About Just Gonz
For Justin Gonzalez—known as Just Gonz—art has never been something he discovered; it is the language he was born into. His father, an artist trained in graphite, prepress, and architectural drafting, filled their home with creativity. Animation cels, paintings, National Geographic magazines, movies, and his father’s own photography formed the visual vocabulary of Justin’s childhood. His grandfather—a painter and sculptor—passed down the same instinct. Art didn’t simply run in the family; it shaped the way Justin saw the world.
By the time Justin reached the tenth grade, he was already working part-time in the Studio City prepress shop where his father spent his career. There, in the darkrooms of Stat Graphics, he learned to develop large-format film, operate a lithography camera, burn plates, and produce prints by hand. It was also the first time he touched Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator—tools that would follow him through every chapter of his creative life.
When his family moved from California to Florida at age 15, Justin brought that foundation with him. He immersed himself in early digital design while falling in love with electronic music. Soon he was DJ’ing, producing tracks, and founding World Clique Productions, a collective that created underground events. Justin designed all the flyers, posters, and visuals himself—merging lithography, photography, and emerging computer graphics into one seamless creative practice.
His fascination with architecture and world-building led to an unexpected turn. At 19, music introduced him to Aaron Boucher, a young programmer developing games in his bedroom. Justin composed the soundtrack for Aaron’s breakout early title, Evil Core, and the game’s success sparked the formation of Avaria Corporation. Justin became the Vice President and lead environment designer, using AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max to build worlds, architecture, and landscapes for Endless Ages—the world’s first MMOFPSRPG. Lighting, atmosphere, and spatial storytelling became his focus, deepening his understanding of how environments breathe and how light gives life to form.
During this time, Justin continued running World Clique Productions as a design studio, pioneering early web design and interactive Flash experiences for clients from Florida to California.
In 2005, with a sense of adventure (and not much money), he moved to New York City. A part-time job at the Hotel on Rivington quickly became a turning point. The mix of architecture, interior design, hospitality, and nightlife electrified him. What began as a temporary job turned into a 20-year career in the world of luxury boutique hotels and restaurants. Whether developing hotel concepts, building bars and lounges, or working alongside top interior designers and architects, Justin stayed intimately connected to visuals, storytelling, and the emotional language of space. And all the while, he never put the camera down.
Across decades, Justin’s photography has followed him through cities and continents: Tokyo’s neon corridors, Java’s volcanic peaks, Spain’s sunlit plazas, Amsterdam’s shadowed canals, New York’s sleepless streets, and the quiet mornings of Southeast Asia. Every journey deepened his instinct to capture candid beauty—unscripted moments, fleeting expressions, and the poetry of real life unfolding.
Now, after two decades in hospitality, Justin has returned to his first and truest calling: photography and art.
Today, Just Gonz Photography is the culmination of a lifelong creative journey—rooted in craft, shaped by design, and driven by a devotion to observing the world with curiosity, gratitude, and heart. Justin’s work is not about taking pictures; it is about preserving the pulse of a place, the breath of a moment, and the feeling that lingers long after the shutter closes.