Construction worker, Mechanic, Electrician, Low Volt Technician, Carpenter, and yes if you haven’t guessed it, Photographer and Videographer. Most importantly husband and father to 2 beautiful angels!
Born in El Salvador, Migrated to California U.S.A when I was 5 with parents. Spent a few years in the city of Angels. When not in school I spent time alternating between my mother and father as they traded work shifts through out the day. On weekends my father would wake me up early in the morning, sometimes as early as 5 a.m to miss L.A traffic to go detail vehicles. We did and still do anything to get the bills paid! Years of barely getting by and help by family members my family decided to take a trip to Oklahoma to visit my grandma. After many dinners and conversations my father realized that there are way more opportunities here in Oklahoma. My parents sat me down and asked me what I thought about living here. I looked outside the window and saw about 6 inches of snow piled up. Most definitely something I didn’t see in L.A. With a smile and a shine in my eye I loudly said “I wanna live here!” Till this day I don’t regret our decision!
2001 Now living in Oklahoma! Well I guess we can say I grew up in Ok! Went to school here and graduated High School and Votech school as an IT. Yeah that didn’t last long haha. I quickly realized that I can’t sit at a desk for that long.
Quickly started looking around what seems like the world for my true passion. I worked construction my whole life with my father and other family members. In High School Much like any other kid I needed money for extra events and hangouts with friends. Hobbies became more expensive starting with interest with cars. I couldn’t drop out of school to start working full time. I did what any young kid would do. Apply at restaurants for part time work.
My junior year of high school I played in a Rock band and started working at our local Chick Fil A. Yes I used to play in a alternative metal band to be exact. I played bass guitar the coolest instrument on the planet haha! Juggling work, band, school, and lady friend lol I had a blast my high school years. made tons of friends and some still till this day I call them my best friends. You can say my days were busy and I mean super busy. Even weekends were like weekdays. School work, Work, then band. Still can’t complain working at Chick Fil A was a blessing in more ways than one.
If it wasn’t for Chick Fil A I would have more than likely never met my Wife! The first time I saw her I immediately had to say something. What was that something? Well I didn’t know her name, luckily we had to wear name tags. I saw hers and it read “Rosanna.” I started singing to her! Wanna know what I sang to her?… I bet you younglings can’t guess it! Answer: Rosanna by Toto. Yeah she blushed and smiled. Fast forward a couple of years. As we dated for a year or so we both were wanting to move out and start doing things on our own. I told her my father had a rent house needing tenants. It was simple we move in together. Both young of age and eager to “grow up” lol we decided to start a life together. Almost quickly we got a dog, then another, then another, then another! Yes 4 dogs it was a trip. We didn’t have kids so they were our kids. Then well I got a early Christmas present my wife insisted of me to open it! Well I had to Oblige!
I was never really in a rush to open presents early as I didn’t really ever got to traditionally. Example wake up early in the morning to open presents. Anyways. I open a brown box, as I open it, the first thing I notice is newborn baby socks. I am so confused as I pull out onesies and pacifiers. I looked at my fiancé and asked what’s all this about? “really? you can’t guess?” I’m still confused at this moment. Took me about a couple of minutes, but then I quickly jumped in the air and kissed fiancé. After taking it all in I ran outside to my 4 dogs and started hugging and kissing them as I told them like if they were humans. 9 successful months later my world turned into something I never imagined, but always wanted.
My Princess was born!!!! Quickly took my heart and wrapped me around her finger. Nothing matters anymore except my princess. We took countless photos with our phones of her. capturing and recording every little new accomplishment her tiny body did. The images I kept seeing I was not a fan of. As I thought to myself my kid and wife deserve nothing but the best. I looked into professional photographers and I quickly said I am not spending all that money for every time I want remarkable photos of my princess. Fast forward a tad more. My wife and I’s 1 year anniversary was coming up. I had the great idea of buying her a “Nice camera.” Went to my local Sam’s Club and saw a Nikon D3400 camera kit. I didn’t know what any of that meant. Anyways I bought it for my wife. We took pictures and was not impressed. I spent so much money on a camera and wasn’t getting the results all that money spent should be giving me. Well I turned to YouTube and quickly realized it’s not as easy as pushing a button.
Yup I ended up watching YouTube videos and bought books and read through them. I started investing in photography not knowing that I was learning a skill a lot of people sought after. Still wasn’t getting the results but getting so close! All the images I used as referenced I kept asking myself “How? How are they doing this?” Looking into the photographers work I discovered images that were catching my attention took this other skill called editing! Yup I quickly went to YouTube again and started learning about Photoshop and Lightroom. I went online and bought more books about digital editing. Hours and hours invested finally I was getting somewhere. I started photographing my kid even more eager to take them to the lab (Computer). I practiced and took photos so much and was enjoying it more and more. I started showing off my photos on my phone to friends and family. Family members started asking me if I could take some photos of them, their kids, and at events seeing that I was the only one that had a “Nice camera” One day one of my wife’s family members asked me how much I would charge to take some photos of her kid. I said just feed me. That was the first payment I ever got with my camera. Then another person asked and I thought to myself and just said $200
Now that I look back at the images I charged for, man I can tell you I must have silver tongued them because wow they were not great lol. I looked at the money that I just collected and said well that was fun and easy. Yupp Now it started the clientele. One customer after another. A few more years of taking photos and improving my art I started thinking about doing it full time. It was going well and some of my injuries from working construction were started to get bigger. Once I did BAM we get hit with a pandemic. My clientele went spiraling down quickly. Forcing me to stay in the construction world. Which I am very thankful for. Fast forward some more years. My wife and I were starting to think about maybe adding another family member. We thought about it more and we were blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby boy!
Things are starting to get real now. What we experienced with our daughter and daycare we thought to ourselves one of us has to stay home with the kids. My wife and I talked for hours about the plan coming up. We came to realization that it was time to make my dreams come true! I went full time Photographer! She’s my better half no doubt!! I owe her more than she will ever know. Now a father of 2 and full time self-employed working on my dreams!! If I haven’t lost you yet and stuck around for this novel lol feel free to ask me anything! Email me or message me on one of my social media platforms. Facebook , Instagram, @LuisPenatePhotography can’t wait to meet you and/or get know you more!