Photography is an unappreciated art, and often those artists whose snapshots make people and places look so amazing are overlooked. In the case of Mike Ruiz, his personality shines out from behind the camera, and has lead to cameos on shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Kathy Griffen’s Life on the D-List. Not to mention he is on the judging panel for the current season of Canada’s Next Top Model. We caught up with Mike in New York City for a lengthy but fun chat about life amongst the famous.
“I can be in a room with a celebrity and be fine, but when I look through the lens it hits me and I get goosebumps. I am thinking oh my god! How did a fat little queen from Montreal end up in the same room with some of these people? I am always so thankful and grateful that the universe took care of what it needed to. I do pinch myself every single day, not only when I am shooting but just the fact that I live in New York City. I remember being a teenager seeing videos and having this burning desire to be here. It all panned out. At the time when I was living in that delusional fantasy world, I used to have very vivid daydreams about hanging out at Studio 54 when I was 13. It was a cause for concern for my parents but then fortunately it manifested in a way that I hoped it would. My parents were no longer concerned once I started making a living doing this.”
His list of clients include Justin Timberlake, The Backstreet Boys, David Boreanez, Ricky Martin, Joshua Jackson, and Mark Whalberg to name a few. Some very good looking guys, but Ruiz separates business from pleasure.
”It is all in a days work for me. I am like a gynecologist now. The whole celebrity thing, I never really understood why being in movies or TV separates you from the rest of humanity. I hang around these people, I was at a function last night with a bunch of celebrities and people I have worked with. They all are normal people to me, with hang-ups. I don’t get all thrilled and flustered because I worked with the likes of Justin Timberlake. I was doing my job, he was there to promote his thing and I was paid to help him do that.”
He has also photographed many important LGBT figures and supporters including RuPaul, Sir Ian McKellen, Kathy Griffen, Katy Perry.
“I am always glad, it is a thrill to work with people that are supporters of the community and elevate the experience. I loved working with Katy Perry for that reason, she is not gay herself but she made kissing a girl a mainstream thing. I respect and admire that. I have to say I am not a huge activist person, I am not politically charged. My virtue is just being myself as an openly gay man enjoying my life. I hope that sets the best example of all. It is a very transitional time, gay marriage is becoming more prevalent in the States, but there is still a lot of opposition to it. I hope that just living a life in a happy, functional, successful way is political and educational enough to the mainstream. I am just my wacky self on Canada’s Next Top Model, I don’t alter my personality at all for anything, I don’t censor what I say and I am hoping that is enough to educate the ignorant masses. I admire people who do the same. I am really happy that Adam Lambert casually came out in Rolling Stone and it wasn’t a big deal, early in his career. That diffuses all of the speculation and crap that would follow. Now nobody cares and it is great. He is super talented and people still love him. I like people who live their lives in a happy functional way. Anyone in entertainment who lives their life like that I am happy to work with them.”
Ruiz has taken a distinctive journey to his career. From growing up in Montreal to modeling, acting and directing, he feels most at home behind the camera.
“Hooking wasn’t an option. I modeled for a long time and in 1993 I moved from Miami to Los Angeles to be an actor. I realized that I hated it. I had mentioned to a pal of mine that I was going to all these cool places and I should be documenting it, and he got me this crappy little point and shoot for Christmas. I opened the box and a light shone out of it. I had an epiphany and immediately became obsessed with photographing everything in sight before finally settling on people. When I go on modeling jobs I would take this camera with me and be shooting models, and that was more interesting than shooting the scenery. I found it very gratifying and satisfying and was doing it as a side hobby. Then models started asking me to shoot stuff for them! A couple of magazines asked me to do stuff and I realized maybe I could make a go at this. So I made a conscious decision to make a career out of photography. I bought a bunch of expensive equipment, taught myself how to use it, and the rest is history.”
He is frequently asked for advice on how to break into the industry.
”My approach is so not typical. There is no formula; the only advice that I ever give is you have to assess whether you genuinely love doing it. If you are doing it for the wrong reasons - the money, the fame, anything like that - it will never work out. The thing with photography, you have to have a point a view and it has to be a cathartic view for you to express it. If you are not able to tap into that, it is not your vehicle. I tapped into it and was shooting for a year and a half before I even considered making it a career, every single day because I LOVED doing it. It gave me the biggest hard on to do this stuff.”
In addition to photography and TV work, he is writing a dance track to re-launch Tracy Lord’s career with Anton Baff and Sylvia Tosem which will be released this fall, and pitching a show called 10-10 to networks.
“It is based on these elitist gay guys in Los Angeles that is loosely based on me and my friends in the 90’s. We were termed elitist. Picture LA 1994, I had 9 other friends and one guy who felt excluded dubbed us the 10-10’s in a derogatory way. Look at them they think they are all 10’s. We thought it was kind of funny and adopted the name and started having 10-10 parties that were very exclusive. It was all poking fun at ourselves but it became this legend in LA to the point where, fast-forward 15 years, a talented writer named Benjamin Morgan has heard of these guys, he has written a script for a pilot and a film, a novel, and a treatment for a reality show. I bumped into him in Palm Springs and he introduced himself and told me he loved Starbooty which I directed. He said he was a writer and wanted to collaborate. I asked what he was working on and he said I have been obsessed with this idea of these 10-10’s. I smirked and said tell me about it. He told me all about it and said his friend was advising him, I asked his name, and I said no he wasn’t one of them. Benjamin asked how I would know and I said Because I was one of them! His jaw dropped. The characters don’t really resemble us anymore but it is a very funny and dark script and I had to be a part of it.”
He enjoyed working on Canada’s Next Top Model and assures us that much of the drama is real.
“I have known Tyra forever. I worked with her when she was fresh out of her teens, early on in my career. I was always on her radar, and then I befriended Jay Manuel. They got me to do an episode on Cycle 5 of America’s Next Top Model and Jay and I have become super wonderful friends. He is so giving and loving, I don’t know if that lends to his on-air persona but he is just an incredible guy. He is always thinking of me in the professional respect. He bullied the executive producers that I was right for the show, and they all agree now, and the president of CTV is thrilled I am on the show now. It was a hard sell, and I owe it all to Jay,” he recalled. “I watch reality TV on occasion and would think it is so contrived, it is crap, none of it is real. Having been on a whole season of Canada’s top model, you cannot write that shit. Jay showed me a couple of episodes before they aired and I was riveted. All I saw while taping was the girls in the judging room. I never saw them behave out of there. None of it is manufactured it is all jaw droppingly real. Wait until you see later on in the season! When we do challenges sometimes they will make me a repeat a thing if there is a mic problem but outside of that it is all off the cuff and improvised. The interaction between the girls is 100% real. It is not airing here in the States so I don’t know what episode they are on but some of those girls carry their feelings towards the other girls to this day, you can see it on Facebook.”
Ruiz’s passion comes through loud and clear in his photos. His eye for color and design is amazing.
”It is a result of having a precarious childhood. It wasn’t all chocolate sprinkles and rainbows; that is probably why I had a rich fantasy life as a child. I have a simplistic mantra, everything I do has to be fun and everything has to be pretty. So I developed an esthetic where I looked at everything through rose-colored glasses. It is a manifestation of my fantasy life. I want to create images that I can look at and take me to a happier, more colorful place. I want to, and do, live there. 44 years of intensive therapy have allowed me to stay there. I live there and perceive everything as good and happy and all people are good. It takes a long time. When you are subjected to certain things in life you tend to develop cynical and bitter views of things and I chose to go the opposite route. Photography is cathartic in doing that and I want to just create pretty pictures. I don’t mean to trivialize it. It means more than that. It is my point of view. There is always some underlying darkness because I do need to keep one foot in reality to keep myself grounded. At the end of the day none of it is real. What is real is feeling connected to humanity.” 