Today we’d like to introduce you to David Cunningham.
Hi David, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised right outside the city in the town of Riverside, CA. To Michael Cunningham, an African American father from Louisiana, and my Puerto Rican Italian Mother, Juanita Cunningham, who was born in Texas. They met working at a Kaiser in LA. I was born in 1990, and since day one, my father always had a VHS camera around. Shooting home family videos and getting everyone comfortable around a camera. My older half-brother Mike jr and my cousin Jermaine would all make our own movies with that same camera.
I continue to make home movies with action figures and sometimes my younger brothers but the idea of becoming a filmmaker seem far fetch even though I had very supportive parents.
It wasn’t until my Senior year of HS (King HS in Riverside, where I had classmate’s fellow filmmaker Lauren Caster and NBA all-star Kawhi Leonard) that I took a TV and film production class and had a wonderful teacher, MR. G (Jay Gerren) re spark my interest in storytelling.
From there, I loaded up on all film classes from our local community college, were learned from amazing professors, including our Lighting teacher, Jack E. McLean Jr., who worked on the films Forest Gump, Showgirls, and Titanic. I soaked up as much knowledge as I could and went out into the workforce.
My number one passion is writing, but what pays the bills for me is my Cinematography. from being a cinematographer, I started to focus more on one frame at a time, and that is where I also became a photographer. Where I fell in love with photography as its own art form as well. Specializing in Portrait photography and Fine art boudoir. One of my bigger breakthroughs is when I landed an in-house photography position for a local Modeling Agency in West Hollywood. Where I was exposed to high number of models on a weekly basis and was really able to tune in my style.
I continued to work as a Cinematographer and started working and shooting for LA DJs; where they loved my style of recap videos, where I blended Documentary style with Music videos.
I believe my father had an impact on always documenting with the camera when we were young because I truly love shooting editing engaging docs with a cinematic twist. I had another bigger break when I was called in to finish a music video for Snoop Dogg – Directed by my friend and Mentor in the business Jaron Marquis.
My focus lately is to continue to do cinematography work. Photography work with celebrity portraits and to continue to release my own series of fine art projects. I have been lucky to have been able to shoot portraits of Lunell, Tony Rock, and Bai Ling, and others.
The next step is to fully produce and direct my own films with my voice. The voice that is not always told and that is growing up a mixed black man. Especially a light-skinned mixed black man where I grew up mainly on my black side but identify with both. One of my favorite artists of our time is Donald Glover and what he was able to do with Atlanta and continue to do with everything he touches is inspiration for me.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Working in this industry is never a smooth road. Especially when you don’t look like everyone else and have to pave your own path. But it has been very fun to say the least. Every artist regardless of race or gender has to find their voice. So, on top of that having to navigate the world as a mixed black man where had to find my comfort with my identity sometimes, feeling not black enough to be with this group or not Latino enough to be with this group was its own obstacle to navigate but now of course being very comfortable of who I am and my style.
One of the biggest obstacles with my photography work, especially with being a millennial, is the stigma of men who will buy a cheap camera and say they are a “photographer” just to get at girls. I take my photography work very seriously, and luckily, over the years, I have earned the trust and respect of many female models who love working with me and feel comfortable shooting with me. Especially my style where I shoot many series in fine art nudity. My work often reflects a softer feminine style, and so many times, men in this field do not get the chance because of sadly stupid men who have taken the name of a photographer and tainted it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have four passions in life that I bounce between. Writing, Cinematography, Photography, and Music. But specialize in Cinematography and Photography. I am more known for my music videos and shooting recap music videos for EDM producers.
I am very known for my photography work in portraits and my boudoir series.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
If you would like to work with me, you can always contact me through my website, where you can email me your projects, or if you would like to follow the journey and see when I will be putting out one of my next photography books, you can follow me on Instagram.
Website
DavidsDreamLand
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.littledinosaurproductions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsdreamland
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556626796339
