Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Montoya.
Hi Isaac , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The year is 2014, I moved to a shelter in Houston that was considered to be a “Transitional living facility.” I had recently aged out of foster care so this was my first time being out on my own. I didn’t have a job, but i was attending the illustrious Texas Southern University. During those years I attended multiple shows/events and would network the whole event. Well eventually I got with the right people and started making a name for myself in the city. Eventually I met with a promoter and we went over our ideas for what it is we wanted to see more of in the city. We knew we needed to create support for local artist! So I came to to my partner and told her we should create just that! This was the birth of Houstock! We had all kinds of artist rappers, vocalist, photographers, audi0 engineers, artists of all sorts from all over join the organization. Eventually we birthed a Movement and helped increase the commerce of art in the city. We saw other organizations go up including NewHouston, 4900z club, Jmulan, etc all with the goal of bringing more art and support into the city. Our goal was met and eventually as we acquired more and more artist we started making waves! We all watched in awe the greatness that transpired during those years! We worked with artists including Trill Sammy, Dice Soho, Maxo Kream, Don Toliver, Ti$a Korean, BarfHtx etc. At this time I still had some personal struggles and became homeless after I left TSU. So I left the organization knowing it’d be in good hands. Til this day, that organization still is operational and thriving. I moved in with some family and eventually started making my way back into the city in 2020. One day after a shoot I came home and left my bag with all my equipment in the car, only to wake up to my car being broken into. They obviously got to my camera and equipment, in all it was a total loss of about $4,200. In the year of 2022 I eventually got a new camera and start doing little shoots here and there in the city. Well at the end of 2022, again, my personal life started getting in the way of my artistry. I had a life changing event happen and moved back into the middle of it all. Right off of Washington Ave. I went to this event being thrown by @SincerlyHtx and another afterwards both hosted at SanMan Studios! I made sure to do what i do best and Networked to the point of me leaving the event with over 50 new followers/possible leads. I knew I wanted to create something new so I did just that. I invited multiple camera men and models out to a studio sesh with the hopes of creating some greatness. Well out of the 10 models I invited, only 3 of them came! However, the work we did was exactly what was needed to get the ball rolling! Everybody who couldn’t make it out regretted missing out on the last so they made sure to attend the next events. This pattern only grew as we did more of these shoots. Eventually after getting our footing and seeing others in the city following our recipe for success, I asked myself how could we do things differently and stay original to what it is we were doing. We held our first successful event at CasaLuz a studio in the city I had recently shot at for an organization I was volunteering for. Afterwards we established ourselves in the city and made a lot of waves. We’ve seen multiple organizations claiming to do what it is we do, word for word. We’ve always shown in the quality of our work what it is we specialize in! We are a production company that specializes in visual releases! Our goal is to help spread the commerce of art in the city while marketing businesses in the Houston area! You paint the picture, we create the Canvas! I give all glory and grace to God. I faced many challenges and personal struggles throughout my life, the thing is I never gave up. I held my faith and kept pushing forward knowing God would work it out. I know who I am, what it is I want to accomplish and how to get there. And I have faith. Faith that God didn’t put this vision in my mind just for it to be swept from under me.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
2017 I left TSU and became homeless. Lost my first camera ever to the pawn shop because I was struggling and couldn’t afford to get it out. I didn’t have a car for the longest time, missed out on so many opportunities for that very reason. My car was broken into in 2021, all of my equipment was taken and i had to start all over. End of 2022 I went through a divorce and became homeless again. Eventually moved into a friends apt and stayed on his couch for a couple months. After one of our events in March my car broke down and needed to be towed. The repairs were so expensive i had to let the car go. When hurricane Beryl and the tropical storm hit it knocked out the a/c in my apt unit, I have a son who has asthma and epilepsy so we were unable to stay in our apt for at least 2 months. Eventually when we returned to the apt hoping the damages from the hurricane and storm would be repaired we encountered a shocking sight, all of my furniture and clothes were ridden with mold/mildew. I had to start over all over again. Fast forward to February of 24′ I was finally able to get an apartment in the city again. Since then I’ve been struggling to build my brand back up as well as acquiring necessities for my apartment while being a single working father. I’ve slowly started establishing my events again and they’ve been successful however they have been scaled down a bit.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a photographer, Creative director, Curator, with the hopes of eventually managing artists. I specialize in production, marketing, and project management. I’m known for my authenticity and realness in the game. Which is how I’m able to keep the professional relationships I’ve established all these years til this day. I’m known for putting together these photography events as well. I’m most proud of seeing the artist I’ve brought to my shoots or worked with in the past grow more and more successful. I don’t think that their success is based off what I did for anybody but seeing everybody being able to be brought into the light, then shine? That’s what i live for.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Well all of the adversity I’ve faced, the fact that everything i do is self funded, I do this for the art and culture. I have multiple side businesses, I work at least 120 hours a check with my regular job.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monttyrockets/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/crevtorscanvas.htx/
