About the artist..

Although some people might know me simply as Sarboza, my name is Zac Estes. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1993.

Beginning in 2014, I was working at one of the staples of Louisville’s workforce, Ford Motor Company’s Kentucky Truck Plant. Initially beginning my journey into the arts as a music producer, I picked up a camera in 2017 to record a music video. While the music video didn’t come to life, I did record and edit a video and realize in the process that I loved taking photos. Shortly after that, my father gave me a film camera that he bought when I was born. I was introduced to the magic of analog photography. I’ll never forget sitting on my couch and researching how an image was made using film, and being blown away by the science behind it all. All of that is still over my head, but it led me to developing my own film at home in my kitchen sink.

Looking back almost seven years later, the operation I was running was very crude. I had no idea what I was doing and almost nobody else to consult on my method. In 2018 or so, I discovered that a print shop down the street from me was still developing and scanning film in house. After dropping a few rolls off and being happy with the results I received, I asked the staff there if I could learn a little bit about developing film since I had been doing it at home. That’s when I met Christine Howard, the head of production and development at Fulltone Labs. Since I had a full time job at the time, I offered to just come in and help in exchange for the knowledge. She instead told me to apply for a job there.

From 2019 to 2022, I worked at Fulltone Labs (under The Print Refinery) developing and scanning film, while also essentially teaching myself the ins and outs of photography. Those years were so formative to how and why I shoot and who I am as a person. After lots of trial and error, I finally began taking photoshoots sometime in 2020. I personally want to thank all of the people who believed in my images back then, back when I didn’t believe in them myself.

In 2024, I decided to leave my full time job to pursue a job in photography full time. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m confident that the future I see in my head will eventually be my reality.