Chicago photographer Gonzalo Guzman's pictures are worth far more than 1,000 words
Chicago photographer Gonzalo Guzman loves to capture all facets of life in photos, and says the real secret to his success is empathy.
Simply walking down the street, Guzman has no trouble finding stories.
"The thing I like about photography is the opportunity for people to share the stories of other people," he said. "My superpower is empathy. I think that comes through in all the photos I take."
And he loves to combine the photos with words as well.
"A lot of stories I do, I'm reporting, I'm interviewing, and also doing photos. To me, it's like to capture the whole picture," he said.
Gonzalo's work has been featured in some popular publications like Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Reader. His photography lets him explore areas he's curious about.
These days he's especially curious about food.
"Visually, I think it's really beautiful," Guzman said. "That, to me, is what's most exciting, is the intersection of food and identity."
And he thrives in that intersection.
"I very proudly identify as a queer Latinx photographer and writer," he said. "It is the perspective I'm approaching all my stories from."
One of his favorite stories is a night at La Cueva, one of the oldest Latino drag nightclubs.
"Being queer and being Latino are not always identities people are able to own both of those," he said. "I try to be very careful when I'm also working with those communities, so I present them with dignity and a lot of love, care."
Guzman developed his love of photography by chance in high school.
"I was visiting Chicago, visiting family for the summer, and I took a darkroom photography class at Columbia College," he recalled. "It was really the encouragement of my parents; they said, 'You seem really happy.'"
One of his first subjects as a professional photographer was his beloved grandfather, who was featured in a story in the Chicago Reader.
"In this series I've don on hm, people can see how much I care about him. I want the people I'm photographing to feel that way, too," Guzman said.
Diego Astorga, owner of Well Rounded Vintage in Pilsen, is a friend of Guzman's, and that bond has blossomed into a business partnership. With Guzman's help with the store's social media presence, it has grown from a pop-up store in a bus to a brick-and-mortar shopping destination.
"Gonzalo gave me a platform, an opportunity to talk about the brand," Astorga said. "He always motivated me to work on it more and more."
And it's clear it's not just about what inspires Guzman, but how he makes others feel through his work.
"The most exciting thing for any piece is for that person to see it. Their opinion is the most important," he said. "It's their story, they're giving it to me, so I want to make sure I'm doing justice by them."
In a way, Guzman has come full circle. He now works at Columbia College, where he took that first photography class years ago.
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