We recently connected with Mariana Otalora and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mariana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

There is meaning and purpose behind the images in all my projects. But if I had to choose one, I would say Loteria. I’ve been working on a personal project called Loteria! by Mariana Otalora. Loteria is a popular Mexican board game, often called Mexican Bingo, where players get a board with characters from the Mexican culture on it. A caller, who has a deck of cards with each of the characters, will draw out the cards one by one and call out the name on it. The players must then cross out the characters on their board and the first one to cross them all has to shout out LOTERIA! to let others know they won.
As Mexican living abroad, I often get inspiration from my country and culture. I grew up playing this game with friends and familiy creating beautiful memories.
When reading about the game’s history, I learned that the Spanish brought it to Mexico during the occupation and over the years Mexican families started developing their own versions of Loteria with characters they felt more connected to.
Following that tradition I decided to create my personal version of Loteria, where each card would be one of my photos and the characters would all be linked to my personal memories and stories that reminded me of that specific card.
Working with my memories to create a new version of a game that I played growing up made this project very special and made me realize that I wanted to share that joy with others, so I decided to make it not only a photographic project but an immersive experience where people could play loteria with my own images and memories. I developed Loteria kits with the boards and the deck of cards with my photos on it so people could play my version of Loteria. On each frame you can see hints of the stories that inspired the photos, but my idea was for people to have fun and recall their own memories when looking at my images. In case you’re curious to learn about my memories, I also created a book where you can go and read about each of the stories behind the photos.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a person who enjoys sharing and learning from others. I believe that we all, regardless of our background, have something in common. I try to find those little aspects of our personalities that bring us together and I express them through my photographic projects. It might be an idea, a concept or experiences and feelings I believe we all have in common.
I have always been interested in photography. Growing up I would take my dad’s camera and photograph everything around me. My dad would have to limit the amount of photos I was taking to make sure I didn’t finish the film roll in 5 minutes. I always saw photography as a hobby until I moved to New York and started taking photography courses at PhotoUno Photography School. There I improved my technical skills and decided to pursue a career as a photographer. Later, I did my Master’s in Digital Photography at the School of Visual Arts.
As a photographer, I try to find a way for people to enjoy and have fun with my projects. That whenever they look at the photos, not only they have a beautiful image to look at but also recall personal memories or experiences. That they have a moment to jump into another world and disconnect from the present. In my daydreaming project, for example, the concept is people being phisicaly in one place as their mind is somewhere else, and you can see that in the same photo. I also have another project called “Individuality: Grand Central Lamps” where I aim to reveal the individual beauty of the lamps, often overshadowed by the grandeur of the space around them. This approach strips away distractions, allowing each lamp to be appreciated as a singular piece of design. Through this series, I invite viewers to reconsider the overlooked details that shape our experiences, emphasizing the elegance of individual elements.
Besides my personal projects I also work with clients as an event, portrait and branding photographer. I love to work together to create stories about their businesses and products to share with the world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is to share my ideas in a form that lets people interpret them in their own ways. It is showing one regular theme from many different angles.
I also love to work with very different people and learn from them.
Problem solving is a big part of my day to day life and I use my creativity to solve those problems and use them in our favor. Seeing the result afterwards is always rewarding.
When I do photography, it doesn’t feel like I’m working but more like a game in which I’m having fun and creating together. I really enjoy every part of the process.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before becoming a photographer I was working in the retail industry in marketing and sales for brands such as Lays, Cheetos, Doritos, Kellogg’s. I liked my work and enjoyed working with such big brands and with the creative teams behind them to launch advertising campaigns or developing sales strategies for our clients. Everytime I worked with photographers or a production team I wished I was part of that team. When we moved to New York, I quit my job and focused on photography full time. It was a big change in many aspects, professionally and personally. I changed cities, culture, job, pretty much everything but I remained focused on enjoying the new experiences and opportunities that came with that change. I had the chance to assist a very talented photographer, Patricia Burmicky, and she became my mentor as I pursue a career as a photographer. I already had some photo training and knew the commercial industry from my previous jobs, but she really guided me to grow as a professional photographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marianaotaloraphoto.com
• Instagram: @marianaotalora_photo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariana-otalora-9a9187318
• Other: Pixieset: https://marianaotaloraphotography.pixieset.com

Image Credits

Mariana-Photo by Patricia Burmicky | PhotoUno Photography School
All other photos by Mariana Otalora Chavez