Meet Mariano De Luca | Director of Photography

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mariano De Luca and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mariano, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’ll always say that once I got the opportunity to travel abroad, I became a true Latino. It is hard to put in perspective your thoughts and ideas when you don’t know how is it out-there. One of the best things that happened in my life, was the opportunity to travel abroad and had the chance to meet how other societies work. Now based in Los Angeles, CA, I really got the chance to feel and live how big the latino community is around the world, and also how different we are. I feel that my approach to Cinematography is way different than others Americans. My background growing up in a non artist family made me push myself to the limit, I didn’t have any easy path and had to learn thru the journey but also from my own mistakes. As an Argentinean, you grow up with something that, for me, is invaluable… the ability to make the best with the very least. The resilience to keep going and find a solution for every problem you get in life is something you learn from the start.
I feel that overcoming all the problems and situations, like moving to a new country or having a new way of living, new society would have been really tough to overcome if I could never have that set of skills.
I always put my faith and strengh in everything that I do and my commitment and professionalism come from that. It is absolutely impossible to take my background out of what I do today…

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.
Like in every other art, being a Director of Photography is not just one thing. I feel that creatively, it’s a mix of things, you work with light, with lenses, you basically tell a story visually. My visual approach is refined, somewhat dark and moving. I love to move the camera, make the audience feel what the characters feel, try to be immersive and leave something into the viewers for them to talk about after. I’m proud of several projects I’ve done, I had the chance to tell stories teaching the young, stories that are socially inspiring, showing there is always a way. Lately, I’ve been shooting a mostly documentaries and narrative, and in my documentaries I found that is always super important to tell “the Story” not rely just in pretty or interesting images, but show the real story behind them. We always say that filmmaking is mostly “problem solving”, so I had to overcome lots of challenges every shoot. From budget problems, crew problems to time problems, story problems, etc. Every single project leaves you something new, and that is also something I always to push myself into. I need to learn and make something new for every new project I’m in. I hope that every project I’ve been part of, would leave something into every single person that has the chance to watch it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love the beach, so I’m always taking my friends to do something near the beach. I love Marina del Rey, Malibu, and also El Porto, close to Manhattan beach. I feel LA has tons of outdoors options and the weather is probably the best you can get. Of course, going to the movies or the theater is also a good idea, and musically you have plenty of options for concerts too.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
It sounds easy, and probably corny, but the very first foundation of where I am today is my Family… without them I wouldn’t be here. After them, I feel my career is one of those where you always make compromises, and of course during my journey I gained and lost a lot of things, but during the journey having my closest friend “Emi”, “Fede” to push me to keep going, my first Cinematography teacher “Claudio” leading me thru my first steps, and of course my mentor “Fernando” today who is someone that not only gives me work advice but also life, are absolutely important of who I am today, along with all the people that trust me to be in their projects and believe in my creative vision.

Website: www.marianodelucadp.com

Instagram: @marianodelucadp

Image Credits
Luca De Maria, Edu Gonzales