Today we’d like to introduce you to Walter Diaz
Hi Walter, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Ever since I could remember I wanted to have a career in entertainment. I was in bands growing up, was signed for a quick minute then went into recording engineering. All the while I was deep in a camera addiction that started in high school, photography and making videos with friends. It was around 2013 that I went to the Art Center College of Design to learn Cinematography.
This was my crash course on how to be a cinematographer. I had no real film experience before this except for all the photography I had done up until then. It was a grueling and expensive college experience but I did gain a ton of experience and collaborators that I work with til this day.
As of late, I have seen myself improving in my craft, with my goal of feature filmmaking getting closer and I’m looking forward to a bright future ahead.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been anything but smooth, for sure. Getting out of college was tough because, like many of us college students, I came out of school with massive student debt. So trying to work and pay my loan back has been a struggle, it leaves little room to jump on to passion projects or projects that cant offer much more than an awesome opportunity but I try not to pass on those types of projects because those tend to be the more fulfilling ones, especially if you are working with great people and frequent collaborators.
The pandemic was another giant hit to our industry as well as the latest strikes and the looming threat of AI is leaving so many of us with worries about what our future is going to look like. The landscape for filmmakers is changing rapidly and it feels like budgets are dwindling and hours on set are becoming few and far between.
As you can see it’s pretty easy to fall into despair in light of all these things happening right now. I am still hopeful for a bright future because there is still so much opportunity to be had, probably not in the traditional way we are used to but finding it through these new technologies or new stories that we haven’t heard yet.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For the past few years, I have been involved with a band from Seattle named Ghost Gun, we shot a music video for them in Seattle, in the purist indy style we shot all over the city, made deals, and stole what shots we could to make that video happen. Go look it up, it’s for a track called Venom. That video even got us nominated for a UKMVA!
Collaborating with the band and my director Alfredo we then moved on to shooting a short film called NANA that is set to come out soon! Ghost Gun came on to do the score so I am very proud of how I am still working closely with some of my favorite people.
I think what sets me apart is not only my style of dark and moody tones and lighting but also how much I care not only about the images but the story, how the images drive the story, and how I can use images to subconsciously add more meaning to the story. Some of my favorite films are not only visually stunning but have this quality that I strive to achieve.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think the quality that has helped me the most is being able to listen to my collaborators and do my best to interpret the vision. You also have to be a fun person to work with. There’s an amount of trust you have with the people you are working with. Trust that you are doing the right thing and are working towards the same common goal.
I have heard from many people that I work with that I have a calming effect on them, whether it’s just my vibe, or that I’m just always prepared for anything on set, the directors I work for never have to worry about my departments. This is great because it allows them to focus on their craft and we all reach a flow. It’s an amazing feeling when everyone involved is on point and you can see the project take shape in front of you.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walter_diaz_dp/
