The first thing that hits you about Zusha Goldin is his optimistic, easygoing nature – one imagines that that’s how his clients look so comfortable in his clicks, resulting in some unbelievable portrait shots of them.
But his talent for photography is not the only thing that defines him, young-but-rooted Zusha uses his camera for a cause close to his heart, that of developing and offering young Jews a world-stage to showcase their artistic talent, and for fighting antisemitism.
Zusha’s tryst with photography
Operating out of Los Angeles and New York City, Zusha is the youngest of 10 siblings, born and raised in an ultra-orthodox close-knitted Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York.
Zusha’s tryst with photography also has a little sibling-story behind it, having begun with a camera bought by his siblings, which he would often dabble with as a child.
That grew into shooting his friends and family for fun, and developed his passion for photography – something he was, in any case, “always interested in”.
Additionally, he “would make short skits which he would act in, edit, direct, write, and film”. At around 18 years of age he decided to pursue portrait photography professionally, and there was no going back for him after that.
Chasing his childhood dream to move to Los Angeles, on March 1st, 2020 Zusha moved across the country to Los Angeles, California to transition from the community life in Brooklyn, to life in the city of stars.
Building his portfolio in LA
An optimist fuelled by realism, Zusha believes that having visions is the first step towards success, but success itself only comes to you with the discipline of setting and meeting deadlines, and daily actionables that you adhere to.
In alignment with his philosophy, the building up of his career too was a well-thought out approach which he followed through step-by-step.
He needed to build a portfolio to get work, but as an unknown photographer in LA how did he begin?
He says, “Every creative knows that to build in the building stage of your brand, you must do free work to build a portfolio. I did lots and lots of free work.”
Combining this with his superior networking skills he perfected his craft, and did social media content creation full-time. This brought him amazing opportunities, and gave him a playing field which was all his to play in and own.
Before he knew it he was servicing high-end clients such as top talent in the industry and CEOs and executives all around the southern California area.
During this time, he photographed some of the biggest Hollywood stars – from Sydney Sweeney to Selena Gomez, Ben Stiller to Courtney Cox.
In this time – nearly 4 and a half years – Zusha had built not just his career, but a base which he could not have guessed then, would soon come in handy in more ways than one.
The birth of ‘AAA’
Zusha had earlier described his relationship with religion as being ‘complicated’, but the tragedy of October 7th and the massive vitriol against Jews on social media and elsewhere evoke the proud Jew in him.
He reflected that October 7th had prompted most Jews to clearly pick a side, and the sides emerging in the Jewish community were – of ‘good’, apologetic Jews, and of proud ones, who refused to bow down in silence to the hatred.
“I was like, ‘This is unacceptable,’” he says. “Because if I’m feeling this way, what about all the thousands Jewish teenagers all around the world who are 15-years-old and are receiving these comments?”
He adds a word of caution, clarifying his stand, that AAA was formed with the aim to “raise awareness about the global [rise of] antisemitism, normalize celebrities, especially non-Jewish celebrities, standing up against antisemitism and de-politicizing standing up against Jew hatred. It shouldn’t be political to combat any form of hate.”
That’s when Zusha strategized to stand up and give back to the community that made him him. And thus, ‘Artists Against Anti-Semistism’ (AAA) was born. He tapped into his network to bring together celebrities to speak up against anti-semitism.
Of course, this wasn’t easy, with some Hollywood A-listers telling him outright that he may be right, but standing up for his cause could cost them a lot.
“I’ve had a few A-list celebrities tell me to my face, ‘I support you, but I don’t think it’s smart for me to do this right now,’” he said.
Yet, Zusha, who in his own words, “perseveres with real grit, tenacity, persistence and the ability to not self-reject and not take “no” for an answer” eventually built brick-by-brick, a list of actors and influencers to support his cause, and what’s today known as ‘AAA’.
Zusha’s work so far and future plans
Zusha’s first exhibit launched in Los Angeles with sponsorship from Jews Talk Justice and his second, ‘Comments for Peace’ launched in Manhattan in November last year, alongside his nonprofit ‘Artists For Unity’.
The exhibit was attended by a crowd of changemakers and industry leaders of the likes of those of the likes of Ginnifer Goodwin (Once Upon a Time), Tiffany Haddish (The Afterparty), Paul Walter Hauser (Fantastic Four: First Steps), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Debra Messing (Will & Grace), and others, posing for shots with anti-semitic comments from social media.
The event which had over 170+ people in attendance also saw actress and comic Natalie Friedman and Jacob Wallach (founder of a social media agency) also co-hosted a Q/A with Zusha about combating antisemitism in Hollywood and on social media.
Two weeks later ‘Comments for Peace’ was brought to Miami in an event in ‘At Basel’ hosted by NellysList.
Zusha will now be displaying at a 2-day event at Columbia University in early April, and hopes to bring the exhibitions to Tel Aviv, and parts of Europe.
Also in the pipeline is a “third very different new style exhibit in spring highlighting Jewish pride combining the future of Jewish continuity with celebrities”.
Ultimately, Zusha is powered by the vision to give grants to young Jewish creatives to empower their storytelling, and with his zeal for photography and his cause, there really seems to be nothing that can stop him from getting there very soon.
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