1,000 Words: Alex G. Perez

Name: Alex G. Perez

Hometown: Orlando, Florida

Occupation: Mechanical Engineer & Photographer

Wait—engineer?

I didn’t get into photography seriously until college, when I was at University of Central Florida studying engineering. Growing up, I was big into skateboarding, and my friends and I would make videos of ourselves. I learned filming and video editing from that. Then, in school, I put the skateboarding and video stuff aside. But I missed that creativity, so my junior year, I got my first DSLR and started doing some photo work.

On assignment at events in 2016, including:

EDC Las Vegas, Ultra, Mamby on the Beach, Euphoria, and New York’s newest festival, Panorama.

Reminiscing on:

EDC Las Vegas. There’s always so much going on—the production there is unreal. Ever since my first EDC Vegas three years ago, I’m always looking forward to it. Ultra is another one I was really impressed by this year. The crowd, the energy, and its location in the heart of downtown Miami with the skyline in the background—it’s all very unique. I also loved Euphoria in Austin. I got to shoot Lil Dicky performing, and he’s so much fun to watch. Not only is he rapping his songs, he’s joking and making fun of himself onstage and really interacting with the crowd.

Looking forward to:

New York’s new Coachella-esque festival, Panorama, coming in mid-July. I’m really excited about the lineup; it’s pretty diverse, with big EDM names and big pop stars.

First experience with electronic music:

I kind of didn’t even know that’s what the genre was. Skateboarding with my crew, we’d listen to RJD2 or other underground artists. That stuff is really good to skate to and chill with. The first mainstream EDM I ever experienced was also the first time I photographed it.

Which happened because:

I became a photographer for the UCF paper, so I was shooting all kinds of local events at school—things like pep rallies and basketball games. Then, I got the opportunity to shoot a concert at the arena they have there. It was when Avicii was on tour back in 2012. I didn’t even know who he was, but I got hooked on that event. It was so different from shooting sports, or the journalistic photography I’d done before.

Now:

A lot of it is muscle memory. When I arrive at an event, I do a walk-through or a site tour to get the layout of how I think the event is going to go on. I try to plan out where I’ll be and where I think the majority of the crowd is going to be. I generally have an idea of what I want to shoot ahead of time.

Favorite shot:

There’s one that might be my favorite shot—it’s definitely my most unique. For the past couple of years, my colleague and I have been doing these “tiny planet” photos at Ultra—the result is a sphere, with the crowd on the inside 360-degrees around and the stage surrounding them. For this year’s, I took the tiny planet concept and inverted it, so the stage and the Miami skyline were in the center, with the crowd surrounding them. I did it on a whim, really, but once I saw the result, I knew that’s how I wanted the photo to look.

Craziest memory from on the job:

I brought my sister with me to Tomorrowland over in Belgium, and we were standing in the photo pit that’s in the middle of the crowd. It was Saturday night, and Armin van Buuren was headlining the mainstage. The first thing he said when he came onstage was, “I just had a baby boy, and I dedicate this set to him!” Then, practically immediately as he said that, a huge storm started. Soon we were in knee-high water, and behind the stage there was lightning up in the sky. It was an unreal moment—and I got to share the whole thing with my sister.

Best festival Instagram tip:

Keep it simple. And remember, other people are already documenting it for you, so don’t watch the show through your phone screen; immerse yourself in the moment instead.