MEET THE CREATOR
Oswaldo Cepeda is a Mexican-American photographer known for his surreal, emotionally driven portraits. Raised in Wisconsin, he developed a signature style using abstract lighting to turn ordinary scenes into poetic expressions of human feeling.
What is your speciality and what drew you to it ?
My specialty is portrait photography and what really drew me to my current style was working within the limitations I had when I first started. I didn’t have access to expensive lighting equipment so I just used normal everyday light bulbs to shape my lighting and because light bulbs are so dim I had to be very precise with how I lit my subjects. This extra attention to detail made me quickly learn how to shape light in a way that really highlighted my subjects while keeping a dark and moody look to the overall photo and even when I had access to better equipment I stayed true to my style because I just loved the way it looked.
If you could go back and do one thing differently in your content creation journey, what would it be?
If I could go back and do something differently I would definitely document my process more. There's a lot of photoshoots that I don’t have any behind the scenes for and parts of my life I wish I would have documented. Documenting every aspect of your life and your art creation is a great way to look back and see your own progress.
What inspired you to start your content creation journey?
I was inspired to start my journey when I realized I wanted to become a photographer during quarantine. I knew to make it a reality, I needed eyes on my work. I didn’t have money for ads, so I used social media and fell in love with sharing my art.
What’s been your proudest moment as a content creator?
My proudest moment as a creator was when I hit 24k followers as that is the amount of people that live in my small town. This was validating to me because no one believed in me when I first started and to know there was an entire town worth of people that enjoyed my artwork enough to follow me really made me feel proud and feel like I was doing something right.
Oswaldo Cepeda's
Favorite Gear
My go to light ever since I received the first prototype has been my amaran 300c. It stands out to my other lights because of how versatile it is. I love the form factor, the bowens mount, the bluetooth connectivity, and the power output of it. I use my amaran 300c as my everything light. Since I have four of them at my studio it covers all of my needs for every lighting scenario I am in.
DISCOVER OSWALDO’S WORK
Explore Oswaldo’s photography and BTS process across Instagram and more.
Follow Oswaldo
CELEBRATING CREATIVITY WITH AMARAN
Each month, we showcase a creator's journey, creative process, and how they use amaran products to bring their vision to life. Explore their stories and get inspired to push your own creative boundaries.
