Reto Sterchi credits Michael Gomez with teaching him to serve others and share studio space early in his career. His first magazine assignment was shooting Taylor Swift in Nashville, and he still gets nervous before shoots but has learned to accept it.
Tell me about Michael Gomez and what was his impact on you?
Oh, huge impact. He's the guy that put the paintbrush in my hand, and what he said was, like, you got to serve people sometimes in your career. And I guess his point was that by being willing to help him paint, he was, you know, he was willing to share the studio with me. Funnily enough, my first assignment for a magazine was shooting Taylor Swift. So I hire an assistant in Nashville, and I fly over. I get to Nashville airport, and the assistant's there, but Michael Gomez is there also. So I was like, what are you doing here, man? He's like, I'm not gonna let you this up.
Were you nervous?
Yeah, I was nervous a little bit. You were? I'm always nervous for every shoot. Really? I made peace with it. It's not like a crippling anxiety or anything like that. It's sort of like.
Rising to the occasion and not underestimating.
Yes. When I look to the viewfinder, like, it's gone.
