"That's no moon, it's a space station´´
It´s Saturday today, Los Angeles, January 27th, 2018, and though the date is not really relevant to any of this, I guess I´m just locating myself in the where and when.
My name is Carlos Rafael Suárez, Carlos to some, and Lucho to my folks and siblings. And I am here presenting a small added blog for my cinematography website, mostly to myself, but mainly as an open way to analyze and reflect on the how and why I am pursuing a career in cinematography and ultimately, filmmaking as a whole..
However, I would not dare be as presumptuous to assume that anyone, under any circumstances will be compelled to go through these lines, all I know is, there was a time when many filmmakers would reflect on paper about their experiences, their mistakes, their drives and aspirations, in the hopes that the flow of written thought would, if fortune allowed it, give some closure and advancement to the many steps they took as they moved forward in visual storytelling. God knows, we kinda all need it. And for the sake of collaboration, I hope any of this might be of some help to anyone as much as I hope it is to me.
If there if a catalist to my love for films, I would very non-originally have to blame my Dad and the way he took me to watch Star Wars: A New Hope, as a theatrical 35mm screening in a local movie theater in my hometown, Caracas, Venezuela. All I remember was being 7 years old, and my father telling me how he wanted me to see this film just as he had seen it in his early twenties. Sitting down in a movie theater, in that welcoming darkness, eyes forward at the awesomeness happening on screen. That film, that night, became my first real moment of awareness of film and it´s ability to capture one´s imagination.
I don´t intend to dwell too much on my childhood and upbringing, suffice it to say that as a family not related to the film industry,somehow we all thrived en enjoying films together, Hollywood classics, blockbusters, and memorable pieces of film history. Without any set intent for any visual education, more that half of my brother and sisters, including myself, took that love for films and are, currently making it part of our professional career. Each in our own specific area and skill.
I started out doing photography. By the grace of someone´s trust, I was given a used digital DSLR, on the condition that I studied photography, somehow, and took pictures just because. To this day, the randomness of such an event is one of the main drives of my visual search.
There are patterns of behavior, culture and past, but ultimately, capturing images "just because" can be an incredible force of learning. Yes, we all need direction, a want, a guided sense of personal discipline, but just the mere curiosity of freezing time through the lens, must be the start, no explanation, no long disclaimer, just a push of the shutter while directing our eyes at something, curious and interesting. Instinctive curiosity begets random searches, and these beget unprejudiced ideas, most of the time, at least.
It's been 8 years since I was given that camera. That old, dusty Sony A100.
I've been through 5 years of undergrad college, 3 years of social work, 4 years of freelance work in my hometown, shot weddings, some docs, some short films and one feature.
Now I find myself in LA, after 2 years of cinematography school and a year freelancing and I'm realizing that, I gotta take a step back and sum up where I've been, what I've seen. It feels like I'm starting all over, which should be fine, I hope.
I also find myself at a place where, as many aspiring artists, I need to clarify my own personal voice, understand the patterns present in my work, my ideas, and to that end, this journal becomes a safeguarded place to lay out what is present and what could be, what has been and hopefully will be. Which is why in the footnotes I will include a link to my photography albums present in Flickr, My Instagram Link and a Link to my reel, whoever stumbles on this might have an idea of where I come from.
So may this first entry be a journal into making my visual storytelling path more insightful and personal. I will cover all ranges of topics from Film, Art, Culture an Photography, that will hopefully hone my skills, refresh my ideas and maybe be of use to whoever reads these lines.
In the meantime, eyes forward, we got stories to tell.
