March 6, 2025 • 49 mins
We sit down with legendary celebrity photographer Johnny Nuñez to uncover his incredible story of resilience, faith, and destiny. Adopted as a toddler by a Puerto Rican family in Brooklyn, Johnny’s life took a heartbreaking turn when his adopted mother passed away when he was just 10 years old, leading him to a second home in Brentwood, Long Island with a Dominican Family.
His journey was anything but easy—experiencing homelessness as a college student, even sleeping in his car. But just as he was on the verge of taking the wrong path, a divine encounter changed everything, leading him to pick up his first camera instead of turning to the streets.
Fast forward, and Johnny has cemented himself as one of the most sought-after celebrity photographers in the world, working as the personal photographer for Naomi Campbell, Jay-Z, The Obamas, and Michael Jordan, while also capturing icons like Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Drake.
Now, as a husband to a doctor and a proud father of two, Johnny reflects on his incredible 29 year journey, the power of faith, and how a camera became his ticket to a life beyond his wildest dreams.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Come Again A podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I Ready to go. The man is here Johnny.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Newing Years Hello, Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I've been watching your career unfold for decades now, and
I'm just so impressed by what you've managed to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Let's bring it back to the beginning. Where were you
born here? I was born in Brooklyn, Okay, Greenpoint? Well,
I was born in Brooklyn Kings King's Hospital. Then I
was raised in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Where are your people from?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So? I was adopted at twelve months while I was
a foster kid. And then the family that adopted me
were from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Nobody family from Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
From Brooklyn, Well, they from Puerto Rico, but they were
living in Brooklyn, and so they adopted me when I
was officially five years old, but my mom took me
in when I was six, when I was sixteen months old.
They heard about me at twelve months, but I was
in foster care. So thank god. My my mother was
(01:06):
such a beautiful woman, Maria Mary Nuniaz that when she
saw me as my brother Apos told me that she
fell in love with me the minute she saw me.
She said, yeah, exactly, matter of fact, as I was
adopted by Puerto Ricans. I was also my second family
was with Dominicans when I moved to Brentwood. So I
lived in a Dominican household from the age of thirteen
all the way to twenty three.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay, talk to me. How did you end up in
a Dominican household?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Because because growing up in Bronwood, Long Island. If you're
familiar with Brentwood.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Listen, I grew up in Bronwood too. Why are you
playing with me?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So you know there was no friends I had. So
my best friend Wellington to hate her.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh Wellington was your best friend?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, it still is.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Listen, this is hole. Listen, it's all it's all kind
of like coming together for me right now because I
feel like I've known you, but I don't know you,
but I know you and we're from the same place
and now it's making sense.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, So shout out to Brentwood because that's the melting
part that whoever, whoever you are, you become family at
least when we were raised.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How you end up? How did you end up from
Brooklyn to Brentlyn.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's well, unfortunately, there was domestic ballence in my family,
and my sister Maria had to hide out from her husband,
so my t deuja. She wanted to remake Puerto Rico,
so she moved out to Brentwood, Long Island. She bought
up a corner of land. We had chickens, we had ducks,
(02:30):
we had pigs. We were Brooklyn, right, I mean my
uncle Heckt the whole thing, machete guitar, had the whole nine.
So she would hide out there, and my father was like,
we were getting kind of tired of Brooklyn. It was
starting to get bad with crack. So my dad sold
our house in Brooklyn and we moved to Branwood Long Island.
(02:50):
So I grew up there and it was it was
you know Craig mac E, P M D. Bismarcke JVC Force.
If anybody remembers them, murried rock him wine dance. I
don't want to get myself in trouble. But there's a
rapper from bay Shaw. Okay, he's very famous.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, So what you mean you don't want to get
yourself in trouble?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
What does that mean when when we're off, I'll break
it down?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Okay, okay, okay, right, no problem.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
A lot of artists, whether they want to say it
or not, they they're from Long Island. A lot of
I mean, not not all of them, but there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Oh no, I know there is a lot. And you
know that's one of the things that made us proud
as people from Brentwood, Suffolk, Long Island, that we had
all these rappers.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Even certain organizations, not to get myself in trouble, that
a lot of them started in Long Island too, A
lot of them. You know, I started in record labels,
big record companies, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So Longland's cool. All the money's in Long Island. We
got some mansions in Long Island, highest taxes in the nation,
Nasal County. Don't play with us. We got that bread,
you know what I'm saying, play with us.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So I was saying before Honey, I forgot. I had
a lemonade for the fiftieth year of Hip Hop Up
and a portion of the protis was going to the
Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. But it was just for
the summer. It was called Mighty Joyful.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Lemonade and it's not available any longer.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm going to remake it with another company.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Charity work.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
My goal is to start schools of photography in Puerto
Rico and in the Dominican Republic and then maybe Haiti.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Two I brothers and over in Haiti. They need all
the help that we can give them. You know what
I'm saying. I love that. Now let's talk about college stuff.
A community college, you know, yeah, how long were you there?
You graduated?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So when I was when I moved from Brooklyn to Brentwood,
they immediately put me in Special ed.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
What they were talking about, talk.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
To me slow, you know, and what.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Was the problem. You were opinion as.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Hyper you know. And then you know, I don't want
to say racism, but you know, you're coming from Brooklyn,
you know, whatever, it was still Blanchito of course, rock
and road and all that stuff. So while I was
in Special LED, uh, you know, my unfortunate my mother
passed away when I was ten. So as a result
(05:10):
of that, my dad was always working. I was sort
of like an only child in a way, even though
I had three older brothers and an older sister. But
when I got to Brentwood, I still remembered all the
things my mom taught me, you know, and so when
they told me, you know, hey, I spoke to my
guidance counselor at Easternior High School. I said, hey, mister,
(05:32):
mister Thornton, I'm thinking about going to college. And he
said to me, Johnny, I wouldn't think about going to college.
I would try to get a job in a factory,
find out a woman, get married, have kids, and work
a factory job. And I said to myself, you know
I could already hear my mother cursing in Spanish. Nah.
And so I applied to Suffer Community College, and through
(05:55):
the grace of God, I got accepted. And once I
got to college, I became a member of the African
American Organization, Hispanic Latino Organization, the school paper, the school Senate.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
You said, I'm gonna get involved in everything.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And you know, I would hang out at different colleges
like Stony Brook University, and I also got into New
York Tech, where I was affiliate with their clubs.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
So you said, listen, I'm gonna rub shoulders with all
of these associations. And I don't blame you. Now, when
did you pick up a camera for the first time?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Was ready to hear the long story? You want to
hear a short story?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Listen let's keep it under an hour.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So Brentwood. You know, as I was saying, Brentwood, a
lot of people sleep, and I don't want to get
my fellow Woodians in trouble. But and you know, all
I would say is it was Brentwood. And so as
I was. After I graduate from college, I got accepted
(06:54):
to a medical school program for National Community College, and
I was at National Community studying radiation therapy on cology
where I was treating people with cancer. I wanted to
do just X rays. I wound up applying for radiation
therapy by mistake, Yeah, by mistake, but out of four
hundred and twenty students, I was one of the twenty
(07:16):
twenty two students that got selected. I used to feed
the homeless. I was a home health aid shout out
to all the home health aid workers out there that
put up with people and take care of elderly people,
especially the disenfranchised as well. So anyway, I got accepted
and I was doing really good. I was going to
be a radiation therapist. For those who don't know what
(07:37):
are radiologists, and the radiation therapist is you could do
radiology and take X rays and MRIs and you know
all kinds of different techniques to see the body where
you could do radiation therapy, which is the treatment of cancer.
So whether it's breast cancer, headed back, spine, organs, you
name it, leukemia, there's all kinds of treatments with radiation.
(08:01):
I wound up getting close to three months of graduating
and I witnessed something at a very prestigious hospital that
was racist, and I got kicked out of the program
after making a complaint. The girl I was dating her family, well,
she broke up with me. She had a new boyfriend
at Stony Brook University. The landlord I was renting a
(08:22):
room from, and I'm not even mad at her. They
said that someone else wanted my room and was willing
to pay more money. And then my dad at the
time was living in Glendale, Queens and growing up in
a very proud Puerto Rican family. I always say this
in all the interviews. They taught me at the early
age to be like the rhinoceros, which is one of
(08:44):
the only animals that doesn't know how to walk backwards,
you go forward adante. And so I picked up all
my stuff, I put it in storage and I became homeless,
living in my car in Brentwood. I would deliver pizza
with Pizza Hut, and I was I went back to
what allowed me to make a living through college, which
(09:04):
was being a home health date. So Monday through Friday
was helping the elderly people. On the Saturdays, I used
to volunteer every Saturday at Saint Anne's Church, feeding the homeless,
and before you know it, I wound up taking food
or food back to my car, now experiencing. I was
(09:25):
just studying medicine to be in the medical world. Now
I'm with nobody and embarrassed, and I went to deliver
pizza to someone's house. This is how it became a photographer.
I went to deliver pizza to one of the deliveries
and one of our friends said, Johnny, what are you doing?
And I was on this beautiful, brand new condo, not cando,
(09:49):
townhouse or whatever you want to call it, ranch they
call it. And I'm like, you know, just delivering pizza.
But Johnny, aren't you studying medicine. I'm like, yeah, yo, dude,
oh I know it. You must be paying your medical
program bills and I'm like yeah. He was reaching to
my pocket. He says, don't worry. Just reach in my pocket.
I pulled out a lot of money. I said, so
(10:12):
and so I don't I can't break a hundred. He's like, nigga,
you're crazy, that's you. And I'm like, so take one
hundred dollars bill. So I took a one hundred dollar bill,
went to my car and just started to hit my head,
like saying, God, what what just happened? I was going
I was bound for medicine and now I'm delivering pizza
(10:33):
getting one hundred dollar bill tip, you know. So the
next day I get a call from my manager and
his name was Tony and I was sleeping in the
call in back of the car.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Pizza manager.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, and I'm sleeping in the car, but in the
backseat in some dead end alley, like wondering what's happening.
And he said, Johnny, I don't know what you did,
but you better come back to pizza. I said, what's
going on. There's a bunch of guys here that are
taking no for an answer. They want you. They told
me to call you to come and I'll say And
before I could do, I said, I'm on my way.
(11:08):
And he said, Johnny, whatever you do, don't come through
the front, come through the back.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I'm scared.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Now. Yeah, I'm like, holy shit, what did I do?
Maybe I did? I got somebody pissed off, you know
how Brentwick is it. As I began to drive up
the driveway of Pizza on Suffolk Avenue, it is like
a car show. All the Benzes, all the poshes, all
the Jaguars, nothing but young Dominican and Puerto Rican and
(11:33):
black kids with dookie gold chains and rolexes. And I
just drove past them to the back and I said,
what's the problem to that motherfucker right there? That dude
I won't say his name because you know, nah a
street pharmacist, all right. So he said, yo, noon. As
I heard what happened, I said, what's going on? You
(11:55):
want your change back? He's like, nah, man, I want
you to come work for me. I'm like, you're opening
up a pizzaia too. He's like, nah, nigga, I need
you to help me sell that white girl. I said,
white girl, what are you talking about? Cocaine? He said,
give me your hand. I said, yo, so and so
I can't just give me your hand and he put
(12:15):
a bunch of paper in it, and I was like, yo,
I can't take this. He said why. I said, because
this is blood money. He said, blooding got ship to
do with it. That's green. If you decide that you
want to come work for me, there's plenty more. If
you decide don't keep it. It's a gif for me
to you. And they just all drove off like a movie.
(12:39):
And so I said, man, and this is this is
a weird story. You don't have to believe me. I was.
I was working weekends at a at a sweatshop. A
factory job was horrible.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
There is a lot of factories.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Friends of mine gave me a book called Unlimited Power
by Anthony Robbins, so I would read that in my
call and I would read that on the weekends. I'll
also read that in on the factory job. So I
hit a panic button when I was reading a chapter
in the book about a week before and it said,
whatever you're doing right now, stop Tony Robbins. Think of
(13:14):
where you want to be in five years. And I
was like, five years, I don't know what I want
to do. So remember that that. I said that. So,
after my friends left me and I had this money
in my hand, I counted it when they left. Do
you remember how much it was on a thousand dollars?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
You know, listen, But at this point.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Twenty six years ago, twenty seven years ago, I was
long so Myke's girlfriend's mother, who was a Haitian woman,
she said, Johnny, I made your favorite dish, Haitian rice
and beans and chicken wings. Even though Myke's girlfriend had
left already and she was away, her parents loved me
to death. So I said, I'm coming over. I went
to the house and then she did make the meal.
(13:54):
But she also said, I don't know what you're going through, Johnny,
but this is the living room. But tonight you sleep here.
You still got towels, towels here, you still got some
of your clothes from when you were dating. My daughter
is still here. I didn't live there, but they had
some clothes. And whatever you're doing, I'm just gonna give
you some peace. And she closed the door. Honey. I
(14:15):
looked down, and I was like, man, God, I started
to cry. I'm gonna lie no man, but I cried,
and I said, you know, God, tomorrow morning, when I
wake up, you don't give me an idea, I'm gonna
go sell drugs and I'm gonna kill some people in
Jesus's name.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And so next morning, when I woke up, I saw
a camera.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And I was like, you were you slept on that couch.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
It was like a couch full time.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Okay, So I.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Robbed my eyes. I'm like, maybe I'm seeing things and
there it was just in the air.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh, it was a vision. No, it was like an
actual camera.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
An actual camera.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Nah, I'm getting it.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
If it's a real camera there, let me just try to.
I try to like rather like you know, low key
like side, like a little snuff. And my hand went
right through it and it dissolved.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So I said, man, what did they call that an apparition?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I don't know, but I said, God, if you want
me to be a photographer, and it popped up again
a camera. No, I went My hands went right through it.
And when I went through it the second time, I
saw Christmas greeting cards slowly falling to the ground. And
I said, God, if you can give me one more sign,
I swear I will bother you no more for a while.
(15:47):
Give me one sign of God that you want me
to be a photographer. And in my faith we called
the Holy Spirit and I felt the Holy Spirit fall
on me. I went, yeah, I spit it to something
and I said to all my friends, Oh, I know
what I'm gonna be. I'm gonna Johnny, what's going on?
I went to one of my friends, Jean and Pat's crib. Yeah,
(16:10):
I know, Johnny, you living in the call homeless. You
come here, you take showers and use the bathroom. What
we're gonna be? I said, I'm gonna be a photographer?
Hold up, Johny, did the radiation hit your brain? You
don't even have a place to live. Who told you
that you're gonna be a photographer? And I said, believe
it or not? God did? He said? God said? Who?
(16:33):
He said? I said, God told me I'm gonna be
a photographer.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So I bowled from these are your notes and look
at the first thing it says man of God. I
got that, you know, and we've never spoken about spirituality,
but yeah, I know, I said. I said, Johnny is
definitely a man of God.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Thank you. So I'll make it short because I know
talk I'm very long winded. But in Anthony Robins book
it said see where you want to be in five years?
And uh, I was working at a factory job. So
when it turned the page, it said stop if you
did not see where you want to be in five years,
stop now. We turned back to the page previously something
(17:14):
like that.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I feel like we should do this exercise.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Right the button And I looked at the wall, and
I came my bosses yelling, who stopped the line?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
You stopped the right then and there?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, And I saw private jets. I saw, I saw
jay d I saw puff, I saw Nahs, I saw
Naomi Campbell, I saw fashion shows, I saw private jets,
I saw yachts and all those things. And when my
boss came to me, he said, yo, who told you
(17:45):
the shot? I said, I said, I thought I saw something.
He says, I will kick your ass out of here.
You ever touched that button again? Red button was a
little under the wall.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay, I'm gonna be making it more dramatic than it
needs to be.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Company was caught by stronics. But anyway, I saw what
I wanted to see. So the reason why I tell
you that is because within two years, or actually within
the first year, I made over one hundred thousand dollars.
Within the second year, I was on G four private
jets traveling the world with Rockefeller Records, overseas with Kanye
West and John Legend. I became Naomi Campbell's personal photographer.
(18:21):
I became Jay Z's personal photographer. I became Seawan Combs
personal photographer. I became Fat Joe's personal photographer. I became
Michael Jordan's personal photographer. I became Lebron James personal photographer.
I became at times Barack and Michelle Obama's personal photographer.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
They don't get in that.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I also wound up becoming officially the first black Latino
Grammy photographer, first official VMA photographer. Now I say official
because I had to break the glass ceiling and I
had the help of diversity inclusion which now has helped
(19:00):
quality and diversity. So I also, you know, personally, like
to say, you know, by trusting in God, you know,
and keeping the faith. And even though my mom and
my father has passed away, I still feel their presence
as a big factor in my success. So whether it's
Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, or Africa or Haiti
(19:25):
or Cuba, wherever I could lend my my resources and
I'm there, whether it's Europe, Lebanon, Pakistan, israel I pray
for peace for everyone, you know. And I try to
lend my hand, whether it's the LGBQ community, whether it's
(19:48):
religious organizations or women's rights. I try to lend my mind.
By the way, please vote, because women, you have no
idea what's coming down the pipeline if you don't vote. Uh,
and men as well.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Now listen, we get political, but I'm just leting you.
We're at the polls. We're at the polls. Do you
understand the importance of voting? So you feel like, because
God gave you all this, you have to give back? Like,
is that something that's like a burning thing in your heart?
Do you think about it daily?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Like? Yeah, I mean I'm blessed with a beautiful wife
and two beautiful children. Yeah, doctor, doctor of pediatry.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I love that. Look at that. And medicine made it
into your life, even if it was bear your wife.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah. And I have two beautiful children, Jeremiah and Enjoy
and Nunez. And my my family is very proud of me,
of where I came from.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
We're all very proud of you. I want you to
know this. Listen. The Latino community, the hip hop community,
New York, Long Island. The list goes on, Johnny, like
you really have put, you know, just latinos up there,
like you have set the bar so high. And I'm
not just talking photography, I'm talking just in general when
it comes to the culture, I don't know who's gonna
be able to duplicate.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I have a funny story, and you could tell him.
I said this back in the days, I was a
househead and I battled Mark Anthony at roseland House Music Dance,
House Music Dancing. Was a backup dancer for two in
the room there that song, SI look, I battle him
and I beat him. That's my little Mark Anthony story.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
That is a good story.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Everyone day else seen him? Who knows?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I'm pretty sure you will and you will tell him.
Now can we talk about I know you've shot everyone.
Is there anyone left out there that you're like, I
still have to shoot this person? Man? It doesn't have
to be hip hop, or it doesn't have to be
black or brown Anthony Robbins.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Really, because I say to myself, what if I never
picked up that book? And I believe when I prayed
to God for a decision, if I didn't have photography,
I was gonna go join a group of friends of
mine that some of them are just now coming home
and a lot of them have passed away. And you know,
(22:05):
had God not do that that curveball, that pitch? You know,
I was just so depressed from what had happened. And
I'm just telling you the PG. Thirteen version of my story.
I can't really tell you the other side. But they
were going to be heads that were going to roll
from my demise in school, you know. But shout out
(22:26):
to anyone, well, I just say this on your podcast,
if you ever have a problem, DM me, I'll pray
with you. I don't care what time, if I'm up,
I'll pray with you because I know that no matter
what you're facing. In my upbringing, in my faith, you know,
(22:46):
we had the Catholic faith. We had Santadilla, which nobody
really talked about in my family, but it was in
the basement with a bunch of candles. And I'll keep
it real, but that's afrocentric Affro spirituality, African spirituality. I
just know that there are energies, there are forces, whether
you want to acknowledge them or not. And I just
(23:07):
know that I've been blessed to have been taught and
and and shown from a very early age that you know,
do good. I'm not perfect. I'm saying, do good, help people,
and God will always take care of you. Open doors
for people, and God will open doors for you. Closed
doors on people, and God will He won't even have
(23:28):
to you closing your own door in yourself. You know,
so I learned again. You know. That's why whenever I
make these products or I become partners in a company,
shout out to capskins. By the way, I didn't bring
one with me. When you help people, you know, whether
you believe in calm or not, I just know that
so many things will come back to you. It will
(23:50):
be paid a hundred million times infold.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
You know, it's just the theory of you know, abundance
and you know sharing and the more you share, the
more God gives back to you. And you know, sometimes
people don't want to share, and it's that scarcity mentality
that they feel like, I got to hold onto everything
I have. I can't share, I can't help because what
if I don't get it back, or what if you know,
one day I don't have anything left for me. And
(24:15):
the more you get locked into that scarcity mentality, the
less you're gonna get. And I read the Bible, and
you know, I follow God, and I see exactly what
it is that you're doing. And now it makes even
more sense how successful you've been, and you know how
many doors have opened for you, doors that nobody as
a photographer would even be able to touch. Like you know,
(24:37):
I know photographers, and I know people that have been
doing this for years, and the people that you have
been able to, you know, photograph and the people that
your lens have shot.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Than you.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
When is the Coffee book coming? I know I need that?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, so why Alicia Butterfield if you Knowlia But she
has a new company called Seed and we're now working
on my documentary of that followed by a book.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I had it here, I said, biography. Yeah, so the
doc is happening now, we're working on it.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It should be starting twenty twenty five. And then from
the documentary there's been book offers, so we're shopping them around.
But I have basically twenty it'll be twenty nine years
worth of hip hop photography.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
How can you even put that into one anything done?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
It might be volumes, man, right, you know, it's the
early years before digital, and then there's the beginning years
of digital, and then now there's the now. But I
feel like, you know, it's again a blessing to even
be here now, Honey, on your show, your podcast, Thank
you for having me and just the evolution. I'm not
(25:46):
just a photographer. I'm a photojournalist. So what I shoot
is what you see if you look at my social media,
I'm just showing you what I see.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
You know, you're part of history when it comes to
you know, our culture New York hip hop. You're part
of our culture.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
How many songs has your name been mentioned in?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I would like to say seven. Yo.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I was so curious about that. I said, I need
a list because I feel like all the who's mentioned
your name because I feel like I hear it in songs.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Put me on his Grammy Award winning album twenty seven Summers,
Checking them at five. Vado and Cameron put me on
We All Up in Here that was maybe twelve fifteen
years ago. Also Chris what's his name? Chris Classic? He
put me in the song.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I love hearing your name when I hear his songs, I'm.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Like, there's about three or four more other artists and then,
you know, because I was Kevin Lowes put me in
a video game icon. A lot of the voiceovers had
me spoken by other artists for the for the video
game TI Ludicris, Fad Joe Ald Them also shout out
to Fat Joe, Terror Squad.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Love Fat Joe. We gotta get him up here. I
We're gonna make that happen. That's my guy.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
As far as shooting celebrities, who has been your most
difficult person to shoot? As far as taking directions because
you know, celebrities are celebrities and they're set in their ways.
You know you're right, you know, did somebody ever tell
you this is my good side? This is this is
my good side. I only shoot on my right.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
All the time. Sometimes. That's why I hate digital because
they're like, let me see that picture, Like now you're
showing racetar, Like you know what I'm gonna I'm not
gonna take no picture.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I have that here digital versus you know, prior to
the digital area, do you prefer it pre digital? No?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I think digital. I love evolution and I love how
things change. So it was great when film was filmed
and you can still shoot with film, But.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Did you still shoot with film at times or no.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But if I get a LIKEA or if I get
some type of film camera, I love it. It's like
a nostalgia. And now even digital is outdated. This mirror
lest cameras, so that's another form of digital. But now
you don't even have to have a reflection of an
image to an image to make a print. It's straight
up mirrorlestic. What you see is what you get.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
What about AI? What are you thinking about AI? What
are you still trying.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
To learn and understand it? It reminds me of like
bitcoin and NFTs. I don't know enough about it yet,
but I know it's coming.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
But do you feel like with photography, let's see like
these AI images that the fake images, and you know
it happens, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It's like it's like mental masturbation. I hate to say
that because it's not real. It's just like what you
want it to be. And it's almost perfect for a
lonely person because now you can create your own universe
and you don't even need humans.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
And that's not good, that's terrible that you're out of.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Touch, you know, you become like a what's that X
Men character? Thumbos is that what's his name? You become
like a thumbos like here's a creator.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
You're like, oh no, we don't want that.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
That's yeah, it's like you don't need anybody. It's just you.
You exist. Everyone exists because of you, and you know,
waving hand, everybody's dead, waving hand, everybody's alive.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Like, nah, we definitely don't want that. Now, let's go
back to if certain.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
People get in office, is gonna be like that?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Oh nah, we don't want that either. We don't. We
don't want you.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Now. Shooting celebrities, who was your favorite? Who is you know,
who's someone that you want to shoot again, or who's
someone that you loved going on tour with? Like who
made photography life just more enjoyable for you?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Man? I love common man. Commons are real, dude, Fat
Joe's another one. NAS's man cool.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
They're also different, you know what I'm saying. It's like
that Joe is so.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Fun, jay Z's cool, fifty Center is cool, Kanye West cool.
Believe it or not, a lot of times people say,
oh you know that person. Listen, man, unless you walked
a mile in there shoes, you don't know what a
person's going through. I always tell people, like, you know,
we're quick to judge and hate people, and don't let
(30:07):
the media get involved. Now forget it's a frenzy.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And then it's just like everybody wants to gig up
and like, Okay, we're gonna collectively hate this person and
cancel them and make sure that they cease to exist.
And I hate when that happens. You because we're all humans.
We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are bigger than others.
But we all deserve forgiveness. We deserve to be able
to explain ourselves, and also we have to also be
(30:32):
able to, you know, separate the music from the person.
And you can't just be like cancel all that music
like it never exists, because Kanye is a great artist.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Year and you know, it's like I just know, like
I said, being raised by an amazing family, they had
the philosophy of fuck around and find out.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
That's my philosophy.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I don't want to find out. You know, I walked
this this thin line because one I'm representing my family
and two, you know, jails very cold and lonely, and
death is very cold and lonely. Either do good, work
hard and take care of your people. And my brother Eddie, Paul, Charlie,
(31:30):
and my sister Maria, they're real ones. Many they check up.
They check up on me all the time. And I'm
thankful to God again. You know, my family and Wellington
to Hate and all them, the ta Hala family. This
is my infrastructure, this is my building bridges, this is
I'm the sum total of my existence because of them,
(31:52):
and as a result, I carry pride with me everywhere
I go to represent them, because if they didn't educate
me or take me under their wing, I don't know
where I would be right now. I could be in
i could be dead, which was an easy path to
take if you got into the crack era. If anybody
(32:12):
remembers that, the drug dealing era, if anybody remembers that,
it's still out there. But I'm just saying growing up
in Brooklyn where I was, it was a different it
was a different time.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Oh yeah, and even even Brentwood. It's like people people
think like, oh, it's Long Island. No, there was a
lot of drugs, a lot of violins, you know, killings.
It was just a lot of gangs.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
The first day I went to East Junior High School
was the first. I guess you could say the America's
first Colinbine school shooting wasn't Colin Vine. It was Brentwood,
Long Island. My very first day of going to school,
I was on my way there and I saw a
(32:54):
swat team helicopters around the school time. All the kids
go back, and frontal substitute teacher came back the next
day shot the principal in the face. The principal dropped
and took his own blood and put it over his
face because I think he shot him in the draw
and it broke his It broke his it went to
his cheek, broke his jaw, but he didn't shoot him
(33:16):
in the head. So he took the blood, put it
on his face and played dead when the gunman passed by.
Then that same gunman went into the cafeteria and locked
himself in there with the children and the teachers. A
swat team sniper shot him dead in the head, shot
him in the head. That was the first what do.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
You call that mass shooting like maschool shooting?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
And that was my first day And I told my dad, Dad,
you moved us out of Brooklyn for this, for this ship.
I want to go back to Brooklyn, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Take me back to the hood the first because Brentwood
the hood too, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I remember I met BISMARKI at homeroom. He was going
through classes. He had graduated, but he was.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Going he went to together.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
He was promoting a nightclub called Electric Avenue. Then I
met Eric Sermon in Parish Smith pulling up an Iraq
Iraq made irock Z's the car yeah, And I was
like wow. And then you know, for.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
They got money in Broadwood, these druggers was getting it
in Brown.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Craig mac cain, he's zoom Zoom Zoom and all these
other hip hop artist and I'm like wow, you know,
started to get a little bit of pride for Brentwood.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
But it was also the but you were not photographing
anyone just yet.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I just was living life, enjoying going from concrete jungle
to like lightning bugs in the summer and like those
little catapullars with their with their little silk worms in
the night, get all up in your face, paws.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
And I feel because I went from one hundred and
fifty First and Broadway to Broadwick, so I know exactly
the transition you had. I remember I used to bury
things in the backyard. I was so bored out of
my mind. I just like, I'm gonna bury something and
then I'm gonna come back and find it late hours,
just in a yard with eight corns and shit, I'm like,
take me back to the hood.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
This is boring, is but it's beautiful. Silence or or
silence can be peaceful when there's no loud noises.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
But it's crazy that they took us out of the
hood to save us. And then little did they know
that we all went all of the hood, people that
didn't want to be in the city, went to Brandwood
and Central Islam. We were all together. But you know what,
it's a big group of us, you know that made
it out and you know are highly successful and you know,
a big shoutout brown Wood. Cut the check if y'all
got money in the budget right now. One thing with
(35:29):
you is that you get very close to celebrities. How
have you managed to build that connection? Like everywhere I'm at,
if you're there, you're right next to them. You know,
it's just like you know over here, over here, and
no everybody stops for you. Everybody takes the pictures, everybody
does the drop like, how did you create that?
Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Or do you think it's just everybody knows who you are?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
No? I think I think when I was, like I said,
you know, growing up in Brooklyn, I would be with
my mother and she used to sell avon and my
mother was like, really is saint? Everybody in the block
they didn't have sugar or flower, or they needed something.
They would come to my house, knock on the door,
and my mom would just find it for them and
she would help them. And you know, I also noticed
(36:12):
how she was a saleswoman and she would you know,
spread perfume, showed them a new product, and I just
admired how people would open the doors and she would smile.
And you know, I'm not saying she didn't know. She
never went to school for marketing, but it was these
internal manners or her instincts to connect with people. And
(36:37):
my mother was color blind. Look at my color. She
was your complexion. And no matter what I did, I
would say, Mommy, you sure I came from you? And
I don't want to tell you what she said in Spanish,
but you came from a certain area my body. Don't
ask me again, got it so and I said that
for lack of better words, but the skills that I
(36:58):
have to connect with people is I love to meet
artists when they're new, when there's a first artist to perform,
when they're booed, when they're like the build, yeah, build
the building box. I always tell friends of mine. There
was a photographer who's a friend of mine. Her name
is a Dirty South Yankee and my previous assistant who
(37:22):
I love to death of Dallas Moreno. We were working
together and at a point she had to stay Dirty
South had to stay at a friend's place and she
didn't have a camera, and I think I lent to
her camera. One of us went to her camera and
she said, Johnny, this artist I really like she's going
to be performing on the Lower East Side. You should come.
(37:43):
And I'm like, what's her name? And then I was like,
I don't want to go, but thanks though. And then
later on after I got to meet with her again,
I said, how did the show go? Man? She got booed,
they threw their drinks at her, security kicked off stage,
and here's the photos and I'm like, wow, he's awesome.
She's like in lingerie and I'm like, why would they
bore her? And you know, fast forward the story. I'm
(38:07):
at the Apollo upstairs in their VIP room and a
con says to me, Hey, Johnny, I want to introduce
you to somebody. He's like, Yo, French Montana, come over here,
Lady gotta come over here. This is Johnny Newt. When
you see him, you stop. This guy makes you famous.
I'm like, how are you doing, French Montana? How are
you doing? Lady god Goga? I heard your name before,
(38:28):
you know. Fast forward I'm at doctor Dre's house with
Lady Goga. Where I am. We're in California for the
Beats by Doctor Dre launch and I'm like, lady, got
nice to meet you again. And they're like, Danny, this
lady guy, I met her. But you know, so again,
(38:49):
what if I would have went? What if I would
have helped her? You know, helping people when they're new, fresh,
sometimes vulnerable. A friend in need is a friend. Indeed,
That's why I love amplifying artists when no one knows
who they are. And then of course as they get bigger, I'm.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
So much so it was personal photographer, who are you?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
You can't shoot them and you got talked to the
publicist and I'm like, wait a minute, whoa I was
in I was really shooting in the gym. I was
really in the trenches when this artist was not even known.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Now they're super And I feel you on that because
I have one of the only Doja Cat interviews out there,
and it was when she was baby Dojah. Long story,
but I was like, I'll do it. And you can't
find many Doja Cat interviews, but mine is there because
(39:44):
when she was a baby artist, I believed in her.
I saw the talent and I wanted to help her
and her label. She had me at move exactly.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
I was on YouTube moo. We talked about mood. She's bad.
Who's this moon girl?
Speaker 2 (39:58):
And now she's a superstar.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Yeah, I'm like, yo, she was stick. Now she's slimm thug,
you know, but she's still hot. She saw her. I
saw her backstage at a BET award. She was well received,
but not as received as she is now. I said,
Doja Cat, I'm your biggest fan. I missed your showing
(40:21):
s obs. And as I was walking one way and
she was walking the other way, she stopped, turned around,
came over and gave me a hug. No one knew
she was, and I'm like, yo, I know who you are,
I know what you're about to do.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
I was like, she's a baby artist, but the potential
was there and it was just.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Like yeah, yeah, I love man. I actually shot her
at the fashion at the net Gala after party shout
out to Richie Keiba and Naomi Campbell. And I was
at the after after as they call it the after
after party, and she got on my Instagram thors just
started dancing and I was like, doja, dude, dance with me?
And she literally stopped and she danced for like eight
(40:58):
minutes and some my Instagram so.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Many people, where do you store all of this?
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Talk to me external hard drives?
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Where is all this stuff? Because I know, I know
for a photographer to lose his work must be devastating.
How do you secure everything?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
External hard drives? Also clouds and also child to Getty Images.
I'm a founding contributor, I'm a partner when it started.
Really all my stuff is at least archived. Good.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Then if you if you got down with Geddy, we
have a Getty subscription. It's not cheap.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
You got money, Nah, I wish, but yeah, wire Image
was acquired by Getty and I think two thousand and seven,
so I was grandfather.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Thank God, good for you. I love that because because
I was going to ask you, have you always been
able to make a living as a photographer always from
when I.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
When I was living in a car delivering pizza. To
the grace of God, I never have to work for
another day anybody.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
I love that because I was always curious. I'm like,
is this like all he does? Because you know, sometimes
when you're creative, when you're creative, it doesn't always pay
everything that you needed to pay.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yeah. So my father, Haniel Nunyaz, he taught me at
a very early age you eat what you kill, you know,
So if you don't work, you don't provide for your family.
You don't provide for your family, what kind of men
are you? No disrespect to all the dead beats out there,
But if you don't take care of your family, you
(42:32):
know your children will look at you crazy as they
get old enough to realize what were you doing when
you should have been providing. So I never want my
kids to ever feel that their parents or their dad
is not there for them. So I give shout outs
to all parents that work hard, especially even foster care
(42:53):
parents that adopt children.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
You know, so you're going to give me two moments
that you're proud of or you know that are just
so iconic in your brain forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
You know, two prints, like I said jay Z and
Nile's posing with toasting with champagne and on jay Z
shirted said notorious Big. It was at the anniversary of
Biggie's passing, and that picture is in uh Dj Khaled's
living room framed. He says that that picture is his
(43:27):
mood forever. And then I set up this photo of
Cameron with a pink phone and a pink fur and
a pink the whole nine. I set that up and
I claimed that as the one who did it. I
was in Washington Heights and I was shot with film.
There was a flood from my upstairs neighbor distrim it.
(43:48):
It destroyed like one third of like all my negatives.
I was devastated. But you know, fast forward, the picture
that circulates is from a different photographer that put her
can or my mind, and a lot of them always
do that at events that they don't know who the
artist is. So they let me set it up and
then the minute I go to press the flash, they
(44:09):
quickly put their camera in. So this individual was able
to do that. Won't talk, don't stay the person's name,
but that picture made a lot of money. But of
the culture, I am the real one, you know. So
through the grace of God, I was looking through as
I was archiving about a year ago, actually the last
year of COVID, I came across some old pictures and
(44:32):
all of a sudden boom, one of the ones that
I took of Cam was able to be saved. So
I'm going to release that soon. But the rest, you know,
everything was what I set up. Unfortunately, I didn't have
digital at the time. I still had film. But I'm
proud of that picture too, and Cam knows I set
it up because I was comor at least personal photographer
(44:54):
at the time, and my job was to give celebrities
the phone the phone they didn't have the phone. Some
of them received it as a gift.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I wonder it so bad. Yeah, I saw it them bloomingdals.
I said, I don't get money for this. I was mad.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Ye. Shout out to Tina Lee, who helped create that
with me.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
So yeah, nice, I love that. Thanks for sharing that.
Now what do you have as far as like, how
can we get your prints? How can we get original Johnny's.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Working with Henriquo Carrera. Actually shout out to Henriko Kiki,
big Mexican artist sculpture. He just created an amazing sculpturing
piece at the Centurion Room with American Express black Card. Okay,
so Friday, He's the first artist that I know of
(45:41):
to actually have a piece that was created for American Express,
which is the Black Boat. And so I'm looking on
my website now it will be photography going to be
Johnny Innis photography again. By twenty twenty five, it should
be read. Okay, you can come to my website, the
(46:02):
one that exists now is there, but it's it's I
don't even look at it all right, but you always
find me by going to Getty Images. Okay, type in
search Johnnys and all my images will come up. Okay,
Or you could just direct message me for now and
I'll send you something.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
I love how accessible you are. It's like you're a
star photographer. But DM me if you want to pray,
DM if you want you know something from me. It's like,
I love the humbleness and you know, the accessibility and
how you're still so feed on the ground despite having
you know, photographed all of the icons and you know,
travel the world and been personal photographers to such you know,
(46:40):
big superstars, you're still but you know, you're a man
of God, so I'm not expecting anything not perfect. Oh no,
I'm sure if I talk to your wife, she'll tell
me a few little things here and there that they
didn't get. No, but thank you so much for joining
us today, Johnny, really, thank you, thank you for all
you're doing. We're super proud of you, and I'm super
appreciative that you sat down with me today.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Thank you, honey, and thank you for everybody here in
the room with us for having me.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
And thank you, iHeart for you know, for giving us
this platform. I heart thank you giving Latino voices where
they can you know, feel safe, share their story and
you know, amplify you know, the difference that we're making here,
not just in not just in the Latin space, but
just in the culture in general.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
No doubt. And also, last thing I want to can
I give a few shout outs? Oh yeah, for sure,
shout out to goat Fuel Energy drink. Shout out to
east Side Golf, which I'm wearing shirts. Oh no, this
is a brand. I want a golf so bad, Black
Golf Company. Sean Becker introduced me to them, Earl and
(47:41):
Elijah Wan they were Nike, and then Michael Jordan's business
partners nice and shout out to Cap Skins. That's c
A P s K I n Z. We have the
first patent that is a weather utility pattern to protect
your baseball caps. So I'm a partner in that as well,
and coming really soon to all those sexually active people
(48:03):
out there, talk to me, he smiled, look at him.
Smash cards. That smash card is a way to detect
if the partner you're about to engage with has a
history of STDs or sexual health issues, that way before
you get down.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
So it's like a car fax for vaginas.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Penis and vaginas. Probably it basically will will will once
you become a member. It will allow for you to
pull their history and if they had something or if
they have something, the facts will be there and you
now know, oh yeah, go to the party and you
meet somebody and you want to just afterwards, Hey, what's
(48:47):
your smash Card account number or what's your smash card code?
Check each other's phone. I'm clean, you're clean. It's a party,
I'm clean. All of a sudden, something's wrong in contact
the place date over. Well, there won't be no grand
opening because you closed it before I could open. How
do you like those apples? Yeah? I love. Smash Card
(49:09):
is created by just Winning Marlin. I'm a silent part
I'm a partner, but it's their baby creation, just like Capskins.
They also allowed me to partner with them.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
Thank you so much, Honey, thank you.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
I want to say one last thing. Sure grass come Again.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
I love it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Ihearts Mike When through That Podcast Network.
Come Again A podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I Ready to go. The man is here Johnny.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Newing Years Hello, Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I've been watching your career unfold for decades now, and
I'm just so impressed by what you've managed to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Let's bring it back to the beginning. Where were you
born here? I was born in Brooklyn, Okay, Greenpoint? Well,
I was born in Brooklyn Kings King's Hospital. Then I
was raised in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Where are your people from?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So? I was adopted at twelve months while I was
a foster kid. And then the family that adopted me
were from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Nobody family from Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
From Brooklyn, Well, they from Puerto Rico, but they were
living in Brooklyn, and so they adopted me when I
was officially five years old, but my mom took me
in when I was six, when I was sixteen months old.
They heard about me at twelve months, but I was
in foster care. So thank god. My my mother was
(01:06):
such a beautiful woman, Maria Mary Nuniaz that when she
saw me as my brother Apos told me that she
fell in love with me the minute she saw me.
She said, yeah, exactly, matter of fact, as I was
adopted by Puerto Ricans. I was also my second family
was with Dominicans when I moved to Brentwood. So I
lived in a Dominican household from the age of thirteen
all the way to twenty three.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay, talk to me. How did you end up in
a Dominican household?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Because because growing up in Bronwood, Long Island. If you're
familiar with Brentwood.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Listen, I grew up in Bronwood too. Why are you
playing with me?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So you know there was no friends I had. So
my best friend Wellington to hate her.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh Wellington was your best friend?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, it still is.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Listen, this is hole. Listen, it's all it's all kind
of like coming together for me right now because I
feel like I've known you, but I don't know you,
but I know you and we're from the same place
and now it's making sense.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, So shout out to Brentwood because that's the melting
part that whoever, whoever you are, you become family at
least when we were raised.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How you end up? How did you end up from
Brooklyn to Brentlyn.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It's well, unfortunately, there was domestic ballence in my family,
and my sister Maria had to hide out from her husband,
so my t deuja. She wanted to remake Puerto Rico,
so she moved out to Brentwood, Long Island. She bought
up a corner of land. We had chickens, we had ducks,
(02:30):
we had pigs. We were Brooklyn, right, I mean my
uncle Heckt the whole thing, machete guitar, had the whole nine.
So she would hide out there, and my father was like,
we were getting kind of tired of Brooklyn. It was
starting to get bad with crack. So my dad sold
our house in Brooklyn and we moved to Branwood Long Island.
(02:50):
So I grew up there and it was it was
you know Craig mac E, P M D. Bismarcke JVC Force.
If anybody remembers them, murried rock him wine dance. I
don't want to get myself in trouble. But there's a
rapper from bay Shaw. Okay, he's very famous.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, So what you mean you don't want to get
yourself in trouble?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
What does that mean when when we're off, I'll break
it down?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Okay, okay, okay, right, no problem.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
A lot of artists, whether they want to say it
or not, they they're from Long Island. A lot of
I mean, not not all of them, but there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Oh no, I know there is a lot. And you
know that's one of the things that made us proud
as people from Brentwood, Suffolk, Long Island, that we had
all these rappers.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Even certain organizations, not to get myself in trouble, that
a lot of them started in Long Island too, A
lot of them. You know, I started in record labels,
big record companies, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
So Longland's cool. All the money's in Long Island. We
got some mansions in Long Island, highest taxes in the nation,
Nasal County. Don't play with us. We got that bread,
you know what I'm saying, play with us.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So I was saying before Honey, I forgot. I had
a lemonade for the fiftieth year of Hip Hop Up
and a portion of the protis was going to the
Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. But it was just for
the summer. It was called Mighty Joyful.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Lemonade and it's not available any longer.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm going to remake it with another company.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Charity work.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
My goal is to start schools of photography in Puerto
Rico and in the Dominican Republic and then maybe Haiti.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Two I brothers and over in Haiti. They need all
the help that we can give them. You know what
I'm saying. I love that. Now let's talk about college stuff.
A community college, you know, yeah, how long were you there?
You graduated?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So when I was when I moved from Brooklyn to Brentwood,
they immediately put me in Special ed.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
What they were talking about, talk.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
To me slow, you know, and what.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Was the problem. You were opinion as.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Hyper you know. And then you know, I don't want
to say racism, but you know, you're coming from Brooklyn,
you know, whatever, it was still Blanchito of course, rock
and road and all that stuff. So while I was
in Special LED, uh, you know, my unfortunate my mother
passed away when I was ten. So as a result
(05:10):
of that, my dad was always working. I was sort
of like an only child in a way, even though
I had three older brothers and an older sister. But
when I got to Brentwood, I still remembered all the
things my mom taught me, you know, and so when
they told me, you know, hey, I spoke to my
guidance counselor at Easternior High School. I said, hey, mister,
(05:32):
mister Thornton, I'm thinking about going to college. And he
said to me, Johnny, I wouldn't think about going to college.
I would try to get a job in a factory,
find out a woman, get married, have kids, and work
a factory job. And I said to myself, you know
I could already hear my mother cursing in Spanish. Nah.
And so I applied to Suffer Community College, and through
(05:55):
the grace of God, I got accepted. And once I
got to college, I became a member of the African
American Organization, Hispanic Latino Organization, the school paper, the school Senate.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
You said, I'm gonna get involved in everything.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And you know, I would hang out at different colleges
like Stony Brook University, and I also got into New
York Tech, where I was affiliate with their clubs.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
So you said, listen, I'm gonna rub shoulders with all
of these associations. And I don't blame you. Now, when
did you pick up a camera for the first time?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Was ready to hear the long story? You want to
hear a short story?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Listen let's keep it under an hour.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So Brentwood. You know, as I was saying, Brentwood, a
lot of people sleep, and I don't want to get
my fellow Woodians in trouble. But and you know, all
I would say is it was Brentwood. And so as
I was. After I graduate from college, I got accepted
(06:54):
to a medical school program for National Community College, and
I was at National Community studying radiation therapy on cology
where I was treating people with cancer. I wanted to
do just X rays. I wound up applying for radiation
therapy by mistake, Yeah, by mistake, but out of four
hundred and twenty students, I was one of the twenty
(07:16):
twenty two students that got selected. I used to feed
the homeless. I was a home health aid shout out
to all the home health aid workers out there that
put up with people and take care of elderly people,
especially the disenfranchised as well. So anyway, I got accepted
and I was doing really good. I was going to
be a radiation therapist. For those who don't know what
(07:37):
are radiologists, and the radiation therapist is you could do
radiology and take X rays and MRIs and you know
all kinds of different techniques to see the body where
you could do radiation therapy, which is the treatment of cancer.
So whether it's breast cancer, headed back, spine, organs, you
name it, leukemia, there's all kinds of treatments with radiation.
(08:01):
I wound up getting close to three months of graduating
and I witnessed something at a very prestigious hospital that
was racist, and I got kicked out of the program
after making a complaint. The girl I was dating her family, well,
she broke up with me. She had a new boyfriend
at Stony Brook University. The landlord I was renting a
(08:22):
room from, and I'm not even mad at her. They
said that someone else wanted my room and was willing
to pay more money. And then my dad at the
time was living in Glendale, Queens and growing up in
a very proud Puerto Rican family. I always say this
in all the interviews. They taught me at the early
age to be like the rhinoceros, which is one of
(08:44):
the only animals that doesn't know how to walk backwards,
you go forward adante. And so I picked up all
my stuff, I put it in storage and I became homeless,
living in my car in Brentwood. I would deliver pizza
with Pizza Hut, and I was I went back to
what allowed me to make a living through college, which
(09:04):
was being a home health date. So Monday through Friday
was helping the elderly people. On the Saturdays, I used
to volunteer every Saturday at Saint Anne's Church, feeding the homeless,
and before you know it, I wound up taking food
or food back to my car, now experiencing. I was
(09:25):
just studying medicine to be in the medical world. Now
I'm with nobody and embarrassed, and I went to deliver
pizza to someone's house. This is how it became a photographer.
I went to deliver pizza to one of the deliveries
and one of our friends said, Johnny, what are you doing?
And I was on this beautiful, brand new condo, not cando,
(09:49):
townhouse or whatever you want to call it, ranch they
call it. And I'm like, you know, just delivering pizza.
But Johnny, aren't you studying medicine. I'm like, yeah, yo, dude,
oh I know it. You must be paying your medical
program bills and I'm like yeah. He was reaching to
my pocket. He says, don't worry. Just reach in my pocket.
I pulled out a lot of money. I said, so
(10:12):
and so I don't I can't break a hundred. He's like, nigga,
you're crazy, that's you. And I'm like, so take one
hundred dollars bill. So I took a one hundred dollar bill,
went to my car and just started to hit my head,
like saying, God, what what just happened? I was going
I was bound for medicine and now I'm delivering pizza
(10:33):
getting one hundred dollar bill tip, you know. So the
next day I get a call from my manager and
his name was Tony and I was sleeping in the
call in back of the car.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Pizza manager.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, and I'm sleeping in the car, but in the
backseat in some dead end alley, like wondering what's happening.
And he said, Johnny, I don't know what you did,
but you better come back to pizza. I said, what's
going on. There's a bunch of guys here that are
taking no for an answer. They want you. They told
me to call you to come and I'll say And
before I could do, I said, I'm on my way.
(11:08):
And he said, Johnny, whatever you do, don't come through
the front, come through the back.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I'm scared.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Now. Yeah, I'm like, holy shit, what did I do?
Maybe I did? I got somebody pissed off, you know
how Brentwick is it. As I began to drive up
the driveway of Pizza on Suffolk Avenue, it is like
a car show. All the Benzes, all the poshes, all
the Jaguars, nothing but young Dominican and Puerto Rican and
(11:33):
black kids with dookie gold chains and rolexes. And I
just drove past them to the back and I said,
what's the problem to that motherfucker right there? That dude
I won't say his name because you know, nah a
street pharmacist, all right. So he said, yo, noon. As
I heard what happened, I said, what's going on? You
(11:55):
want your change back? He's like, nah, man, I want
you to come work for me. I'm like, you're opening
up a pizzaia too. He's like, nah, nigga, I need
you to help me sell that white girl. I said,
white girl, what are you talking about? Cocaine? He said,
give me your hand. I said, yo, so and so
I can't just give me your hand and he put
(12:15):
a bunch of paper in it, and I was like, yo,
I can't take this. He said why. I said, because
this is blood money. He said, blooding got ship to
do with it. That's green. If you decide that you
want to come work for me, there's plenty more. If
you decide don't keep it. It's a gif for me
to you. And they just all drove off like a movie.
(12:39):
And so I said, man, and this is this is
a weird story. You don't have to believe me. I was.
I was working weekends at a at a sweatshop. A
factory job was horrible.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
There is a lot of factories.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Friends of mine gave me a book called Unlimited Power
by Anthony Robbins, so I would read that in my
call and I would read that on the weekends. I'll
also read that in on the factory job. So I
hit a panic button when I was reading a chapter
in the book about a week before and it said,
whatever you're doing right now, stop Tony Robbins. Think of
(13:14):
where you want to be in five years. And I
was like, five years, I don't know what I want
to do. So remember that that. I said that. So,
after my friends left me and I had this money
in my hand, I counted it when they left. Do
you remember how much it was on a thousand dollars?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
You know, listen, But at this point.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Twenty six years ago, twenty seven years ago, I was
long so Myke's girlfriend's mother, who was a Haitian woman,
she said, Johnny, I made your favorite dish, Haitian rice
and beans and chicken wings. Even though Myke's girlfriend had
left already and she was away, her parents loved me
to death. So I said, I'm coming over. I went
to the house and then she did make the meal.
(13:54):
But she also said, I don't know what you're going through, Johnny,
but this is the living room. But tonight you sleep here.
You still got towels, towels here, you still got some
of your clothes from when you were dating. My daughter
is still here. I didn't live there, but they had
some clothes. And whatever you're doing, I'm just gonna give
you some peace. And she closed the door. Honey. I
(14:15):
looked down, and I was like, man, God, I started
to cry. I'm gonna lie no man, but I cried,
and I said, you know, God, tomorrow morning, when I
wake up, you don't give me an idea, I'm gonna
go sell drugs and I'm gonna kill some people in
Jesus's name.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And so next morning, when I woke up, I saw
a camera.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And I was like, you were you slept on that couch.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
It was like a couch full time.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Okay, So I.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Robbed my eyes. I'm like, maybe I'm seeing things and
there it was just in the air.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh, it was a vision. No, it was like an
actual camera.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
An actual camera.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Nah, I'm getting it.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
If it's a real camera there, let me just try to.
I try to like rather like you know, low key
like side, like a little snuff. And my hand went
right through it and it dissolved.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So I said, man, what did they call that an apparition?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I don't know, but I said, God, if you want
me to be a photographer, and it popped up again
a camera. No, I went My hands went right through it.
And when I went through it the second time, I
saw Christmas greeting cards slowly falling to the ground. And
I said, God, if you can give me one more sign,
I swear I will bother you no more for a while.
(15:47):
Give me one sign of God that you want me
to be a photographer. And in my faith we called
the Holy Spirit and I felt the Holy Spirit fall
on me. I went, yeah, I spit it to something
and I said to all my friends, Oh, I know
what I'm gonna be. I'm gonna Johnny, what's going on?
I went to one of my friends, Jean and Pat's crib. Yeah,
(16:10):
I know, Johnny, you living in the call homeless. You
come here, you take showers and use the bathroom. What
we're gonna be? I said, I'm gonna be a photographer?
Hold up, Johny, did the radiation hit your brain? You
don't even have a place to live. Who told you
that you're gonna be a photographer? And I said, believe
it or not? God did? He said? God said? Who?
(16:33):
He said? I said, God told me I'm gonna be
a photographer.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So I bowled from these are your notes and look
at the first thing it says man of God. I
got that, you know, and we've never spoken about spirituality,
but yeah, I know, I said. I said, Johnny is
definitely a man of God.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Thank you. So I'll make it short because I know
talk I'm very long winded. But in Anthony Robins book
it said see where you want to be in five years?
And uh, I was working at a factory job. So
when it turned the page, it said stop if you
did not see where you want to be in five years,
stop now. We turned back to the page previously something
(17:14):
like that.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I feel like we should do this exercise.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Right the button And I looked at the wall, and
I came my bosses yelling, who stopped the line?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
You stopped the right then and there?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, And I saw private jets. I saw, I saw
jay d I saw puff, I saw Nahs, I saw
Naomi Campbell, I saw fashion shows, I saw private jets,
I saw yachts and all those things. And when my
boss came to me, he said, yo, who told you
(17:45):
the shot? I said, I said, I thought I saw something.
He says, I will kick your ass out of here.
You ever touched that button again? Red button was a
little under the wall.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay, I'm gonna be making it more dramatic than it
needs to be.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Company was caught by stronics. But anyway, I saw what
I wanted to see. So the reason why I tell
you that is because within two years, or actually within
the first year, I made over one hundred thousand dollars.
Within the second year, I was on G four private
jets traveling the world with Rockefeller Records, overseas with Kanye
West and John Legend. I became Naomi Campbell's personal photographer.
(18:21):
I became Jay Z's personal photographer. I became Seawan Combs
personal photographer. I became Fat Joe's personal photographer. I became
Michael Jordan's personal photographer. I became Lebron James personal photographer.
I became at times Barack and Michelle Obama's personal photographer.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
They don't get in that.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I also wound up becoming officially the first black Latino
Grammy photographer, first official VMA photographer. Now I say official
because I had to break the glass ceiling and I
had the help of diversity inclusion which now has helped
(19:00):
quality and diversity. So I also, you know, personally, like
to say, you know, by trusting in God, you know,
and keeping the faith. And even though my mom and
my father has passed away, I still feel their presence
as a big factor in my success. So whether it's
Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, or Africa or Haiti
(19:25):
or Cuba, wherever I could lend my my resources and
I'm there, whether it's Europe, Lebanon, Pakistan, israel I pray
for peace for everyone, you know. And I try to
lend my hand, whether it's the LGBQ community, whether it's
(19:48):
religious organizations or women's rights. I try to lend my mind.
By the way, please vote, because women, you have no
idea what's coming down the pipeline if you don't vote. Uh,
and men as well.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Now listen, we get political, but I'm just leting you.
We're at the polls. We're at the polls. Do you
understand the importance of voting? So you feel like, because
God gave you all this, you have to give back? Like,
is that something that's like a burning thing in your heart?
Do you think about it daily?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Like? Yeah, I mean I'm blessed with a beautiful wife
and two beautiful children. Yeah, doctor, doctor of pediatry.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I love that. Look at that. And medicine made it
into your life, even if it was bear your wife.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah. And I have two beautiful children, Jeremiah and Enjoy
and Nunez. And my my family is very proud of me,
of where I came from.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
We're all very proud of you. I want you to
know this. Listen. The Latino community, the hip hop community,
New York, Long Island. The list goes on, Johnny, like
you really have put, you know, just latinos up there,
like you have set the bar so high. And I'm
not just talking photography, I'm talking just in general when
it comes to the culture, I don't know who's gonna
be able to duplicate.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I have a funny story, and you could tell him.
I said this back in the days, I was a
househead and I battled Mark Anthony at roseland House Music Dance,
House Music Dancing. Was a backup dancer for two in
the room there that song, SI look, I battle him
and I beat him. That's my little Mark Anthony story.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
That is a good story.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Everyone day else seen him? Who knows?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I'm pretty sure you will and you will tell him.
Now can we talk about I know you've shot everyone.
Is there anyone left out there that you're like, I
still have to shoot this person? Man? It doesn't have
to be hip hop, or it doesn't have to be
black or brown Anthony Robbins.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Really, because I say to myself, what if I never
picked up that book? And I believe when I prayed
to God for a decision, if I didn't have photography,
I was gonna go join a group of friends of
mine that some of them are just now coming home
and a lot of them have passed away. And you know,
(22:05):
had God not do that that curveball, that pitch? You know,
I was just so depressed from what had happened. And
I'm just telling you the PG. Thirteen version of my story.
I can't really tell you the other side. But they
were going to be heads that were going to roll
from my demise in school, you know. But shout out
(22:26):
to anyone, well, I just say this on your podcast,
if you ever have a problem, DM me, I'll pray
with you. I don't care what time, if I'm up,
I'll pray with you because I know that no matter
what you're facing. In my upbringing, in my faith, you know,
(22:46):
we had the Catholic faith. We had Santadilla, which nobody
really talked about in my family, but it was in
the basement with a bunch of candles. And I'll keep
it real, but that's afrocentric Affro spirituality, African spirituality. I
just know that there are energies, there are forces, whether
you want to acknowledge them or not. And I just
(23:07):
know that I've been blessed to have been taught and
and and shown from a very early age that you know,
do good. I'm not perfect. I'm saying, do good, help people,
and God will always take care of you. Open doors
for people, and God will open doors for you. Closed
doors on people, and God will He won't even have
(23:28):
to you closing your own door in yourself. You know,
so I learned again. You know. That's why whenever I
make these products or I become partners in a company,
shout out to capskins. By the way, I didn't bring
one with me. When you help people, you know, whether
you believe in calm or not, I just know that
so many things will come back to you. It will
(23:50):
be paid a hundred million times infold.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
You know, it's just the theory of you know, abundance
and you know sharing and the more you share, the
more God gives back to you. And you know, sometimes
people don't want to share, and it's that scarcity mentality
that they feel like, I got to hold onto everything
I have. I can't share, I can't help because what
if I don't get it back, or what if you know,
one day I don't have anything left for me. And
(24:15):
the more you get locked into that scarcity mentality, the
less you're gonna get. And I read the Bible, and
you know, I follow God, and I see exactly what
it is that you're doing. And now it makes even
more sense how successful you've been, and you know how
many doors have opened for you, doors that nobody as
a photographer would even be able to touch. Like you know,
(24:37):
I know photographers, and I know people that have been
doing this for years, and the people that you have
been able to, you know, photograph and the people that
your lens have shot.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Than you.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
When is the Coffee book coming? I know I need that?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, so why Alicia Butterfield if you Knowlia But she
has a new company called Seed and we're now working
on my documentary of that followed by a book.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I had it here, I said, biography. Yeah, so the
doc is happening now, we're working on it.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It should be starting twenty twenty five. And then from
the documentary there's been book offers, so we're shopping them around.
But I have basically twenty it'll be twenty nine years
worth of hip hop photography.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
How can you even put that into one anything done?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
It might be volumes, man, right, you know, it's the
early years before digital, and then there's the beginning years
of digital, and then now there's the now. But I
feel like, you know, it's again a blessing to even
be here now, Honey, on your show, your podcast, Thank
you for having me and just the evolution. I'm not
(25:46):
just a photographer. I'm a photojournalist. So what I shoot
is what you see if you look at my social media,
I'm just showing you what I see.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
You know, you're part of history when it comes to
you know, our culture New York hip hop. You're part
of our culture.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
How many songs has your name been mentioned in?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I would like to say seven. Yo.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I was so curious about that. I said, I need
a list because I feel like all the who's mentioned
your name because I feel like I hear it in songs.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Put me on his Grammy Award winning album twenty seven Summers,
Checking them at five. Vado and Cameron put me on
We All Up in Here that was maybe twelve fifteen
years ago. Also Chris what's his name? Chris Classic? He
put me in the song.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I love hearing your name when I hear his songs, I'm.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Like, there's about three or four more other artists and then,
you know, because I was Kevin Lowes put me in
a video game icon. A lot of the voiceovers had
me spoken by other artists for the for the video
game TI Ludicris, Fad Joe Ald Them also shout out
to Fat Joe, Terror Squad.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Love Fat Joe. We gotta get him up here. I
We're gonna make that happen. That's my guy.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
As far as shooting celebrities, who has been your most
difficult person to shoot? As far as taking directions because
you know, celebrities are celebrities and they're set in their ways.
You know you're right, you know, did somebody ever tell
you this is my good side? This is this is
my good side. I only shoot on my right.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
All the time. Sometimes. That's why I hate digital because
they're like, let me see that picture, Like now you're
showing racetar, Like you know what I'm gonna I'm not
gonna take no picture.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I have that here digital versus you know, prior to
the digital area, do you prefer it pre digital? No?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I think digital. I love evolution and I love how
things change. So it was great when film was filmed
and you can still shoot with film, But.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Did you still shoot with film at times or no.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But if I get a LIKEA or if I get
some type of film camera, I love it. It's like
a nostalgia. And now even digital is outdated. This mirror
lest cameras, so that's another form of digital. But now
you don't even have to have a reflection of an
image to an image to make a print. It's straight
up mirrorlestic. What you see is what you get.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
What about AI? What are you thinking about AI? What
are you still trying.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
To learn and understand it? It reminds me of like
bitcoin and NFTs. I don't know enough about it yet,
but I know it's coming.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
But do you feel like with photography, let's see like
these AI images that the fake images, and you know
it happens, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It's like it's like mental masturbation. I hate to say
that because it's not real. It's just like what you
want it to be. And it's almost perfect for a
lonely person because now you can create your own universe
and you don't even need humans.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
And that's not good, that's terrible that you're out of.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Touch, you know, you become like a what's that X
Men character? Thumbos is that what's his name? You become
like a thumbos like here's a creator.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
You're like, oh no, we don't want that.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
That's yeah, it's like you don't need anybody. It's just you.
You exist. Everyone exists because of you, and you know,
waving hand, everybody's dead, waving hand, everybody's alive.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Like, nah, we definitely don't want that. Now, let's go
back to if certain.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
People get in office, is gonna be like that?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Oh nah, we don't want that either. We don't. We
don't want you.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Now. Shooting celebrities, who was your favorite? Who is you know,
who's someone that you want to shoot again, or who's
someone that you loved going on tour with? Like who
made photography life just more enjoyable for you?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Man? I love common man. Commons are real, dude, Fat
Joe's another one. NAS's man cool.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
They're also different, you know what I'm saying. It's like
that Joe is so.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Fun, jay Z's cool, fifty Center is cool, Kanye West cool.
Believe it or not, a lot of times people say,
oh you know that person. Listen, man, unless you walked
a mile in there shoes, you don't know what a
person's going through. I always tell people, like, you know,
we're quick to judge and hate people, and don't let
(30:07):
the media get involved. Now forget it's a frenzy.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And then it's just like everybody wants to gig up
and like, Okay, we're gonna collectively hate this person and
cancel them and make sure that they cease to exist.
And I hate when that happens. You because we're all humans.
We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are bigger than others.
But we all deserve forgiveness. We deserve to be able
to explain ourselves, and also we have to also be
(30:32):
able to, you know, separate the music from the person.
And you can't just be like cancel all that music
like it never exists, because Kanye is a great artist.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Year and you know, it's like I just know, like
I said, being raised by an amazing family, they had
the philosophy of fuck around and find out.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
That's my philosophy.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I don't want to find out. You know, I walked
this this thin line because one I'm representing my family
and two, you know, jails very cold and lonely, and
death is very cold and lonely. Either do good, work
hard and take care of your people. And my brother Eddie, Paul, Charlie,
(31:30):
and my sister Maria, they're real ones. Many they check up.
They check up on me all the time. And I'm
thankful to God again. You know, my family and Wellington
to Hate and all them, the ta Hala family. This
is my infrastructure, this is my building bridges, this is
I'm the sum total of my existence because of them,
(31:52):
and as a result, I carry pride with me everywhere
I go to represent them, because if they didn't educate
me or take me under their wing, I don't know
where I would be right now. I could be in
i could be dead, which was an easy path to
take if you got into the crack era. If anybody
(32:12):
remembers that, the drug dealing era, if anybody remembers that,
it's still out there. But I'm just saying growing up
in Brooklyn where I was, it was a different it
was a different time.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Oh yeah, and even even Brentwood. It's like people people
think like, oh, it's Long Island. No, there was a
lot of drugs, a lot of violins, you know, killings.
It was just a lot of gangs.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
The first day I went to East Junior High School
was the first. I guess you could say the America's
first Colinbine school shooting wasn't Colin Vine. It was Brentwood,
Long Island. My very first day of going to school,
I was on my way there and I saw a
(32:54):
swat team helicopters around the school time. All the kids
go back, and frontal substitute teacher came back the next
day shot the principal in the face. The principal dropped
and took his own blood and put it over his
face because I think he shot him in the draw
and it broke his It broke his it went to
his cheek, broke his jaw, but he didn't shoot him
(33:16):
in the head. So he took the blood, put it
on his face and played dead when the gunman passed by.
Then that same gunman went into the cafeteria and locked
himself in there with the children and the teachers. A
swat team sniper shot him dead in the head, shot
him in the head. That was the first what do.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
You call that mass shooting like maschool shooting?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
And that was my first day And I told my dad, Dad,
you moved us out of Brooklyn for this, for this ship.
I want to go back to Brooklyn, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Take me back to the hood the first because Brentwood
the hood too, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I remember I met BISMARKI at homeroom. He was going
through classes. He had graduated, but he was.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Going he went to together.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
He was promoting a nightclub called Electric Avenue. Then I
met Eric Sermon in Parish Smith pulling up an Iraq
Iraq made irock Z's the car yeah, And I was
like wow. And then you know, for.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
They got money in Broadwood, these druggers was getting it
in Brown.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Craig mac cain, he's zoom Zoom Zoom and all these
other hip hop artist and I'm like wow, you know,
started to get a little bit of pride for Brentwood.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
But it was also the but you were not photographing
anyone just yet.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I just was living life, enjoying going from concrete jungle
to like lightning bugs in the summer and like those
little catapullars with their with their little silk worms in
the night, get all up in your face, paws.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
And I feel because I went from one hundred and
fifty First and Broadway to Broadwick, so I know exactly
the transition you had. I remember I used to bury
things in the backyard. I was so bored out of
my mind. I just like, I'm gonna bury something and
then I'm gonna come back and find it late hours,
just in a yard with eight corns and shit, I'm like,
take me back to the hood.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
This is boring, is but it's beautiful. Silence or or
silence can be peaceful when there's no loud noises.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
But it's crazy that they took us out of the
hood to save us. And then little did they know
that we all went all of the hood, people that
didn't want to be in the city, went to Brandwood
and Central Islam. We were all together. But you know what,
it's a big group of us, you know that made
it out and you know are highly successful and you know,
a big shoutout brown Wood. Cut the check if y'all
got money in the budget right now. One thing with
(35:29):
you is that you get very close to celebrities. How
have you managed to build that connection? Like everywhere I'm at,
if you're there, you're right next to them. You know,
it's just like you know over here, over here, and
no everybody stops for you. Everybody takes the pictures, everybody
does the drop like, how did you create that?
Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Or do you think it's just everybody knows who you are?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
No? I think I think when I was, like I said,
you know, growing up in Brooklyn, I would be with
my mother and she used to sell avon and my
mother was like, really is saint? Everybody in the block
they didn't have sugar or flower, or they needed something.
They would come to my house, knock on the door,
and my mom would just find it for them and
she would help them. And you know, I also noticed
(36:12):
how she was a saleswoman and she would you know,
spread perfume, showed them a new product, and I just
admired how people would open the doors and she would smile.
And you know, I'm not saying she didn't know. She
never went to school for marketing, but it was these
internal manners or her instincts to connect with people. And
(36:37):
my mother was color blind. Look at my color. She
was your complexion. And no matter what I did, I
would say, Mommy, you sure I came from you? And
I don't want to tell you what she said in Spanish,
but you came from a certain area my body. Don't
ask me again, got it so and I said that
for lack of better words, but the skills that I
(36:58):
have to connect with people is I love to meet
artists when they're new, when there's a first artist to perform,
when they're booed, when they're like the build, yeah, build
the building box. I always tell friends of mine. There
was a photographer who's a friend of mine. Her name
is a Dirty South Yankee and my previous assistant who
(37:22):
I love to death of Dallas Moreno. We were working
together and at a point she had to stay Dirty
South had to stay at a friend's place and she
didn't have a camera, and I think I lent to
her camera. One of us went to her camera and
she said, Johnny, this artist I really like she's going
to be performing on the Lower East Side. You should come.
(37:43):
And I'm like, what's her name? And then I was like,
I don't want to go, but thanks though. And then
later on after I got to meet with her again,
I said, how did the show go? Man? She got booed,
they threw their drinks at her, security kicked off stage,
and here's the photos and I'm like, wow, he's awesome.
She's like in lingerie and I'm like, why would they
bore her? And you know, fast forward the story. I'm
(38:07):
at the Apollo upstairs in their VIP room and a
con says to me, Hey, Johnny, I want to introduce
you to somebody. He's like, Yo, French Montana, come over here,
Lady gotta come over here. This is Johnny Newt. When
you see him, you stop. This guy makes you famous.
I'm like, how are you doing, French Montana? How are
you doing? Lady god Goga? I heard your name before,
(38:28):
you know. Fast forward I'm at doctor Dre's house with
Lady Goga. Where I am. We're in California for the
Beats by Doctor Dre launch and I'm like, lady, got
nice to meet you again. And they're like, Danny, this
lady guy, I met her. But you know, so again,
(38:49):
what if I would have went? What if I would
have helped her? You know, helping people when they're new, fresh,
sometimes vulnerable. A friend in need is a friend. Indeed,
That's why I love amplifying artists when no one knows
who they are. And then of course as they get bigger, I'm.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
So much so it was personal photographer, who are you?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
You can't shoot them and you got talked to the
publicist and I'm like, wait a minute, whoa I was
in I was really shooting in the gym. I was
really in the trenches when this artist was not even known.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Now they're super And I feel you on that because
I have one of the only Doja Cat interviews out there,
and it was when she was baby Dojah. Long story,
but I was like, I'll do it. And you can't
find many Doja Cat interviews, but mine is there because
(39:44):
when she was a baby artist, I believed in her.
I saw the talent and I wanted to help her
and her label. She had me at move exactly.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
I was on YouTube moo. We talked about mood. She's bad.
Who's this moon girl?
Speaker 2 (39:58):
And now she's a superstar.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Yeah, I'm like, yo, she was stick. Now she's slimm thug,
you know, but she's still hot. She saw her. I
saw her backstage at a BET award. She was well received,
but not as received as she is now. I said,
Doja Cat, I'm your biggest fan. I missed your showing
(40:21):
s obs. And as I was walking one way and
she was walking the other way, she stopped, turned around,
came over and gave me a hug. No one knew
she was, and I'm like, yo, I know who you are,
I know what you're about to do.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
I was like, she's a baby artist, but the potential
was there and it was just.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Like yeah, yeah, I love man. I actually shot her
at the fashion at the net Gala after party shout
out to Richie Keiba and Naomi Campbell. And I was
at the after after as they call it the after
after party, and she got on my Instagram thors just
started dancing and I was like, doja, dude, dance with me?
And she literally stopped and she danced for like eight
(40:58):
minutes and some my Instagram so.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Many people, where do you store all of this?
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Talk to me external hard drives?
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Where is all this stuff? Because I know, I know
for a photographer to lose his work must be devastating.
How do you secure everything?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
External hard drives? Also clouds and also child to Getty Images.
I'm a founding contributor, I'm a partner when it started.
Really all my stuff is at least archived. Good.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Then if you if you got down with Geddy, we
have a Getty subscription. It's not cheap.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
You got money, Nah, I wish, but yeah, wire Image
was acquired by Getty and I think two thousand and seven,
so I was grandfather.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Thank God, good for you. I love that because because
I was going to ask you, have you always been
able to make a living as a photographer always from
when I.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
When I was living in a car delivering pizza. To
the grace of God, I never have to work for
another day anybody.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
I love that because I was always curious. I'm like,
is this like all he does? Because you know, sometimes
when you're creative, when you're creative, it doesn't always pay
everything that you needed to pay.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yeah. So my father, Haniel Nunyaz, he taught me at
a very early age you eat what you kill, you know,
So if you don't work, you don't provide for your family.
You don't provide for your family, what kind of men
are you? No disrespect to all the dead beats out there,
But if you don't take care of your family, you
(42:32):
know your children will look at you crazy as they
get old enough to realize what were you doing when
you should have been providing. So I never want my
kids to ever feel that their parents or their dad
is not there for them. So I give shout outs
to all parents that work hard, especially even foster care
(42:53):
parents that adopt children.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
You know, so you're going to give me two moments
that you're proud of or you know that are just
so iconic in your brain forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
You know, two prints, like I said jay Z and
Nile's posing with toasting with champagne and on jay Z
shirted said notorious Big. It was at the anniversary of
Biggie's passing, and that picture is in uh Dj Khaled's
living room framed. He says that that picture is his
(43:27):
mood forever. And then I set up this photo of
Cameron with a pink phone and a pink fur and
a pink the whole nine. I set that up and
I claimed that as the one who did it. I
was in Washington Heights and I was shot with film.
There was a flood from my upstairs neighbor distrim it.
(43:48):
It destroyed like one third of like all my negatives.
I was devastated. But you know, fast forward, the picture
that circulates is from a different photographer that put her
can or my mind, and a lot of them always
do that at events that they don't know who the
artist is. So they let me set it up and
then the minute I go to press the flash, they
(44:09):
quickly put their camera in. So this individual was able
to do that. Won't talk, don't stay the person's name,
but that picture made a lot of money. But of
the culture, I am the real one, you know. So
through the grace of God, I was looking through as
I was archiving about a year ago, actually the last
year of COVID, I came across some old pictures and
(44:32):
all of a sudden boom, one of the ones that
I took of Cam was able to be saved. So
I'm going to release that soon. But the rest, you know,
everything was what I set up. Unfortunately, I didn't have
digital at the time. I still had film. But I'm
proud of that picture too, and Cam knows I set
it up because I was comor at least personal photographer
(44:54):
at the time, and my job was to give celebrities
the phone the phone they didn't have the phone. Some
of them received it as a gift.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I wonder it so bad. Yeah, I saw it them bloomingdals.
I said, I don't get money for this. I was mad.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Ye. Shout out to Tina Lee, who helped create that
with me.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
So yeah, nice, I love that. Thanks for sharing that.
Now what do you have as far as like, how
can we get your prints? How can we get original Johnny's.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Working with Henriquo Carrera. Actually shout out to Henriko Kiki,
big Mexican artist sculpture. He just created an amazing sculpturing
piece at the Centurion Room with American Express black Card. Okay,
so Friday, He's the first artist that I know of
(45:41):
to actually have a piece that was created for American Express,
which is the Black Boat. And so I'm looking on
my website now it will be photography going to be
Johnny Innis photography again. By twenty twenty five, it should
be read. Okay, you can come to my website, the
(46:02):
one that exists now is there, but it's it's I
don't even look at it all right, but you always
find me by going to Getty Images. Okay, type in
search Johnnys and all my images will come up. Okay,
Or you could just direct message me for now and
I'll send you something.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
I love how accessible you are. It's like you're a
star photographer. But DM me if you want to pray,
DM if you want you know something from me. It's like,
I love the humbleness and you know, the accessibility and
how you're still so feed on the ground despite having
you know, photographed all of the icons and you know,
travel the world and been personal photographers to such you know,
(46:40):
big superstars, you're still but you know, you're a man
of God, so I'm not expecting anything not perfect. Oh no,
I'm sure if I talk to your wife, she'll tell
me a few little things here and there that they
didn't get. No, but thank you so much for joining
us today, Johnny, really, thank you, thank you for all
you're doing. We're super proud of you, and I'm super
appreciative that you sat down with me today.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Thank you, honey, and thank you for everybody here in
the room with us for having me.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
And thank you, iHeart for you know, for giving us
this platform. I heart thank you giving Latino voices where
they can you know, feel safe, share their story and
you know, amplify you know, the difference that we're making here,
not just in not just in the Latin space, but
just in the culture in general.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
No doubt. And also, last thing I want to can
I give a few shout outs? Oh yeah, for sure,
shout out to goat Fuel Energy drink. Shout out to
east Side Golf, which I'm wearing shirts. Oh no, this
is a brand. I want a golf so bad, Black
Golf Company. Sean Becker introduced me to them, Earl and
(47:41):
Elijah Wan they were Nike, and then Michael Jordan's business
partners nice and shout out to Cap Skins. That's c
A P s K I n Z. We have the
first patent that is a weather utility pattern to protect
your baseball caps. So I'm a partner in that as well,
and coming really soon to all those sexually active people
(48:03):
out there, talk to me, he smiled, look at him.
Smash cards. That smash card is a way to detect
if the partner you're about to engage with has a
history of STDs or sexual health issues, that way before
you get down.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
So it's like a car fax for vaginas.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Penis and vaginas. Probably it basically will will will once
you become a member. It will allow for you to
pull their history and if they had something or if
they have something, the facts will be there and you
now know, oh yeah, go to the party and you
meet somebody and you want to just afterwards, Hey, what's
(48:47):
your smash Card account number or what's your smash card code?
Check each other's phone. I'm clean, you're clean. It's a party,
I'm clean. All of a sudden, something's wrong in contact
the place date over. Well, there won't be no grand
opening because you closed it before I could open. How
do you like those apples? Yeah? I love. Smash Card
(49:09):
is created by just Winning Marlin. I'm a silent part
I'm a partner, but it's their baby creation, just like Capskins.
They also allowed me to partner with them.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
Thank you so much, Honey, thank you.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
I want to say one last thing. Sure grass come Again.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
I love it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Ihearts Mike When through That Podcast Network.
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