A Tale of Two Lives: My Friend Oscar’s Journey

I have a friend I’ve known for years – Oscar Sagastume. He’s a kind-hearted, talented, and incredibly funny man. We go way back to our college days at Pasadena City College, where we met through our theatre group. Ironically, most of our early interactions happened at 2 AM parties, drunkenly playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who was sober enough to drive the other home. These were the days before Uber or Lyft, when calling a cab in Los Angeles was practically unheard of.

As the years passed, we both grew up and embraced “adulting.” Oscar got married and now has four wonderful kids. Meanwhile, I found myself exploring what it means to be a “seasoned” adult and artist, living the double life that many of us must maintain to pursue our passions. We’re still driven and moving forward in our careers, but now with the added responsibilities of mortgages, bills, and families to support.

Recently, I had the opportunity to capture Oscar at two contrasting points in his life – his day job and his night job. This isn’t a critique of his life choices; rather, it’s a celebration of his passion and why he does what he loves. Let me tell you, he is really funny.

I want to thank Oscar Sagastume for allowing me to photograph him in his most protective cocoon of “torture” (his day job) so that we can all appreciate the butterfly he becomes on stage. You can find Oscar hosting “Tales from Tinsel Town,” a series of long-form stand-up sets. For the next show listing, check out Tinsel Town’s Facebook page.

The strategy behind my photographic essay was to convey the real life of an artist. I wanted to show the journey of an older artist still pursuing their passion, facing the challenge of living a double life. I chose black and white images to emphasize the contrast between these two worlds. Initially, I had planned to include Oscar’s family to create a three-part balance of work, home, and passion. However, scheduling difficulties and a desire to protect his children’s privacy led me to focus solely on his professional spheres.

Technically, I faced challenges capturing images in low light. I experimented with adjusting my aperture and f-stop to maximize light intake, but the results could have been more apparent than I'd hoped. I intended to keep the images as crisp as possible, so I stuck with ISO 100, eventually adjusting to 200-300 and fixing it in post-production. Interestingly, the higher ISO added a significant aesthetic quality to the black-and-white images.

In hindsight, I could have been bolder with higher ISO settings, embracing the noise rather than fearing it. The microphone image, which I initially excluded from my mid-term submissions, contributes beautifully to the overall theme, regardless of visual noise. A tripod would have helped, but space was limited in the venue.

One moment I regret missing: as I arrived at the club, I saw Oscar leaning against the wall outside, watching cars pass by on Vine Street. That fleeting moment of anticipation and contemplation before his show would have been perfect to capture, but it was lost when I parked.

Design Elements and Storytelling

My design choices aimed to chronicle Oscar's double life. I used angles and diagonal lines of sight to communicate each subject's perspective. I also included still-life images of his surroundings to reveal aspects of his life not commonly seen.

We all know what a typical office looks like, but the items Oscar chooses to surround himself with - like the Batman figure on his desk - reveal his personality and how he views and deals with the world. It's a reminder of the childlike nature he needs to maintain while being an "adult."

I used a wide-angle lens for some images to create a sense of distortion, implying that his day job isn't his "real" life - it's the part where he's "faking it." The subject truly comes alive on stage; that's his real life.

Post-Production and Lessons Learned

In post-production, I tried to minimize editing, having been taught to get as much right in the camera as possible. However, I did convert the images to black and white, adjust exposure and contrast, and fine-tune whites, blacks, and clarity on some images. One image of the microphone required cropping to remove another comic and preserve the still-life aspect that contributed to the overall narrative.

The magic of this project emerged when I realized that by simply reorganizing the order of the images, I could shift the focus from the difficulties of being a working artist to a more positive narrative. This experience has deepened my understanding of photographic essays and their potential for storytelling.

Reviewing these images, I'm struck by how much I relate to Oscar's story. Like him, I'm forced to balance what I must do for a living with what makes me feel alive. It reminds me of a time when I worked a monotonous office job. When they asked me to photograph the staff for their website, the head of HR remarked on how excited I seemed - like a different person entirely.

I replied, "No, this is the real me. Nice to finally meet you."