Today we’d like to introduce you to Suzaine Aguirre Acuna.
Hi Suzaine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I fell in love with the art of visual storytelling while in high school after a viewing of the film Amelie. Ever since, I have made it my goal to create beautiful imagery, utilizing lighting, composition, and movement, that propels the story forward. I am a cinematographer.
My journey to becoming a Director of Photography did take some detours through a few departments. I had interned and worked for distribution, production, equipment rental, animation, and visual effects companies. I have quite an eclectic background, and I believe each experience has added a little something special to my tool belt as a cinematographer.
Straight out of college, I worked at a camera rental house and then into a digital retouching facility where I cleaned up films to be re-released onto BluRay. This opened up a part of my eye that can spot a dusty frame or digital artifacting with ease. From there, I moved onto visual effects with on set vfx teams from Rhythm and Hues, Weta Digital, and MPC. These VFX jobs gave me the opportunity to witness and learn from the masters at work, all while I got to photograph different assets for visual effects. I learned how these massive shots were filmed, lit and what it takes for a shot to work.
I started my chapter in commercial and editorial work at Industrial Color, I got to work with some of the greatest photo and video teams that created a lot of the visuals that we see daily on magazines, billboards, social media, etc. I had learned so much about production, filming, and photographing fashion and beauty with my time at IC.
I feel that my cinematic, technical, and photography background have helped establish my approach and style of shooting. And I am so glad to have had such a rich collection of past experiences of all genres of production.
I am currently repped by Neer Motion as one of their DPs.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My road to my career in cinematography was not a straight path, and to be honest, I’m still driving along with some turns and bumps. I have learned very early on that this industry does not offer the same kind of stability as a lot of other careers. In fact, that’s the reason I was able to work in so many departments. I was fortunate in that a door would open up for me, and I am so glad I was willing to get right in there and soak in that experience. What I did learn in those early days is how to keep going.
As I am getting older and my family grows (I have a three and a one-year-old), the new challenges of work/life balance is definitely my current struggle. It truly makes me appreciate the remarkable moms and dads working on set. And I must say, this stage of my life/career has upped my multitasking game.
If it weren’t for our past challenges or bumps of the road, we wouldn’t have growth. So I am thankful for the bumpy road that has led me (and is still leading me) to my current body of work.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a Cinematographer, working mainly in the beauty, fashion, and promo world. One of my more recent favorites was working for the Wonder Years promos for season 1. Not only did I get to work with some of the most talented and creative crew, I got to really go at this with a narrative in mind, This was all handheld, from the POV of a home video, so the camera also played a character in this promo. Matt Sayles directed, and he is one of the BEST photographer/director with the greatest personality.
With my eclectic background and taste in films and television, I have gained a wide range of knowledge and visual creativity. I love to collaborate and explore exciting ways to light a scene. We shot this promo alongside the photo key art as well. And with my background in photography, finding a way to share the sets with photos and videos was like second nature. We were able to get it all done in a timely manner. It was a great time on this set.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that Los Angeles includes so many people from different parts of this world. There’s so much to do and so much to see here. My only gripe is that you do have to drive everywhere and thus, more chances to be stuck in traffic.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.suzaine.com
- Instagram: iamsuzaine
