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

Isabel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

Going back in time a few years, when I didn’t exactly know what I was doing and I was full of many different goals, just being really pursuing photography and when cinematography was still to become an option later on; I was just starting to understand what I wanted.

I remember I started truly taking things seriously as I received more and more external validation, since that made me understand that maybe what I love so much doing was not just a hobby. I bought my first DSLR camera when I was 18, and started reaching out to models to take their portraits, little by little learning not only my style but how to have a good time with someone I didn’t know at all.

There’s nothing I would change of those times, I was working with nothing, making no more than 50 euros per shoot, doing most of them for free, it felt very liberating and it boosted my ambition and love for a specific style that people were seeking in me and that I seeked to go deeper in.

Once I started considering cinematography and learning that craft, that freedom was a bit harder to access, since I was working with many more people, and for many more people as well. Due to how much I still had to learn, and how invested I was in turning that into the main job in my life, I needed to give a lot of time to film, taking away a lot of hours from my photography. Eventually, I got to a point in which I only took photos when I had the time and mental space, not thinking of it as a job but as a hobby once again. And as much as that is a beautiful thing as well, that’s the first thing I wish I did differently and that I am currently working on.

Even though it takes more discipline and time, I wish I had focused my energy not only on film but kept developing working in photography with a different type of project in mind. The energy I release when I work in film versus the one I do through photography is very very different, and I need both of those creative releases in my life. Pursuing two different – yet similar – industries and high competitive positions is very ambitious, and who knows, maybe it was the right thing to wait until later to think of it, but I would have loved for that to be my focus all throughout. Ever since I’m “back on track” with photography not only as something for me but something that I want and enjoy as much as cinematography, I’ve been back to shoots with models, BTS, and of course, my beloved “for me” photography when I travel or just go on solitary walks at night.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

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 do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

There’s many! I’d say right now, and after having been in this industry for a bit now, the main goal I have is to be able to grow as a professional surrounded by a good environment. I don’t want to nurture an old-school mindset of saying yes just due to admiration or the desire of success – for me it is a priority that everyone around me is first a human, and then an artist.

In this realm, this obviously includes making it easier for women to look up and see others like them. I want to help this mission in every way available for me. And I want the world to follow, to see through people, if someone is a great artist and a horrible person, we should be able to point that out without fear.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

It’s very important to be constant and cohesive. I’ve been on social media for over 10 years now, I’m not an influencer of any kind but my very first job came through there, and I still get a big chunk of requests through my social media portfolio. It’s important to portray in there a very organized image of who you want to be hired as, I have a lot of work that I don’t necessarily show there – since I have the power to control this tool and to shape how I wnat to be seen, I must do that to work more and more on projects that are a good match not only for the client, but for my own vision of my future.

With algorithms changing everyday I’m not a professional on how to get the biggest daily reach, but I’d say I know how to have your social media portfolio ready for when potential clients take a look. 1) Try to post regularly, to a realistic extent. If not possible, make sure to be semi active in stories so you’re seen as an active presence, someone who is busy. It’s also a great way to seem accessible, to show your personality and what you want to be transparent about even in terms of work ethic. 2) Be cohesive. I try to make my page look like my style, so once someone opens it they don’t see someone without a sense of visual identity. Not everything has to look the same! But try to show change gradually and intentional, otherwise it will look all over the place. 3) Follow your gut! Don’t plan everything milimetrically and think of everything people will judge, at least in my case I’m not an influencer, so I try my best to be regular and cohesive, but also be transparent! At the end of the day, it’s you on the other side.

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. Photography, by Isabel Padilla. 2. Photography, by Isabel Padilla. 3. Photography, by Isabel Padilla. Model, Yebecca @yebeccababy 4. Photography, by Isabel Padilla. Model, Edyll @xdyll 5. Still from “Free Range”, directed by Rider Lasking, DP Isabel Padilla. 6. Still from “Cycle”, directed by Niki White, DP Isabel Padilla. 7. Still from “Avalanche of the Sun”, directed by Alien Child, DP Isabel Padilla.