Meet Ricardo Mora | Image Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ricardo Mora and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ricardo, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I have always been interested in artistic things. Growing up I’ve always was drawn to images, I look at artists that represented their craft in an interesting way that caught my attention. Fashion was a big draw. I’ve always liked it, specially the editorials in magazines that showcased more avant-garde images. I wanted to pursue a career in the that field but my family didn’t see that as a valid career. I studied medicine and became a doctor. But the artistic thorn never left me and after a while, I came back to it.
After traveling many roads, I discover that I wanted to explore more the photographic route and create my own images. I’ve been experimenting and working more into finding my own voice in the visual arts. Organically, my own style has develop and I’m still working on improving it. From the beginning of my career in 2014 as a set designer in theatre my interests kept growing and each work became a challenge to improve myself as a professional.
That has pushed me to be better and grow as an artist in every new project I get involved, although continuing as a photographer on the side, the theatre jobs took me to film, where I now overlook the entire look of a film, as an image director, from costumes, styling and set designing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
what sets you apart from others: It’s difficult for me to know, but I can say that by developing my own style, people recognized it and sets me apart from more conventional artists. That is one of the reasons I think they look for me. In a competitive world, I give a different approach to the look.

what you are most proud of or excited about: Upcoming projects!

How did you get to where you are today professionally: With perseverance, and paying attention on my own criticism that sometimes can be brutal. I pay extra attention on details that I don’t like, even though the client might liked it. For me, it’s a matter of personal growth and achieving a better result for myself in the next project.

easy? or how did you overcome the challenges: I’ve learned to overcome the challenges by paying attention of past mistakes and things that I don’t like in order to improve myself.

lessons I’ve learned: A lesson could be that sometimes I am extremely critical of my job, although that criticism has helped me grow. And even though that I can do many things at the same time, I have learned that I need to delegate.

what you want the world to know about you and your story: That I love to create and put out there beautiful and interesting visuals that will take my audience to a different place, where they can discover my point of view, a fantasy or/and a reality.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m very bad about doing itinerary things for travelers, I prefer to go with the flow, but I can recommend a few spots. Let’s say it is a long weekend. I would definitely recommend staying in one of the hotels in West Hollywood because of its centric location, from there, we could go to dinner to Ardor in the Edition hotel, or also have drinks and a conversation at the Chateau Marmont.
For another day, Beverly Hills is around the corner, where they have very good restaurants, one of my favorites is Cipriani, where I enjoy the atmosphere. Even though is a cliche, it could be fun to stroll down Rodeo Drive window shopping specially for a visitor. Not so far from West Hollywood, there is the LACMA museum and the Academy museum which are a very good stop for a visit.
In another part of the city it is worthwhile to visit the Griffith Observatory and maybe have lunch at the Alcove Cafe in the Los Feliz neighborhood.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to take the opportunity to recognized and give a shout out to some people that has been always by my side and have help me get to where I am these days. My sister Andrea, who has participate in everything I want to create. She has wore everything I had given to her for modeling in some of my photos and videos, even looks I have created from scratch, including hats that I’ve done for specific looks. Along the same lines, my model friend Karin Hallen, who has always been very supportive and has participated in many of my projects, professionally and for fun. Octavio Carlin is someone else who has believe in my art and has confide in me the looks of many of his different endeavors. With him and his team, I have found a support system that helps me grow as an artist.

Instagram: @ricardomohi