Ep. 052 - Johnny Guerrero: Trading Holsters for Photography

Matt Stagliano: 00:01:00

Hey there. Welcome back to Generator.

I've always believed that there's something magnetic about folks who've lived a few lives before landing in the one that they were meant for. Maybe it's because I feel like I've had 30 different careers. Maybe it's my ADHD.

Regardless, I think that the folks with varied backgrounds make for really interesting conversations. And that's exactly what happened over the last hour that I spoke to Johnny Guerrero.

Johnny's been a soldier, a cop, a dad to dozens of foster kids, and now he's a photographer running Magnolia Green Photography out in Central Texas.

In this episode, Johnny and I talk about what it means to build a business rooted in service and community, not just in theory, but through lived experience.

He shares how his time in the army and law enforcement shaped his approach to client relationships and how being self taught gave him a unique perspective on creativity. We get into the raw stuff, too.

What it was like to foster over 45 children, building a family, how connection fuels everything he does, and why he believes in linking people together for the good of the whole.

We also get pretty vulnerable as he talks about his podcast, Trading Holsters and how it's helping veterans open up in healthy ways about their experiences. It's a conversation about pivoting with purpose, leading with humility, and building a life that makes room for both grit and grace.

Whether you're just starting out or whether you've been in the game for a while, Johnny's story is going to remind you about why we do what we do and what setting an example for the next generation really looks like. So stick around. This one's full of heart. And I can't wait to start the show with my friend Johnny Guerrero. How have you been, man?

Like last I left you at the Rio, you and I were both dragging a little bit. We had been kind of having some late nights and doing everything. How was your whole experience at WPPI for the first time?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:03:16

It was pretty good. Yeah, pretty good. I met a few new people. Not too many, but a few. A lot of old friends, which is always rejuvenating. I finally saw Gary Hughes.

I don't know if Gary Hughes, he's a headshot guy. Very entertaining, isn't he? And headshots can get boring sometimes because it's just kind of.

He kind of, kind of got me going, got the juices flowing, and I was like, okay, we can do something. It could be more fun than it is sometimes. Other than.

So I spent two days actually at the conference, and then the other two Days I was out shooting off site, so I kind of got half a conference, I guess. But I was really. I really did some cool stuff. We shot one day out sand dunes, and then another day out of an abandoned cement plant. Oh, wow.

Just great locations. Cool models. It was very small group, I want to say. There was about eight of us, and we just shot for hours. It was great.

Came home ready to hit the ground running again. So you need that every once in a while.

Matt Stagliano: 00:04:10

Isn't that the best feeling when you come back and you're full of momentum and all these ideas and all the juicers are going, and you just feel like nothing's impossible and.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:04:21

Yeah.

Matt Stagliano: 00:04:22

Yeah, that's my favorite thing coming back from a conference. Did you feel that way? Like, have you been recharged ever since?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:04:29

I. I have. I actually got home. I guess it was. I lose track of days. I think it was.

I got home and then I had a senior session on Saturday, and, like, I attacked it. I was like. I was like, no, we're. We're not leaving this spot until I get the shot.

You know, sometimes you kind of like, okay, well, I'll just fix it later, or whatever. But I was like. I was. I was really pushing myself. I used the gels. I used my magmod gels, which I. I did a photo walk with with Amber Henry on Jill.

Matt Stagliano: 00:04:57

Oh, she's great.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:04:58

She is. She's amazing. I was pulling off some really cool stuff with gels.

You know, I show the mom and the senior the backup camera, and they're like, whoa, this is crazy. That whole set of photos that I delivered, they loved every one of them. I felt really good about them.

I definitely took it home and put it into action right away.

Matt Stagliano: 00:05:16

Isn't it a cool feeling when you can give your clients, whether it's headshots or seniors or weddings, the types of pictures that they see on Instagram that they hope their photographer will be able to get for them. And when you're able to produce that, isn't that a cool feeling?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:05:34

That's a great feeling. Because sometimes in my area, at least at this. At least my experience, a lot of. A lot. And I do focus on seniors a lot.

It's like, okay, let's go to our local park. There's a green area. There's some trees, there's some water, and it's. You know, everybody's like, oh, let's go to the park.

And I'm like, please hear me out. So let's try something different. There's also, like, A bridge that's pretty famous in our area. Everybody wants to go to the bridge.

And I'm like, yeah, we can go to the bridge. Let's go spend half an hour at the bridge, but then let's try something else. So I'm really encouraging my clients to.

I don't care if we need to drive an hour two hours away. Let's. Let's get something different. Let's get something that I want, something that speaks to you.

I want something that comes from who you are, but I also want something that your friends aren't going to have. Everyone's going to have the shot at the bridge or Green, which is an area in my town, which is what the name Magnolia Green comes from.

Everybody wants to go to Green. And it's like everyone's at green. If we walk in the green on a Saturday, you're going to see a dozen photographers and clients walking around.

I will point out you won't see a whole lot of lighting, which I primarily use off camera flash. But there's a dozen photographers any day you go out there. I'm really like, let's. Please, let's hop in the car and go somewhere else.

So I'm trying to set up some destinations here, whether it be West Texas desert or down on the coast at the Gulf of America. By the way, I was trying to set up something different.

When my daughter was a senior, we on her spring break, we took a cruise, which hit the Bahamas, Key west in the Bahamas. And that's where I did her senior photos. Yeah. Yeah, she's spoiled, but. But, yeah, it was. I mean, they turned out great. They turned out amazing.

And it's just a matter of extending ourselves to get out there and do.

Matt Stagliano: 00:07:23

Something different from the photo walk with Amber Henry to being in the desert that your concrete plant, and then going back home and having that senior shoot. What were the elements that you pulled from what you learned at WPPI and put directly into that shoot? Was it a pose? Was it a question?

Was it the lighting?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:07:45

The lighting. I've never heard it put this way. And she's still kind of. Amber's still kind of refining her. Her catchphrase for it. But it basically says.

Or what she basically says is where there is shadows, that's where you put your color. I think what she was coming up with is kind of like where the shadows lie, the color thrives, or something to that effect. I'm going to misquote her.

I had a young man set up on a fence rail in green of Course. And there's a cabin next to him. He's illuminated. There's my hand from this side, facing me, and there's this side.

Matt Stagliano: 00:08:19

It's dark.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:08:20

It's just. The cabin was completely shadowed. I. His school colors are blue. I put a blue gel on, and I blasted it on the cabin. So he's illuminated perfectly.

And then the previously dark wall is. It just came out really cool and really neat. And I was like, I listened to Amber and that's. And I got what I wanted, so. And the mom loved it.

She was like, I can't believe this is where we're standing right now.

Matt Stagliano: 00:08:43

It's gotta be a sense of pride when not only are you able to give your clients that something different. Right. Because every kid wants something different. They don't want the same stuff as everybody else.

And when you're able to deliver that, that's gotta be great for your business.

Now, is this something relatively new that you've been trying, mixing color in and blasting color in different ways, or has this always been part of your repertoire, but now you're just adding it in now that you're more comfortable with it?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:09:12

I'd say that I've had the gels. I bought them in the last. The previous Black Friday Sal. So that's been five months ago. I've toyed with them here and there, but not in the way that.

The way she demonstrated on our photo log. So normally contrasting colors.

Where are my fingers that they are contrasting colors to light up the subject in a certain way, but this was more background lighting.

Matt Stagliano: 00:09:34

Let's. Let's go back in time a little bit. I'm really glad you had that experience at WPPI where you're able to kind of get that and.

And bring it directly and immediately into your business. I know that's the. Again, the best feeling that I can have is when I come back and I can put some of what I learned into practice immediately.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:09:54

Right.

Matt Stagliano: 00:09:54

But I also know that my experience over the past 13 years, I bring a lot of that subconsciously. So I want to go back in time a little bit, because from the.

From the few conversations that we've had, it is clear that your time in the army and in law enforcement, that does influence our own personalities and how we approach things in a certain way.

So let's start and talk a little bit about your time in the army and then how that translated into your career in law enforcement and then how that transferred into photography. I mean, there's. There's a line there that probably Isn't clear to everybody how you get from A to B. Because no one's path is that way. Right.

No one's path is a straight line there. Very rarely do you get someone that's like, you know what? I know at 13 years old, I'm going to be a photographer the rest of my life.

Maybe Caroline Tran would. Would do something like that, but.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:10:51

Right.

Matt Stagliano: 00:10:51

I wasn't that guy. And it doesn't sound like you were either. So talk to me a little bit about the army.

Was it straight out of high school, or did you get into it a little bit later?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:10:58

Yeah, straight out of high school. I was 17 when I enlisted in what's called the delayed entry program.

Basically, I'm putting my name on the line, and then they let me finish high school graduation, and then I. And then I leave for basic training. My father was in the army. He was an infantryman in Vietnam when I was. Man, I want to say I was in seventh grade.

Got the idea that maybe I would also go into the army as a high school senior or even a high school junior. I made up my mind that pursuing a further education was not in the cards for me at the time. I was pretty sick of reading and studying.

Toward the end of my high school time, I wasn't the best student in the world. I went to a recruiter, basically said, I want to enlist. And they said, well, you can be anything you want to be.

Of course, by the time I was all said and done, I was signed up as what's referred to as a 19 kilo. That's. That's the specialty, which is a armored Crewman on the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.

Matt Stagliano: 00:11:54

The M1A1 is quite the bit of machinery.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:11:58

Definitely is.

Matt Stagliano: 00:11:58

What did that teach you? That you never want to work on one again or.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:12:06

Well, working in a small group for one, there's. There's four. There's four members. On a tank, you have your tank commander, who is the one obviously in charge of the tank itself.

You have a driver, you have a loader, and you have a gunner. And each person has their own. Their own skill set. Just because you're a great driver doesn't mean you're going to be a great loader.

Doesn't mean you'll ever become a tank commander. But, yeah, working in a small group, everybody has their strengths, Everyone has their weaknesses.

As long as you can, one can focus on their strengths, then, hey, things are going to come out pretty good.

Matt Stagliano: 00:12:37

The small unit. And I will make my Hollywood reference here. I saw the movie Fury, and I've got a couple of buddies that were.

That were tank commanders, and they said it was very accurate to that team dynamic. Did you ever see the movie Fury with Brad Pitt?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:12:53

I did. It was. It's probably my favorite tanker movie. There is another one, and it's older, and I cannot remember the name.

It was based around the Afghanistan. The Afghanistan versus Russia war.

I'm not sure the correct title of that war was, but basically dealing with the tank companies from both sides, but I can't remember the name of it. I'll have to go back and look at that one.

Matt Stagliano: 00:13:16

I always wonder, right?

Never having been in military service, never having been in law enforcement, there's always an element of theater, and I always try to look at whatever is on the screen as some level of representation of what it's really like, because I know there had to have been a consultant on set that's just like, no, no. This is how you go about it, or this is what it's really like, the interactions between the crew. So I'm always curious when I.

When I talk to my friends that have been in the military or law enforcement, like, how close is it really? And sometimes they're like, this thing over here, that was. That was pretty close. This over here, total fantasy. We would never do things that way.

So I'm just. I'm always curious. So now you've been in the army for a while. You go through your years in the army and you get out, and I assume you were in.

You were in for how long?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:14:07

Five years.

Matt Stagliano: 00:14:07

Five years. So after five years, like, I'm done, I'm getting out. I did my tour, go home and readjust and get into a new career. Law enforcement's pretty common.

Was it your first choice to go right into being an officer, or was there a period of readjustment when you got home?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:14:28

No, that was my first choice. Going back to high school, again, I want to say again, 11th or 12th grade, I was in a class where I had to write a paper on a future career.

I chose law enforcement. I did my essay on that, and I thought it was pretty interesting.

When I was getting to the point where I was looking at exiting the Army, I started looking around at what it took to actually become an officer. That really kind of gave my. I kind of gave myself permission to go ahead and leave the army because of my interest in the career in law enforcement.

Matt Stagliano: 00:15:00

And what was it like? What was it like starting that career? And you spent. Spent a good amount. Did you do your full 20 years in.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:15:06

No, no, no. I was like, are you talking about in the army or in.

Matt Stagliano: 00:15:10

In law enforcement?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:15:11

I did 23.

Matt Stagliano: 00:15:13

Did 23 years? Yeah.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:15:14

Wow. Yes, sir.

Matt Stagliano: 00:15:15

All right, so in that 23 years, you see a lot of change, not only in yourself, in the fabric of the country, in interactions between law enforcement and the community. Why did you decide to go from law enforcement to photography? What, did you start picking up photography as you were. As you were on shift?

Or was it just a hobby? Or did you go clean out of law enforcement and say, what's next? Let me pick up a camera. How did. How did that bridge happen?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:15:46

I've always been into photography. Even as a little kid, I was amazed by cameras. If you remember those little. Those little flashes that would kind of actually pop to create light.

110 camera. All those. All those gadgets really interested me. No matter where I was, I always had some type of camera with me.

My second oldest daughter, this is while I was still an officer, she came on one day and said, I'm going to join the wrestling team. We were quite surprised because that's not her personality.

She wrestled for four years in high school, actually became an all American wrestler when she placed at nationals in Fargo, which is the complete opposite side of the country from us. So when she started wrestling, I wanted to document this. You know, I wanted to photograph wrestling.

And my wife, that Christmas bought me a Canon T3i, which was my first DSLR. And I had absolutely no idea how to use it. The first few months, I put it on auto and I just snapped, snapped away photos.

And I really liked the way it felt, the way it looked. I was happy with myself. And then I said, well, maybe I should figure out what all these dials are and what these numbers mean.

And I jumped into YouTube, like probably most photographers have. I started learning, I developed my skills, and I realized this camera's a little limited. The lenses I have are limited as I could.

I upgraded, and I continued learning more about the sport because she was our first wrestler and learning more about photography at the same time. And then I got into editing and things got a little crazy. Next, you know, I started having people come up to me and, hey, do you.

Do you do family portraits? Do you do senior portraits? Will you shoot my wedding? And things kind of just took off from there.

Matt Stagliano: 00:17:28

The T3, I was my very first camera, too. And yeah, I still have it. I'm sure I still have the 50,000 batteries that go with it, but.

But something I liked about that camera Was the size of it, believe it or not, was really small compared to a 5D Mark III or anything larger. I really like that. But, yeah, once you start getting the taste of better lenses and better bodies, you're like, oh, yeah, no, it's.

I'm kind of skating on thin ice here. I need to step up my game if people are going to start asking me to do this as a business. So things progress.

You become a quote unquote professional after. After photographing your daughter and wrestling. And now you're off of automatic mode. You're off the green A, and now you're switching to manual.

And I want you to describe the first time that you picked up a camera. As a business owner and not a hobbyist, did anything change mentally for you?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:18:28

I would say probably as a hobbyist, it was more of, I'm going to. I'm going to snap the pictures and let's hope things turn out pretty good. As a professional, I wanted to make sure I was getting things right.

I never wanted to disappoint anybody. I actually, before I ever took a paid gig, I learned how to use off camera flash.

I was watching again, watching YouTube and my favorite photographers that I saw were using off camera flash. And I liked the way their photos turned out and I wanted my photos to look at least similar to theirs. Nothing wrong with, you know, natural light.

I still try it once in a while. I still, Even now, almost 10 years into being in business, I still look at my natural light photos and like, it would be better if I used flash.

Once I knew I was going to start taking money for this, I wanted it to be the absolutely best I could do at the time. And I've only progressed from there.

Matt Stagliano: 00:19:23

Yeah, you said a moment ago, and I want to dig into this a little bit.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:19:28

All right.

Matt Stagliano: 00:19:28

That you didn't want to disappoint anyone. And I asked that because a lot of us feel like the moment we start taking money, there's added pressure.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:19:39

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Matt Stagliano: 00:19:40

Where did that feeling of like, I don't want to disappoint this person, where does that come from? Were you just doubting your ability to deliver even though you've been taking pictures for a long time? Like, where does that come from?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:19:53

I think that comes from a place of we all want to do right by our clients. We know that when we take, let's say, 50 photos, to me, at least, anyway, seven of those are winners.

A good majority of them are good photos or decent photos, but I would say about seven of them are just wow, that's an amazing photo. And there are times when some clients are just absolutely in love with their photos. And I'm like, I could have done better. And we put that.

It's that self imposed pressure that we put on ourselves. It's that self doubt that. Because I still can't believe sometimes someone will hand over $4,000 and say, hey, take my pictures.

That still shocks me sometimes because I guess in my head sometimes I'm still that guy with a T3i walking around on the mats just trying to learn. A lot of it is just that self doubt, that imposter syndrome that we all talk about so much, which I'm going to share real quick.

Let me, let me throw this in there. I saw a story with Vanessa. Joy had a story on Instagram recently. I want to say the photographer's name was Todd Al Young. Sorry if that's incorrect.

But he, she shows him on her phone, she flips her phone over and he says, imposters don't get imposter syndrome. And I was like, wow, that's, that's freaking gold right there. If we didn't get imposter syndrome, then maybe there's something wrong with us.

Whereas we actually do get that imposter syndrome because we put that pressure on ourselves and we want to make things the best they can be for our clients, whether that be a bride or a senior or a family. We want them to be happy with their images. We want them to be happy with their experience. We do, we do kind of torture ourselves.

That tortured artists. That's just the way we live, I guess.

Matt Stagliano: 00:21:34

I think we have standards, right? We have high standards. We know that what we're doing matters.

And I think as artists and people that are trying to do things professionally or be artists for a living, that we're always going to doubt ourselves just a little bit. I think if we didn't, you're right. The ego takes over. Like, I'm as good as it gets.

Like, you're absolutely gonna, you have to hire me because I'm the best there is. And then the, the images are almost invariably mediocre when someone is taking that attitude.

Whereas the folks that seem to get imposter syndrome or doubt themselves more often are the ones that probably shouldn't doubt themselves at all. Like, they're, they're doing the right thing. They're taking the great photos. Like, have a little bit more faith in yourself, right?

So it's like there's two extremes on either side. You have the people that think they're great, but aren't. And then there's people that are great but think they aren't. Right. So.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:22:31

Right.

Matt Stagliano: 00:22:31

It's always a fine, fine line to walk. You talked about learning everything from YouTube, right? YouTube University. I think we all go there quite, quite a bit.

We're all enrolled to some degree. Who are some of the people that really inspired you as you were learning and what was some of the best things that you learned in doing that?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:22:50

I would say early on, the first was. And I don't think he's around anymore. I haven't seen him. A gentleman by the name of Gary Fong.

Matt Stagliano: 00:22:58

Oh, sure, I remember Gary Fong.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:23:00

You remember Gary. He had. Yeah, yeah. Fong Dome. I'm not sure what the proper name for it was, but.

Matt Stagliano: 00:23:05

But it was the light. The lighting modifier. Right, the flash lighting modifier, sure.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:23:10

Yeah. So he did several YouTube videos on one light setup. And again, being new, I didn't have a whole lot of equipment.

I was like, okay, I can, I can afford a light. I got a light and I got the Gary Fong. Hold on, hold on. Give me one sec.

Matt Stagliano: 00:23:24

I knew you have it.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:23:26

So this is the.

Matt Stagliano: 00:23:28

There it is.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:23:30

Let me see. I was recently cleaning up my quote unquote studio, which is just a square bedroom, and I came across this and I was like, you gotta be kidding me.

This was. Pull this sucker.

Matt Stagliano: 00:23:40

There he is. Pull it out.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:23:41

So this little dome would attach to this and it has like a strap on it to strap onto your flash and that. That would kind of diffuse your light. Here's the grid that he had again, you have strap it.

Of course, I personally use magmod now for just about everything. But yeah, Gary Fong. So he put out a lot of photography, videos, lighting setups. He was a Sony guy, which probably led me to moving to Sony.

Miguel Quiles. Amazing beauty photographer, portrait photographer. And I just love his attitude. Really cool guy. Mandy Ortiz.

A nice guy, former law enforcement officer also.

Matt Stagliano: 00:24:19

He's great. I've met him a few times. We hung out a little bit. He's an amazing human being. An amazing human being.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:24:25

I've never met him. I just know him from his videos. Learned a lot from him. I really did. I hope to shake his hand one day. Jared Holland.

Matt Stagliano: 00:24:32

Sure.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:24:33

Frognose Froknows photo. Hilarious. Hilarious guy who may be a Sony guy now.

I know he goes back and forth sometimes times as like that though they willingly gave out that information, they weren't. They didn't hold back.

They wanted everyone to learn in Fact, during COVID during the shutdown, Jared Poland took his lighting course and gave it away.

Matt Stagliano: 00:24:54

I remember that.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:24:55

I want to say it's like a 300 course, something like that. And he said, look, we're all staying home. There's nothing to do. Here's my course. Sign up for it, it's free. Just take it and learn.

And I was like, wow, that's. That's really cool for him to care enough about the photography community to say, please take this time to go learn something.

That's probably one of the most rememberable things about him because he's a wild and crazy guy. There's a lot to remember about him. But that, that generosity that he had left a mark on me.

Matt Stagliano: 00:25:25

When you think about those days, everything that you were learning, everything that you were coming up with creatively, what do you think your biggest leap forward creatively was?

Was it learning how to use off camera flash correctly in the style that you wanted, or were you surprised by something that you learned that took your art in a different direction?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:25:50

I'd say at that time was probably the lighting being able to take a scene that maybe not the best looking location or venue and making it look almost magical in some senses, being able to show someone their photo on the back of the camera and then look around like, wow, we just took that here. That's what blows their socks off. Because you could do a technically well lit photo and it'd just be great and everyone's happy.

Or you could add something special to it and then be blown away. And that's just, that's what, that's what I go for. I want the senior mom to cry when they see these photos.

I want the bride and groom to be ecstatic when they see their images. Whatever it is I'm photographing, I want the most extreme emotion I can get out of it.

And that only comes from pushing yourself and trying new things.

Matt Stagliano: 00:26:43

Magnolia Green. You focus predominantly on weddings and families and seniors. Sounds like headshots as well. Are you doing headshots too?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:26:53

I'm doing something corporate. Headshot work.

Matt Stagliano: 00:26:55

What did you like about Gary's presentation at wppi that you're like, oh, he's entertaining and he's actually smart. What was the thing that got you in terms of the headshot world? Because headshots can be boring, right?

But then someone like Gary comes along and he changed my whole opinion on them as well. What did you like about his approach that, that really resonated with you, really.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:27:19

Is his attitude about it. Rather than thinking of it as I'm going to photograph 100 people today. Think about it as I'm going to do 100 courses today.

You know, I'm going to do, I'm going to meet 100 people today. I'm going to interact with a hundred people today. I'm going to spend time with a hundred potential clients.

Just because they are in front of your camera for three minutes and they then you move on to the next person doesn't mean it has to be, quote, unquote, transactional. You can make that connection even in that short amount of time.

I have had clients or headshot clients come through and they're like, hey, do you also do family pictures? I'm getting married next year. Do you do weddings? And if you're not personable and approachable, they're never going to bring it up.

I take that time to experience each person rather than just kind of get through on a timeline.

Matt Stagliano: 00:28:09

It seems like through the conversations that we've had and I've seen you interact with people, you have such a very. I'm going, from what I see on the outside, you may laugh at this from the outside. A very calm, very measured approach to life, to conversations.

Right. You make people feel very safe, very calm in your presence.

Does that come from your 45 foster children and learning how to deal with personalities of all levels? And for the people listening, that's not Hyperbole. You've had 45 foster children, correct?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:28:47

Correct. We originally had two daughters of our own and we wanted a son and that wasn't something we were capable of doing on our own.

We opened our house up to fostering through the Department of Family Protective Services here in Texas. Our plan was, let's just find a boy and adopt him. Right. It doesn't always work that way. So we opened our house up for emergency placement.

So what that means is if child protective services removes a child due to neglect or abuse from their home, they have to find somewhere to house him.

And usually it came in the form of a phone call at any hour of the day saying, we have a five year old boy or we have a three year old girl, or we have a sibling group of four, can we place them in? So we get a phone call and we never really know any of their backstory other than we have CPS calls and we have a boy or a girl or a sibling group.

And can you house them today? Like, we'll be there in half an hour.

So we did that for about four years and over the course of those four years we had, I want to say, about 45 foster kids come through our home. They may last in our home for a day until they find another family member who can come and take them on.

Our longest that we had was nine months, and then they returned back to their birth mom. Then we had four that we actually adopted and have become our own sons and daughters.

Matt Stagliano: 00:30:19

Wow, that's incredible.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:30:20

Yeah, it was a wild ride. It still is. I mean, they're. They're ours now. We don't. We don't differentiate between birth kids and adopted kids.

In fact, I kind of forget sometimes, like, our youngest daughter needed glasses at a younger age. And I said, well, I guess she got her eyes from me. And then I was like, wait a minute, that's not accurate. I just forget.

But, yeah, I think with them comes a sense of learning patience, how to deal with crisis, how to deal with each individual challenges that they come with. I'm definitely a better dad than I was 10, 15 years ago. And my wife, too, is a better mom than she was back then.

And we're also grandparents now, so we're.

Matt Stagliano: 00:31:01

Congratulations.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:31:02

Thank you. We've. We've gained a lot of wisdom since then.

Matt Stagliano: 00:31:05

Why do you think you were different then versus now? And what's the biggest lesson in there through those decade plus of raising these children? How are you different then than you are now?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:31:17

Number one, maturity. Our oldest daughter is. She's 30 now, so we were 21 years old with. With a baby, had to learn a lot very quickly.

I didn't really know different parenting methods and the psychology of a child. Different resources that were available to us because we were. We were in the army, still broke, things like that.

And over time, especially working with kids in the system, you get to. A lot of resources are available to you. We came to kind of just develop our own method of parenting, dealing with each one individually.

You know, sometimes, especially with a large group, you want to kind of address the group kind of like von Trapp style, line them up into living room, room. And like, funny, funny story, Funny story. Real quick, I'll tell this one. At the time, we had. Oh, my goodness. So we had a hiccup.

One sibling group was supposed to leave to go to a family member, and we had already scheduled for another sibling group to come in. Somewhere in there, there was a hiccup. So we ended up with all these kids. If I remember right, want to say, there was 11 of them in our house.

And I mean, we would have to use two cars to go somewhere because there was that Many. Anyway, I'm walking around the house, and I find a little miniature fireman toy, right? And I was in law enforcement. Friendly rivalry there, right?

I call a family meeting. I. I get everybody into the living room, and everyone's like, what is going on? Even my wife had no idea what I was doing. And I sit everybody down.

I'm very serious about it. I said, I want to know who brought this fireman toy into our house? And everybody started laughing. It was just. Everyone started cracking up.

My wife was like, I cannot believe you interrupted our day for this. But it's become a story we laugh about.

Matt Stagliano: 00:33:00

Still in there. Is that that subtle? I'm still the man of the house. Y' all are still underneath me somehow. But I'm not without my jokes, so that's. That's awesome.

I love. I love what that says about you and. And the relationships that you have with those kids.

How has that period of life and all that experience shaped how you deal with people in front of your lens? Right? There's a.

There's a parallel between kids that are coming into your life that you only knew existed 30 minutes ago versus clients that are coming to you for the first time that maybe you've never met or you've only had a brief conversation with. Are there parallels between how you deal with those situations that translates to your clients?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:33:44

Now, there are a lot of parallels. Number one, I use humor. If you can get someone laughing, you can get them into a pose.

If you can get someone to crack up at your silly joke, you can get them to say, hey, I have a crazy idea. Let's go do this. It's all about breaking the ice, making them comfortable and.

And making them, letting them know, hey, this guy knows a little bit something about photography. I try to get a great shot right away, right off the bat, show them the back of the camera, and they're like, okay, let's do this. We're.

We're going to rock this shoot. Right? Also, just learning how to deal with people in general, speaking to them like they're human beings respectfully, I think goes a long way.

Toward the end of my career in law enforcement, I was a school resource officer. So I worked in the middle schools, I worked in the high school. We're talking ages 12 to 18, right? And if you can relate to them, they'll open up.

My first day as a school resource officer, I had a young lady who was about 12 or 13 came to me and told me everything about how crappy her home life was. Her dad was in prison, her mom didn't really help out with anything. She was no good at sports, she was failing her classes, you name it.

She unloaded all this on me. And I'm like, wow, this is my first day in a school. How am I going to deal with this? About seven years later, she graduated high school.

I was working a football game, and she came running across the bleachers, said, hey, I graduated and I wanted to come say hi and I'm doing good, I have a job, things like that. And that left a lasting impression on me because she was down in the dumps the first day I met her.

I'm not saying I put her on the straight and narrow. It's nothing like that. But to be able to see her grow and see that, develop maturity and take personal responsibility.

I think our hallway talks every once in a while are. And they weren't always good talks, but I think our hallway conversations, I hope, had something to do with that.

I've always tried to relate to people, whoever I'm talking to, you know, going back to my days as I was a narcotics investigator for a while, it was almost always my duty to do the interview and interrogation after. After we make an arrest.

And I love that part because it was my chance to sit down with somebody who was in this game of cat and mouse, if you will, and really find out what makes them tick. Not. Not just why are they selling drugs, but how did they get into this? You know, how did they find themselves in this position?

Was it because they had no other choice, or is it because they saw someone else flaunting a fancy car and jewelry and money, and they wanted that lifestyle, too? Is it because parents are out of work and whatever the case would be? I wanted to get down to the root of it first and then kind of get into the case.

And I really sought to deal with them emotionally. And once. I don't want to give away any secrets, but once I got. Once I got them emotional, they were open to having any kind of conversation.

There were some.

There were some tough ones to crack that never did crack, but there were some tough ones that they would keep me, keep me at bay for as long as they could. And the next thing you know, the floodgates open and they're crying. They're. They're. They're sobbing.

And they start telling me, really just dealing with people, learning how to speak with people, learning how to listen, really, I think has prepared me because I work with brides and grooms they say are not photogenic, you know, I deal with a senior who mom says, well, she's awkward and she doesn't really want to do this, but I'm making her, what kind of photos would I get from the senior that she doesn't even want to be there and she doesn't like the way she looks or the way she dresses. So it's my job to connect with her and say, hey, look, I'm going to get you the best freaking photos you could imagine.

And take a photo or two, show her the camera and she's like, wow, that's the challenge I take when I have someone who's feeling awkward about.

Matt Stagliano: 00:37:40

Seems like you're able to have these conversations that build trust with people and that ability to connect is. It's not as common as folks think.

Everybody can talk to everybody else, but you seem to have this innate ability to build immediate trust and rapport with people. Rapport enhances the trust. That trust helps people come out of their shell and be themselves. So you are the human equivalent of off camera flash.

You are putting light into the shadow of their lives and you're able to show them how beautiful it can be. Even though they might be in the shadows themselves. They might feel less than they might feel like.

Life is difficult at the moment, but you're able to come in and with your photography and with your presence and with your ability to connect, give them a little bit of light in some of the darker areas of their life. And that's a really, really big skill to have that's not really learned. It just tends to be intrinsic.

Was there a moment in all of this where you get out of law enforcement and you're doing photography and you're dealing with your clients, that you're like, this creative life just isn't for me. You have to have had a moment where you doubted, why did I give up the benefits and the pension and the hours?

And now I'm doing this and I'm dealing with mom or the mother of the bride or some kid that doesn't even want to be there doing this. There's got to be a moment where you wanted out. What kept you in the game and pushing forward.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:39:20

I think we all have those moments where we doubt ourselves, especially on the business slash financial side. Things can slow down depending on a variety of factors like the economy or the season that we're in.

And there were times where I was like, I may have to go get a job. Yeah, I may have to figure out some other way to make things work. I'll be honest with You. I absolutely refuse to go back into law enforcement.

Great profession, honorable profession. I'm proud still of all the guys that I know that are still out there working. I just, it's not for me anymore.

And I'm gonna, I'm gonna battle as much as I can to even consider the idea of going back. That being said, you just gotta keep pushing through it. There's.

As a photographer, there are multiple ways to make money, from increasing your marketing to trying different genres like headshots. Headshots don't really have a season. You know, your weddings have a season, your seniors have a season, Valentine's Day, Christmas, things like that.

They all have seasons. Headshots are year round, especially, you know, your corporate headshots.

They don't really blink an eye when you tell them the price for a day of headshots. At least I haven't seen the company do it yet because it's coming out of a company pocket. It's not coming out of individual client pocket.

So you tell them it's going to be X number of dollars for half a day or for a full day or three days, and they're like, okay, we're going to send you an invoice.

Matt Stagliano: 00:40:47

You got to raise your prices, brother. Raise your prices.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:40:51

Yeah, I know. I told my wife that one time. I, I had a number in mind and I added a few hundred dollars on it because I was like, I'm going to give it a shot, sure.

And they were like, yeah, we'll do it. And I was like, oh, I chose on a little bit higher. But we learned, right? Things like headshots added the months where we needed a little extra.

Being an affiliate brand, affiliate brand ambassador. You're not going to get loaded by doing those.

But it helps, you know, sponsors, things of that nature, increasing your presence online, all those things in the downtime, that's what I kind of focus on. And here in the last few months, things have gotten a little crazy and there's times where I'm like, I'm too busy, but that's a good problem to have.

And you learn not to lane too much about those.

Matt Stagliano: 00:41:35

You've been a soldier, a foster parent, creative entrepreneur. Now you're moving into podcasting. And I tagged this on to what you were just saying because I kind of went about things the same way.

There's always something we can be doing in the downtime rather than complaining about, oh, I don't have any bookings or it's a slow season, I don't think we can afford that. Mentality much anymore if we're not supplementing our business with other things. I'm not saying podcasting is the route to gold, believe me.

However, I see it as such a viable avenue for what we do in the creative arts. Helping educate people, helping to learn from others, helping others learn from us.

Talk to me about Trading Holsters, how it all came about, and why podcasting on top of everything else you're doing. Because it sounds kind of crazy to now add that in as well from someone who's admittedly crazy. Tell me why you're doing it.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:42:39

Wow. Matt, have you been talking to my wife?

Matt Stagliano: 00:42:43

No. No, because I. No, I have not. Let's establish that for everybody. I do not know Johnny's wife. I have not been talking to her. No. She's.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:42:53

She's. She's so amazing and supportive. She, you know, supports me even in some of these wall ideas that I have. But, yeah, I mean, I.

I'll go back to the beginning. Last year, I was in Las Vegas for WPPI Week. I was attending the Kayla Douglas Artistry VIP event, which is. You asked me. It's the party of the year.

I met a guy named Sam Guillermo out of Baltimore, which I believe you know him. You.

Matt Stagliano: 00:43:20

I do. I met him at the same party the first time. Yep.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:43:23

Oh, see, we. We were there. Didn't even have to meet each other. I.

I don't usually open up too much to people unless I feel super comfortable with them and Sam and I talking, and I shared my story. He shared his story, which is an amazing story.

Matt Stagliano: 00:43:36

It is.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:43:37

And he said, you should start a podcast. And I was like, I have no time for that. I thought it was a cool idea.

Matt Stagliano: 00:43:45

Right.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:43:45

But I have no time, you know, Again, I've talked about my progression and careers, and Sam says, I've got a name for it. It's Trading Holsters. And I was like, okay, that's cool. You know, that's cool. I mean, to me, a year goes by, and this idea of Sam's is nagging me.

I mean, it's like, bugging me to the point where I start looking at softwares, like, what's needed for a podcast. I dive into listening to podcasts. I have people telling me, hey, yeah, your. Your story is pretty cool. You know, maybe you should.

You should do that, or you have a demeanor for a podcast. I'm hearing all these different things, and I finally make the decision. I'm. I'm going to go for it.

A friend of mine turned me on to a particular software and I was happy for that because he kind of coached me through it a little bit. I'm not the most tech savvy guy, even though I make a living with electronics.

Matt Stagliano: 00:44:35

That's kind of crazy.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:44:38

And so I started up and my idea was not really just to tell my own story.

There are other people like me in that there are veterans for whatever segment of their life, whether it be five years or 20 years, they had their service to their country and have moved on, especially to something creative. Photography, videography, content creation, graphic designers, podcasters. But then there are others who start charity programs or coffee companies.

We'll talk about that later. Just all kinds of different things. It's a completely separate life. It really is.

And let's just say life in the military, you don't really get into creative things unless that's your specialty. Life in law enforcement, it can be stringent. Stringent.

Sometimes, you know, you have a code you have to work within, you have appearances that you have to keep up for the particular agency you work for. There's sometimes you're allowed a certain sense of creativity. And there's other times where you have to go strictly by an sop, you know.

So when I retired, I found that I'm my own person. For the first time in my adult life, I'm my own person.

I can think what I want to think, I can say what I want to say, I can wear what I want to wear, believe what I want to believe, and no one is really going to tell me any different. And that was a blessing and a curse.

As you know, sometimes you can take it overboard, but in the reality is that I had to basically learn how to be myself and allow myself to be who I am. I know there are other people who have made that transition, and some have made it easier than others.

And I wanted to hear their voices, you know, I wanted to hear about their challenges, I wanted to hear about their troubles. I want to hear about their triumphs. So with the podcast, I've recently started doing my interviews.

I've had a couple of veterans from different branches. We have laughed, we have cried, we have had some really good memories.

And I want it to be a little bit of therapy for them and for myself to have these conversations.

Because it's not common, especially for men, to sit down and have these conversations and let loose and not feel judged and have the ability to speak freely. It's good for us, it's good for the mind, it's good for the heart, it's good for the soul. Why not do it.

Matt Stagliano: 00:47:04

I think it's really important, the conversations that you're having, especially within law enforcement, military circles, because I think you're right, knowing that world, having spent a lot of time in that world as a photographer and as someone that was doing a lot of work with veterans and with law enforcement, there aren't a whole lot of avenues for open, honest discussion about things that aren't guns and gear and SOPs and tactics and techniques and like all the cool guy stuff.

But there's 23 and a half other hours in the day where it's not cool guy stuff and that a lot of things weigh on you and you don't want to take them home, but you don't want to dump to your buddies because you don't want to seem weak or flawed or broken. You don't want HR to get a hold of it. And now they're thinking, all right, are you a liability rather than an asset to this department?

There's a lot that goes into the mental aspect where you have to keep things shut down, or the perception is you have to keep things shut down.

But the story that I've heard over and over is that as you begin to unburden and open up about some of these things, you're noticing a lot of shared experience amongst the people that you're talking to.

Can you tell me about some of those conversations that you've had that you've found either shared experience or had someone that opened up to you in a way that you didn't think they ever would?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:48:36

So I want to say in the last three, three and a half years of my career, I had a lot of problems. I had a near death experience and I got to the point where I needed some help, but I was afraid, like you said, to open up to anybody.

My agency, my supervisors, peers. There's a. Even at that time, even still now, there's a stigma against kind of being open and honest about having mental health issues.

And so I actually sought out a therapist on my own, on my own dime, went through therapy, counseling, emdr, which I, I swear is some kind of form of witchcraft sorcery. You've ever been through. Yeah, if you've ever been through that. If, if something else. But things got better, things got better.

And as I, especially as I got closer to retirement, I started to open up about that, talking to others and just. It didn't have to be a deep conversation.

I just threw out the fact, you know, I might mention my therapist or I might mention in the counseling session, just the fact that I put it out there, there were some who kind of relaxed and said, well, since you mentioned it, or now that we're talking about this, or do you have your therapist's business card?

It gave people the opportunity to confide in somebody, saying, maybe I don't really want to tell you everything, but there's something going on and if you could help me, that'd be cool. That means a lot to me. You know, at the time I had was almost 20 years on duty.

You know, some of these officers that have been around five, seven years, that starts kind of getting to a point where they've had some experiences.

They're looking for someone who's been there, done that, but not anybody that has anything to do with their paycheck or, you know, signing off on anything for them.

So it was a little bit of a, I guess you would call it an informal leader to have these folks come to me and ask me questions, whether it be career development, how to deal with a certain situation, how to write something in a report, or how to deal with mental health issues. You know, I take, I take, I take a lot of pride that I had that opportunity to do that, because not everybody gets that.

And there's a saying I wrote, I read once. I wish I could give credit to the person who said it was the best thing an old officer can teach a young officer is how to be an old officer.

You know, a lot of people will come into law enforcement with an idea of what the career is supposed to be. You know, they may have it half right, but there's a whole lot of other stuff that goes into it than what is perceived.

It really is the responsibility of those that have been there 15, 20 years to coach the others along the way. You know, you have your basic academy that everyone has to pass to become certified.

You have your field training, which is usually the first three to six months that they get hired on at an agency. And that's really just the basics. That's really just the paperwork. That's the legalese.

That's the learning how to do what the job is coming at you, but how to deal with all the other crap. That's something that the veteran officers should really be, you know, step up and say, hey, be careful of this.

Don't go drinking after shift and causing problems. Don't be getting involved in confrontations off shift with your fellow officers to the point where the brass has to get involved.

If you have some drinks, don't go driving when you get home.

If you need to call somebody because of what you just experienced, call them, that's one thing the back to the fire department, that's one thing the fire department does, right? And I know they have different resources. They all finish a call, they go back to the station, they're all together, right? They're dirt.

They basically live together half their lives. They will do an after actions review as a group, talking about the entire call they just had.

And everyone has an opportunity to sit down and talk about it. Review how things were handled. How could it be better next time? Does anybody have any issues with what they saw? They do that, right?

Law enforcement, except for, I would say your SWAT teams do not take the time to do that. And I think that's a very important, very important method of making sure everyone has the opportunity to say something if they need to.

Matt Stagliano: 00:52:54

I think you're right in terms of doing those after action reports, right?

Doing a little bit of a breakdown of what just happened that does allow you to not only reflect on what you just saw and give you the moment to process it, but also learn from those around you, different perspectives. What did they see, what did they learn? And that just gets added to your knowledge base, right?

Maybe it didn't directly happen to you, but you can certainly learn from them.

From the standpoint of law enforcement and the field training officers that are out there now, do you feel like there's been a shift at all from what you've seen to doing more of these AARs and do you feel like that's something that police are starting to adapt a little bit more and knowing that mental health is one of the most important things that anyone in that line of work has to maintain? Are you seeing any resources or actions like that that are helping cops along the way or is it still something that really needs to be addressed?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:53:58

I think it's moving that way. It's still slow, but I definitely think it's moving that way.

At least here in Texas, they recently passed state legislation for if an officer is involved in a particular type of high stress situation, he actually can request. I want to say it's five days of leave time that doesn't come off of his personal time. There's different qualifications for it.

What gets the standard, but that's kind of standard for your officer involved shootings. It's always been that. But there are some situations where let's take a child death, a child death, whether it be.

Whether it be a homicide or sins or something like that, regardless of what happened to the child, it's just it's terrible. You walk, you walk in to see that at a scene and you're always going to remember it. It's always there.

And I mean details, from the color of the bedding to where everybody, what the room was set up, like decor, it's all there. You remember every bit of it. Sometimes the effect of that can be long lasting.

And the reality is, is you leave that house experiencing that and you have to go to the next call. Sometimes immediately, you don't get a break, you don't get to, hey, let me process this.

You continue your shift for however many hours you have left, and then at the end of the shift, you're finishing up your paperwork, you turn that in and then you go home and you're still dealing with that. And so for the state to step in and say, hey, we need to take care of people better than that, I think that's a huge move. It really is.

I would like to see, and again, I'm only going by the agencies I've worked in the ground.

I would like to see, you know, something more locally put into play where, you know, officers get that break that they need because, I mean, I'm not the only one who's ever sat in my patrol car and cried.

Matt Stagliano: 00:55:48

Right.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:55:49

I do think there needs to be something in place to take better care of our folks out there.

Matt Stagliano: 00:55:54

I hope you can be the voice for that with trading holsters.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:55:57

Right.

Matt Stagliano: 00:55:58

I hope you can call attention to the fact. I think there's a lot of attention on it, but being removed from that world, I don't see a lot of progress.

I would love to see the podcast become this voice for those that aren't necessarily able to speak and that through the conversations you can start to bring attention to some of these issues. Is that part of the intention of why you got into it, to help those guys, or are you seeing something different that you feel needs to be addressed?

Where's your focus? Is it on the guys? Is it on the process? Is it a mix of both? What do you see this evolving into?

Johnny Guerrero: 00:56:41

My main focus is getting folks that are comfortable with speaking about their event, the past events, their experiences, what effects it may have had on them, and hopefully allowing others to hear these and realize I'm not the only one. You know, I recently had one guest on who talked about his addiction to painkillers and how he had to deal with that.

Especially for our, you know, military folks, our veterans, that's a very common story.

Matt Stagliano: 00:57:11

Not uncommon at all.

Johnny Guerrero: 00:57:12

It's not something you necessarily hear about, because no one wants to talk about that. You know, I applaud this guest's ability to do that.

I know law enforcement officers who have been involved in officer involved shootings, they play it off as well. That, that wasn't what I expected, that I didn't see that one coming. And that's what we do.

We use humor, sometimes dark humor, to mask, to cover things up, to take the attention off of ourselves. And that lasts until it doesn't last. It works until it doesn't work.

And my, my hopes is that others will see this and say, okay, these guys are opening up. These folks are telling us what they've been through. And I have a shared story. It's me too.

It's also me, you know, if that gets someone else make the move to get some help for themselves. And that's my main goal. Procedural wise.

If someone were to hear this and say, hey, maybe we'll take a look at how we handle things and make some changes, dude, I'd be ecstatic about that. I would love to hear something like that.

I would hope that if someone does that, they would contact me and say, we did this because we heard this guest. That would make my day. That would be, you know, that would be mission accomplished.

Matt Stagliano: 00:58:22

The ability for you to be vulnerable and put this stuff out there and help other men be vulnerable is something that's sorely needed.

The handful of times that I've been raw and vulnerable online, whether it's in a blog post or on a podcast or just a Facebook story, and I just happen to put myself out there because I feel like, well, this is part of me. It's what I think people might be interested in. The number of comments that I always get back, private messages.

And I don't do this for any level of attention when I'm saying these things or putting them out there. All I want to have is someone hear it and say he went through it too. Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about myself, right? And it's. It's more about.

I want to normalize talking about this stuff. It's hard and it goes against everything that us as men are programmed to do, but it certainly helps.

There's no doubt in my mind that all those messages are coming your way and the importance of those conversations and what you're able to bring to that community is going to be immeasurable.

It might not show up in the first place two episodes, but I guarantee you with those types of conversations that there will be a sea change in how people Understand some of the issues that cops and military guys are going through. They may see holes in the process they, they might be able to fix.

It's really, really important work, and I'm glad that you're the one that's doing it.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:00:04

I, I appreciate that. I think, I, I, I think that when I open myself up, like you said, whether it be in a blog or a video, I tend to get more reaction.

And that, to me, that can only mean that someone is like, hey, you're opening yourself up. I see it happening. And there's a sense of relation there where they relate to what I'm saying. They understand where I'm coming from. Yeah.

So I think that there's, we're not as different as we think.

Matt Stagliano: 01:00:34

And I think that speaks again, going back in time to the girl at the school in the hallway opening up to you, I think you're able to create these immediate, safe spaces for people to open up, feel safe, talk about themselves in a way that, again, you're not necessarily being the role model for everybody, but you're making that impact.

And it might show up for seven years until they graduate, or it might not show up until those guys retire and get out and start thinking about this stuff. All of that impact from these little conversations create these larger and larger ripples.

So I can't wait to see where you take it, because we've had these conversations, you and I, and I know how passionate you are about the community and how passionate you are about making sure that people get the help that they need.

And whether that is making someone feel comfortable in front of the camera or making them feel comfortable on the microphone, you've got to got that wonderful presence about you that draws those stories out. If you start looking forward five years, where are you in five years? And don't say Texas like where are you? Where are you in five years?

With Magnolia Green, with trading holsters with your family. What are you looking forward to in this next chapter?

Johnny Guerrero: 01:01:58

With a podcast? I'll start there. I want to make sure I'm keeping that. I want to keep it moving forward.

It requires a certain sense of discipline to keep doing interviews and keep editing and putting it out there and trying to keep that timeline going. Technique wise, I'd like to learn some new stuff. You know, I'm using a decent program and I kind of just hit the ball and hit the ground running.

I didn't really take the time to learn the craft. So I'd like to learn some more about that photography wise.

I've been Getting into the education side of things lately, I've hosted a couple of workshops here locally. Really enjoy that. There's a. The art of photography has lasted a long time. It's made some crazy leaps since it started.

I think that, you know, I'm 50 now, fixing to turn 51 here in a few days. There are, there's a younger group right behind us. They are going to be the future of photography.

And I want to, you know, leave as much as I can for whoever wanted before I go. Whether it be how to shoot, how to light, how to edit.

I'm one of those that also I give away the knowledge that I have because I think it's important to develop others and for the craft. As far as my family goes, we still have little ones at home, elementary age and middle school.

They're very active in sports and I want them to find their own, their own calling. Whether it be baseball, softball, lacrosse, wrestling, they're all doing all the things.

But if they, theater kid, band kids, whatever it is that they want, I want to find that strength and invest in that and push that to be, to be happy with the best of their ability. And whatever they choose, one of these days will be empty nesters, hopefully. My wife owns her own travel agency. I travel with her frequently.

We take our family trips frequently.

We, our kids have seen parts of the world that most their age probably haven't and we will readily pull them out of school for a week or two so that they can experience that. Years ago, my wife's or our kids years ago had perfect attendance at school.

And we kind of bragged to my wife's dad, hey look, the kids got perfect attendance. And he said, what did they miss out on so that they could have perfect attendance? And we were like, wow, we never thought of it that way.

We always just thought, you know, perfect attendance was the gold star, right? And so we decided we were going to start traveling even during the school year because it's cheaper also. And we have traveled with these kids.

They all have their passport, you know, we, again, they.

When we travel, we not only experience, you know, beaches and cities and things like that, we take the time to make sure they learn a little something while they're there. Our latest trip was to New York City.

We took them to the Intrepid Museum where they have all the warplanes, the space center, all those kinds of things. We took them to the 911 memorial, which I think they got the most out of because until then it's always just been a day that they observe in school.

Yeah, they've heard the story, but that's really about it. And the memorial, it's like it's alive. You know, you go in there and you.

You stand on the grounds and you see the place and you feel the iron, and you watch the videos at the same time as you're in there. And it just. It takes you back to that day, but makes it more through the eyes of others rather than the television.

If you ever find yourself in New York, that's a place you've got to go. Yeah, I think every American should see that and experience that.

Matt Stagliano: 01:05:41

I agree. Every time I'm.

I'm down in the city, I go by, and I had a few friends that I lost in the towers, and I go down and I go to their place, I find their names on the memorial. And it's. It's phenomenal to walk around that and just see all the people, finding the names of people that they were connected to.

And, you know, some of these were great, great, great friends of mine, damn near roommates in college. So I'd make it a chance to go down, and any one of them, us, the.

The group of us from college go down, if we're anywhere near it, we go by, send each other pictures of the names of our friends. And it's just. It's. It's one of the more powerful things that you don't get until you're there and then you feel the gravity of it.

So I'm really, really glad your kids had the chance to experience that for nothing else than proper historical context.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:06:28

Right.

Matt Stagliano: 01:06:29

As we land this plane, a couple more questions. One, what's one thing that you haven't been asked in an interview that you wish you were?

Johnny Guerrero: 01:06:36

Wow. Nothing comes to mind right away. I don't know. I don't know. Do you have any questions?

Matt Stagliano: 01:06:41

I think there's a lot of threads we can tug on for sure.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:06:44

Right, Right.

Matt Stagliano: 01:06:45

But I like leaving those for another episode. Michael. I'll be back.

And you mentioned this in your brief questionnaire bio that I had sent to you previously is interlocking connections is the phrase that came to mind. Right. And you've got so many of these connections throughout all the different fig phases of your life.

But there's been this common thread of helping people, keeping them safe, making them feel comfortable. And again, I'm going to keep coming back. You know, Amber Henry gave you the.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:07:18

The.

Matt Stagliano: 01:07:18

The impetus for this, but I see it in everything that you do. So as much as I want to credit her with the phrase, I think it just really says a lot about you.

You're illuminating these shadows, which is the mark of a great storyteller.

And it makes so much sense that you're in photography telling the stories of your clients, whether it's at a wedding or with a family or with a senior or through a headshot. Right. You have the opportunity to tell people stories because you take the time to listen and make them feel comfortable.

Where can people find all of your work? What's the easiest way for them to see what you're doing? And then also listen to Trading Holsters.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:07:59

My website is magnoliagreen, which is g r u e n e dot com. Then I'm @magnoliagreen on Instagram. And X, though I don't really use it, I really never really understood how to use X.

Matt Stagliano: 01:08:14

No one does.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:08:15

No one does on Instagram. It's the Trading Holsters podcast as far as the podcast goes. And you can find that on Spotify. Yeah, that's. That's me.

Matt Stagliano: 01:08:23

And I'm going to include all of those links in the show notes so that people can find it. Magnolia Green. G R U E N E. Yeah.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:08:31

So Green is. Green is a historical district here in New Braunfels, Texas, where I live. It hosts the oldest dance hall in Texas, which is Green Hall.

It was founded by a German family, so that's where the spelling comes from. Live music like you wouldn't believe. You know, Willie Nelson plays here, I want to say, two, three times a year.

A lot of the old golden classic country artists are here, but then some of the newer, especially the red dirt out of Oklahoma folks are here. An amazing place. It's an amazing place. And so my wife is from Mississippi, which the state flower is the magnolia.

And so I kind of just combined the magnolia and the green here locally to kind of make one name for, you know, kind of represent both of us.

Matt Stagliano: 01:09:17

I love it, Johnny. This has been a long time coming. Circle in the same circles, and we know the same folks and Sam and Kayla and all the crew.

And I'm really glad we had a chance at WPPI to sit down and get to know each other a little bit more and then also have you here. I cannot wait to have you back at some point and hear how Trading Holsters is going.

See your star rise in this industry and just watch it all take off because you've got all the pieces in place for huge success. So thank you so much for being here, my friend. I really appreciate it all the time. And just. Just being open with your whole story.

This has been amazing.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:09:58

Thank you, Matt. I appreciate it. I'm a big fan of your show. I have been for about a year. I met a character, we'll call him, named Johnny Edward.

Matt Stagliano: 01:10:07

Oh, that guy.

Johnny Guerrero: 01:10:08

Yeah. After meeting him, I was like, I gotta know more about this guy. And when I searched him, I'm a podcast junkie.

So when I searched for him, your show is the first one that popped up. And so I binged your show a while there. So just to be able to be on your show is an honor. Thank you.

Matt Stagliano: 01:10:26

It's my pleasure. It's my honor. So, yeah, the conversation with Johnny are is great. They're always a little bit different, and there's always.

There's always a lot of material in there. So we can. We can talk about that offline. But thank you again, and I can't wait to have you back. I will see you soon, okay?

Johnny Guerrero: 01:10:45

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Matt Stagliano: 01:10:46

Thanks, man.