Greg Goyo Vargas is a photographer in Los Angeles, California. He shoots under the pseudonym GoyoCorvair Photography, a blending of his nickname and his love for the classic 1960s car the Chevrolet Corvair. His work on documenting Los Angeles is a stylistic convergence of the street,
documentary, and fine art genres of photography.
A personal and artistic appreciation of the city began and flourished during his high school years while riding three buses crossing town to get to school. Looking out at the moving landscape of the city, he saw and experienced it like a visiting traveler in his own town. The act of photographing the city and the people of Los Angeles is simultaneously an emotional outlet and creative expression for him. What many people overlook throughout the day, he sees and documents. Vargas believes while shooting in this fashion he experiences a multitude of
accidental pleasures, often times never knowing who or what he may see and discover, or more interestingly what might be revealed to him by chance.
Over time, he developed a deep and personal appreciation for the 1950s and 1960s monochrome photography rooted in historical and social documentation. Those images somehow spoke to him in a significant way previous to his interest in photography. His intention became to participate in that tradition of photographic expression and to become a contributing member of that lineage, even in some small way. Goyo says his subject matter may not be what one most immediately and notably thinks about during those named decades, but he feels and believes his style and internal motivation are forever present in an artistic emulation, honoring, and appreciation of those photographers he admires and who have influenced his work and photographic perception.
He shoots digital and converts most, but not all, of the images to black and white in an attempt to digitally process the images in a complimentary way that analog photographers manipulate in the lab and darkroom and print their film. At least that is what he hopes is the result. When he shoots, he first sees the image in black and white in his mind. And when working in post, he carefully manipulates the image until the initial vision seen in his mind’s eye is rendered on screen. He believes converting to black–and-white deconstructs the visual scene and directs the focus of the image on composition, shape, light, texture and form without any distracting elements the complexity of color can impose on the image. The result is an image that eliminates time from the visual equation and furthers the connection and continuity between the
past and the present hopefully confirming that artistic continuum mentioned above.
Instagram: @goyocorvairphotography
Website: www.goyocorvair.photography
