My love for photography started at a young age, and Mr. Rodriguez truly ignited the excitement I had for it. In today’s episode, I want to introduce you to my high school photography teacher, Mr. Rodriguez. Throughout our conversation, we discuss a few lessons he taught me in school, how changes in technology have and haven’t changed photography, and the impact a teacher can have on the lives of students.

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What Makes Photography Stand the Test of Time? (2:10)

Being Flexible in Professions (6:00)

An Important Lesson Mr. R Taught Me (8:36)

Creating Conversations (12:00)

Push the Button (15:35)

Technology Overwhelm (18:26)

How to Take a Shot (20:44)

Drawing the Line with Advancements in Photography (26:35)

What Mr. R Loves Most About His Job (29:39)

A Teacher’s Impact (31:14)

Review the Transcript:

Quianna Marie
Today I have the honor of introducing you to Mr. Rodriguez, my very own high school photography teacher. His classroom is where I was first introduced to the inner workings of the camera, the magic of light, and just the pure joy in learning about cameras, and the connection that we can make with our clients and our subjects. As I’ve started this podcast, I feel it’s just so important to give you a glimpse of the people and the souls and the incredible influencers, like real life influencers in my life, that have made a difference in my growth and have supported my business beyond measure. I could not think of a better guest than Mr. Rodriguez. Let’s go. Welcome to Quianna Marie weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins, big or small, by dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all the resources mentioned in this episode, Quianna murray.com/podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation and chat about growing themes, finding genuine connection and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

Quianna Marie
All right, welcome. Mr. Rodriguez. I am so thankful that you could take the time to join me today as one of my original High School photography teachers.

Mr. Rodriguez
Thank you so much Quianna. I am so excited to be here to talk about art and all the things you do. This is an honor for me, I cannot believe how amazing you have turned out to be. You always were amazing. But now you’re a professional, amazing. Ah,

Quianna Marie
thank you so much. Oh, I can’t wait to get started. Yes. Okay. So I have a bundle of questions. And as always, we can you know, get off topic and start sharing more stories. But let’s dive right into some of these questions. All right. So working in the classroom, I remember this and and thinking too, if you have been a teacher for over 23 years, you have seen so much technology change and grow. And basically, every year, there’s new camera gear, there’s new technology. And my question is, as your classes are constantly evolving, what type of, you know, in different cameras are available? What makes photography stand the test of time?

Mr. Rodriguez
Let’s see, stand the test of time. Well, we talked about this in class all the time, photography doesn’t just record the moment, photography kind of freezes the entire story for all of eternity. So we have these discussions in class about how it doesn’t just freeze the moment, but it freezes the emotion that goes along with the moment. So you can see some of these photos from back in the day. And you can feel the emotion from the people in the photographs, the the older African American man responding to the death of FDR, and he’s crying and you’re just like, oh my god, you know, the girl from Vietnam War. These are all Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, you know, and she’s running down the street, you know, after being bombed and scared. Yeah. And you’re just going, Oh, my God. So you can feel that emotion, the emotion is timeless, black and white color doesn’t matter. That’s the beauty of photography is it records, everything about the moment, not just what’s going on, but the emotion I think is the most powerful. And that’s what resonates with audiences, you know, way into the future?

Quianna Marie
Yes. And what would you say your advice is when because as you’re talking about these these trans formational photos, right, like these images that bring you into the moment? What is the difference between capturing a photo versus curating and creating that picture? So like, when you’re because you know, you you just listed off some incredible historical events that when we see these photos, we just are instantly brought back into time? Yeah. And then for me, for example, without getting off crazy of a tangent, but as a wedding photographer, or a portrait photographer, a lot of times I’m actually making things happen right, like evoking emotion,

Mr. Rodriguez
right? Yeah, there is that difference between you know, posing, and then capturing right, the the news photographer has to put themselves in a position to to be there for the moment. You know, so they have to prepare, they have to predict and they have to go you know, they have to go prepared, basically show up at the right place at the right time to capture those great moments. You are making them happen you know when it’s gonna happen, right, you’ve got the dates already set, I think, probably correct me if I’m wrong, but the challenge for you is to, is to deal with all of the people involved, and keeping them calm and, and organized and giving them to do what you know, they need to do to make the great photos. So they can look back on him 1020 years from now and go, Oh, my gosh, and have that rush of emotion. So it’s kind of a different approach. But same, you’re going in there prepared, you’re predicting what’s going to happen and how you’re going to deal with it. And if you don’t have an answer for it, you should go in with an answer for it. And hey, you know, things happen being flexible. I’m sure it’s a huge part of what you do. And a huge part of being a photographer. But being ready for any situation, I think is super important. Well, and that goes for any, any industry. I mean, you never know what’s gonna happen at school every day. And that’s what kind of makes it exciting. Just off topic, and probably shouldn’t talk about this, but we had a code red drill the other day, where it’s like a shooter drill. Yeah, that’s something we didn’t have back in your day. But we have these days. They let us run this time because it’s called run, hide, defend. So when they said intruder intruder in the main office, we I said, Okay, we’re running. And so my old class we ran, we escaped military style. But we get outside, we do our role. And I said, Hey, what happened to this one kid, and someone said, I saw him go that way. And we’re like, what? And so I had to report him as missing. Well, they found him down the street, he took run, literally, he thought we were running for real. So he ran like a block away. He ran all the way. He ran red, red, and didn’t stop anyway. So we had to find good old Frankie, and we had to get him back to the class. And he comes back, and we’re all back in the classroom, and he’s just sweating. And it was just one of those moments like, What the heck is going on? Right? You know, these moments, you never know, when something weirds gonna happen. You just got to be ready for it, as I’m sure you are deal with all the time in your biz, right? Why are girls crying and throwing a tantrum? I don’t know how you deal with it. I have to deal with high schoolers throwing their little tantrums, you know, all the time. So being prepared, being flexible, and being willing to just stay calm under fire.

Quianna Marie
Right. And I think that’s important too, when you are juggling all these things. And I feel like because yes, as a photographer, wedding and portrait photographer, I am blending both, I’m blending just kind of being a documenter and letting things unfold naturally. And then I’m also kind of being really proactive and posing. And I feel like that definitely plays a whole it’s a whole different ballgame on wedding days when those those stresses there. And, and I feel like we can have our checklist and we can go through and we have our traditions and our little checkpoints throughout the day that we’re capturing. But you’re right, we get a whole bunch of curveballs thrown at us. And we have to be prepared. We have to be flexible and be on our toes.

Mr. Rodriguez
You got to be able to read the crowd and read the moment. Yes, you started with something and it’s not happening. You got to be able to change direction like that. Yeah, right. Be ready to go. That’s where experience comes in. Yeah. You know, knowing what’s gonna work, what’s not going to work on any given day. I’m sure you deal with that just as much as I do.

Quianna Marie
Yeah. Well, I remember I was so excited to chat with you about this exact kind of like little story from high school. I remember this one lesson you shared with us. And this was when we started photographing, like for yearbook, photos and stuff when we’d have to go to sports games, and we’d have to be kind of pushed out of our element and out of our comfort zone. I mean, you were sending us to football games, you know, supporting and photographing the games, and going to wrestling matches and volleyball games. And I remember, I just remember you always telling us, Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird. And I really I really wanted to bring this up and have this conversation. I said don’t. But But But here’s what the what the context was. Okay, so I remember this. Basically, you’re sharing and sometimes today, being weird is a gift, right? So let me share the context about not being weird. So basically, what you were teaching us was when you go let’s say you are going to a volleyball game to go photograph. These athletes show up and talk to people. Like don’t be like a stalker. And don’t be like a wick a weirdo. Just trying to take photos and be weird. I remember that conversation you had with times. Yeah, because it makes sense now. Okay, exactly. I was like, let me give you some context about this. Because I remember when we would show up to these things, and even back then I’m still me. I was outgoing. I was friendly. But there were a lot of students that were definitely more introverted and definitely not athletes, and they would be in trouble. donated going to these games trying to photograph it. And so I just remember you always telling us like, as a photographer, you’re gonna have a backpack full of gear, you’re going to possibly have tripods, you’re gonna make a scene. But don’t be weird, feel like you belong there and almost kind of immerse yourself into your surroundings. And why?

Mr. Rodriguez
Yeah, I was gonna say the key here, to me, at least is establish a relationship. You know, the second you get there, you know, you got to introduce yourself and start talking to people on a human level, right? No matter what you do, you gotta have that human connection. You can’t just be like you said, a weirdo. And I can’t believe I use those words. Weird. But yeah. But I totally get, get where I was coming from. And I’m glad that that resonated with you, because you are such a personable person. And I think that’s what stands out in your photography, is that you are, like, making pals with these people that you know, are your clients, you are establishing that one on one, so they trust you. And you know, as a teacher, that is so important. They literally have these like coating, you know, almost like the rulebook for how to establish relationships with students, greet them at the front door, say, Hello, use their name, you know, it’s literally like a code book these days. Ask them about their sports game, you know, this kind of thing. And I’m, like, dude, have been doing that for years. That’s just who I am. And that’s who you are do. And that’s, I think, a huge part of being successful at anything. establish relationships with people. So they they’re comfortable with you, and that they get their best from you and you can get the best from them. Right? Absolutely. Trust is what relationships all about trust.

Quianna Marie
Yes. And I feel like it always starts with just sparking that conversation is just like you said, from the get go, just say hi, introduce yourself, get the conversation going. And I feel like the more people can talk and kind of develop that friendship, or at least that relatability I feel like that’s when kind of like their guard gets left down. And they feel like more themselves. And that’s when the magic happens for portraits.

Mr. Rodriguez
Absolutely. Last year, that was the hardest part of my job was establishing any kind of relationship with students. We taught our entire school year. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this, our whole school year was via zoom last year. And it was so hard just there were days Quianna where I was literally just staring at the screen going. Hello, would anybody like to share with me? Would anybody like to talk to me? You know, this is an I go on with my lesson. And I’d be like, look what I’m doing. I made a painting to look who wants to share theirs? I mean, I really felt like it was, man, was it really hard? It was so hard? I don’t I’m not exactly sure what you were doing during that lockdown kind of time, were you able to get out there and do weddings? Or was that when you were kind of reaching out and coming up with other ways to reach your your clientele?

Quianna Marie
Right. So that definitely was the biggest hit when I was deemed non essential. It was literally illegal for me to go outside and shoot. And not only that, even though that, you know, the quarantine only lasted for a short amount of time, you know, being back and forth in California. And then back here in Arizona, everyone had different comfort levels. There were some some opportunities where I could absolutely do photographs, but I was photographing families on porches instead of coming in, like close proximity to them. And it was a hit i 2020. And to be perfectly vulnerable and transparent. I probably took a hit of 80 to 100k. That year that I lost from rescheduled weddings from canceled weddings, I had to get really, really creative. And that’s actually when I made a hard shift to online education. I started coaching more photographers, and mentoring. And then I also really dove into content photography, which has been a lot of fun, which is basically a small business branding. So I saw

Mr. Rodriguez
a lot of this stuff that you’re doing on on Instagram. And I’m like, wow, I that’s when I was like mind blown by how you took just your love for photography and started in one spot but then was forced to just kind of expand. I think you probably would have expanded anyway. But you’ve taken it to this monster level that’s just very impressive Quianna.

Quianna Marie
Well, I was in survival mode it was either either figure it out and be creative and still incorporate and weave what you love into something new. Or I would have had to go back and get a job I would have. You would have seen me or kills you would have

Mr. Rodriguez
I was gonna say my guess you back at the Almaden Trader Joe’s. Exactly. Which I will never forget running into you there. When I went and you’re you’re working and I was like Quianna what’s up? And you were like, I’ll be out of here soon. Mr. Rodriguez, I am going to be out of here soon. And I was like, Oh, well, at least I know where to find you right now. I don’t know where you’re going to be once you start photography, the as a business, you’re like, oh, yeah, I’m gonna do it full time. I’m doing it full time. And I was like, okay, cool. I think that’s what you were showing up once a year to help out in my classroom. Yeah. And especially the students with portrait photos. Because to them, it’s like in and Okay, done. You know, they just kind of want to be done. But then there’s those kids that are like, Okay, I’m gonna take this nothing’s nothing. It’s not this. You know, things. Yeah, nowadays, they’re not afraid. But, you know, what was it five, six years ago, they would take one or two and be done, I, my message was always you need to take 10 to get one good one. So in order to get 10 to turn in, you got to get you got to do at least 100. You know, and they just couldn’t, certain kids just couldn’t get that. But the ones that do, you know, they’re the ones that aren’t afraid to push the button. We were in a training not too long ago. And they said, one of the problems with educators today, especially you older educators, is the fear of touching the button. And I’m alive with that does that mean, they’re all the fear of making a mistake when you push the button. And I still have that when it comes to technology, I’m afraid to mess up. And I think a lot of young artists, especially young photographers, they’re afraid to touch the button. But you have to, you have to do it over and over and over and over again, you know, the old saying that you got to do something 10,000 times to master it, or whatever, I forget exactly what that is. But you have to repeat things over and over and over again, if you expect to be any good. And you got to push the button. And even though I know this to be true, I’m always afraid to push the button when it comes to technology. I don’t know if you can see we’ve got this doc cam stand here. And they gave us brand new iPads and said, Okay, there’s an iPad, there’s your stand, start using it. And we got these big fancy 7080 inch monitors now that we’re blasting everything too. And you can go up and touch it. And it’s basically a computer on a screen. And it’s you know, the other day, I had pictures up on my thing, and you can go up and select the the the drawing tools that I can literally draw on the photographs. And I’m like, this is kind of fun. You know, so technology, like you were saying earlier, just, you know, blowing out the doors. But I think I will never forget that the technology is not the art. The technology is the tool. It’s like the pencil. It’s the tool. It’s what you do with that technology, what you do with that tool that matters. So in photography, it’s how you set up the shot. That is more important than what you’re shooting it with.

Quianna Marie
Yeah. Oh my goodness, I’m over here clapping because yes, that is that’s a

Mr. Rodriguez
learned some of this from me back in the day. Yep. To me, I think too much in education. Especially. There’s so seduced by the technology. And I’m sure you get these questions all the time. Oh, what camera should I use? What lens should I use? And I sure hope you’re saying one that works. That the brand doesn’t matter. You know, it’s it’s what you do with it that matters. And I get it every day, you know, administrators wanting to know, what are you using? I used to get in my animation class. Remember, I used to teach anime? Yes. Yes. People used to ask me all the time. Oh, What program do you use for animation? And I said, your own two hands paper and pencil. That’s what we use. Yeah, cuz that’s all you need to make animation happen in their life was moving good. Yeah. And I’m like, yeah, it’s because you don’t know anything about it. It’s all about learning the principles, the basic ideas to make it happen. You can you can make it come to life with any matter of technology, as long as you understand the basics. And this year in my art class, I really noticed that in most art classes, they don’t get enough composition, how to, you know, in photography, I taught so much how to set up the shot. But I realized that in in art, in drawing and painting, they don’t really teach a lot of how to set up you know, the drawing, how to set up the painting, how to set up how to arrange it, and all this kind of stuff. And in photography. To me, that was the most important thing ever. So I did a lot more composition, rule of thirds, you know, all a balance and on all of the positive and negative space. And all of these things, I did so much more of it at the beginning of the school year, with my art class, and I’m seeing it starting to pay off. In photo, it really pays off pretty quick, you can see who’s getting it. And if you keep hammering home those ideas all year long. And then, you know, by by the end of the first semester, they’re able to talk positive negative space and leading lines and all of these kinds of things. It becomes second nature. And I’m hoping to bring that into my drawing classes a lot more. You asked me a question earlier, and maybe this was in the prep questions, but about what is important, you know, in terms of beginner’s wisdom, that one of the questions to meet, the most important thing is how to take a shot. And it doesn’t matter the toy you do it with, we don’t in public school, have the funds for everybody to be carrying around a DSLR. Although very clever, people like my colleague here, are able to amass enough cameras buying a few every year, to where variable to check them out to the students, which is fabulous. But to me, it’s not about the technology. And so my last years at Leland, we were doing strictly cell phone photography. And I think it kept things simple. Because you have this tool is keep completely capable of doing it, you know, all basic forms of photography. And then it becomes more about what you’re doing with the camera, as opposed to the camera itself. So we just adapted all of our lessons to be, instead of learning, for example, Photoshop, it was learning how to use photo editing apps, that type of thing. And in fact, one of the lessons I had been doing in the last few years was writing reviews of the various editing apps, what it could do and what it couldn’t do. And then they had to apply the various effects and whatnot. And then they had to, they basically had to tutor the rest of the class, they had to give a presentation on how to achieve these certain effects using the photo app. Anyway, but you know, it’s not about the tool. It’s about the person wielding the tool, the artist. And if you teach them the basics, I think you can go so so far.

Quianna Marie
Yeah, well, and that’s the crazy part, just like we chatted about earlier is, technology is forever growing. So what is the root of photography, like I always talk about my business, being the heart behind the lens, is having that eye and being present and showing up and being able to create those images, no matter what you’re using. I think that is definitely an important lesson. And even just in life in general, right? It doesn’t even matter how expensive your car is, it doesn’t matter. You know what your rights like? Like? Does it do its job? And do you feel safe? And do you feel seen? I think that’s so important.

Mr. Rodriguez
If anybody asked me today, how should I get started in photography? They say, Well, do you have a camera in your pocket? Chances are you do. So use that and focus on, you know how to frame a shot, start with the rule of thirds and go from there. And I also recommend staying black and white for a while I don’t know if you remember that we started like most of the first semester was all black and white photography, because I think that it teaches you how to see the shapes and forms the lines, the positive, the negative those things, which are more important to setting up a good photo, color distracts you completely. You know, and you fall in love with the color and you makes it harder to see all those other things. And I believe those other things are way more important.

Quianna Marie
Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love that so much. I remember the black and white stuff. I remember even making a pinhole camera in your

Mr. Rodriguez
Oh yeah, that was so much fun. We did that every year I was at at Leland. And when we lost the dark rooms we did it like in a closet. I mean we’ve been in the animation recording room my last few years there and I would go out and I would find the photo chemicals to buy and I think even the last year I had to order them on Amazon and pay for them myself and set up a little dark room with some trays in the backroom type of thing but it was all about showing the students how simple photography really is. You know you just need the basic dark box aperture holes to let the light in natural light light sensitive material to record the image on and it’s all you need to make photography happen is just a simple lightbox. I think that was the whole point to the exercise was to show you how easy how basic and how fun It was, I’m glad you remember that.

Quianna Marie
I do. In fact, I think I even have the actual pictures of it because the the white box that we created was like a 360 camera, remember? So we like oh, yeah,

Mr. Rodriguez
it created the ice cream tub. Was that your camera? Yes. You built that one? Yes. Okay, I kept that all the way until when I left leaving. And then when I had to leave, I had to throw all those things away. And I was superduper sad to lose that I lost the Do you remember some kid made a Mr. Potato Head camera? He took a Mr. Potato Head and made it into a camera.

Quianna Marie
Oh my gosh, no, that sounds I want to say that was a boy from your class.

Mr. Rodriguez
The real tall kid was the same Justin.

Quianna Marie
Justin Justin. I shot his well. Yeah, it was just a

Mr. Rodriguez
very I think that made that. Use you that made the 360 camera. Yeah, I showed students that your results because I saved something you guys had made? Yeah. And I showed them that every year. Look at these kids did Oh, cool. Oh, it was so much fun when I challenged you guys to make a unique pinhole camera. Oh, that was fun.

Quianna Marie
So well. And it’s cool to see, just like you said, like the inner workings of this and how simple it really is. And that’s another thing. So like, let’s, you know, move into another question here, I’m really excited for all these little conversations. Um, but as like, as things have evolved, in all of our technology, as photographers, we and as journalists, and as reporters, we actually have a lot more power than we think when it comes to simply photographing something. So like, so for example, back in the day, when it was just a point and shoot, this is what it was right? It was like natural. And it just, it was so real. Now things can be tampered with. And things can be created to maybe make things look different than they are like, for example, you could turn a crowd of people, maybe there’s only four people there. But with the correct angle or with the correct, you know, style or something, you can actually manipulate photos. So where do you think like, where do you draw that line as a photographer that you have to be transparent and be real and be a genuine human, that you’re documenting things? The way they are? Instead of pushing an agenda or changing things? Like, where did that conversation go?

Mr. Rodriguez
Well, you can tell students to be as you know, keep things as real as possible. But you know, what, once people go out into the real world, they tend to do things that they think are right, we used to build a whole lesson around. In fact, we did a whole week on ethics in photography, and this is one of the things we discussed. Are you truly portraying the subject as it is? Or are you trying to push a certain point of view? And we researched the various and I think that’s the press Photographers Association, they actually have a code of ethics. And so we had students look that up. And we would discuss the code of ethics and what the difference is between a creative photographer and a news photographer, because there’s kind of a different standard, right? There’s different objectives, therefore, there’s different while there’s different rules to follow. And it all depends on what your objective is, are you a creative artist? And you’re just using the photography medium to, you know, express yourself? Or are you a news photographer that’s trying to show realism, and tell the truth, we used to say that the camera equal reality, and use the equal reality. And that’s why people would always say, well look at the proof, it’s proof is in the picture. But nowadays, you know, you have to teach students how to be critical thinkers, and think for themselves, and I just go well, I see it in the photo, therefore it’s real. Now you have to be, you know, somewhat skeptical and ask questions. And if something doesn’t make sense, you need to look into it. Unfortunately, you know, that doesn’t happen as much as it probably should, in our world these days. So we need kids growing up becoming critical thinkers, and not just robots willing to listen to, you know, the loudest voice in their ear at the time. So that’s the harder thing. But that is the challenge of many teachers to teach people, students how to think critically think for themselves make up their own mind. I love you know, photography is no different, right? Anyway. Yeah, no, it’s it’s an ongoing challenge. It is an ongoing challenge.

Quianna Marie
So can you tell me what do you love most about your job?

Mr. Rodriguez
What do I love most? Every day is different. I have my lesson books and I’ve got, you know, last year’s lessons and I write up this year’s lessons and every year it’s different. I look at what we did last year, and I look at what we’re doing. This year and the kids that we have this year and you’re always forced to kind of alter, it will, if you’re any good, you’re always looking to be better. How can I do this better? But like I said, the other day, I got to wear my pajamas to school. You know, some some days we have a rally. And they asked teachers, we need some teachers to participate in the rally. So I said, Well, heck, yeah, I’ll do that dance out on the football field in front of the entire school. Heck, yeah, that is fun for me. I you know, being a teacher every day is different. And I think that’s the fun and the exciting thing about it. And you’ve got all these personalities that you get to you get to touch their lives in a you know, different way every day, trying to teach them some you know, you’re successful with some you fail miserably with some and some you will never know until the day they walk back in. And I’m telling you that is I’m gonna get emotional because there you are. The day they walk back in is the greatest day ever.

Quianna Marie
Oh my gosh. You’re so sweet.

Mr. Rodriguez
That’s it. You know, I gotta tell you a quick story about that. There was a kid in my class and it was right around your time it probably after. But he and his friends were the biggest goof offs. All they did was goof around all day. And you know, I had to sit down and basically force them to do work. Well, any day, this kid, you know, left, left the school and several years after that, he came walking into my room in a full marine dress uniform. And he said, I wanted to thank you for being such a great teacher, blah, blah. I’ve grown up a few years join the military. And I’m going to be going to war, the war in Iraq. And I just wanted to thank you. Oh my gosh, anyway, so I said, Okay, well, hey, I’m so proud of you. Good luck, you’re gonna do great. Well, that was the end of it. About a year or two later, must have been two years later, he walks back into my room after lunch period time. And I was like, Hey, you’re back how he goes, Yeah, I’ve been back for a little while. He said, I wanted to show you something. And he gave me a CD. And he said, Can you take a look at this. And it was a slideshow, of all the photos that he and the members of his platoon or whatever had taken in Iraq and he was in Volusia. And so some of it was them goofing around on the bass. And some were short little videos of them, you know, doing backflips off sand dunes. But others it was them out on patrol, like shooting and bodies and blood and guts and destruction. It was mind blown. And then he goes, Oh, I really want you to see this photo. And it was him writing on a tank going down the street. There was a wall. It was like all blown up, destruction everywhere. But he said, Look, Mr. Rodriguez, I got the sun. I got the road, leading lines leading right to the sun. It’s Magic Hour, and the light is perfect. And he said is that great? And I said, Oh my gosh, you Kevin, you learn something. Yeah. And he was so proud of that photo. He said I wanted to come in and show you that photo. And all I’m thinking was the photos of death and destruction. And he wanted to show me his sunset photo.

Quianna Marie
Wow. That’s amazing.

Mr. Rodriguez
I asked him, What are you doing right now? He said, Oh, I don’t know. And I said, Can you please stick around? This is my prep period. But my six period classes coming in. I want you to show them just what you showed me. And so he did. And I said this is Kevin. I introduced him. He was in this class several years ago. But this is what he’s done since. And he showed the pictures and I swear to God, it was the quietest that class had been all year, you could hear a pin drop. And it was dead silence in that room. And they just gave him so much respect it. I was mind blown. This kid was the biggest screw off in the world. But he came back and he taught me and those kids something that day. And there was I mean, it was one of my

Quianna Marie
great days. Yes, that’s so emotional.

Mr. Rodriguez
I got to learn. You know, I got to learn. And that’s, you know, that’s great. Especially in someone like Kevin or like you come back and get back

Quianna Marie
Yeah, well you’re making

Mr. Rodriguez
or your listeners you can’t see me but I’m losing my emotional wreck right now. You know, these these people, you know, as young people grow up and have such a positive effect on the world, and they learn something from you. It validates everything you do as a teacher every day that you know that you are doing something, right. That’s how it works. It’s worth all the big bucks you get paid.

Quianna Marie
Right? I know, I wish we can make things different. I really wish we do.

Mr. Rodriguez
20 years in, I finally got a decent salary. No,

Quianna Marie
yes. deserve it. Oh, my goodness. Sorry,

Mr. Rodriguez
I knew this would get emotional at some point.

Quianna Marie
You know, me, I’m always dancing or crying like happy hours. Well, you

Mr. Rodriguez
know what? That’s life. Right? Not on the edge. Yeah, where are you?

Quianna Marie
I learned as well. And it’s funny too, because you know, just to kind of wrap up here like with, with photography, and with my camera, it has always been a tool to make genuine connections. And I feel like that’s something you taught us in class, too, is, you know, you talk talking to people being vulnerable, putting yourself out there and using that camera as a tool to make new friends and to make new connections. And to really make this better like this place this world a brighter, better place.

Mr. Rodriguez
Why sure glad that you are doing such things like this. I mean, I’ve never been prouder. But I think you’re right, you can use it as a tool to connect with others. I think unfortunately, in today’s day and age, there’s so bombarded. Literally, this is what I saw today during my finals. Yep, that’s what I saw. I looked out at the crowd, anybody need me help, how’s everybody doing? And this is what I saw. And for those of you in the audience, I have my cell phone right in front of my face. I that’s all I saw all day long. Kids being bombarded by imagery. And so as I think as image creators, we have to come up with ways to keep it human, you know, and to tap in to those good things in life that we want people to learn, to learn, to love, to respect to trust, to give, you know, those types of things we as artists can do so much to communicate what’s important about life, to our audiences, and I am glad that you are a big part of that. I love it. I’ve never been more proud. I’m telling you. I am beaming right now. Thank you. I’m glowing as red as my Christmas shirt right now.

Quianna Marie
I know. Well, thank you, thank you so much for this conversation. I feel like this was like what I mentioned before, like when I created this podcast, it was so important to me to really introduce I want to say influencers. And when I say influencers, I don’t mean just Instagram influencers that have tons of followers and are taking photos across the world. I’m talking about the genuine souls that helped shape me into who I am today. And that absolutely includes you and my whole entire high school experience as I had my camera in my hands. And I just I just want to thank you for being a part of this big lunch.

Mr. Rodriguez
Oh my gosh, I am so honored to have been a part of this is so much fun. This is amazing.

Quianna Marie
Thank you so much.

Mr. Rodriguez
Thank you.

Quianna Marie
That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at quiannamarie.com/podcast. I’d be honored and so grateful if you showed your support by leaving a review and writing on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on dancing