Interview with Rinzi Ruiz

Get ready to hang out with a phenomenal street shooter in this month’s interview – Rinzi Ruiz. Rinzi is based in LA and has been practicing street photography for more than a decade now. He’s a graphic designer by trade, a wedding and portrait photographer AND a Fuji X photographer.

With all that experience you’d probably imagine that Rinzi heads out to the streets fearlessly and boldly every time, always capturing the perfect image. In reality, Rinzi and I spent a lot of time talking about how to deal with anxiety on the street – something many (if not most) of us struggle with. He often references “Street Zen” and has some really practical suggestions on how to calm the voices in your head with deep breathing practices.

Not only that, Rinzi had a lot to share as a graphic designer about how light and shadow guide your viewer’s eye and how you can be consistent about what work you choose to display publicly.

There’s a lot to learn from Rinzi, so get to listening by clicking on the audio player below:

A Selection of Rinzi’s Photos

Tokyo 5 — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Tokyo 5

7th Mom — ©Rinzi Ruiz – 7th Mom

Tokyo 3 — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Tokyo 3

You Are Here Project — ©Rinzi Ruiz – You Are Here Project

Olvera Street — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Olvera Street

Moustache — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Moustache

Girl on a Bus — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Girl on a Bus

Koudelka Show Getty — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Koudelka Show Getty

Flower Street Reflection — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Flower Street Reflection

7th Street Exit — ©Rinzi Ruiz – 7th Street Exit

Eschat — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Eschat

Broadway Hat — ©Rinzi Ruiz – Broadway Hat

Rinzi’s Links

Rinzi Ruiz

Rinzi Ruiz is a Los Angeles based freelance photographer. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times So Cal Moments, the Think Tank Gallery YOU ARE HERE Exhibit, at the Hatakeyama Gallery Street Photography Exhibit and his first solo exhibit, Street Zen, at the Perfect Exposure Gallery. His work also includes portraits, landscapes, urban landscapes, events and weddings. He studied fine arts at various community colleges and majored in graphic design and computer animation at Art Institute of Los Angeles. After a year of freelancing he spent 10 years at Technicolor in their Creative Services division starting as a graphic designer and eventually becoming the Manager and Art Director of the Graphics Dept. He then became interested in photography and taught himself how to use the camera. He combined his knowledge of arts and design into his photographic work and has produced a body of work with a style that he has become well known for. He shoots the streets as often as possible and is familiar with the different areas in Downtown Los Angeles. Rinzi's street photography style combines light and shadows and graphic elements and also to portraits of interesting characters he meets along the way.