Meet Marial Moreno Gómez | Director of Photography

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marial Moreno Gómez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marial, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Movies changed the way I see the world. They put me inside lives that were not my own and let me understand people I would never meet otherwise. A film could take me into someone else’s circumstances and make their reasoning and their feelings clear to me, even when they were nothing like mine. Those experience stayed with me. I work as a Director of Photography. I pursued this path because I want to tell stories that let us understand each other more as people. Cinematography lets me combine the visual instincts I developed growing up with a craft built on that purpose. It was the work that fit how I already saw the world, so the decision felt less like a choice and more like following something that was already there.

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.
I am a Director of Photography based in Los Angeles, mostly working on shorts, commercials, and music videos. My job is to figure out how to bring the director’s vision to life. What I like the most about this job is that it is built on teamwork. A single shot is the result of a lot of people moving in the same direction at once, and when a set is working well, you can feel it. The director, the gaffer, the camera crew, everyone is solving the same problem from a different angle. The work I am proudest of came out of that kind of trust, where people knew each other well enough to take risks together. The directors and crews I work with make my work better, and I try to do the same for them. When crafting a shot, I start from feeling instead of from the technical side. I tend to ask what the scene should make someone feel, and then I work backward to the camera and lighting that get there. I read a scene for its rhythm and mood as much as its look. That is usually what shapes my decisions, and I think it is what makes my images feel like mine.

Getting here has not been easy, mostly because you have to earn your place again on every new project. Each set is a new team that does not know you yet, so you prove yourself by being prepared, knowing your gear, and doing good work under pressure. That is slow, but it is the only thing that builds a reputation that lasts. If there is one thing I want people to know, it is that I am drawn to stories told through images more than words. I like it when the picture does the work and the audience feels something before anyone explains it to them. That is the kind of filmmaking I want to keep making.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d start with a morning hike at Fryman Canyon in the San Fernando Valley, then drive up Pacific Coast Highway to El Matador in Malibu to spend the afternoon by the ocean. On the way back we’d grab an early dinner on Ventura Boulevard. Then we’d end the night at a repertory screening, the New Beverly for something on actual film. Seeing an old movie with a full, quiet crowd is one of my favorite things in this city. Beach in the day, movie theater at night, that’s a perfect day to me.

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?
My shoutout goes to my father. He raised me around books, theater, films, and music, and his love for these shaped the way I grew up. He introduced me to classic films when I was young, and watching them with him is where my relationship with cinema started. His sensibility for art is a large part of who I became. The way he looked at images, the films he cared about, and the attention he paid to how things were photographed all became part of how I see the world. I learned to read pictures and understand visual storytelling through him before I ever picked up a camera myself. He has supported my creative work consistently since then, through every stage of it. He gave me the eyes I work with every day, and every frame I shoot carries a little of him in it. So when people see my work, they are also seeing the father who taught me how to look. This one is for him.

Website: https://marialmorenogomez.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostinyourart/