speaks on his visual inspirations
Ricky Shoebio Speaks On His Visual Inspirations, Building His ‘Know Your Dope’ Website, Creating Content for The Grammy’s and His Work with Footlocker, Growing His Presence as a Personality, and More.
There was a moment in time when I thought I wanted to be a photographer. After constantly borrowing cameras from my friends I went out and purchased my own Canon Rebel and attempted to make my way into any event or concert happening in NYC. Unfortunately, that path didn’t go as planned but that never altered my love and respect for the craft of capturing inspirational photos during memorable moments. We’ve seen some of the best photos circulate on our timeline’s from cultural icons to the hottest fashion trends but in most cases our infatuation with the photo itself always tends to get more credit than the person behind the lens. With that being said, Ricky Shoebio, a lifestyle photographer, showcased his skills for capturing exciting photos of one of the things we love most which is sneakers. Not only is Ricky a shooter of kicks, he’s also a collaborative genius with work under his belt for brands such as Footlocker, Nike, Jordan Brand, Puma, and the Grammy’s just to name a few.
I connected with the talented visual artist to talk about his photography inspirations, expanding his Know Your Dope brand, his love for streetwear fashion and the sneaker culture and more in our full interview below.
1 - What inspired you to want to get into doing visual work?
For me it was initially by necessity. I was working for a publication as an editor handling a lot of the activations and events, and didn’t want to use some of the same photos as other publications when writing my pieces. Shooting my own stuff allowed the publication to be able to use me in far more aspects. That also helped get me into my Executive Editor role with them, as I understood and worked on so much for them. When I decided to step away from the publication creating content and visuals with the brand is what seemed to pull me the most from a creativity standpoint, and KYD was started.
2 - A lot of your work seems to represent style, fashion, sneakers, etc. How did you gain your love for sneakers or fashion in general?
My love for sneakers started at an early age, and like most kids was also rooted in basketball. It was a combination of the variety of the dope kicks on court and also the concept of being fly was built from the ground up, that did it for me. I mean, at the time a lot of judgment and jokes were rooted in your sneakers, it’s the first thing people noticed and if you weren’t on par you got clowned. Fashion for me definitely came from my upbringing. Never looking sloppy and looking sharp were constant themes in my household. It was also one of the earliest forms of self expression that I remember.
3 - Who were some of your visual inspirations during your come-up? Why?
So my visual inspirations actually vary and always have. In fact it actual works in layers for me. If we are speaking to my stills I always have to acknowledge Sue Kwon, Danny Clinch, Jonathan Mannion as far as photographers go. But, cinematography also plays a huge part in the inspiration behind how I shoot my stills. Ridley Scott, Tarantino, and Spike all played a huge part in how I look at things and look to shoot things. Now all of that is on the technique side of things. I also end up playing the Creative Director role when it comes to a lot of the visuals and content I create. When it comes to the concepts of the shoots things like film, anime, time periods, and even the feelings different types music creates plays a heavy part in how I create the concepts behind the shoots.
Distant Cousins...
4 - You’ve captured sporting events, music concerts, musicians and so on. Do you have a favorite space you like to work in or do you capture whatever happens to be in front of you at the moment?
My work has definitely awarded me many moments and memories that I will always remember, so to say a single moment is actually tough for me. What I can say is my favorite time shooting is either when I am capturing a moment in a setting with a larger group of my peers or when there is an electricity to the energy of the moment. For the first part, ever so often there are industry moments when many of us can be a part of the same thing. This is normally a media only type thing with either some launch or exclusive thing happening. It’s not the exclusivity that makes the moment, but seeing everyone else in their zone as you all approach the same thing through different methods and styles that does it for me. But I will say some of my recent work with Foot Locker was one of my favorite things I’ve worked on as well. My expertise in sneakers and style have also allowed me to transition from behind the camera to in front of the camera as a personality. Often this year that has been a lot of my work as well, whether it was that type of “personality” work or being a face in certain campaigns and rollouts as well as someone shooting and conceptualizing the ad. The reason I say that recent work is even though I have created content for, The Grammys, The U.S. Open, multiple All Star Weekends, NYFW, countless live performances, working with that Foot Locker team on what we did at Complexcon was just a fun working experience. No other way to put it, they have an amazing team over there and it’s part of the reason we work together so often honestly, things just click.
5 - A lot of photographers that’ve spoken with in the past seem to have an eye for capturing their certain moments. How would you describe your eye?
I think my eye is really based in my attention to detail. When people speak to me in regards to my shooting, or content creation, it’s really what comes up the most. Whether it’s my use of lighting and composition, framing and symmetry, or my untraditional angling, the attention to detail is the one common thing.
6 - Was there any particular reason why you decided to shift your focus from editorial/writing work to doing more visual and photography work?
From what I was doing at the magazine that’s what called me the most. While I am a very good writer, I didn’t see myself running with written in an indy role. I also think it’s what gave me the most creative freedom. I may have a moment or a product that needs content, and when you are creating the visuals you get to completely interpret it your own way.
7 - One thing that stood out to me on your website, Know Your Dope, is what you said about creativity. You said “creativity is infectious.” How has the creativity of your peers help heighten your visual career? Secondly, what type of influence do you want to be to your peers and others who may be watching you on social media?
I mean to me it’s very simple. I don’t believe you can be involved in something and not be a fan at the same time. It’s really that easy. I enjoy many people’s works and people pushing their creativity which in turn inspires me to challenge myself. As far as my influence when it comes to this, it’s actually still something I’m getting used to. Peers often tell me things about my work, my work frequency, the things I’m involved in, etc, and it’s really always something that I’m taken back by. I really just look to grind and execute every time, while consistently challenging my abilities and people seem to appreciate that.
ANOTHER FIRE WOMEN'S RELEASE. The fact that these are still available. Like I get the lore around the gold and silver pairs but don't 😴 on this rose pair at all.
8 - You’ve done shots and have created visuals for a ton of different things over the course of your career. Do you have one favorite moment?
Surprisingly, I don’t. I have shots and work that I love in the moment, then I go back after some time and notice so many things I would do differently. There are some that still hold up or may just need a minor tweak in my eyes, but honestly I have no single favorite. I think it’s most likely rooted in the fact that I always want improve. I do enjoy the work and I am far from brushing it off, but I also want to push to new heights.
9 - What is some of the best advice you’ve gotten so far?
I’ve been lucky that I get to have a lot of conversations with people where we end up trading great advice. One that I often speak to is something I got from Ray Polanco Jr. during my transition period. He said to me make sure you get your best shot every time, to not stop shooting until you got your best shot. It stuck with me because, for those that don’t know a long time ago I was in the music world. That’s not a principle that really exists in that space. There isn’t really a such thing as a perfect take. You either get the best one you could or you doctor up a recording until it sounds as good as possible. But, you rarely got that golden take as I had heard it called. So that advice was a completely new nuance to me. There is something out there that is completely perfect from a creation standpoint with this, and now that’s what I work towards.
10 - What advice can you give the aspiring “shooters” and visual creators out there?
I don’t have advice for just visual creators or shooters honestly, which is probably due to me having so many different hats. My advice is for all creatives in general, and it’s “BE PRESENT”. You need to be places, you need to be with people and as cliché as it sounds be on the scene. A digital presence is great but it only does so much. You can only get so far that way no matter how talented you are, you need to be at the things you are involved in and surrounded by the people in the world you are in.
11 - What’s next for Ricky Shoebio? Is there anything your audience can expect from you in 2020?
Expect to continue to see a lot more work with me in front. And, when you do always keep in mind that what ever I am in front of I most likely guided the concept, was a creative director, or crafted the shot style as well. Beyond that there are a couple of series I am working on where you will be most likely be seeing me hosting the series, and yes it will be sneaker related. And, hopefully soon we will get a chance to see my first sneaker collaboration come to fruition. Those are just a few things I working on. Of course there will behind the camera work giving you all a glimpse into so many different things, but definitely expect to see a growing trend of me as a personality in many moments as it’s been more than 40% of my work last year.
