About

Photo by René Miranda

Hi, my name is Rodolfo Arpía but you can call me Rudy if that’s easier. I’m a wedding photographer based in Pasadena, California. I fell in love with Pasadena, and more specifically Old Town Pasadena, when I came to the United States for the first time in June 1997. I visited my friend Federico, who after picking me up at the airport took me straight to Pasadena where he bought me a cup of coffee at the back then ‘brand new ‘ Starbucks café. That’s when I enjoyed a tall extra hot latte for the first time in my life. Hundreds of lattes later, I still enjoy going to that same Starbucks in the heart of Old Town Pasadena on Colorado Blvd now blocks away from my studio in the Paseo Colorado. There weren’t so many different drinks with confusing weird names back in 1997 but still today that’s the only thing I drink at Starbucks… extra hot latte, no foam… you know what to bring when you visit me

I’m originally from Argentina. I grew up in a small town called San Pedro located 150 miles away from the capital, Buenos Aires, where I lived the last 10 years before I came to the US to stay. It had always been my dream to live in the United States, ever since I can remember… I guess in the beginning it had to do with the huge cultural differences I saw in the American movies and later in my life it was all about the opportunities this country has to offer. I remember asking my dad to send me to English school and luckily he listened to me and did so when I was 5. By the time I was 15 I was out of English school with a lot of theory in my head but no real life practice at all. I didn’t have any friends that enjoyed the English language, the few ones that went to English school with me did so because their parents forced them so the only practice I had from 15 to 25 was with the CNN reporters and … (TO BE CONTINUED – this is going to be a long one so please bear with me)