We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Isabel Padilla. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Isabel below.

Hi Isabel, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

I’ve attended 3 schools, 2 colleges, and one post college education center. I didn’t receive a single class that oriented me towards a creative and artistic career until I actually had to pick one. I learned about classical Spanish literature and paintings through a historic point of view over and over again. I was never asked to write, analyze, or properly enjoy an artform during my teen or childhood years. With the exception of a teacher who did really love literature and who was actually passionate about it.

I find it absolutely outrageous that I had to learn how to do equations (which I loved) over and over again, or what type of agriculture was given in Spain during each century of its history since the 13th century, or to study catholicism every year of my life… The list is ongoing and infinite. But I never, never, practiced writing, properly reading, video making, photography, drawing… It seems like the only people who could learn anything creative were adults and babies.

Somehow I was lucky enough to find the way towards a creative career. Which also happens to be a freelancer career – something that no one ever talks to you about until you become one.

If I had lived through an educational system that cultivated the arts in the same way they cultivated math, history or economics; maybe it would have been easier for everyone around me to accept what I chose to be passionate about for a living. Maybe more people would pick this. Maybe it would be a less privileged choice since it would have more access to begin with. Maybe art would be more appreciated not only by the ones who find it but for everyone.

Once I made it to college, and even when I specialized after college. No one ever talked to me about money, finances, taxes, about the difficult implications of being a freelancer – even though a big amount of the people studying there were indeed going to become one. I would much rather have learned those things that analyze yet another film by David Fincher.

This is just a small abbreviation of my studies, mostly in Spain, and a bit in the US and South Korea. But I can summarize the change that’s needed in three subjects: gender studies, freelancer management, and the practice of at least 1 art craft.

Isabel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hey there! My name is Isabel Padilla, currently 27, from Spain; and I am a freelance photographer and cinematographer based in Brookly, NY. I did my studies at University Carlos III of Madrid, Sogang University and the New York Film Academy.

When I was little, I loved writing, it was my way of getting out of my head! I also started taking pics very early on since there was an overall love for photography at home, even though no one worked in a creative industry. Eventually, when Instagram became a thing, I started noticing people liked my photograph, which made using my capturing what’s around me my official hobby. I realized you could actually work as a creative at age 16 when I met the first person who told me that she was going to study film. It all clicked, the writing and the photos meant films, that was my medium. I went to college for that and as the years passed I discovered photography could become a part of a film through cinematography. It all clicked again. That’s how my brain worked and expressed itself. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. Thanks to having first started through photography, I was able to develop a style very early on, and I learned how to work and communicate with strangers, something that is key to what I do today.

I believe this is what is most characteristic about what I have to offer. I have a very set style, kind of surreal, nocturnal and almost underwater looking, which is what people who follow my work seem to also be more interested in; this all can adapt to any medium and adjusts well to today’s preferences. As a cinematographer, I can adapt to a client or director’s needs, but thanks to my photography work, I am used to being capable of stylizing a shot on the spot. Something I love experimenting with and is very new to the times is mixing media and collaborating with other people who specialize in fields I wouldn’t understand; such as 3D render and model, animations and VR. It feels like working in the future.

My work has been exhibited (Matadero Madrid, Korean Culture Center, MadCool Festival…), printed (MobJournal, Portrait Project, BeyondAll…), gone through festivals (NFFTY, Cinemajove, Chelsea Film Festival…), gotten millions of views (Molchat Doma, Eartheater, LSDXOXO…).

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Mouth to mouth! At the very very beginning the main way was Instagram. I would post once a day, work with models who I admired and who usually had a bigger following than mine, attend events and workshops… That helped me have more visibility and thanks to that my first ever payment was through doing a photoshoot. Which was pretty exciting as I was still in my first years of college! Having a well curated feed and reaching out to other creatives you admire is definitely important today, but not what I rely on. I definitely don’t post once a day anymore! It’s equally important to have a professional looking website.

Nowadays, it’s mostly through gigs where you meet new people or events and even just parties. Networking is a 24/7 thing, for the good and the bad! You end up many times working with friends which is great. Other ways that are great, more for photography than for video, is to submit your work to magazines and exhibitions, organize group exhibitions with other artists… It’s a race that never stops, and involves never ending passion!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Absolutely! Mostly as a femme cinematographer in an extremely masculine environment, I’ll list some below!

– The ICFC https://www.icfcfilm.com
– Pano https://panonetwork.org
– NYWFT https://www.nywift.org
– Free the Work https://freethework.com
– Directoras de Fotografía www.directorasdefotografia.com
– Concursos de fotografía https://www.concursosdefotografia.com
– Kavyar https://kavyar.com
– Artenda https://artenda.net
And of course workshops, events, create a calendar with those!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://isabel-padilla.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_isabelpadilla_/
• Other: IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7870958/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2 Vogue Italia https://www.vogue.com/photovogue/photographers/152041 Vimeo https://vimeo.com/isabelpadilla

Image Credits
1. Photo by Isabel Padilla 2. Photo by Isabel Padilla 3. Photo by Isabel Padilla, model Casilda García López 4. Still from “Are the Oranges Sweet?”, directed by Bethany Yeap, cinematography by Isabel Padilla 5. Still from “Avalanche”, by AlienChild, cinematography by Isabel Padilla 6. Still from “Capsized”, by CJ Gainer, cinematography by Isabel Padilla 7. Still from “Doors We Open”, by Kevin Peter He, cinematography by Isabel Padilla 8. Still from “Peligro de Extinción”, by Silvia Grav and Isabel Padilla, cinematography by Isabel Padilla