A Student’s Point of View: I Interviewed Alum Steve Giralt
I’m excited to introduce you to my last – but certainly not least – alumni interview. For this post I interviewed Steve Giralt! Steve joined the RIT Photo School as an advertising photography major and graduated May 2002.
Steve is a 1st generation Cuban American originally from Miami, FL. After graduating high school he got a job as a yearbook photographer. Would go to schools and take underclassmen photos, shoot sporting events, and club activities. “I quickly fell in love with photography, loved making imagery, and exploring both the scientific/technical part of image-making and the creative. I also found that I had a knack for business and loved the challenge of making great content for magazines and brands.”
Currently, Steve expressed that, “ Today I am much more of a director / cinematographer than a photographer. I did spend over a decade shooting only still images after completing my time at RIT. Now, I have moved my business to work as a “visual engineer” combining science and technology with cinematography to make amazing visual stories.” Beyond producing this great work, Steve is a director and CEO of The Garage Companies – The Garage, – The Garage Learning, and – The Garage Rentals.
I asked Steve what he does at the Studio. At The Garage, “We shoot crazy stuff. We use robotics and custom-engineered devices that allow us to shoot content that pushes the limits of what is possible to do in-camera. We make bold and visually interesting work mostly around food and beverages. We hope the audience gets hungry or thirsty after they see our work on TV or online.” Recently he did some awesome collaborative work for 7-Eleven and Starbucks and the Team really enjoyed that. Steve feels some of the most pivotal work occured in his switch from photography to video and remains some of his favorites!
During COVID-19, he expressed, “Lucky for us, people were always eating and drinking food and beverages so our business is doing ok.” Advice for how to handle COVID as a photographer, Steve shared is, “You have to be incredibly driven to be successful in this industry. I am incredibly passionate about the work I create and the success of everything we’re undertaking at The Garage. There will always be ups and downs in business, but every down usually leads to an up.”
The last advice he shared was, “Be thankful for every single job you ever get just as if it was the first job you ever got. Keep in touch with every person you meet along the way that likes your work and nature. I don’t regret my path, but I would tell myself in the beginning to concentrate a little bit less on the technical and to focus more on the creative side. Do everything you can to break from the status quo. The way to stand out is to make sure your work stands out from the crowd.”
My “burger deconstructed” video that went viral was a self-funded project that showed the world what I meant by visual engineering. https://vimeo.com/178939743
This Hershey’s S’mores work I did was also really pivotal in my success. https://vimeo.com/261658200
Check out Steve’s Website, Instagram, and Youtube Channel for more!
Closing thoughts
I am thankful for the time Steve Giralt gave me and the awesome advice he shared in this interview! I hope you enjoyed reading about Steve and took something from this blog post! I am happy and sad to say this is the last of this series and it is so bittersweet! I hope you stay tuned and I look forward to sharing my last blog post and I will be collaborating with Michael Peres.
by Emily SuDock
About Emily Emily is a third-year advertising photography student who is also cross-registered in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. She has been hard of hearing most of her life. Emily was born in China adopted by her loving family. They are a big part of her life. Emily has a Nikon 600 with a 35 mm lens which she loves taking portraits with.
