Dr. Andres Ponce came all the way from Temuco, Chile to do this interview in person.  He is a prosthodontist who is also an amazing photographer and travels the world lecturing.

Luke Shapiro: So Andres, as much as I would like to think you came to NY for this interview, what are you actually doing in New York?

Dr. Andres Ponce: Well, usually I travel a lot, but now I’m here specifically because I am teaching at NYU for the International Program.  And Saturday I’m giving a course on photography at Wall St. AIC with my program called FOCUS.  

Luke Shapiro: How many courses have you given in your life? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: I don’t have a number. But with the team of FOCUS, we are three guys, one fashion photographer, Paolo Wilson, and my other colleague, Sebastian Cifuentes. Since we started in 2017, there have been approximately 3,000 attendees. I don’t know how many courses but we have done this a lot of times. 

Luke Shapiro: How much money have you spent on camera gear?? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: I don’t know but I don’t spend as much money as you think. I’m the guy who teaches you how not to spend so much money on photography because I think it’s overrated.

By the way, photography is not rocket science. It’s something that everyone could do. The thing is that we’re trying to do this for dentistry. Dentistry is complicated. Life is complicated. Photography should just be a tool, you know? It’s just that. And nothing’s going to happen if you take a bad picture. The thing is that you’ve got to learn from that. That’s the thing. 

Luke Shapiro: Do you take all your own pictures? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: Yeah, I take my pictures. I teach a lot of people. I could teach my assistant. She knows some stuff.  I’m not saying it’s bad that you train your staff – I do that a lot. In my courses, I sometimes receive the whole team from a clinic or a practice. But in my case, it is more honest to take my own pictures because if I’m going to show you something, it has to have been done by me.

It doesn’t take too much time. Just a couple of minutes. 

Luke Shapiro: So what inspired you to start a course? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: Well, I saw a lot of courses and I didn’t like the way they were done.  I worked in marketing before as a marketing advisor for some companies. I didn’t like how they treated education in this area because they made you feel that it is difficult and complicated with a list of things you need. Things that were not necessary at that time.  I also never understood why a photography course didn’t have an actual photographer.  So that’s why I decided to have a team. 

Because, from my perspective, all the courses were just guys who took courses from guys and were now teaching.  It was a chain of things happening because someone told you something in a course and then the other person learned it and started their own course and it was on repeat.  

Luke Shapiro: How did the people learn about the course if you’re from Chile? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: Instagram. Social media. 

Luke Shapiro: Did your courses have immediate success or was it slow?

Dr. Andres Ponce: I don’t want to be cocky about it, but the first course had 15 attendees. And since then we haven’t stopped. We always try to grow and make things better, you know, but we’re always doing courses. Always. 

Luke Shapiro: Do you have a vision to expand to other topics?

Dr. Andres Ponce: It’s natural to think that you can do more stuff. In my case, I’m teaching courses about aesthetics and marketing.  But I try not to go to places that I don’t like or topics that I don’t know because I don’t feel comfortable with that.

Luke Shapiro: So what’s your next stop? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: Well now I’m going to a restaurant. But the next stop I’m going back to is Chile. Next week I have to be in Miami. And then Sarasota. After that, El Salvador. And the next one is Mexico. And then courses in Chile. 

Luke Shapiro: Last piece of advice? 

Dr. Andres Ponce: First of all, thank you for the interview. I like to sharing with you guys.

I’m happy to be here, and to go to different places because I feel that I have friends in a lot of places, and that’s a good thing for me. It’s not only work. And don’t limit yourself. Photography is something for everyone. It’s not rocket science.