Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandro Ramos.
Alejandro, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up in the Bay Area in Concord, CA. When I was in middle school the movie Jackass came out. So, at the beginning of that movie it says something along the lines of, “Do Not try this at home.” My friends and I almost immediately started trying everything at home. Instead of us just doing the dumb stunts, I wanted to be the one to filmed it and posted it on Myspace for our class to see. I filmed us jumping off roofs into bushes, scaring people walking in a park, and even branding ourselves with hot metal. I was pretty dumb back then. But what I got out of it was amazing. I made small edits of the footage and I shared them. The next few days in school everyone came up to me and told me how cool the video was and how it was so funny to them. From then on, I haven’t stopped filming and teaching myself the process of cinematography.
I eventually moved to San Diego after junior college. I lived in La Jolla and went to Platt College Digital Media for film. I lived in San Diego for about 3 years, then made the jump to Los Angeles where I’m currently a freelance Director of Photography.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My art is Cinematography. It’s the process of telling a story with a camera. What I do is turn visions into reality. How I do it, is envision what my idea is and how I’d execute the look for the video and find solutions and tools to help me get there. For example, if I’m aiming for a more inspiration type of video, my lighting and camera won’t be set up for a light and poppy feeling. It’d be set up in a dark, low saturation and moody feel to it. There’s tools with grip and gaffing that can help me accomplish whatever look I’m going for. My camera placement/ lens and camera choice play a big role too on how I want the video to feel.
Mainly my message I want to get across is the main point of the video I’m shooting. Everything needs to be just right to make sure the audience gets the feelings I’m intending.
What I would LOVE for people to know, is this isn’t easy. I’m sure most art isn’t easy. But trying to become a cinematographer is really not easy. It’s never ending knowledge you need to know, for example lighting, the look of a lens, the color science in a camera and techniques. The hardest part is having to know all that technical stuff and still being able to apply it on a shoot day and not panick on set.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Everyone has a different definition of success. My definition of being successful is being able to do what you love and pay the bills with it.
There’s a few qualities I believe artist need to have. First, we all need to know the difference between a “hater” and “constructive criticism.” I’ve seen it plenty of times where people aren’t willing to adjust what they do in order to become better. They write them off as, “not knowing what they’re talking about,” or “they’re just hating.” I’m guilty of it sometimes too, but I’ve started to learn that people who watch my videos are giving me feedback on things they picked up and I didn’t. All in all, take what people say with a grain of salt, but don’t ignore it.
The second quality is the most crucial one. Be passionate. It’s simply a must. I’m a firm believer if you give the artwork 50%… it’ll show. Put everything you know into your artwork. Show it off, reflect on it, study, acknowledge how you’ll make the next one better, then do it.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
People can find my work on my website at ARamosFilms.com and they can simply support it by just watching it!
Contact Info:
- Website: ARamosFilms.com
- Phone: 9257882949
- Email: ARamosFilm@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehondro/
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Image Credit:
Emma Hale
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