When Alberto first picked up a photographic camera, he was only 19. His parent’s 35 mm old manual Canon captured his attention, and he quickly realized he was not half bad.
That is how it all started. Alberto initially aspired to become a fashion photographer but soon realized he did not fit the fashion world.
“I simply did not enjoy the atmosphere,” he recalls.
However, his contacts introduced him to the advertising industry, where creative directors spoke the same language. Things clicked with them, leading to his first small campaign that eventually multiplied and grew more prominent.
Alberto entered the world of photography from a computing and physics background. Like many young people, he did not know his drive and passion or what he wanted to do at the time. Finding his genuine love for photography has eventually brought him to exciting projects, such as the shoot with Real Madrid players.
“It was an extraordinary moment for me shooting with some of the greatest football players, having them pose for me. The campaign’s art direction was compelling, and the images had a strong visual effect.”
“I remember Cristiano Ronaldo coming to the set with the wrong equipment and getting angry when I asked him to change it,” he laughs.
His personal project ‘When nobody’s watching‘ represents the result of uncensored private artistic moments.
“When nobody’s watching is created with humor. It is a story about human beings in their own space, in a situation they could find embarrassing in public. I try to display those guilty pleasures, indulgences that make us who we are, yet we do not show that part of us to the world. Like listening to an old Spice Girls’ song in the shower or eating chicken with Nutella. Right? No one would be proud of that.”
“That complete creative freedom you have when working on your project without any external influence is liberating. You have no one to tell you that displaying drinking nuns negatively impacts how your potential clients will perceive you. You can express yourself freely. With these projects, you regain your freedom as an artist and tell a story. You think of what you want to communicate to the viewer and apply some form of humor to it,” he explains — no need to say that the shots in this series are some of his best work.
Unlike other photographers, Alberto does not desire to work for a specific campaign; his approach is down-to-earth and straightforward.
“I just want to continue taking good pictures. What I’d love is to create movie posters.”
Observing his style, he certainly has a class for it.
However, Alberto does not stay only in commercial photography; he also participates in non-profits. He has campaigned for Anesvad, a non-profit focusing on neglected diseases like lymphatic filariasis, buluri ulcers, etc.
How does his approach to non-profit campaigns differ?
“Non-profit campaigns make you feel like you are doing something good for a cause, so you need to believe in the messages it sends; if I do not, I do not do it. It makes me always feel like the cause is also mine and the campaign thus feels like my own. As such, it tends to be a personal project for me. Typically, there is no big budget, so it represents a challenge to find the best possible way to present the cause with the bit of money you have.”
Discover more about Alberto Escudero by visiting his official site: