Individual Blog Post #4: Vis-Com Day Photojounalist

Dai Sugano: Passionate about Pictures
By Justin Riray


When a person has a hobby that they are passionate about, they will end up doing it until four or five in the morning.

“Editing until 4 a.m., you’re in that mode--like writing a love letter to your girlfriend. You might wake up in the morning and think, ‘Oh s**t! I wrote that!?’ It’s crazy like that.” -Dai Sugano

For the San Jose State Vis-Com day, Dai Sugano, a photo journalist with the San Jose Mercury News spoke to students about how he turned his passion into a career.

In DBH 133 at 10 a.m. on April 23rd, Sugano spoke about his journey as a photographer and gave students the privilege of watching his photo and video slideshows as he provided behind-the-scenes commentary.

He began as a street photographer, someone who uses a still shot camera to capture people, places, and things in their usual element. He made mundane scenes into beautiful pictures. Of these photos were a dog with his tongue out, a person walking out into the light from a dark alley, and a woman in a red dress, walking on the sidewalk. His ability to make aesthetics out of buildings and streets is amazing.

He explained that the reason many people yield from trying their passion as a professional job is because they are used to just being on their own and having no one to criticize them.

Sugano made the entire room nod in realization and laugh at the same time when he said, “We feel… we don’t want to suck.”

Sugano added, “You are doing it because you like to do it. It is the key to success.”