Julius Garrido on Photography and Queerness

Julius Garrido is an award-winning queer, Filipino photographer stationed right here in Denver. The owner of Studio MOD, he is also a frequent contributor to OFM. We had the opportunity to sit down with Julius and chat about photography, journalism, and queer joy.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: what got you into photography?

I’m from the Philippines and grew up in Manila. I went to the University of the Philippines where I got my start in photography as a photojournalist for the school paper. I used to cover lots of what’s happening in Metro Manila, my paper was a progressive paper, so we covered a lot of, like, anti-administration news and events. In fact, I was there during the 2001 EDSA revolution. This was a major part of Philippines history where Joseph Estrada, a former president, got ousted due to corruption, and I was on the streets covering protests.

I didn’t do it professionally though—I was an architect in the Philippines. I moved to Singapore in 2011 and worked there for a few years, and then in 2017, I moved here to the United States with my husband. But I was still doing construction-related work, until 2019 when I got my first camera, and then a year later, I decided to start my photography business professionally.

I got some traction from republishing a lot of my photos, and with OFM, I did a lot of work with the LGBTQ queer community. My clients are mainly couples, families; I kinda focus on that to keep my business sustainable. I also still, of course, work with OFM as a photographer; I did a lot of covers for them, just covering the LGBTQ community and what’s happening. So yeah, I’ve been busy since 2020 with just being a professional photographer, and also doing the stuff that I love through photography for the queer community as a whole, whether it’s a personal project or fashion or whatever.

So you started your business in 2020? What was it like getting that started during the pandemic?

Yeah, it was a weird time; I was really restricted by quarantine so activities-wise we were limited to doing activities outside. And that was also the time that Black Lives Matter was gaining traction in the country, everyone was really getting involved. And myself, I just wanted to go into the streets and see what’s happening; with all the injustice I felt like I needed to do something, you know? Since I had my photojournalism background I was on the streets just taking pictures of the BLM movement. One of my photos even—It was this photo of a guy who was standing near the cops, maybe four feet away and, like, taking a picture of them at that distance, and one cop was spraying tear gas in the public and in his face. This photo got the attention of some local news, and they even did a short feature of my shoot.

What inspires you, and what’s your favorite topic to photograph?

I like doing weddings and family events because, as a photographer, I love taking pictures of people and capturing their emotions. I think it comes with my background as a photojournalist that I want to document events. So that might have been what got me into doing events like that, because I find it so important to document such an important milestone event for people. Also I just love connecting with people: I know some photographers love doing landscapes, or concerts, but me? I want to capture the emotions of people in a very intimate setting. Especially being a photographer for like queer weddings—That’s not something that’s very mainstream in the Philippines. It’s not very common to have a queer couple just celebrating, so capturing the joy that’s happening between family and community, I feel like that’s how I celebrate queerness.

Are there any photos or shoots that are particularly special to you?

Well, I’m very proud of all my photos. Probably one of my favorites was a shoot in December 2021 at the Molly Brown museum with (Shamy Lee and Victoria Page Mathews,) two queer models, they were both OFM employees. It’s very special to me because the Molly Brown House is such a special place to me. In a way I fell in love with the museum, and with them wearing these really gorgeous 1920s outfits it just felt so extra special. I mean like, it’s a period shoot, and there’s also this contrast because you don’t get to see a lot of openly queer people in the 1920s. So doing this shoot in the 20’s style there was just really cool to me.

What’s your favorite thing about the Denver queer community?

Manila and Singapore, those are my only comparisons. But so far, I find the Denver community is the most open and embracing, and overall a very cohesive community. Not to say that in Manila it’s not as inclusive, but—well, I feel like there’s layers of acceptance wherever you are. Like in the Philippines, people there can still be really conservative, and you can only do so much as far as expressing yourself goes. You cannot be a bad gay, you know what I mean? If you’re queer, you have to uphold some standard of behavior. If you start acting out or being disagreeable, then that would be taken against you. But if you’re like “Oh I’m a good gay, I make you laugh” or you’re flaunting your queerness, then you’re giving value as entertainment to people so they like you.

And in Singapore, and this is just based on my experience, maybe others don’t feel this. But in Singapore, queerness is celebrated but with me being a Filipino it was kind of a second-class citizen layer (of acceptance). In the U.S., I still sometimes feel the same way since English isn’t my main language, but I’m able to express how proud I am of being queer and being a brown person and an immigrant. They appreciate me here, they appreciate what I do with my work, and I love this sort of giving back and taking in with the queer community here in Denver.

Photos courtesy of Julius Garrido