Meet Andrés Solórzano

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrés Solórzano. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andrés, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I’m a cinematographer, and imposter syndrome is really common in this profession, especially with social media. Impostor Syndrome comes in many shapes for me—doubt in my own skills, insecurity about my artistic journey or feeling that my accomplishments were too small compared to my peers’. I grapple with impostor syndrome on daily basis, so this is a great question. The best approach for me has been to be prepared with the tools and knowledge I need to succeed with each job I work. I always have YouTube or cinematography podcats in the background to learn about the latest technology and news in the world of cinematography.

Another strategy that has worked for me is to look back to my journey as an artist and appreciate all the victories in my path. I’ll go down a rabbit hole watching my old trailers, movies, shows, music videos, or commercials that I enjoyed working on. This allows me to have a visual display of the my creative journey and enjoy the results.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m a cinematographer who works in commercials, branded content, documentaries, music videos and narrative films. My work is to create a visual language for the story that is being told. Each director has a different visual language for their story which means I approach every project differently, creating a unique visual approach. This can be done with lighting, lenses, cameras, acquisition format, camera movement, post production processing or practical effects. That is why I love of my line of work; each project is different and unique.

This life journey into the film industry started as a kid with my mother taking me to the movie theater in Mexico City every Sunday. This was my safe space and the place where I was allowed to dream. Each Sunday brought a different adventure, and I was always intrigued on how could they bring these worlds to the screen, even from places in far galaxies or times long passed to history. I don’t think 10-year-old Andrés would believe what I do now, and that makes me feel happy.

I started my professional education at the Universidad Iberoamericana college in Mexico City, after which I moved to LA in order to pursue an MFA in cinematography at the American Film Institute. This is where I truly learned the craft of being a cinematographer. The lessons learned in this program still follow me on every set I work. The knowledge learned from legendary cinematographers like Bill Dill A.S.C. and Stephen Lighthill A.S.C. still resonate deeply.

After graduating from AFI, my professional journey took me all over the world. From shooting reggaeton music videos in Medellin, Colombia to lensing narrative films, commercials and documentaries all over the United States. Sometimes it feels unreal. I have gotten to work with some of the actors in the films my mother and I watched those Sundays in the theater, films that made me fall in love with cinema. That is what is so amazing about Los Angeles.

One time, my good friend Steve Acevedo invited me to operate for a YouTube fashion shoot. I realized when showing up on set that day, we were working with Gwyneth Paltrow. She held a special place in my heart because of Cuarón’s 1998  Great Expectations. I could not believe I was working on set with her 24 years later. This felt like victory in my journey. If I told young Andrés that he would work with Estella from Great Expectations, be a DP for a narrative film that shot in LA and premiered on HBO Max, for two episodes of a Hulu show, he would never believe it.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The first word that comes into my mind is resilience. Working as a cinematographer in LA can be soul crushing… just checking out Instagram can make you feel like everyone of your colleagues is working on bigger projects, better talent, bigger budgets, etc. So, it’s important to have the mental strength to see passed that and understand that your journey is unique and comparing yourself is pointless. Resilience comes into play every step of the journey. Making sure you can put yourself back together after rejection or a bad collaboration.

The second quality I can think about is self-developing. This industry is always shifting and there are always new technologies and trends. There is also a pool of knowledge from all the filmmakers that have come before. So there is no limit on resources for perfecting your craft. After each day of shooting, I watch the dailies and analyze every frame. This helps me understand what strategies were successful and which we can improve. Throughout each day I’m not on set, I’m reading articles, watching films, seeing behind-the-scenes of the shows I love. This helps me understand the process of other cinematographers, so I can bring this knowledge to my next film.

The third quality I can think about is the most important one: Be a nice person. This industry is all about who you know, so being a nice human being goes a long way. Good communication is essential, this can allow to avoid tension on set and during different steps of production.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?It takes a village to make a movie and it also takes a village to create and support a filmmaker. I can’t name a single person who was the most helpful to overcome the challenges that this profession brings. But I can name a few.

The persons who I can thank the most for developing my craft and career are Stephen Lighthill A.S.C. and Bill Dill A.S.C. Their teachings at AFI are how I learned the craft of a cinematographer. Their lessons still resonate. I can still hear inside my brain Bill Dill’s lessons on visual story telling. “If everything is a close up, nothing is a close up.” It took me some years to realize those lessons have been integrated to my core as a cinematographer. Stephen Lighthill was also an intrinsic part of my developing as a cinematographer. Listening to my insecurities and sharing his experience as a DP has always been an inspiration to my journey. Stephen started his career in documentary films as well, so I found his journey close to mine.

I could never be here in LA pursuing a career in the film industry with out my mother and father, who have supported me every step of the journey. There have been countless times that my mom has listened to my insecurities as an artist and found the exact words to make me feel better and keep me going. She grew up in Mexico City just as me, and she has nothing to do with the film industry, but she always finds the words to put my spirit at peace. My father also grew up in a tiny town in Mexico where there was no electric grid in his town. But that didn’t stop him from fulfilling his dreams and becoming a lawyer, then a historian and now a dean in a college in Mexico. His quest for improving himself and his surroundings has always been an inspiration to me. The man has two different bachelors degrees and a graduate degree. He had dinner once with Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His quest for always becoming a better human being is what I strive for.

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