Eric Garcia

Hometown: Houma, Louisiana

Age: 34

Artistry: Wedding and family portrait photographer

Online: geauxgarcia.com, @geauxgarcia on Instagram

Some artistic disciplines aren’t born out of a class, but from community. While studying marketing at LSU, Eric Garcia was that guy guaranteed to have his camera in hand at a party, always capturing unexpected angles and details his friends loved more than the average “say cheese” snaps.

He’s still never taken a photography course, but this creative passion led the energetic Houma native and long-distance runner to make senior portraits for his friends, learn and explore on his own, and eventually leave his day job to launch Geaux Garcia, focused on personally powerful wedding photography and family portraits.

He has shot hundreds of weddings across South Louisiana and the country, and his photo galleries are filled with depth, patterns and textures used in playful ways. Throughout, the confidence and calm of his subjects are abundantly clear. So recognizable is his style and brand that many who discover him on Instagram assume his name is actually “Geaux.”

“I call myself ‘Geaux’ sometimes, too,” Garcia says with a laugh.

An audience recognizing an artist is one thing, but an artist knowing himself well, too, is another. And the better they do, the more they’re able to authentically express their art. For Garcia, that means acknowledging the perfect bullseye he is to the Type 2 Enneagram personality—known as encouraging, easygoing helpers.

“If you’re a bride, you’ll be comfortable and confident, and I’m going to make you feel like a supermodel because I’m going to hype you up all day,” Garcia says. “That’s just my natural personality. I just want everyone to feel comfortable around me, and in front of my camera, and not intimidated at all.”

Just like when he started shooting pictures for fun, Garcia still uses his camera for connection, and he values the ability to lean on his community of photographer friends, too. Bridesmaids he photographs become his brides, and then they become his families with children Garcia is the first to photograph. Former groomsmen have even worked on the 1917 cottage Garcia has renovated and redesigned. The bridal party never ends.

The greatest reward for Garcia, beyond families cherishing his images for years, is when a wedding guest leans over and says to him with genuine joy, “You look like you’re having fun!”

“My response to that is always that I do truly believe I’m doing what God gave me to do,” Garcia says. “Every day I wake up, and I’m blessed to get to do this, to photograph these weddings, and to watch these friends’ babies grow up. It really is the coolest thing.”