Paulo Shishido: As a Photographer on Weekends, and Now Vernal Supported My Next Chapter

The Start of the Photography Path

“My dad was the family photographer, documenting birthdays, stuff like that on film, using his Nikon film camera, typically using Fujifilm. So I guess naturally, I might have gotten it from him, the documentation of the family.”

In August of this year (2025), Paulo will mark 20 years working as an administrative assistant at one of the largest healthcare companies in South Florida. Almost every other weekend—or at least once a month—Paulo goes out to shoot photos. His subjects often center around street culture, cinema, or his son.

In recent months, Paulo's piece "Wheels Up" has been exhibited at El Fresco, in Little Havana. The photo captures a child popping a wheely on his bike on Ocean Drive, with the sun in the background casting a dramatic shadow in the foreground. The image has seen some success. “I didn't think it was going to get the reaction it did at the show. It was the first print that sold too. And I ended up selling three prints that day.”

Just as VERNAL was speaking with Paulo, he had just sold another print of Wheels Up.

“Wheels Up” Ocean Drive 2024

Paulo's personal favorite style of photography - motion  (Shinjuku, Japan)

Paulo’s father had a passion for documenting family moments through photography. This planted a seed in Paulo’s heart—a love for capturing and preserving memories. He began experimenting with photography in his teenage years.

It wasn’t until the first few months after his son was born that Paulo truly fell in love with photography. He started consistently photographing his son, which eventually led him to create 1005 Photography—named after his son’s birthday, October 5th.

He even started using his personal Instagram account his son, solely dedicated to share various photos capturing different moments of his life. One series of photos, for example, shows a 10.5-year time gap between two images—documenting his son’s growth and leaving a powerful impression of time passing taken by @chocolatemilkme at the time.

Upgrade Workspace with VERNAL

“It's helped a lot as far as efficiency and just having the space to actually do the work that I love doing.”

As his photography career developed, Paulo's need for a well-organized desktop space gradually grew. He needed a work area for editing photos, a space for framing the prints he sold, and ideally a spot to place his large and heavy printer—which allows him to produce high-quality prints.

To meet these needs, Paulo measured the dimensions of his room and chose an L-shaped desk. “It's very efficient to have this L-shaped desk here to my left to frame. I have enough space. Something I didn't have before. I was very cramped up in a do-it-yourself type desk that I built in my room.” The L-shaped desk helped him make full use of the corner of the room and opened up the possibility of creating separate zones. “It's good to have separate work areas to do different things,” Paulo said happily.

Before using the VERNAL desk

After using the VERNAL desk

“I knew I needed a return for the framing. So that's why I specifically asked if it is interchangeable. I know I needed to have it on the left.”

Before using VERNAL’s L-shaped desk, Paulo used to do photo framing on his small old desk—or sometimes even on his bed. Before choosing the desk, he specifically checked whether the return side of VERNAL’s L-shaped desk could be switched to either side. Once he confirmed that he could configure the return according to his needs, he was excited to build a standing desk that truly fit his workspace. Now, after adjusting and printing a photo, he can naturally turn and move right into the framing process.

"I feel I have a lot of space to work with. I try to keep it clutter free. Because again, I don't like clutter. So it feels more spacious and that feels like I can breathe a little bit better. Even being in that state of mind helps you when you're editing or when you're researching whatever it is that you're doing in regards to your creative work."

When he's framing photos and his sciatica starts to flare up, he stands up to stretch. "That way I'm not bending over. So I think that's a great feature about the desk. Since before I was doing it on a desk that was as high as these filing cabinets".

“Maybe I can store frames in the CPU Holder or any other printing supplies and stuff like that.”

Paulo uses an iMac and Macbook Pro for his photography work, so while he doesn't have a CPU tower to mount under the desk, he was curious to see if the CPU holder could be used for his printer. However, he found that it might not work as expected: It's too low to place near the floor. So now my printer is on top of the desk on the return towards the corner, which is better because it's easier to feed the paper via the desktop than it would be through the bottom anyway.

Still, he sees potential in using that space for storing picture frames or other supplies—it's open and accessible, making it easy for him to grab what he needs.

OK Paulo, we’ll definitely take this into consideration as we think about how to better meet users’ needs for on-desk storage solutions.

Space for Passion and Person that Matters

“I don't want to turn into a job because then I feel I'm going to lose the fun and love out of something that I like doing and love doing, you know?”

Given Paulo’s deep passion for photography and the growing number of print orders he’s been receiving, we asked if he had ever considered becoming a full-time photographer. He gently dismissed the idea—he prefers not to put too much pressure on his hobby and instead wants to simply enjoy the joy that photography brings him.

With his new desk, Paulo restructured his workspace, making photo editing and framing a much smoother experience.

At the same time, the central figure behind 1005 Photography—his son—often spends time in the workspace with him. Sometimes, his son sits on a chair watching his iPad; other times, he uses Paulo’s main desk space to do schoolwork. Occasionally, he helps his dad frame photos, or the two of them build LEGO sets together on the desk. In this shared space, his son is there with him—witnessing his father’s love for photography, sometimes even using the camera to capture moments of Paulo himself, quietly documenting the evolution of his dad’s passion.