Rising Stars: Meet Daniele Aquino

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniele Aquino.

Daniele, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hi! I’m Dani, a photographer based in Downtown Los Angeles. Originally from the Bay Area but I now have been living in SoCal for the past eight years. I say SoCal because prior to moving back to Los Angeles, I was attending UC San Diego for a couple of years. UCSD was actually the reason I got into photography in the first place. Growing up, photography never really caught my attention, I was more so into sports, conceptual art, and fine art like drawing with charcoal and graphite. While attending college, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life and for some reason, becoming a computer arts designer sounded the most feasible at the time. While working towards my computer arts degree, photography happened to be one of my electives during the course. I ended up having to borrow a DSLR from one of my friends because I definitely did not want to buy a whole camera.

In short, slowly I fell in love with photography. Not because I enjoyed capturing imagery but because it was one of the few activities I could really do alone while adventuring the world. I didn’t have to stay cooped up at a desk and work to finish an assignment. I could set out any time of the day on my bike and gallivant the streets wherever it took me. Just thinking about it makes me smile. Although photography started to become my favorite hobby, never did it cross my mind that I would be able to make it into a career. To this day, even though I have been making a living as a full-time photographer for the past four years, I still don’t know how “seriously” I take it. I’m just having fun shooting people, meeting new individuals, creating imagery, and exploring the various angles in the digital world of photography.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Making the decision to pursue art as your career is a battle in itself. There is so much uncertainty when trying to decide if you are even worthy of giving yourself the title. Am I good enough? Do people like my art? Will I survive financially? Can I even consider myself as a creative? I am most proud of getting over that hump and making the choice to not care anymore because there’s no way I was going to live the one and only life was given not how I wanted. I was done being scared, done getting in the way of myself, done living in fear. From that point forward, I was able to experience what love was, and after gaining the ability and confidence to love myself unconditionally is when everything started falling into place and I was able to find myself not only as a photographer but as an artist.

To pursue art, let alone in the market of photography that is oversaturated, it can definitely get discouraging at times due to everyone else following the same dream. However, I’ve come to realize that there is a place and niche for everyone. It’s not about being the best, it’s about doing what you love and sharing your vision by expressing it in photo mediums. Photography has helped me grow in ways didn’t think were possible and because of that, I am extremely excited for what the future holds. I do photography because it makes me happy. I enjoy connecting with new people and letting them feel good and confident in themselves. When photographing, I do my best in letting individuality speak through my portraits and I hope that continues to show throughout my work.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The idea for my business, danicribo, came up on its own. During the middle of the pandemic, my lease ended and I was frantically looking for a new place to move. As I was searching for apartments, I found a spacious loft on Craigslist in Downtown LA and thought wow maybe I can shoot photos in there as well and make a little photography studio. After moving in, it took quite a while getting my studio set up mostly because I had no idea what I was doing nor did I have any knowledge or experience of what a photography studio needed. After several months of research and slowly gathering the materials needed, I finally started having some photoshoots with friends and random people I met in LA. Once I got around to posting some pictures on Instagram, I was trying to think of a hashtag that I could use for everything I shot at my home studio and #danicribo just popped in my head.

At the time, #danicribo was a name I never planned on using seriously I just need a hashtag for all of my photos to go into one place. Then gradually over time the hashtag just stuck and now I use danicribo as my photography business. Without my home studio, my photography definitely would not exist. I think that because I am in the comfort of my own home, I feel the most confident and at ease when working therefore I’m able to take my time and shoot how I want. Because of this, I think my style of photography is a bit different than what you’re used to seeing when you think of studio portraiture. In addition to my photography style, I think my editing style is unlike what you’re used to seeing when you think of portrait or fashion photography.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I wouldn’t say that the crisis taught me lessons connected to my photography, but it definitely taught me how to be alone and how to be comfortable with myself and my thoughts. It was actually life-changing and I still use this knowledge and daily.

Contact Info:

• Website: danicribo.com
• Instagram: @danieleaquino

Image Credits
Dre, Camille, Madison, Kidarah, Earvee, Tweakt, Tani