In David Mejias’ lens, larger-than-life scenes are turned into tiny moments, extraordinary subjects are reduced to their most ordinary core – and somehow magnified in process. His Colorado is vast and intimate at the same time.
Just one year into his career as a professional photographer, Mejias, 30, is gaining national recognition. One of his images helped 5280 Magazine win a nod from Communication Arts, a prestigious journal for commercial artists. Another photo won special recognition in a competition judged by Marc Pachter, director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
Before his career as a photographer, Mejias was CEO of Sonora Entertainment Group, a chain of Spanish-language movie theaters, a job he started at 26. Since picking up the camera for clients, his subjects have been a diverse group; among them Tiffany Engle, a victim of serial rapist Brent Brents, and Don Becker, a Denver comic who was disfigured after throwing himself in front of a train.
To accompany this gallery of photos, his friend Andy Bosselman pinned him down on a few issues. The driving force: Mejias sees himself as an outsider and that status drives him to achieve his vision. It also helps him to make unique photographs from details that most of us rarely pay attention to.
Q: So, David, who are you, anyway?
A: I’m an aspiring photographer.
Q: You’re aspiring?
A: I am an emerging photographer. Every time I get recognition, to me, is kind of funny because I don’t think I’ve gotten anywhere near where I think I can.
Q: As a photographer, what are you known for?
A: I would say connecting on some sort of emotional or sensitive level with the subject – whether it’s the environment, a product, or people.
Q: Give me an example.
A: For the Tiffany Engle images, we met at a coffee shop and spent a day just talking – without my camera. She talked about her story, I told her some of mine. When I went to her place to shoot, we continued the conversation but I slowly started to bring out my camera. Good photographs reflect the photographer’s connection with the subject.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I look for those quiet, introspective moments before and after the chaos.
In my baseball picture, the lone player there, he doesn’t really reflect the environment of a stadium, especially where I was shooting. It was loud, there was music, announcers. For me there was something interesting imagining what that outfielder’s experience was – he was out there, not really interacting with people.
I was looking at my portfolio the other day, I noticed that I don’t have a single picture of a person smiling. I think it’s sort of my reaction to a lot of photography out there. How photography romanticizes situations. We associate photography with happy situations – weddings, travel, things we think are worth remembering.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: When I first moved to Colorado, I resisted nature and outdoor photography. But I’ve become more open to the aesthetics of nature and the outdoors over the last year.
I’m also interested in how masculinity is represented in the West. I’ve been shooting a lot of gay rock climbers who are very rugged, dirty. Other friends of mine talk about how they romanticize the blue-collar lifestyle. One worked as a mechanic, a farm hand. Another has done ranching.
The movie “Brokeback Mountain” is something that visually tied a lot of what’s been happening together. There are a lot homoerotic elements that are part of the lifestyle of the West. I want to figure out how to visually represent that. Out here, the gay boarders, mountain bikers, climbers need to be photographed. It’s something that challenges the convention of what it means to be gay.
Q: You have a background as a CEO, you went to Princeton. Now you’re spending time with boarders and climbers. Intellectually you could find a lot of stimulation in New York or L.A. But it seems like this idea of Western masculinity is anchoring you to Colorado and defining the focus of your work.
A: That’s right. I think it’s also related to where I was raised. My dad came home from work every day with oil and grease all over his clothes. I think, probably because I was gay, I had to reject that. Now, I’ve moved past that, almost full circle, feeling the need to reconnect with a lifestyle that’s sort of grittier, dirtier. That, to me, for whatever reason, feels more authentic or valuable than a lot of what I experienced with the corporate world or going to an Ivy League school.
Q: How does being Latino affect your work as a photographer?
A: It’s really about being “other.” I’m Latino and the child of immigrant parents who are very religious. I grew up in a poor, inner-city community. I also recognized at an early age that I was gay. I felt that I had to overcompensate for that to win the approval of my parents.
I worked really hard at school. And then I went to Princeton where I socialized with more educated, wealthy, white people. That experience has allowed me to see what’s marginal in a scene or space. Quiet, interstitial moments are interesting to me because I’m looking for what is uncomfortable or outside the mainstream, not obvious.
Q: As a photographer, what do you know about Colorado that others don’t?
A: The mountains have a very overwhelming aesthetic calling us outside the city. I think there are some beautiful things, buildings, streets, alleys, construction sites, that we often discount.
Q: You do a lot of digital editing of your photography. How does your image of Tiffany Engle look different from what came out of the camera?
A: a sad, tragic, and traumatic event. The attack happened in the dead of winter in Colorado. I was thinking about that cold day when she reemerged into the street after her attack. I muted the colors a bit. It has a bluish tint. I wanted to create some intensity – the darkness in her past is represented with actual darkness in the background of the image. Her optimism after all of this is shown with the light that is hitting her face, a dramatic contrast from the background.
Q: Can you share some advice for people who want to take good photos?
A: Look at good photography. Look at photo books. Look at light. Don’t always center your subject.
Q: Advice for people in front of the camera?
A: Pretend the camera’s not there. Try to connect with the photographer, the viewer. Say, “Don’t look into the camera, look into my eyes.” It changes how people react. As opposed to staring at the barrel of this cold black piece of metal, plastic and glass, they’re looking at another human being and that makes a big difference.
