Angel City has partnered with Las Fotos Project (LFP) on the Artists in Residence Program since 2022. LFP is a Boyle Heights-based nonprofit that leads photography programming for teenage girls and nonbinary youth of color. The Artists in Residence Program supports the development of a female and gender-expansive workforce in the photography industry, which is traditionally male-dominated. LFP has collaborated with Angel City on the Artists in Residence program since 2022.
This year, Angel City midfielder Rocky Rodríguez is the club’s nominee for the Lauren Holiday Impact Award, which honors a player—alongside a community partner of their choice—for “outstanding service and character off the pitch.” LFP is Rodríguez’s community partner. The winner receives $30,000 for their chosen organization; there is also a fan vote, the winner of which wins $5000 for their organization.
Cast your fan vote for Rocky here—you can vote once a day during the month of October.
Read on for an interview with Eztli de Jesus, one of the artists who participated in the 2024 program.
Angel City: How did you get involved with Las Fotos Project?
Eztli de Jesus: My freshman year of high school, my mom asked me if I wanted to sign up. I was like, “no, I don’t really think photography is my thing.” She was like, “I'm going to sign you up anyway to keep you doing something during COVID.” So yeah, I joined and I fell in love with it. I really enjoy the photojournalism aspect, especially documenting real-life events.
I joined their CEO [Creative Entrepreneurship Opportunities] program, which students are able to join after they've completed a few semesters at Las Fotos. Helen [Alonzo Hurtado, LFP’s social enterprise director] encouraged me to do that. I'm kind of a shy person, so I wasn't sure about going out into these professional spaces with really no experience at all, but I took her word for it because I trust them and I thought it would be cool. From there they just supported me with getting all these events to photograph and starting to make a name for myself in the photography industry.
Being so young in the professional photo world, and being a woman, can feel very intimidating, so having mentors there to guide us is really amazing. I learned that I can make room for myself in these spaces.
ACFC: What was it that sparked your interest in photography?
EJ: I really loved how it brought me closer to people. I did an interview once with my grandma—I took some portraits of her, and then I recorded an interview asking her about immigrating to the United States and all these different stories that I had never heard before. I probably would have never thought to ask about those things if it wasn't for this photo project about documenting family archives. So one thing I really enjoyed is connecting with the people I photograph. I also love the photographs themselves and being able to create things that I can look back on.
ACFC: Why did you sign up for the Artists in Residence program?
EJ: I’ve been an Angel City fan since the beginning. My parents and I used to go to a lot of LAFC games, and my mom was just so excited when she heard that there was going to be a women's team for L.A. So we got season tickets, and that was kind of when I was starting to have a spark of interest in photography. I remember going out into the stands and being like, “oh my God, I wish I could take a picture of this right now.”
[Artists in Residence] was just super exciting because it was combining two things that I really love—photography and soccer. Especially because soccer is such a big thing in my culture. I just wanted to be part of the team that documents and creates these archives for people to look back on.
ACFC: As a photographer, shooting sports is different from shooting portraits, for example. What was it like stepping onto the field for the first time?
EJ: Excitement and nerves can feel the same. So I was really pumped up with adrenaline, and of course I was really excited, but I was also feeling the pressure. Especially because they were paying me to do this, so I wanted to do a good job. I hadn't been in such a professional space before.
But everyone on the team was super, super supportive to all of us, like [ACFC video producer] Matt [Gulley] and [ACFC photographer] Will [Navarro] and all the other photographers as well—they were all pumping us up, and we had our mentors with us, too, which was helpful to calm down our nerves.
So I started shooting. You have to be really quick with the [camera] settings, so the first game was a little tricky. I went to edit the images and I was like, “okay, I could have done better.” But every time it's a learning process. It helped me grow so much as a photographer, but also as a person, because I stepped into more of a leadership role—just being more assertive and confident. It was just so much fun.
ACFC: Do you have a favorite moment from your time shooting Angel City games?
EJ: Definitely. Every time I shot a game, I never was able to get the goals because I was either in the supporter section or in the wrong place. So my last game I was like, “please, please, I'm praying for a goal or a win.” So I really was manifesting that hard, and that was the game against FC Juárez where Angel City scored seven goals. I got a shot of them celebrating as a team and I was in love with it.
ACFC: Did you have a favorite player to photograph?
EJ: I like shooting all of them—I’m drawn to Alyssa [Thompson] and her sister [Gisele] just because it’s crazy to me how young they are. But if I had to pick one, I think Rocky [Rodríguez]. Her facial expressions are always very serious and she's always, like, on it. Something about that just draws me to her.
ACFC: Did you get to meet Rocky when she came to the LFP photography workshop?
EJ: Yes—I was fangirling! She was just so humble and sweet, and I think it's amazing that she’s spotlighting Las Fotos [for the Lauren Holiday Impact Award]. It was really amazing to hear her talk about her experiences and how she wants to present herself as authentic as possible. That was really nice to hear, because sometimes you get nervous as a photographer that the players won’t like your photos. But yeah, I think it was just a great bonding experience for everyone to meet her, and it felt very validating to know that the team sees us as part of the ACFC family as well.
ACFC: What are you up to now that Artists in Residence has wrapped up for the year?
EJ: I'm going to Santa Monica College and I'm actually studying journalism. I was going to do photography, but I feel like I've done it for so long that I felt like I needed to try something new. I've always liked the journalism aspect of photography itself, and also just writing. So I definitely want to explore journalism more and also integrate my photography into that.
Cast your vote for Rocky and Las Fotos Project here!
